The following was forwarded to me, and I pass it on in the interests of encouraging traditional (?) music in the mass media. I've got no other personal investment, other than curiosity about how authentically Scott Bakula may sing and play banjo! Notice how cleverly they use the C-word to pull in the Riverdance masses.

~ Becky in Tucson

Attached please find our press release on this film about an Appalachian family in the 1930s. Scott Bakula not only stars, but also sings and plays banjo in the film. He also wrote the title song.

We hope you can post this information so that your club members, friends and family can be aware of this very special film.

Thank you.

October 10, 2000

SCOTT BAKULA, EVA MARIE SAINT AND CYNTHIA NIXON STAR IN "PAPA'S ANGELS," A HEARTWARMING NEW HOLIDAY MOVIE, TO BE BROADCAST DEC. 3 ON THE CBS TELEVISION NETWORK

Drama Is Based on the Book Papa's Angels: A Christmas Story By Collin Wilcox Paxton and Gary Carden

Scott Bakula ("American Beauty"), Eva Marie Saint ("I Dreamed of Africa") and Cynthia Nixon ("Sex and the City") star in PAPA'S ANGELS, a heartwarming new holiday movie to be broadcast as the "CBS Sunday Movie," Sunday, Dec. 3 (9:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the CBS Television Network. The drama, based on the book Papa's Angels: A Christmas Story by Collin Wilcox Paxton and Gary Carden, relates how the magic of Christmas holds a tight-knit Appalachian family together when they're faced with a tragic loss.

"Grins" Jenkins (Bakula) is a devoted husband, father of four, expert carpenter and talented musician in a small Smokey Mountain community in the 1930s. The story unfolds as Grins' wife, Sharon (Nixon), shares an old Celtic Christmas fable with their 5-year-old son, John Neal (Brandon James Olson). According to legend, if one lights a new yule fire with a remnant from the previous year's fire, the spirits of the deceased come back to give comfort and courage.

Also part of the Jenkins' loving household are Hannah Rose (Jenny-Lynn Hutcheson), the tomboy daughter; Alvin (Lachlan Murdoch), the responsible son, and Becca (Kimberley Warnat), the bright, pretty teenager who has been mute since a childhood illness. Grins' mother, Granny (Saint), lives nearby, watching over the family and helping out wherever she's needed. Joyous music constantly fills the Jenkins' home, with Grins' playing his banjo and Sharon singing softly.

When Sharon becomes ill later that year, Grins is forced to take her to a sanitarium so the children will not be infected. Determined to bring his beloved back home, he builds a beautiful glass room onto the family's cabin to give her a perpetual view of the sun, moon and stars, while allowing her to be with him and the children. But love and sunshine are not enough to make Sharon well, and she soon passes on.

Overcome with grief, Grins loses his passion for music and family and refuses to celebrate the first Christmas following Sharon's death. The children, determined to bring joy back into the house, realize they must band together in the spirit of Christmas to give their father a gift he will never forget. With their love and faith, and the remains of last winter's old yule log, the old Celtic legend comes to fruition.

Scott Bakula starred in the hit television series "Quantum Leap," which earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series in addition to four consecutive Emmy Award nominations and three more Golden Globe nominations. His television credits also include the series "Designing Women" and "Murphy Brown," both on CBS, and the movies "Bachelor's Baby" and "In the Name of the People," also on the Network, "Tom Clancy's Netforce" and "Mean Streak." His feature film credits include "American Beauty," "Luminarias," "Lord of Illusions," "Major League: Back to the Minors," "Mi Familia/My Family," "Color of Night," "A Passion To Kill," "Necessary Roughness" and "Sibling Rivalry." He also has numerous theater credits, including a role in the Broadway musical "Romance/Romance," which earned him a Tony Award nomination.

Eva Marie Saint's screen credits include such classics as "On the Waterfront," which earned her an Academy Award, and "North by Northwest," "A Hatful of Rain," "Raintree County," "Exodus," "All Fall Down," "The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming!" "Grand Prix," "The Stalking Moon," "Loving" and "Nothing in Common." She most recently starred in the movie "I Dreamed of Africa." Her television movie credits include the mini-series "People Like Us," for which she won an Emmy Award, "How the West Was Won," "Fatal Vision," "When Hell Was in Session," "The Last Days of Patton," "Time To Say Goodbye," "My Antonia" and, on the Network," the mini-series "Titanic." Saint's stage triumphs include the Broadway productions of "The Trip to Bountiful," "The Lincoln Mask" and "Duet for One."

Cynthia Nixon who played the role of Miranda in the hit cable series "Sex and the City," also appeared in the television movies "Face of a Stranger," on the Network, "The Love She Sought" and the mini-series "Love, Lies and Murder," "The Murder of Mary Phagan" and "Tanner '88: The Dark Horse." Her other television credits include the series "Touched By An Angel," "Early Edition," "Nash Bridges" and "Murder, She Wrote," all on the Network, and The Outer Limits." Among Nixon's feature film credits are "Marvin's Room," "Baby's Day Out," "The Pelican Brief," "Addams Family Values," "The Manhattan Project," "Amadeus" and "Little Darlings."

PAPA'S ANGELS was produced by Marian Rees Associates, Inc., in association with Bakula Productions, Inc. Marian Rees, Scott Bakula and Tom Spiroff are the executive producers; Anne Hopkins is the producer; Eda Lishman, the Canadian co-producer. Dwight Little directed the film, based on a script by Kirk Ellis & Collin Wilcox Paxton and Bill Cain.

RATING: To Be Announced