During the first 20-30 minutes, the characters consume a cocktail from a punch bowl. The drink is a Tom and Jerry, traditionally served at Christmastime in the United States. It has been attributed to British writer Pierce Egan in the 1820s and is a variant of eggnog with brandy and rum added and served hot, usually in a mug or a bowl.
This was the most famous of the handful of films produced by Lee Garmes. He was better known as one of the industry's leading Directors of Photography.
Re-released by 20th Century-Fox Home Entertainment in 2004 under the title "Beyond Christmas". DVD has both the restored B&W version plus a colorized version of the movie.
The failure of the original copyright holder to renew the film's copyright resulted in it falling into public domain, meaning that virtually anyone could duplicate and sell a VHS/DVD copy of the film. Therefore, many of the versions of this film available on the market are either severely (and usually badly) edited and/or of extremely poor quality, having been duped from second- or third-generation (or more) copies of the film.
This film was first telecast in New York 23 December 1946 on the DuMont Television Network's WABD (Channel 5) and in Los Angeles 21 December 1947 on DuMont's KTLA (Channel 5), and has been rebroadcast more times than anyone can count, and probably more times than any other film, on countless stations and cable systems everywhere, usually as a staple of the Holiday Season, both because of its public domain status and its popularity among viewers as a seasonal attraction. It's now been restored and is shown annually on Turner Classic Movies, maintaining a tradition that goes back 75 years. In Baltimore it first aired Wednesday 10 March 1948 on WMAR (Channel 2); in Detroit Sunday 9 May 1948 on WWJ (Channel 2); in both Atlanta and Memphis Tuesday 21 December 1948 on WSB (Channel 8) and on WMCT (Channel 4); in Chicago Thursday 23 December 1948 on freshly launched WNBQ (Channel 5); in Fort Worth Friday 24 December 1948 on WBAP (Channel 5); and in Buffalo Saturday 25 December 1948 on WBEN (Channel 4). The following season it was first aired in Atlanta Wednesday 21 December 1949 on WSB (Channel 8); in both Boston and Cincinnati Sunday 25 December 1949 on WNAC (Channel 7) and WCPO (Channel 7); and in Salt Lake City Monday 26 December 1949 on KSL (Channel 5).