Premiered December 14, 1985.
"This is gonna be the best pageant ever, the first Christmas at the new site!"
-Brenda Jenkins
This edition of "Oscar Takes A Holiday" focuses on actor/director Regina King, who played Brenda Jenkins on 227. In 2019, King won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for If Beale Street Could Talk.
It’s Christmas time in Washington, D.C. Mary Jenkins (Marla Gibbs), and her neighbors in 227 Lexington Place Rose (Alaina Reed-Hall) and Pearl (Helen Martin) have a meeting with their minister Rev. Davis (Ron Richardson).
He informs them that the corporation that owns the land where the church sits will not renew their lease. On a more positive note, that same corporation has given the church a new lot that overlooks the Potomac River. City Hall has given Rev. Davis permission to move the entire church building to the new location.
Lester is reluctant to take on such a responsibility, but is pressured to move the church when Rev. Davis and the others literally pray for Lester to move the church!
Lester believes his crew can get the church moved in time for the congregation to perform their annual Nativity pageant. Mary and Lester's daughter Brenda (Regina King), who is playing a shepherd in the pageant, believes it will be "the best pageant ever."
Sandra is cast somewhat against type as an angel.
The pageant will be narrated by Santa Claus, played by Lester.
However, disaster strikes when the church suddenly disappears! Rev. Davis tells Lester that the church has been stolen!
Will the church turn up in one piece? Will the pageant be cancelled? Will Christmas be ruined?
J.A. Morris says:
227 was a fun sitcom that I haven't seen in a while and "Mary's Christmas" was a nice way to get reacquainted with the show and its characters. It's a touching story about a neighborhood congregation working together to create a Christmas miracle. That's consistent with 227 as a whole, since lots of episodes revolve around friends like Mary, Rose and Pearl helping each other.
Lester would have been well within his rights to walk away from moving the church, since he was forced into it by Sandra, yet he agrees to do so anyway. The pageant rehearsal scenes are also enjoyable. I played a shepherd in a Christmas play when I was 12, so "Mary's Christmas" brought back a lot of memories.
Lester would have been well within his rights to walk away from moving the church, since he was forced into it by Sandra, yet he agrees to do so anyway. The pageant rehearsal scenes are also enjoyable. I played a shepherd in a Christmas play when I was 12, so "Mary's Christmas" brought back a lot of memories.
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| Pearl's grandson Calvin (Curtis Baldwin) plays a "wise" man. |
I found it particularly interesting that Santa, played by Lester, narrates the Nativity pageant, which was a nice touch. This is not something I've seen happen in real life, since secular and religious Christmas traditions are usually kept separate.
Jackée Harry, as Sandra, gets the bulk of the funny moments in "Mary's Christmas." Sandra is the cause of consternation in this episode, but Harry was so great in the role (which won her an Emmy) that I never felt too angry at Sandra.
Some notes about the cast:
Alaina Reed-Hall played Mary's best friend Rose on 227. Children of the 1970s and 80s will remember Reed from her 12-year run on Sesame Street as Gordon's sister Olivia. During that time, Reed appeared in the classic special Christmas Eve On Sesame Street.
Rev. Davis is portrayed by Ron Richardson, who played the minister in two other episodes. Richardson was primarily a stage actor vocalist and he won a Tony award for his role as Jim in the Broadway musical Big River: The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn.
"Mary's Christmas" is a great Christmas episode that features a solid ensemble cast and a story that will likely remind viewers of Christmas pageants they've been part of, it gets my highest recommendation.
J.A. Morris' rating:
4 candy canes!
RigbyMel says:
I remember watching and enjoying 227 when it first aired in the mid-to-late 1980s, but have no memory of this particular holiday episode. It was nice to rediscover this series that I hadn't thought about much in twenty-some-odd years in researching for this blog post. It's also enjoyable to revisit old sitcoms and see early work by actors like Regina King who have become better known as their careers progressed - King's work as Brenda on the series is adorable.
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| Regina King (l), with Curtis Baldwin, and Kia Goodwin (who plays Rose's daughter Tiffany in the series) |
"Mary's Christmas" is a sweet episode from the show's first season.
Although the "missing building" situation presented in this particular episode is perhaps not the most realistic, the interactions between the cast members conveys the inherent emotion of the scenario well . Many of us can relate to families/communities coming together to solve problems -- particularly during the holiday season. Many of us have also had the experience of being "volun-TOLD" to do something for a community group the way Lester is in this episode.
Resident troublemaker Sandra's against-type casting as the pageant's angel is funny and also kind of touching. She gets quite upset when Mary threatens to snatch her wings.
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| Rose and Pearl searching for "room at the inn" |
Community Christmas pageants are a staple of holiday programming from A Charlie Brown Christmas onward and this episode of 227's pageant presentation makes me think of my hometown's long running outdoor Christmas pageant which also features lovingly made sets and costumes and (often) sweet/amusing moments where things don't quite go according to plan. It also sometimes runs into complications with being outside (cold, weather, COIVD (most recently) and even issues having to do with building construction or repair.
I also appreciate that it appears that a real church choir called "The Visionaries" from Heavenly Vision Baptist Church helped to provide music and extra verisimilitude for our fictional sitcom pageant.
RigbyMel's rating:
4 candy canes!
