As many times as I've seen this (oh, about 54) the scene when Elinor Donahue and Andy Griffith perform one of the most beautiful duets of "Away In A Manger" and Will Wright is standing on a crate looking through the bars then sings harmony with them making it a trio chokes me up every time. It's funny how all those instruments come out of that guitar, though!
I just researched the writer of this episode, many other Andy Griffith and other TV series episodes He also wrote "Father Goose". In the credits, he's listed as David Adler, but that is not his birth name. Blacklisted as a result from being an "unfriendly witness" when he testified during the dreaded House Committee on Un-American Activities in the 1950s. As a result, his career was so damaged that he and his family moved to England, UK. For 12 years, he was forced to use phony names and "front" writers. One of several screenwriters blacklisted in Hollywood during the Red Scare of the 1950s.
His "real" name is Frank Tarloff and he really wrote a gem of a Christmas Story.
Review of Christmas Story
