By Lee Scott
When I was a child, the Hallmark Card company would sponsor a two-hour movie each Christmas. This was a big deal in our household and as I recall, the commercials only promoted Hallmark cards, many of which were tearjerkers.
There were always soldiers coming home for Christmas, new puppies arriving and grandparents holding new grandchildren.
Although the original Hall of Fame debuted on television on Dec. 24, 1951, it was the movies from the 1960s that I remember. My parents would announce when one of the shows was scheduled and we would all be huddled in the family room, poised for the announcer’s voice. I have even bought some of the DVDs of those older movies.
Times have changed though. Now Hallmark has its own channel and has recently introduced another one. The Hallmark Drama channel was launched on Oct. 1. This troubled my spouse somewhat since he thought the original channel had enough drama.
Now, instead of watching an occasional Christmas movie, you can watch tearjerkers 24 hours a day.
As I sat there the other night watching “A Royal Christmas” where the Prince of Cordinia wants to marry the seamstress, Emily, my spouse asked, “How many of these little kingdoms are tucked in the mountains of Europe? And how many princes does Genovia have anyway?”
I had to remind him that the Kingdom of Genovia was in “The Princess Diaries” movie, and it was not a Hallmark movie. He must not be paying attention to the movies as much as I am, otherwise he would have known that fact.
I did suggest he might want to contact Prince Harry of England who recently found his future wife, Meghan Markle, in America. Maybe Harry knows how many kingdoms are in Europe. Also, can we assume a movie production will be coming out based on that relationship? Is it possible Hallmark is already working on one?
My spouse is correct, though. There are a lot of royalty finding their American soul mates on the Hallmark channel. There is “A Prince for Christmas,” “Christmas Princess,” “My Summer Prince,” “A Royal Christmas” … you get the idea.
But the “Christmas Princess” is really not about a royal princess after all, but rather a young girl who dreamed about becoming a Rose Bowl princess.
Before long the Christmas season will end, and the new movies will fade into rerun heaven. There will be no more mistletoe, falling snow and endless Christmas decorations. But fret not, Hallmark is already planning for the 2018 Christmas presentations.
For now, enjoy the shows, and have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
