LASSIE'S BIRTHDAY SURPRISE

Great Family Fare
Three tales - two in b/w and one in color, from the beloved tv series.

In the first episode (1955), Jeff and his pal Porky come close to being blown to pieces by dynamite while picking flowers for Gramps's surprise birthday party.

In the second episode (1956), Ellen and Jeff gather friends and neighbors together to make the Calverton telephone operator's birthday a special one.

The third episode (1971, color) is set on the Holden Ranch where an emotionally withdrawn boy is surprised with a special birthday gift from his Holden Ranch family. This episode was from the final two syndicated years of the show and features "CHiPS" star Larry Wilcox.

I was a mite disappointed the collection didn't include a Jon Provost/June Lockhart episode but I can't complain with the episodes offered here: the stories are absolutely delightful! The dvd is of excellent visual and audio quality and will be enjoyed by viewers of all ages.

76 wonderful minutes tender stories
Lassie's Birthday Surprise is a nicely selection of two Jeff time tales and one in the Garth Holden Ranch. In all of them Lassie helps giving love and happiness to Gramp's, to Jenny -the town operator- and to the orphaned Mike Bishop who doesn't even know when his birthday is. We can pass 76 wonderful minutes watching these tender stories.

What an Odd Title!
The common denominator of all these stories is that (surprise!) a birthday is celebrated. Two of the stories are from the Jeff era, the 1950's tale "Gramps' Birthday" and "Party Line," which is about the entire town of Calverton not knowing it's the birthday of Jenny the town telephone operator. The third episode is from 1971, in the Holden ranch sequence of episodes: the new foster son of Garth Holden has been so neglected he doesn't even know his birthday. Of course the Holdens do something about that immediately.

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