Hello my friends and happy Saturday morning. Since Christmas is still approaching, let us have another look at some classic Christmas themed cartoons.
The Max Fleischer Color Classics served as the Fleischer Studio's version of Disney's Silly Symphonies. Like that series these cartoons rarely featured reoccurring characters. It was definitely uncommon to see a character from one of the Fleischers' other cartoon series. An exception was Christmas Comes But Once a Year (1936). This short movie featured Grampy from the Betty Boop cartoons. This is one of the most charming Color Classics and one of the best uses of sentimentality (something that was not the studio's forte) at the studio. Grampy was one of the best things about the later Betty Boop films and he definitely gets to shine here. The title song in this short movie would later be reused in the Popeye cartoon, Let's Celebrake (1938) with the lyrics changed to be about New Years instead. Some of Grampy's household toy ideas would later be used in the Casper cartoon, True Boo (1952). So enjoy this delightful cartoon.
Jack Hannah's Donald Duck cartoons were always fantastic examples of slapstick cartoon comedy at its finest. These were fast paced and very funny cartoons that could hold their own with any comedy shorts from any other cartoon studio. Some highlights were definitely the ones with Chip and Dale. These two Chipmunks always perfectly fit Hannah's slapstick sense of humor and they were never funnier than when directed by him. One of my favorite of these films is Toy Tinkers (1949).
The next cartoon might be a bit of a cheat, because it is about many holidays instead of just one, but so is Holiday Inn (1942) and that movie is always associated with Christmas. Plus this cartoons stars that near and dear friend to you and me Scrappy. This is the delightful, Holiday Land (1934). Unusual for a Scrappy cartoon this film is in color. In fact this short movie marked the first color cartoon from Columbia. This cartoon played for two weeks at the Radio City Music Hall to a very good response and was even nominated for the Best Animated Short Film Oscar (Disney's Tortoise and the Hare (1934) won). A review in The Film Daily called this cartoon "a generally enjoyable cartoon fantasy." In the 1940's this cartoon would receive a 16mm home viewing release. Speaking about Scrappy and Christmas together in 1936 Columbia had a Scrappy Christmas party where various cartoons (most of which featured Scrappy) were shown to Children in the Hospital For Joint Diseases in New York City. Anyway enjoy the cartoon.
Ending this post is a classic silent short movie from stop motion master, Ladislas Starevich. So enjoy The Insect's Christmas (1913). The animation here is not only impressive for being a film over one hundred years old, but it still looks masterfully done today.
Come back next week for more classic Christmas cartoons.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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