Family Classics is a Chicago television series which began in 1962 when Frazier Thomas was added to another program at WGN-TV. Thomas not only hosted classic films, but also selected the titles and personally edited them to remove those scenes which he thought were not fit for family viewing. After Thomas' death in 1985, Roy Leonard took over the program. The series continued sporadically until its initial cancellation in 2000.
On November 10, 2017, WGN announced that Family Classics would be returning after a 17-year hiatus with a presentation of the 1951 version of Scrooge to air on Friday, December 8, 2017, and announced that its longtime entertainment reporter, Dean Richards, would be the new host. Since then, it would continue to air each holiday season.
History In 1962, Fred Silverman, then a WGN-TV executive, conceived the idea of the show by scheduling classic family films at a prime time Friday night position rather than a late show slot where children wouldn't see them. The show was a huge ratings success and inspired the networks to schedule recently released films in prime time. When the networks began showing first-run films in prime time, the show was rescheduled to Sunday afternoons.
For the series' December 2019 airing of the 1942 film Holiday Inn, and New Year's Eve airings of the Marx Brothers' Monkey Business & Animal Crackers, WGN veteran anchor, Steve Sanders, filled in as host as current host Dean Richards was recovering from a fractured wrist and facial abrasions before the episode's taping.
The set The theme music was a piece of library music recorded on the Berry/Conroy label, entitled Moviescope, and was written by Dennis Berry. The camera would slowly zoom in on the set designed by Thomas that resembled a study with a painting on the wall of Garfield Goose done by Roy Brown, a model sailing ship sitting on top of a shelf of books with the titles of the films to be shown that were repainted encyclopedias and dictionaries also done by Anthony M Sulla as credited in the final credits, that Frazier would introduce.
List of titles
The Absent-Minded Professor (1961 film) (Fred MacMurray) The Adventures of Frontier Fremont (1976 film) (Dan Haggerty) The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1939 film) (Mickey Rooney) The Adventures of Robinson Crusoe (1954 film) (Dan O'Herlihy) The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938 film) (Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland, Claude Rains) The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1938 film) Air Bud (1997 film) Aladdin (1992 animated film) (Scott Weinger, Robin Williams, Gilbert Gottfried) Aladdin's Magic Lamp (1966 film) Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1944 film) All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989 animated film) (Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise) An American Tail (1986 animated film) (Phillip Glasser, Dom DeLuise) An Elephant Called Slowly (1969 film) Angels in the Outfield (1951 film) (Janet Leigh) The Angry Birds Movie (2016 animated film) Animal Crackers (1930 film) (Marx Brothers) Annie Get Your Gun (1950 film) Apache (1954 film) (Burt Lancaster) The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975 film) (Bill Bixby, Tim Conway, Don Knotts) Arabian Adventure (1979 film) (Christopher Lee) Atlantis, the Lost Continent (1961 film) Babes in Toyland (1934 film) (Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy) Babes in Toyland (1961 film) Baby Huey's Great Easter Adventure (1999 film) The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training (1977 film) The Bandit of Sherwood Forest (1946 film) The Bear (1988 film) Belles on Their Toes (1952 film) The Bells of St. Mary's (1945 film) (Bing Crosby, Ingrid Bergman) Bend of the River (1952 film) (James Stewart, Rock Hudson) Benji (1974 film) (Peter Breck) Benji the Hunted (1987 film) Beau Geste (1939 film) (Gary Cooper, Susan Hayward) Big (1988 film) (Tom Hanks) The Big Circus (1959 film) Bill and Coo (1948 live action film) Billy Rose's Jumbo (1962 film) The Bishop's Wife (1947 film) (Cary Grant, Loretta Young) The Black Rose (1950 film) (Tyrone Power) The Black Shield of Falworth (1954 