But that’s not exactly what I mean by ‘classic’. I mean old. Old TV shows celebrating Christmas.
Three or four years ago, I picked up a ninety-nine cent DVD out of a bin at a supermarket that trumpeted on the cover “Christmas Cartoons”. The front cover announced “10 Seasonal Cartoons” and had a picture of Rudolph on the front just to help with the additional sale to suckers. The episode listing on the back explained a bit more, and showed ten Christmas shows none of which I had ever heard of. I bought it immediately.
I’m thoroughly delighted by the DVD. It seems to reach back before our current Christmas entertainment and gives me a hint of what specials our culture looked forward to before Rankin Bass came along with their Christmas classics and made themselves a permanent part of Christmas culture. I don’t want to cover all ten in one blog post, but I do want to mention a few of the more interesting entries.
The aforementioned Rudolph on the front cover… the cartoon contained on this DVD has nothing to do with the Rankin Bass classic show of which everyone thinks. And researching what this cartoon was taught me a few things. Apparently, the story of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was written by a guy named Robert May in 1939 specifically for use by Montgomery Ward for the kiddies around Christmas time. He’s a marketing gimmick that transcended into pop culture legend. The nine minute cartoon was made in 1944 by the Max Fleisher studios and probably aired in movie theatres before the start of the main feature. It’s surprising to find a show about Rudolph that pre-dates the 1964 Rankin Bass classic by twenty full years, but it’s even more surprising to find out that Gene Autry didn’t make his famous recording of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer until 1949. The cartoon pre-dates the song! Not only that, but apparently the cartoon was re-issued with the song added after the song proved to be so popular. You can read more about it here.
I loved the Rankin Bass Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer as a kid. As an adult, I find it to be an hour long waste of time. It’s downright cruel in spots and excruciatingly slow. The nine minute cartoon is perfect in comparison, only missing out on the years of associated nostalgia.
Another of the cartoons on this DVD of a particular curious nature is the Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives. It actually has it’s own Wikipedia page and you can check that out here. The Merrie Melodies cartoon was first aired in 1933, during the Great Depression. And it shows.
To give you some perspective on the era, the first Mickey Mouse was in 1928. The first Porky Pig was 1935. Fleisher brought Popeye to cartoon life in 1936. A prototypical Bugs Bunny appeared in 1938. The first Superman appearance in comic books was 1938 and the first Fleisher cartoon in 1941.
The cartoon is very fluid and typical of a Merrie Melodies effort of the era. It’s also very racist and hard to watch. It deals with a poor little boy, who sounds a lot like Mickey Mouse, being found by Santa and taken back to Santa’s shanty for a Christmas party with the animated toys. The cartoon has a nice nostalgic feel to it, but I would say you have to view it from a historical perspective in order to get through it. For instance, A little white doll falls into a bucket of coal and comes out in blackface. Then shouts out “Mammy” and is joined by an offensive stereotype black Southern ‘Mammy’. That’s only one short bit. There’s also some time given to a ‘Sambo’ jazz band. I feel it’s important to not shy away from such things that were a strong part of our culture back then, but it’s not a cartoon I would sit the kids in front of and just leave them be.
The cartoon ends when one of the candles on the tree falls over. Back then, candles were the primary method of Christmas lights for trees and the threat of fire was constant. The tree burns and the toys go to work putting it out. Given a last minute assist by the little poor boy.
The last special I wanted to cover today is just plain odd. It’s hard to pinpoint ANY of these specials on the DVD to be odder than the others, but this one is unique. It’s called a “Christmas Fairy Tale” and I couldn’t find any information on it at all. It is, however, available on YouTube. The 11 minute special is completely in live action and starts with a little girl reading about fairy tales on Christmas Eve. As she begins to imagine what these fairy tales are doing now, we’re treated to scenes of animatronic toys acting out various scenes from the fairy tales. Creepy, grinny, toy versions of Wee Willy Winky, Simple Simon, Mother Goose, Hansel and Gretel, Robin Hood, Rip Van Winkle, the Three Bears, Three Blind Mice, Rapunzel, Little Red Riding Hood, Puss N Boots, and Little Bo Peep all parade across the scene and end up dancing in a Christmas ball. Helpfully narrated for us to make sure we know what’s happening.
It’s… odd. It’s obviously from the 1950’s and it seems the technology and animation available at the time would have made this sort of presentation a little old fashioned. Even my wife Lorie commented on the weirdness of it.
The show ended with an even weirder presentation of the Littlest Snowman. The narrator read the story to us as static scenes of dolls in model houses paraded by on a track past an unmoving camera. Neither animated, animatronic, or interesting… other than admiration of the craft and the oddity of presentation.
My current theory is that I just had the wrong perspective going in. My mind was trying to make it into a Christmas special done specifically for television in the 1950’s. But after some discussion and time has gone by, I know think that what we were seeing was simply a department store window display. I’ve heard of this, where department stores create something fantastic for their street-facing windows for the kids to come see at Christmas time while there parents shopped. But I’ve never seen anything like this.
Of course, that’s pure theory on my part. So if any of you have more information on this crazy special, I’d love to hear it.
Thanks,
DCD
"Even my wife Lorie commented on the weirdness of it."
ReplyDelete???? must have been REALLY weird! ;)
Macy's on 34th have windows that tell story. Even interactive screens where you can control part of the window display. There are speakers worked into the store awings so when you are standing there looking at the window, you can hear the narration and then you move to the next window to hear the next part of the story.
so…there's that…
Yeah. I do suspect the Littlest Snowman is a Macy's display. But I hesitate to write that because I have ZERO information to back that up. It's a google-void on this particular special.
DeleteYeah; what's with that comment about me?!
DeleteYour wife
The first Christmas special I remember seeing was Charlie Brown Christmas when I was in nursing school. I was babysitting and stumbled on it. Dixiegirl in VT
ReplyDelete