Hollywood's 1954 Thanksgiving Prayer: We Thank Thee for the Privilege of Living as Free Men

By Penny Starr
11/20/2012
CNSNews (www.cnsnews.com)

As the family sits around the kitchen table, the father leads the family in prayer

We thank thee for the privilege of living as free men in a country which respects our freedom and our personal rights to worship and think and speak as we choose

The Nov. 21, 1954 show featured the Anderson family: Jim and Margaret and their three children, Betty, Bud and Kathy

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WASHINGTON, DC (CNSNews.com) - On Thanksgiving week in 1954, NBC aired a holiday-themed "Father Knows Best" that ended with the family praying before their meal, including thanking God "for the privilege of living as free men in a country which respects our freedom and our personal rights to worship and think and speak as we choose."

The Nov. 21, 1954 show featured the Anderson family: Jim and Margaret and their three children, Betty, Bud and Kathy.

In the program, the family decided to forgo a Thanksgiving meal because of scheduling conflicts. But in the end, the parents and children decide that sitting down to a Thanksgiving meal together is the best way to celebrate.

As the family sits around the kitchen table, the father leads the family in prayer:

"Oh Lord, we give thee thanks from the depths of our humble hearts for all the blessings thou has seen fit to bestow upon us. We thank thee for the food, which graces our table, the roof, which covers our head.

"We thank thee for the privilege of living as free men in a country which respects our freedom and our personal rights to worship and think and speak as we choose.

"We thank thee for making us a family, for giving us sincerity and understanding.

"But most of all, dear Lord, we thank thee for giving us the greatest gift a family may know--the gift of love for one another. Amen."

Robert Young (Jim), Jane Wyatt (Margaret), Billy Gray (Bud), Lauren Chapin (Kathy) and Elinor Donahue (Betty) starred in "Father Knows Best," which aired on NBC from 1954 to 1960.

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Keywords: Thanksgiving, religious freedom, Father knows Best, Culture, Thanksgiving, Penny Starr

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1 - 10 of 10 Comments

judy claar
5 months ago
Vance, Some those so-called Catholics Voted Utter Failure. Blessings...
Darvon
5 months ago
"By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion." (Psalm 137:1).

We all wish and desire to come back to an innocence lost. God is not done with us as a country. Our country is being chastised for turning it's back on God and the current political administration is God's instrument for meteing out His discipline. The country must admit it's sin, take responsibility for it and repent. Until then, we'll continue to sit by "the rivers of Babylon" and weep.
George F Somsel
5 months ago
Those were the days, my friend
We thought they'd never end
We'd sing and dance forever and a day
We'd live the life we choose
We'd fight and never lose
For we were young and sure to have our way
La la la la la la
La la la la la la
vance
5 months ago
Wow, what a difference almost 60 years makes. We all know that Hollywood is 180 degrees different today. Today, the City of Santa Monica banned the Nativity scene after 60 years on display. We are a Godless society because 52% of Catholics voted to elect Godless men and women to the White House and congress. The USCCB is an utter failure.
william spires
5 months ago
Can anyone imagine this episode airing on NBC for Thanksgiving 2012 ? I think not. This illustrates why those of us who lived through times when the major networks did not sanitize any reference to faith are so frustrated by the current political drive to silence churches and force participation in abortion assistance.
Mrs. James Clemons
5 months ago
This country needs to go back to this kind of 'spiritual' recognition of GOD, and to make it more obvious that it is Jesus that they are praying to, because it is the Lord Jesus Christ who is our Savior, and we need to see this in all of the programing these days. What little we do see, is not very encouraging and more of a 'token' if anything at all acknowledgement that there is GOD. These kinds of programs were very encouraging as a child when I was growing up. I realize that by todays standards they would be considered very much antique material, but there are antiques I believe that are in better moral quality presentation than what is presently showing on many channels.This needs much attention and prayer if we are to go back to such content for the encouragement of the lives that are growing today.
Hurricane
6 months ago
Amen!
susan
6 months ago
Wow how the times have changed, if only we could go back.
Doug
6 months ago
We need more prayers from every part of our country like this one. How far have we fallen?
abey
6 months ago
Hollywood often misuses the word "Freedom" to think it in terms of beyond God, to know that there is nothing beyond Him, to the fall.

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