This Christmas episode of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" is interesting as it's the first comedy episode AND it's the most anti-Christmas Christmas show I can recall! Barry Fitzgerald stars as 'Stretch' Sears, a five-time loser who has been given a job as a department store Santa as part of his 'rehabilitation'. However, Stretch has about as much Christmas spirit as a bad case of halitosis...and he has no interest in being Santa-like in any way. And, when he deals with the kids, he's pretty awful...especially at first. Over time, he softens a bit but this guy never has the magical Grinch transformation....just a tiny one, as, after all, he's a career criminal.
While there really isn't much of a message or meaning to all this, amidst the usually sappy holiday fare, this is a welcome relief...albeit very grouchy! Barry Fitzgerald is wonderful in the lead and his nasty persona is, oddly, rather funny to watch. Oddly cast is Virginia Gregg, who often played scum on "Dragnet" as well as a disreputable character earlier in season one of "Alfred Hitchcock Presents"!