Renewing Mark & Nani Wilson's Magical Holiday Tradition

Way back in 1953, I graduated from SMU and married the lovely Nani Darnell (which was the smartest decision I ever made). Our first son Mike was born the next year and Nani and I had our hands full.  We were a young family who dreamed of having our own Network Television Series. 

That was well over half a century ago.
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There was little magic on TV at that time, and certainly not a series that was 100% magic.  Within the first couple months I had sold my first television series in Dallas, TX, Time for Magic.   In another market, San Antonio, we had “Mark Wilson’s Magic Club”, and so on.  As there was no video-tape, each show was done “live” from the local TV studios, which meant we had to drive to each city, often many miles, unpack and do it again.

But I’m getting away from the main point.

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Very seldom did someone make a custom Christmas Card back then.  They were quite rare.  Occasionally a large company would create a custom card for their executives to send out.

Just as I knew that magic would work on TV, I understood the importance that your communications are only effective if someone opens the mail, reads the contents, and remembers it… better yet, keeps it!  That’s why I knew this would be a lovely thing for friends and relatives to receive, and for my business friends as well.

My thought was that the Christmas card will get more recognition from the people to which you are sending it and is much better than a mailer that just tells them about your shows.

I went to the art director at the local station in Dallas I was working with, and asked him to help design our first Christmas Card. 

We used the bunny that was created for my logo on the set.  Put him in a Santa outfit, and came up with our first idea for a cute card in 1956. 

By today’s standards, this is a very simple greeting card, but back then, it was an expensive thing to make!  So I hoped that when someone received it, they would hang on to it and share it with their family and friends. ​ 

Each year after that, in ‘57, ’58, & ’59, while still living in Dallas, we tried to improve on the design and the quality of the cards.  You can see that we included a very young 3 year old Mike on the 1957 card, and for many years after that.  They had been so well received that we continued to make those special greetings even after moving to Los Angeles!

During the production of The Magic Land of Allakazam we had a wonderful artist named Glenn Schmidt.  He did the custom art for our cards in 1960 and 1961.

One of the best parts of this story is that Nani and I have a habit of keeping the things we like.  Most were mailed out, but we still have a few of those original cards, and that’s why I’m able to tell you this story.

I hope this little story brings you the hope and joy that began over a half century ago,
and these funny little cards make you smile.

From our family to yours,
Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year!

​Mark Wilson & Nani Darnell Wilson