J.T.: An Urban Christmas Carol

by G. Jack Urso

 

From the Aelous 13 Umbra YouTube channel.

J.T., which first premiered on CBS on December 13, 1969, is the story of a young African American child, J.T., living in an urban slum. Just before Christmas, J.T. finds a stray cat and immediately identifies with the unwanted animal, picked on by humans and lacking shelter. Unable to take the cat home, J.T. goes to great lengths to keep his new friend alive, learning lessons in love and responsibility while doing so. When tragedy strikes, J.T. learns an important lesson about Christmas and taking responsibility for your actions. It is presented above from the Aeolus 13 Umbra YouTube channel.

Beaten up, neglected, and starving, the cat had no one to care for it, until J.T.

The film shows the grinding poverty of the late 1960s. Many of the same problems that still plague urban youth today are portrayed: single-parent families, sons without fathers, bullying, and crime, to name but a few. The cat is stand-in for the Christ Child, and really for all of us born into this world and dependent upon the kindness of others for our survival. J.T. captures a moment in time and serves as a historical snapshot of mid-century inner-city poverty in the United States. Author Jane Wagner, also a lyricist, originally wrote J.T. as a ballad before converting it to a story. Recognized for its excellence in writing, the book won a Peabody Award in 1970. 

The story, as summarized on the back of the Yearling Edition paperback:

To the guys on the block, J.T. is the kid who stole the radio out of the red convertible before they could get to it. His neighbor, Mrs. Morris, declares him a first-class nuisance. His mother is bewildered — “He’s just gone bad, that’s all. Stealin' and lyin' and I don't know what all.” But the sensitivity, responsibility, and care of which the ten-year-old J.T. Gamble is capable emerge when he finds an old, one-eyed, badly hurt alley cat. J.T. takes on a new dimension as he lavishes the love he is unable to express to the people around him on the battered cat he has found in the junk-filled empty lot.

Unable to bring the cat home, J.T. builds a place for it to live out of garbage and begins to feed and care for it. The local bullies, however, who want that radio, discover J.T.’s secret, which leads to an unfortunate and tragic end for the cat. Nevertheless, there is always another stray cat that needs help, and, in the conclusion, J.T. gets a job so he can take care of it at home.

Unable to bring the cat home, J.T. builds it a place to live made out of garbage. 

J.T. aired for only a few years in the early 1970s and then disappeared from the airwaves. According to reports by fans, it also received some distribution to public schools in the early-mid 1970s. The original 16-mm film is currently housed in the Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. 

Period TV Guide advertisement.

Despite the serious material, I immediately identified with J.T. The second year the show aired I made my father sit down and watch it on the small black and white television in the bedroom I shared with my brother. I even had the photo book of the film which I wore out reading all year round. As time went on, though I did not forget the story, I forgot the title and thought it might be a piece of my childhood forever lost. Persistent search engine inquiries eventually helped me track down the show, and the sheer delight upon finding a lost part of one’s youth is a Christmas gift in and of itself.

J.T. cares for the cat's bad eye by making it an eye patch.

Baby Boomers will notice some familiar names and faces from classic 1970s TV shows and film. J.T. himself is played by Kevin Hooks, a prominent cast member on The White Shadow; Ja'net DuBois, the outspoken next-door neighbor on Good Times, is J.T’s mother, and Gordon Parks Jr., who later directed Super Fly (1972), was the on-set photographer and his photos, which can be seen in the book, help create a realistic portrayal of inner-city life. Additionally, Holland Taylor, from Two and a Half Men, turns up as J.T.'s teacher in her first screen credit. 

Holland Taylor and Kevin Hooks.

On a side note, comedian Lily Tomlin, impressed by J.T.’s author Jane Wagner’s writing, invited Wagner to work with her on a project. The two fell in love and have been together for over forty years.

Though the cat he was trying to save was killed, there is always another life that needs love and care. J.T. gets his Christmas wish after all, and so does this cat.

J.T. has also inspired in me a life-long love of animals and a calling for rescuing stray cats. As I write this, a black and white domestic short hair cat, not unlike the one in J.T., rescued from the outside just this past week, sits in my home snug and warm on this cold Northeastern Christmas Eve. As it has been said before, the lessons we learn as children are the ones we remember for the rest of our lives — and the lessons J.T. taught are still worth learning.

Collage of scenes from the film (IMDb). 

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