Newsday TV Book, December 9-15, 1973.

The Yuletide season is upon us and, as usual, the days seem to be slipping through my increasingly chilly fingers. What better way to celebrate than with a 1973 issue of the TV Book that I haven't scanned before--and with a Gary Viskupic cover no less! With not one, not two, but three Hitlers!

Viskupic was a World War II buff and collector, so his illustrations on the subject were always detailed and sometimes even moving. I'd bet he was a fan of the British documentary series "The World at War," then being presented on WOR (channel 9 out of Secaucus, New Jersey). The cover story was written by editor Bill McTernan, who passed away thirteen years ago this month.

In the TV Line column, R.F. of Plainview (hometown shout-out, woot-woot!) gets some bad info from Carol Burton. Clearly, the fat boy they mean is Larry Mondello, who was played by the equally-fat boy, Rusty Stevens.

Get your holiday cheesecake at Holiday Spa! (Folks in Plainview needed to be quick, though--that location was only in business for about another year.)

When I was a kid, I always thought of A Man Called Flintstone as a holiday presentation, until they stopped showing it--not just around Christmas, but altogether. There were only four more Christmases with Der Bingle and his latest brood after this one.

Listings for Frosty and the Grinch (that was an anticipated night!) alongside a Hicks Nurseries ad for their yearly display. Sno-Forest?

Moving along to Friday, with a Viskupic drawing for a close-up on the Hallmark Hall of Fame special "The Borrowers." The series was in its 23rd season, with only a few more to go on NBC. Also note the network premiere of A Very Merry Cricket, which would later air locally on WPIX.

Here's all day Saturday, with more horror fare than holiday.

Here's the Quick Guide so you can see all the sports and specials of the week. WSNL 67, in its fourth week of broadcasting, featured a program about UFO sightings on Long Island that I would love to see. (If I remember these listings correctly, they later had a show on psychic phenomena that would air in the late, late hours.)

Finally, the back cover, not all that interesting but I just like the Christmas/Chanukah club stuff. Do banks still do that?

Keep checking back, hopefully I'll have time to get some more old--sorry, vintage--festive fol-de-rol and holiday hokum on here!