Happy Saturday morning my friends. Christmas is still approaching so this morning's cartoons will also be dedicated to Christmas.
First is a half hour TV special, I wish would play on TV. This is A Pink Christmas (1978) starring the coolest cat in all filmdom. The Pink Panther. While The Pink Panther has often been compared to Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp, this is probably the most clear example. Like Charlie Chaplin's best films, this special effortlessly combines sentimentality and slapstick humor. The character is at his most likable and charming here creating what is to me a Christmas must watch.
Buddy the Elf tells us that "The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear." So why don't we all sing a Christmas song together. During the early days of talkie cartoons, The Fleischer Brothers did a series of sing a long cartoons featuring a bouncing ball. In 1945 the Fleischer's successors, Famous studios revived this idea under the title Screen Songs. These Screen Songs often followed a simple formula. They were simple spot gag cartoons with no real story just lots of jokes. After a while of this, a cartoon character would tell us to sing along and then the words to a famous song (as well as a bouncing ball) would appear on the screen. Snow Foolin' (1949) is a typical entry, but since the song is Jingle Bells it feel appropriate for Christmas time. Remember I want to hear you all singing.
Next comes another delightful cartoon from Famous Studios, Hector's Hectic Life (1948). This film was directed by one of my all time favorite animators, Bill Tytla. Bill is best remembered for his work at Disney where he was the lead animator on such characters as Dumbo, Stromboli, Doc and Grumpy.
Though Disney's Silly Symphony films were meant to differ from the Mickey Mouse series by not being about reoccurring characters, there were some sequel cartoons made. Probably the most famous of these were the later Three Little Pigs films. The Silly Symphony, Santa's Workshop (1932) was so successful that it was followed by the even better The Night Before Christmas (1933). This was much more of a pantomime short than the first. In fact Santa speaks no dialogue at all, and his laugh is just reused from the previous cartoon. While the Silly Symphony, The China Shop (1934) was already in development at this time, it was briefly pushed back so this film could be released around Christmas time. In the 1950's this film became the closing Mousekartoon on The Mickey Mouse Club TV show on the last episode before Christmas day every year. A review in The Film Daily called this "one of Walt Disney's best cartoons." Another issue of The Film Daily stated "If there is any film that can delight the kiddies more than 'The Three Little Pigs,' it is this holiday gem." When release many store windows used cut outs of characters from this film in their Christmas displays. The New York Radio City Music Hall put six drawings from this film on display when they played it. Not everyone was as impressed though as an Exhibitors review in the Motion Picture Herald stated, "These Silly Symphonies are okay but not worth the differance in rental United Artists asks from them."
Thank you for joining me please come back next week for the last batch of Christmas cartoons for this year. God bless and Merry Christmas. Peace, love and cartoons.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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