‘Papa’s Angels’ Isn’t Usual Christmas Present

Despite its rather saccharine title, the CBS holiday drama “Papa’s Angels” is anything but two hours of Christmas sugar and schmaltz.

“I felt it wasn’t a sentimental Christmas piece,” says Eva Marie Saint, who stars in the family drama with Scott Bakula and Cynthia Nixon. “The characters were honed in a way that they were strong. The relationships weren’t the most beautiful in the world, but where is the perfect family? There isn’t one.

“The audience may have to work a little harder in accepting this, because they are not used to Christmas stories not having a green or red ribbon tying it all together happily ever after.”

Bakula recalled that when production started, director Dwight Little told the cast: “We really need to play against the emotion of the piece as much as we can.”

Based on the book “Papa’s Angels: A Christmas Story” by Collin Wilcox Paxton and Gary Carden, the drama, which airs Sunday, focuses on how the healing power of Christmas brings a close-knit Appalachian family, circa 1938, together after a tragic death.

Bakula plays Grins Jenkins, the devoted husband of strong-willed Sharon (Nixon) and father of four, who is an expert carpenter and talented banjo player. Saint plays Granny, Grins’ mother, who lives nearby and helps out whenever she’s needed. As the story unfolds, it’s revealed that Grins’ late father physically abused him, and Granny never stopped the beatings.

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One holiday season, Sharon tells her youngest son about an old Christmas legend--that if someone lights a yule log fire with a remnant from the fire of a previous year, the spirits of the dead return to comfort the family.

Saint showed the film at Thanksgiving to her three grandchildren. “That was really a wonderful experience,” says the Oscar-winning star of “On the Waterfront.” “There was a lot of crying going on.”

The actress modeled Granny after her own mother, also named Eva Marie, whom she describes as strong and feisty. “They used to call her the ‘Flea,’ ” says Saint. “She was so tiny. She was only 100 pounds and short. She would disappear when you would go into a store. You couldn’t find her because she was so little and moved so fast. She lived to be 90. She had a wonderful sense of humor.”

Saint was also pleased that Granny wasn’t just a prop. “She had a pivotal role in a sense that she got the family together,” says Saint.

There’s a lovely scene in the film in which Granny thanks Sharon for bringing love back into Grins’ life because Grins had had all the love beaten out of him by her husband.

Saint believes Granny was probably also abused by her late husband. “Probably she was very upset she wasn’t strong enough to say ‘Stop hitting my son,’ ” she says.

Bakula, who is executive producer of “Papa’s Angels” with his partner, Tom Spiroff, and Marian Rees (“Cora Unashamed”), credits writer Bill Cain with imbuing the characters with depth and complexity.

“The more depth you have in any character, the more challenging it is and the more enjoyable to play,” he explains.

“What I liked was when Bill Cain got ahold of it, he gave all the characters something to work off of and a history.”

Cain, says Bakula, also brought out the toughness, strength and stoicism of these mountain people in the face of adversity.

“In your research you realize that these people were used to death and hardship,” says Bakula. “That is part of their life.” Therefore, he says, it would have been a betrayal to these characters if the actors had sat on “every emotional moment and milked it.”

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“Papa’s Angels” also gives Bakula, a Tony nominee for the Broadway musical, “Romance/Romance,” a chance to sing several traditional mountain tunes. He also penned the final song, “Papa’s Angels.”

“The first adaptation of the book was into a stage play, and they wrote music for it,” Bakula explains. “We used one of those songs. Bill Cain did a lot of research and found some great music. I don’t feel like we forced [the musical numbers] into the movie. Even though I love to sing and play instruments and dance, I only try to do it when it’s correct. This feels really right.”

Both Bakula and Saint loved the fact that “Papa’s Angels” is centered around the lore of the yule log.

“I really believe that we all have to have something [to hold on to] when every dear one dies,” says Saint. “What I think you are really holding on to is the soul--the goodness of a person.”