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Now let's see, this'll make three Christmases I've saved versus eight I ruined...two were kind of a draw...

— Homer discussing his assistance in Bart and Lisa's plan

"Grift of the Magi" is the fourth Christmas episode of the animated series The Simpsons, produced and aired as the ninth episode of its eleventh season.

Synopsis[]

After an ozone hole moves over Springfield, Bart and Milhouse remain inside the house. Owing to boredom, they dress up as ladies and jump on the bed (singing "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves"). Bart falls off of the bed and lands on one of Homer's bowling balls and breaks his coccyx. Dr. Hibbert informs Homer and Marge that Bart will have to use a wheelchair until the bone has healed.

When Bart attends school the following day, he cannot enter the school, for it lacks ramps for the disabled. Principal Skinner initially believes it is another of Bart's pranks. As Skinner verbally considers ramps for the school, Fat Tony emerges and suggests that his construction company, Valdazzo Brothers Olive Oil, would be a good choice of company to build it. After the ramps are completed, Skinner holds a grand opening for the ramps. Unfortunately by this time, it is revealed that Bart's "butt-bone" has healed. However, Skinner remains optimistic for the ramps' future. As he reassuringly taps the ramps, they crumble and the structure collapses, as they are built using paint, breadsticks, and shellac. Fat Tony informs Skinner that he will have to pay $200,000 in damages. In response, Principal Skinner decides to close Springfield Elementary due to lack of funds (having used them to pay off Fat Tony and thus avoid brutal mob reprisals). All pleas for financial help are in vain, until Jim Hope, the president of a company named Kid First Industries, buys the school and privatizes it.

The whole of the school's staff is replaced; the teaching direction changes and classes focus on toys and marketing. This makes Lisa suspicious when her class is asked to name a new toy that they will sell for Christmas. Lisa is caught doing Venn Diagrams in class and is forced to write lines after class. Bart finds Lisa writing lines on the blackboard, and states "The ironing is delicious" (misstating "irony" as "ironing"). As Bart leaves and turns off the classroom lights, Lisa finds light shining through the blackboard. Lisa later discovers that company that bought the school is a toy company, using students for research to make a toy, through the use of hidden cameras, tape recording and clear, two-way blackboards.

Lisa gathers Marge, Homer, and Chief Wiggum to investigate. Wiggum opens the door adjacent to the classroom and it is revealed the hidden room was reconverted back into a janitor's closet, which causes Wiggum to disbelieve Lisa. Later, when Bart and Lisa are back at home, watching television, they see an advertisement for a new toy named Funzo (a name that was suggested by Lisa). The toy has many features suggested during a brainstorming session, including one of Bart's suggestions. Lisa takes Bart to the Kid First Industries headquarters, sneaking past Gary Coleman (as a security guard with varying mental health). They visit Jim Hope's office to complain, and he apologetically gives them a free Funzo toy.

Bart and Lisa later discover Funzo is programmed to destroy other toys. On Christmas Eve, with Homer's help, they steal all the Funzo toys from underneath every Christmas tree in Springfield with the intention of burning them. However, Gary Coleman comes to stop them. The two parties begin an argument, which settles down into civilized discussion. Just after they agree that Christmas' commercialization is a mixed blessing, a Funzo suddenly emerges from the fire and attacks them, only to be defeated by Gary. Afterwards, they invite Gary to a Christmas dinner at the Simpson house. As for Springfield Elementary, Mr. Burns has a change of heart after being visited by the three spirits of Christmas and decides to fund the school and it resumes normal operation.

Songs[]

Uncredited
Title(s) Performed by
"Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves" Nancy Cartwright and Pamela Hayden
Nancy Cartwright and Yeardley Smith
"Writhing Funzos" Dan Castellaneta

Availability[]

The episode made its home video debut on the Christmas with the Simpsons DVD, released in 2003. It was later included on The Simpsons: The Complete 11th Season DVD set in 2008.

Cast[]

Voice actor/actress Character(s)
Dan Castellaneta Homer Simpson
Krusty the Clown
Julie Kavner Marge Simpson
Nancy Cartwright Bart Simpson
Ralph Wiggum
Nelson Muntz
Boy
Girl
Yeardley Smith Lisa Simpson
Hank Azaria Moe Szyslak
Court show announcer
Defendant
Bumblebee Man
Chief Wiggum
Carl Carlson
Funzos
Harry Shearer Kent Brockman
Dr. Hibbert
Principal Skinner
Ned Flanders
Mr. Burns
Waylon Smithers
Phil
Announcer
Lenny Leonard
Clarence Clemons Epilogue Narrator
Gary Coleman Himself
Joe Mantegna Fat Tony
Tim Robbins Jim Hope
Marcia Wallace
Karl Wiedergott
Crowd
Pamela Hayden Milhouse Van Houten
Tress MacNeille Plaintiff
Lindsay
Teacher
Russi Taylor Martin Prince
Sherri
Terri
Maggie Roswell Miss Hoover

External links[]

