Holiday Film Festival was a Thanksgiving Dayscience fiction film series, aired annually from 1976 to 1985 on WOR-TV in New York City. For most of these broadcasts, the sponsors were local electronics chain Crazy Eddie and toy store Play World. At least for the 1979 line-up, in addition to the many ads Play World ran for the store, they sponsored a "TV crossword game" during commercial breaks, in which viewers could win a shopping spree or gift certificates.
History
These WOR-TV Thanksgiving programs started on Thanksgiving Day 1976. On this occasion, Channel 9 broadcast Mighty Joe Young, King Kong vs. Godzilla, and Son of Kong. In the years that followed, WOR broadcast Mighty Joe Young, King Kong, and Son of Kong in 1977, Mighty Joe Young, King Kong, and Son of Kong from 1978 to 1980, Mighty Joe Young, King Kong, and Son of Kong in 1981, King Kong, Son of Kong, and Mighty Joe Young from 1982 to 1984, and King Kong and Mighty Joe Young in 1985. The ratings of the 1976 Thanksgiving marathon were good enough for WOR-TV to include the day after Thanksgiving into the monster movieline up. Over the next few years the same movies were aired on Thanksgiving Day, but the movies broadcast the day after changed. Several times the movies Godzilla vs The Cosmic Monster, Son of Godzilla, Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster and Godzilla vs. Megalon were aired on that day. Shortly after the 1985 program, WOR-TV lost the broadcast rights to the RKO library and Mighty Joe Young, King Kong, and Son of Kong could no longer be broadcast. This was due to parent company RKO General agreeing to sell Channel 9 to MCA Inc. in 1986.
Later years
These films later appeared on cable television's American Movie Classics while the broadcast rights to the Godzilla films were lost by WOR-TV, but began appearing on other local stations. These movies turned up in the localNew York City area until 1989. They became staples on cable television's Sci-Fi Channel during the 1990s, but have seldom been broadcast on either local or cable television since 2000.
