'Twas the Night Before Christmas (1977 TV special) 'Twas the Night Before Christmas (1977 TV special) Twas the Night Before Christmas is a Christmas television special loosely inspired by the 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" by Clement Clarke Moore. It first aired December 7, 1977 on ABC. Directed by Tim Kiley, it stars Paul Lynde, Anne Meara, Martha Raye, and Alice Ghostley. The story is set on Christmas Eve in a New England town in the late 1890s. The Cosgrove family's home is in an uproar over the holidays. The patriarch, Clark Cosgrove (Paul Lynde) is frazzled by the gift demands of his loud children. His
Clement Lanier record the event): NOTE: Of the above children, Robert, Lionel, William, Hannah, Elizabeth, Susanne, and Frances received small bequests in the will of their father's sister, Catherine Lanier Farrant, written 24 Aug 1659 (TNA/PCC PROB/11/305). This implies that John Lanier had already left home, possibly with emigration to American, while Robert was still in England, if not Greenwich. Clement Lanier Clement Lanier was an English musician and recorder player. He was the son of Nicholas Lanier, the Elder and Lucretia Bassano, and hence uncle of Nicholas Lanier, the artist-musician. Clement Lanier was born circa 1580-85 in England, and was buried