returns home with a bulge in his coat. Thinking he has shoplifted again, Marge confronts Bart, who reveals he bought a Christmas present for her: a photo of himself smiling. Overjoyed at getting this early Christmas gift, Marge gives Bart his present: the golf simulator video game Lee Carvallo's Putting Challenge. Though underwhelmed, Bart thanks her and they reconcile. Production Mike Scully, the writer of the episode, based it on an experience in his childhood. Scully was twelve years old when he paid a visit to the Bradlees discount department store in West Springfield, Massachusetts. A "bunch of guys" were shoplifting at the store, and they "pressured" Scully into shoplifting as well. He ended up getting caught outside, and "had one of the most traumatic moments" of his life. "To this day it still terrifies me", Scully said. He jokingly told Variety, "It's great to be paid for reliving the horrors of your life". The episode was directed by Steven Dean Moore. The show runner of The Simpsons at the time, Bill Oakley, thinks this is one of the most "beautifully" directed episodes of the show. He called the "hand-colouring" very "vivid" and "bright". The episode is the first Christmas episode the producers had done since the first episode of the series, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire". Oakley said that nobody in the writing staff wanted to "try on Christmas" because it was "so famous" as being the first episode. Lawrence Tierney guest-starred in the episode as Don Brodka. Another former show runner, Josh Weinstein, called Tierney's appearance "the craziest guest star experience we ever had". In addition to yelling at and intimidating employees of the show, Tierney made requests they considered unreasonable, such as abandoning his distinctive voice to do the part in a southern accent and refusing to perform lines if he did not "get the jokes". Despite this, Oakley and Weinstein thought Tierney did a good job. Weinstein said, "He certainly delivered and he's one of my favorite characters we have had [on the show]". "Marge Be Not Proud" originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on December 17, 1995. The episode was selected for release in a 1999 video collection of selected episodes, titled: Bart Wars. Other episodes included in the collection set were "Mayored to the Mob", "Dog of Death", and "The Secret War of Lisa Simpson". The episode was again