‘Virginia’ Not Holiday Treat It Yearns to Be

No, Virginia, there’s not a good movie buried within the creaky premise of ABC’s “Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus” (Sunday at 9 p.m. on Channels 7, 3, 10 and 42).

This family-oriented TV movie wants to be a holiday perennial about as badly as little Virginia wants to believe in St. Nick, but merely wishing doesn’t cut it on a foam-smothered Hollywood back lot, all its worked-up warmheartedness notwithstanding.

A “dramatization” of events surrounding the famous 1897 letter to the editor from a little girl questioning Santa’s existence--and the paper’s responding whitewash, er, spirited defense of Der Kringle--”Yes, Virginia” is much more self-made myth than fact, with a “Wonderful Life”-style last-minute redemption in store for several borderline-faithless characters.

In this fictionalized scenario, Virginia (Katharine Isobel) is the daughter of feisty Irish immigrant James O’Hanlan (Richard Thomas, doing an OK brogue), who can’t stay employed, much less put presents under a tree. Even less full of good cheer is alcoholic journalist Frank P. Church, who gets the Santa apologetics assignment from his crusty but concerned editor.

In a nod to real life, Church--whose initial bitterness stems from the recent death of his wife and child--is played by Charles Bronson, who has mourned a similar loss himself. But as good as Bronson was playing a sensitive role in “Indian Runner,” he doesn’t bring as much to the table here, other than the obvious parallels. His editor, meanwhile, is none other than Ed Asner, who gets to spout such anachronistic Lou Grant-isms as “This last paragraph stinks!”

Youngsters will likely be bored by the period-piece aspects (though they might be temporarily roused by a couple of fistfight scenes), while adults won’t have much at stake in a tale whose inevitable goal is to reaffirm a girl’s faith in a fairy tale through an unlikely, uninvolving combination of fortuitous coincidences.

A thousand years from now, Virginia, nay, 10 times 10 thousand years from now, Santa will continue to make glad the heart of childhood. This telepicture, meanwhile, will be lucky to be rerun next year.