Jerome Coopersmith also wrote screenplays for TV movies and specials which aired on the major networks in the 1970s and 80s. His first feature film of this era, ""Mr. Inside/Mr. Outside"", was originally planned as a series pilot, and was produced by Philip D'Antoni (""The French Connection"") in 1973. The movie starred Tony LoBianco and Hal Linden as cops thwarting a gang of diamond smugglers. In 1973, Coopersmith wrote the screenplay for ""'Twas The Night Before Christmas"" an animated adaptation of Clement Moore's classic poem ""A Visit From Saint Nicholas"". The Rankin/Bass production featured voices by Joel Grey, George Gobel, Tammy Grimes,
A Visit from St. Nicholas for whom he had originally written the piece. Moore's conception of Saint Nicholas was borrowed from his friend Washington Irving, but Moore portrayed his "jolly old elf" as arriving on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day. At the time that Moore wrote the poem, Christmas Day was overtaking New Year's Day as the preferred genteel family holiday of the season, but some Protestants viewed Christmas as the result of "Catholic ignorance and deception" and still had reservations. By having Saint Nicholas arrive the night before, Moore "deftly shifted the focus away from Christmas Day with its still-problematic religious associations." As