WOULD you like a Christmas TV special wholesome enough for the whole family?

This 1953 episode of the detective series Dragnet may fit the bill. I recommend it for families with children over the age of eight. (There’s nothing salacious in it for younger children, but the topic of crime is not appropriate for them.)

In this episode, detectives Joe Friday and Frank Smith investigate an important case on Christmas Eve in Los Angeles. The statue of the Baby Jesus has been stolen from the manger of a local church. They want to recover it by Christmas Day. The famously stone-faced Friday and Smith take the case so seriously that they devote the entire day to the investigation despite other pressing cases. I won’t spoil it for you by revealing the results of their investigation, but I will tell you that the crime is happily solved.

Note:

* The politically incorrect banter about differences between the sexes

* Acting that is so bad it is good

* The Brooklyn accent of the Hispanic priest

* The respectfulness of the two hard-boiled detectives

* The joke about how priests and detectives would be out of business if there were no thieves

* The bums at The Golden Dream Hotel who know the true meaning of Christmas

Do you wonder why more shows like this are not made today?

Catholics were a major, organized force for decency in movies and TV when this show was made. Every year, starting in the 1930s, Catholics around the country took the Legion of Decency Pledge at Sunday Mass during the week in December of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Here it is:

I condemn all indecent and immoral motion pictures, and those which glorify crime or criminals. I promise to do all that I can to strengthen public opinion against the production of indecent and immoral films, and to unite with all who protest against them. I acknowledge my obligation to form a right conscience about pictures that are dangerous to my moral life. I pledge myself to remain away from them. I promise, further, to stay away altogether from places of amusement which show them as a matter of policy.

That battle largely ended with the rise of the Counterfeit Church of Vatican II.

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