Aka “Babes in Toyland”, this movie was always shown in my area around Thanksgiving when I was a kid (60’s ->70’s).
I know it sometimes get shown around Christmas.
Was this movie popular/cult favorite in your area?
Did it get aired similarly?
And while we’re at it, anyone know if this movie has ever been “restored” for DVD? I know there’s a shitty colorized version floating around.
Thanks
Channel 11.
The same channel that would show the Bowery Boys or Abbott and Costello movies on Sundays.
We would come back from the football game and watch it. By the time it was over it was time to eat.
(Dammit, now I have to find it on DVD or tape to share with my daughters…)
Channel 11 had Abbott and Costello but the Bowery Boys were on Channel 5. Abbott and Costello would run from 11:30 to 1:00 and the Bowery Boys would start at 12:30. Thank goodness coming in halfway through a Bowery Boys movie didn’t affect your understanding of the plot. 
Yep, WPIX - Channel 11. I watched it and the parade every Thanksgiving.
We don’t have cable, and can’t even get basic channels here without it (even with an antenna, we tried) so I will be missing the parade this year.
But March of the Wooden Soldiers is at the top of my Netflix queue.
Funny how this brought the WPIX people out of the woodwork.
Makes me wonder if this was a New York thing only.
The film is in the public domain, so I imagine that is why it became such a holiday tradition for WPIX. It’s A Wonderful Life became popular because of its public domain status- since people didn’t have to pay for it, they showed it at Christmastime. I’ve seen public domain DVDs of Soldiers for sale, but I don’t know if any official DVDs have been released (probably not).