Loews Christmas Greeting (The Hardy Family)

This is a short...a very, very short film from MGM featuring the Hardy family on Christmas morning. The family comes downstairs to inspect their Christmas loot and find, among other things, a puppy and a fishing rod for the Judge. And, after a bit of gay banter, the family addresses the audience in order to thank them for their support of the Andy Hardy films. In essence, it's a commercial and is way too brief to even be considered a short. It's pleasant and sweet and pretty much what you expect from MGM from that time period. It's also VERY hard to rate, as the film really is no more than I just mentioned and clocks in at only about three minutes! Short and sweet...and not much more to say about it.

Loews Christmas Greeting (1939)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

The Hardy Family (with Lewis Stone and Mickey Rooney on hand) star in this three-minute short, which shows the family coming downstairs on Christmas morning. We see them opening presents and then they gather around to thank the viewer for keeping them coming back. I'm really not sure what the point of this short was but I'm going to guess that since this series was so popular people in the theater might have gotten a kick out of the wishful thankfulness of the family. The thing certainly moves well enough and features Rooney up to his usual antics.

Three minute short from MGM that acts as a sort of greeting card to fans of the Andy Hardy series. The story, such as it is, has the Hardy family coming downstairs and opening presents on Christmas morning. They then thank the audience for watching their movies. The short ends with a bizarrely inserted bit of stock footage from a party. The title of the short, Loews Christmas Greeting, refers to the Loews theater chain that once owned MGM, the studio that produced the Hardy series. A Supreme Court ruling later forced Loews and MGM to split, which was pretty much the beginning of the end for MGM as the dominant studio it had been. Also, as the reviewer before me mentioned, it is indeed Sara Haden here as Aunt Millie, not Betty Ross Clarke as IMDb and other sites (currently) list. I'm not sure why there is any confusion with this, since Millie is not just in the background. She's front and center and even gets a line or two.

Opening with an orchestral version of "Jingle Bells", MGM released this three minute short featuring "The Hardy Family" to wish their Loews theater patrons a Merry Christmas. Films like "The Wizard of Oz", "Ninotchka", and "Gone with the Wind" made 1939 a very "Green Christmas" season for the studio, with box office king Mickey Rooney and his "The Hardy Family" film series giving everyone a run for their money. Though listed as 1939, the short may have been seen in 1938.

Unfortunately shown in black-and-white, we begin with a typically excited Mickey Rooney (as Andy Hardy) running downstairs on Christmas morning. He gets just what he wanted, an extremely well-trained dog. As the two yelp and play together, the rest of the family arrives in robes and pajamas. Fatherly judge Lewis Stone unwraps a new fishing pole, then wishes viewers the happiest of holidays from "The Hardy Family". Audiences are thanked for their patronage, which would continue...

**** Loews Christmas Greeting (1939) George B. Seitz ~ Mickey Rooney, Lewis Stone, Fay Holden, Cecilia Parker