Some Cartoons For Saturday Morning #47 - Christmas Edition

Hello my friends and welcome back for another Saturday Morning of classic cartoons. For me the Christmas season begins as soon as Thanksgiving is over. Since this is the first Saturday morning after Thanksgiving, this is the first Saturday morning to be exclusively about Christmas cartoons, which will continue until the Saturday before Christmas day. So sit back and enjoy these classic Christmas cartoons. 

With the studio's latter day reputation, a Disney Christmas cartoon sounds like it would be very cute and sentimental. However in the early 1930's Disney films, especially the Mickey Mouse cartoons, were often just one gag after another and that is exactly what Mickey's Orphans (1931) is. Despite having a story that could easily be extremely sentimental, the story is just an excuse to fit in as many slapstick gags as possible. A review in the Motion Picture Herald stated "The youngsters will get a real kick out of this short, and the oldsters will extract a bit of enjoyment." A review in The Film Daily gave the same sentiment stating "It will delight all children and get many a laugh from their elders." An issue of The Film Daily (Dated February 7, 1932)  stated "In addition to El Brendel in person this week's show at the Roxy is a special treat for the kids. The presentation includes four scenes based on 'Mickey's Orphans,' the Mickey Mouse cartoon that was held over for three weeks at this house. The characters of Mickey and Minnie are portrayed by the Arnaut Brothers, popular pantomimists. Patricia Bowman, Fred Waring's orchestra in a novelty entitled 'Dancing Melodies,' and the Roxyettes also are part of the proceedings. In the Mickey scenes, the Roxyettes and ballet group are made up to represent kittens, musical notes and animated furnishings in Minnie's boudoir." This cartoon was reissued to theatres in 1934.  

 

Santa's Surprise (1947) is an especially delightful Christmas cartoon from Famous Studios. This cartoon is best remembered as the first cartoon to feature the character of Little Audrey. Little Audrey was an original character for the studio and also a replacement for Little Lulu, who the studio had made a series of cartoons with in the past. Little Lulu was not created by the studio but was the star of a comic strip by Marjorie Henderson Buell. When Paramount decided not to renew the license for Famous Studios to use that character, Little Audrey was created. The character was designed by veteran Disney animator Bill Tytla (possibly my favorite Disney animator), who was know a director at Famous. This short's lead animator was Myron Waldman, who specialized in cute animation (often shining his best in the studio's Casper series). Myron would later remember this cartoon as one he was especially happy with.

My favorite Casper the Friendly Ghost cartoon is True Boo (1952). This film puts a lot of delightful Christmas spirit in with its traditional Casper story. The gags where Casper uses everyday objects to make toys, heavily borrows from the Max Fleischer Color Classic, Christmas Comes But Once a Year (1936).




Next is one of my favorite of Rudolf Ising's Merrie Melodies from the early 1930's, The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives (1933) the beginning of this cartoon is as atmospheric as these early Merrie Melodies got, and the song is extremely catchy.

  

The last cartoon for this post is from a very underrated cartoon series. This is Van Beuren's Little King cartoons. These films were often extremely creative and quite funny. This cartoon offers one very creative moment after another, showing what the series could be at its best. This short movie is Christmas Night (1933).




Thanks for joining me come back next week for more animated Christmas treasures.

-Michael J. Ruhland