What happens
The Harris children are eager to see Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, and Phil Harris promises them he will. Alice Faye and Phil Harris look for someone to play Santa, first considering a friend who is a poor fit for the role, then turning to Don Wilson, who cannot come and sends a substitute instead. Phil, Alice and the children try to make sense of the evening's visitors, while Frankie and Curly add their own opinions. The episode is a holiday instalment of The Phil Harris series, broadcast on NBC on December 21, 1947.
The Harris home in Encino, California, in the weeks before and on Christmas Eve.
Characters: Phil Harris, Alice Faye, Phyllis, Bill, Frankie, Curly, Jackson, Don Wilson
Listen for: Phil's worried scheming over who will play Santa, and the arrival of a Santa who turns out to be an unexpected substitute.
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.