film) (Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh) The Black Stallion (1979 film) The Black Stallion Returns (1983) The Black Swan (1942 film) (Tyrone Power, Maureen O'Hara) The Blind Bird (1963 film) The Blob (1958) (Steve McQueen) Born Free (1966 film) A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969 animated film) The Boy and the Pirates (1960 film) The Boy Who Caught a Crook (1961 film) The Boy with Green Hair (1948 film) (Dean Stockwell, Robert Ryan) Boys Town (1938 film) (Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney) Brigadoon (1954 film) (Gene Kelly) Broken Arrow (1950 film) (James Stewart) Brigham Young (1940 film) (Tyrone Power) Buffalo Bill (1944 film) (Maureen O'Hara, Anthony Quinn) Calamity Jane (1953 film) (Doris Day) The Canterville Ghost (1944 film) (Charles Laughton, Robert Young, Margaret O'Brien) Captain Blood (1935 film) (Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland) Captain from Castile (1947 film) (Tyrone Power) Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951 film) (Gregory Peck) Captain January (1936 film) (Shirley Temple) Captains Courageous (1937 film) (Spencer Tracy, Freddie Bartholomew, Mickey Rooney) The Care Bears Movie (1985 animated film) (Mickey Rooney) Chad Hanna (1940 film) (Henry Fonda) The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936 film) (Errol Flynn) Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968 film) (Dick Van Dyke, Sally Ann Howes) Christmas in Connecticut (1945 film) (Barbara Stanwyck) Challenge to Lassie (1949 film) (Lassie) Cheaper by the Dozen (1950 film) A Child Called Jesus (1987 film) A Christmas Carol (1938 film) (Reginald Owen) A Christmas Carol (1984 film) (George C. Scott) A Christmas Story (1983 film) (Peter Billingsley, Melinda Dillon) Circus World (1964 film) (John Wayne, Rita Hayworth) City Beneath the Sea (1971 film) (Robert Wagner, Richard Basehart) Come to the Stable (1949 film) (Loretta Young) A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court (1949 film) (Bing Crosby) Conrack (1974 film) (Jon Voight) The Corsican Brothers (1941 film) (Douglas Fairbanks Jr.) The Count of Monte Cristo (1934 film) The Count of Monte Cristo (1975 film) (Richard Chamberlain, Tony Curtis) Cougar Country (1971 film) The Courage of Black Beauty (1958 film) Courage of Lassie (1946 film) (Elizabeth Taylor) Courage Mountain (1990 film) (Charlie Sheen) Crack in the World (1965 film) (Dana Andrews) The Crimson Pirate (1952 film) (Burt Lancaster) David Copperfield (1935 film) (W. C. Fields, Freddie Bartholomew, Basil Rathbone) The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951 film) (Patricia Neal) The Daydreamer (1966 live action film) The Desert Fox: The Story of Rommel (1951 film) (James Mason) The Desert Rats (1953 film) (Richard Burton, James Mason) Destination Moon (1950 film) A Dispatch from Reuter's (1940 film) (Edward G Robinson) Doctor Dolittle (1967 film) (Rex Harrison) The Drum (1938 film) Drums Along the Mohawk (1939 film) (Henry Fonda, Claudette Colbert) Duck Soup (1933 film) (Marx Brothers) Dumbo (1941 animated film) The Easy Way (1952 film) (Cary Grant) Edison, the Man (1940 film) (Spencer Tracy) Elephant Boy (1937 film) (Sabu) The Enemy Below (1957 film) (Robert Mitchum) Everything's Ducky (1961 film) (Buddy Hackett, Mickey Rooney) The Fabulous World of Jules Verne (1958 film) Fantasia 2000 (1999 animated film) Father Goose (1964 film) (Cary Grant) Fearless Fagan (1952 film) The Flame and the Arrow (1950 film) (Burt Lancaster) The Flame and the Sword (1962 film) Flipper (1963 film) (Luke Halpin, Chuck Connors) Flipper's New Adventure (1964 film) (Luke Halpin) For the Love of Benji (1977 film) (Peter Bowles) For the Love of Rusty (1947 film) Forbidden Planet (1956 film) (Leslie Nielsen) Francis of Assisi (1961 film) Friendly Persuasion (1956 film) (Gary Cooper) Gallant Bess (1946 film) The Gallant Hours (1960 film) (James Cagney) Gay Purr-ee (1962 animated film) (Judy Garland, Robert Goulet, Red Buttons) General Spanky (1936 film) Gentle Giant (1967 film) (Dennis Weaver) The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947 film) (Gene Tierney, Rex Harrison) The Glass Slipper (1955 film) (Leslie Caron, Michael Wilding) The Golden Age of Comedy (1957 