20th Century
Movies
Miracle on 34th Street (1955 remake) (1973 remake) (1994 remake) • Die HardDie Hard 2Home AloneHome Alone 2: Lost in New YorkGeorge Balanchine's The NutcrackerTrapped in ParadiseJingle All the WayHome Alone 4The Family StoneDeck the Halls12 Men of ChristmasHome Alone: The Holiday HeistJingle All the Way 2Home Sweet Home Alone
Television episodes and specials
20th Television
M*A*S*H "Dear Dad" • "Dear Sis" • "Death Takes a Holiday" • "All About Christmas Eve"
Tracey Ullman "Santa Baby" • "Kay's Gift" • "Merry Catnip"
The X Files "Christmas Carol" • "Emily" • "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas"
Malcolm in the Middle "Christmas" • "Christmas Trees" • "Pearl Harbor" • "Hal's Christmas Gift
Bones "The Man in the Fallout Shelter" • "The Santa in the Slush" • "The Goop on the Girl"
How I Met Your Mother "How Lily Stole Christmas" • "Little Minnesota" • "False Positive" • "Symphony of Illumination" • "The Over-Correction" • "The Final Page, Part 1" • "The Final Page, Part 2"
Glee "A Very Glee Christmas" • "Extraordinary Merry Christmas" • "Glee, Actually" • "Previously Unaired Christmas"
New Girl "The 23rd" • "Santa" • "LAXmas" • "Christmas Eve Eve"
The Mindy Project "Josh and Mindy's Christmas Party" • "Christmas Party Sex Trap" • "Christmas" • "When Mindy Met Danny"
Last Man Standing "Last Christmas Standing" • "Putting a Hit on Christmas" • "Elfie" • "Wedding Planning" • "Gift of the Wise Man"
Other shows "Christmas Story" • "The Worst Noel" • "Haus Arrest" • "Amends" • "Blue Christmas" • "A Christmas Story" • "Cookies for Santa" • "In God We Trust" • "Road to Tradition" • "Afternoon Delight" • "Christmas" • "The Glitch That Stole Christmas" • "Secret Santa"
20th Television Animation
The Simpsons "Simpson Christmas" • "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" • "Marge Be Not Proud" • "Miracle on Evergreen Terrace" • "Grift of the Magi" • "Skinner's Sense of Snow" • "She of Little Faith" • "'Tis the Fifteenth Season" • "Simpson Christmas Stories" • "Kill Gil, Volumes I & II" • "The Fight Before Christmas" • "Holidays of Future Passed" • "White Christmas Blues" • "I Won't Be Home for Christmas • "The Nightmare After Krustmas" • "'Tis the 30th Season" • "Bobby, It's Cold Outside" • "The Way of The Dog" • "A Springfield Summer Christmas for Christmas" • "Manger Things" • Feliz Navidad
King of the Hill "The Unbearable Blindness of Laying" • "Pretty, Pretty Dresses" • "Hillennium" • "'Twas the Nut Before Christmas" • "The Father, the Son, and J.C." • "Livin' on Reds, Vitamin C and Propane" • "Ms. Wakefield"
Family Guy, American Dad!, and The Cleveland Show "A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas" • "The Best Christmas Story Never" • "The Most Adequate Christmas Ever" • "Rapture's Delight" • "A Cleveland Brown Christmas" • "Road to the North Pole" • "For Whom the Sleigh Bell Tolls" • "Murray Christmas" • "Season's Beatings" • "Die Semi-Hard" • "Jesus, Mary and Joseph!" • "'Tis the Cleveland To Be Sorry" • "Minstrel Krampus" • "Christmas Guy" • "Dreaming of a White Porsche Christmas" • "The 2000-Year-Old Virgin" • "How the Griffin Stole Christmas" • "Ninety North, Zero West" • "Gifted Me Liberty" • "Don't Be a Dickens At Christmas" • "Santa, Schmanta" • "Christmas is Coming" • "Yule. Tide. Repeat." • "The First No L" • "Christmas Crime" • "The Return of the King (of Queens)"
Futurama "Xmas Story" • "A Tale of Two Santas" • "The Futurama Holiday Spectacular" • "I Know What You Did Next Xmas"
Bob's Burgers "God Rest Ye Merry Gentle-Mannequins" • "Christmas in the Car" • "Father of the Bob" • "Nice-Capades" • "The Last Gingerbread House on the Left" • "The Bleakening" • "Better Off Sled" • "Have Yourself a Maily Linda Christmas" • "Yachty or Nice" • "Gene's Christmas Break" • "The Plight Before Christmas" • "The Nightmare 2 Days Before Christmas"
Other cartoons "Hook's Christmas" • "A Christmas Surprise for Mrs. Stillman" • Olive, the Other ReindeerIce Age: A Mammoth Christmas • "The War on Grafelnik" • "Miracle on Culpepper Slims Boulevard" • "A Very Solar Holiday Opposites Special" • "Dip the Halls Adventure" • "Xmas with The Skanks Adventure"
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