film) (Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy) Great Expectations (1946 film) Great Expectations (1974 film) The Great Muppet Caper (1981 film) (Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Charles Grodin) The Greatest Show on Earth (1952 film) (Cecil B. DeMille) Green Grass of Wyoming (1948 film) Gulliver's Travels (1939 animated film) Hans Brinker (1969 film) Hans Christian Andersen (1952 film) (Danny Kaye) Harry and the Hendersons (1987 film) (John Lithgow) Heidi (1937 film) (Shirley Temple) Heidi's Song (1983 animated film) (Lorne Greene, Sammy Davis Jr.) Here Come the Tigers (1978 film) Hiawatha (1952 film) High Noon (1952 film) (Gary Cooper, Grace Kelly, Lloyd Bridges) Hills of Home (1948 film) (Edmund Gwenn, Janet Leigh) Holiday Inn (1942 film) (Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire) Home for the Holidays (1995 film) (Holly Hunter) Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey (1993 film) (Sally Field, Michael J Fox, Don Ameche) Homeward Bound II: Lost in San Francisco (1996 film) Honey, I Blew Up the Kid (1992 film) (Rick Moranis) Honey, I Shrunk the Kids (1989 film) (Rick Moranis) Hoppity Goes To Town (1941 animated film) Horse Feathers (1932 film) (Marx Brothers) The Horse Soldiers (1959 film) (John Wayne) Houdini (1953 film) (Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh) How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000 film) (Jim Carrey) How the Toys Saved Christmas (1996 film) The Human Comedy (1943 film) (Mickey Rooney) The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964 live-action animated film) (Don Knotts) Ice Age (2002 animated film) Inside Out (2015 animated film) Island of the Blue Dolphins (1964 film) Iron Will (1994 film) It's a Dog's Life (1955 film) It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963 Film) (Spencer Tracy) It's a Wonderful Life (1946 film) It Happens Every Spring (1949 film) It Nearly Wasn't Christmas (1989 film) Jack Frost (1964 film) (English dubbed Soviet film Morozko) John Paul Jones (1959 film) (Robert Stack) Journey Back to Oz (1974 animated film) Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959 film) Jungle Book (1942 film) The Jungle Book (1967 animated film) The Kentuckian (1955 film) (Burt Lancaster) Kidnapped (1938 film) King of the Khyber Rifles (1953 film) (Tyrone Power) King of the Wild Stallions (1959 film) King Richard and the Crusaders (1954 film) (Rex Harrison, Virginia Mayo) Kingdom of the Clouds (1968 film) Kit Carson (1940 film) Knute Rockne, All American (1940 film) (Pat O'Brien, Ronald Reagan) Lad, A Dog (1962 film) Lassie Come Home (1943 film) (Roddy McDowall, Elizabeth Taylor, Donald Crisp, Edmund Gwenn, Nigel Bruce) Lassie's Great Adventure (1963 film) The Last of the Mohicans (1936 film) The Last of the Mohicans (Steve Forrest) (1977 TV film) Life with Father (1947 film) Lili (1953 film) (Leslie Caron, Mel Ferrer) Lilies of the Field (Sidney Poitier) The Lion and the Horse (1952 film) The Little Colonel (1935 film) (Shirley Temple) Little Lord Fauntleroy (1980 film) (Rick Schroder) A Little Princess (1973 TV film) The Little Princess (1939 film) (Shirley Temple) Little Women (1933 film) Little Women (1949 film) The Littlest Hobo (1958 film) The Lives of a Bengal Lancer (1935 film) (Gary Cooper) Living Free (1972 film) The Lone Ranger (1956 film) (Clayton Moore) The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold (1958 film) (Clayton Moore) Long John Silver (1954 film) Lost Angel (1943 film) The Lost World (1960 film) (Jill St. John, Claude Rains) The Macahans (1976 film) Made in Heaven (1987 film) (Timothy Hutton, Kelly McGillis) The Magic of Lassie (1978 film) (James Stewart, Lassie, Mickey Rooney) The Magic Sword (1962 film) (Basil Rathbone) The Man in the Iron Mask (1939 film) The Man in the Iron Mask (1977 film) (Richard Chamberlain) The Mark of Zorro (1940 film) (Tyrone Power) The Mark of Zorro (1974 film) The Master of Ballantrae (1953 film) (Errol Flynn) Matilda (1978 film) (Elliott Gould, Robert Mitchum) Maya (1966 film) (Clint Walker) The McConnell Story (1955 film) Meet Me in St. Louis (1944 film) (Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien) Merry Andrew (1958 film) (Danny Kaye)