Lost animated specials

[MrAtoz]

@CalMeacham

*Cricket on the Hearth was another of Chuck Jones’ efforts. I never saw it.

Was it? I thought it was Rankin-Bass. Did Jones ever do anything for them? If it is his work, it’s certainly not up to his usual standards. It’s included on one of my Rankin-Bass holiday DVDs, as a “special feature.”

It’s a feature, all right, but it ain’t that special! In fact, it’s dreary and dull, even by Rankin-Bass standards.

[CalMeacham]

@MrAtoz

Was it? I thought it was Rankin-Bass. Did Jones ever do anything for them? If it is his work, it’s certainly not up to his usual standards. It’s included on one of my Rankin-Bass holiday DVDs, as a “special feature.”

It’s a feature, all right, but it ain’t that special! In fact, it’s dreary and dull, even by Rankin-Bass standards.

Sorry – I’m thinking of a Cricket in Times Square –

The Cricket in Times Square

Some of his other work at the time:

As the Tom and Jerry series wound down (it was discontinued in 1967), Jones produced more for television. In 1966, he produced and directed the TV special How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, featuring the voice and facial models based on the readings by Boris Karloff.[9]

Jones continued to work on other TV specials such as Horton Hears a Who! (1970), but his main focus during this time was producing the feature film The Phantom Tollbooth, which did lukewarm business when MGM released it in 1970. Jones co-directed 1969’s The Pogo Special Birthday Special, based on the Walt Kelly comic strip, and voiced the characters of Porky Pine and Bun Rab. It was at this point that he decided to start ST Incorporated.[7]

MGM closed the animation division in 1970, and Jones once again started his own studio, Chuck Jones Enterprises. He produced a Saturday morning children’s TV series for the American Broadcasting Company called The Curiosity Shop in 1971. In 1973, he produced an animated version of the George Selden book The Cricket in Times Square and would go on to produce two sequels.[7]

Three of his works during this period were animated TV adaptations of short stories from Rudyard Kipling’s Mowgli’s Brothers, The White Seal and Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. During this period, Jones began to experiment with more realistically designed characters, most of which having larger eyes, leaner bodies, and altered proportions, such as those of the Looney Tunes characters.[citation needed]

Jones resumed working with Warner Bros. in 1976 with the animated TV adaptation of The Carnival of the Animals with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck

Chuck Jones

[Cardigan]

I recall seeing an animated Christmas special in the early 1970’s that was about all the barnyard animals acquiring the power of speech on Christmas day. I think there was even a song featured called 'It’s Great to Communicate"

Saw it one time and never saw or heard of it again.

[MrAtoz]

@Cardigan

I recall seeing an animated Christmas special in the early 1970’s that was about all the barnyard animals acquiring the power of speech on Christmas day. I think there was even a song featured called 'It’s Great to Communicate"

Saw it one time and never saw or heard of it again.

I remember that one, too! The Night the Animals Talked. Apparently it was only shown four times.

I had not remembered that it had songs, but it did–written by no less than Sammy Cahn and Jule Styne!

[Balance]

@MovieMogul

One of my favorite Xmas special songs was from that show (sung by Joel Grey): “Even a Miracle Needs a Plan”

Even as a small child, I thought that song was the show’s only redeeming feature. Everything else about it annoyed me. It’s likely that I put a more snarky spin on “You pray, and I’ll plan” than was intended, at that. (And it’s “Hand”, as The Other Waldo Pepper pointed out.)

@Darren_Garrison

(As an aside, I’ve always if “lorax” was supposed to be a pun on “hyrax.” Never found an answer, though.)

I’ve always assumed as much, between the pun and the Lorax’s appearance. We’re not likely to get it confirmed, unless the good doctor made notes that someone has squirreled away somewhere.

[Maus_Magill]

@CalMeacham

If you’re looking for lost Pogo animation, there’s the 1980 clay animation epic I Go Pogo (AKA Pogo for President) (some places claim 1984, but I read a piece about it in Cinefantastique in 1980). It had rotten distribution (I understand that at one point it was sold through those photo developing booths), and AFAIK has never been on TV or DVD:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087925/

I have vague memories of seeing I Go Pogo on HBO in the early eighties.

[Richard_John_Marcej]

@Maus_Magill

I have vague memories of seeing I Go Pogo on HBO in the early eighties.

I have it on VHS, but since my VCR’s no longer work, it’s nothing more than a door stop. Unless I can find it on DVD or get it transferred, it’ll be lost for me

[WildBlueYonder]

@The_Stainless_Steel_Rat

When I was a youngster (many, many years ago), they used to show a full-length cartoon of “A Christmas Carol” starring the nearsighted Mr. Magoo. It pretty much disappeared from the airways (probably because it was in black and white, IIRC) and I haven’t seen it in a long time, but for me and probably many kids in the 50’s and 60’s it was our introduction to Dicken’s classic.

I loved Mr Magoo in whatever…

@DLuxN8R-13

There was Cricket On The Hearth, a pretty lame Christmas cartoon with the voices of Danny and Marlo Thomas – and one startling scene of totally unexpected violence.

Loved the show but I had no idea it was Danny and Marlo

Wasnt there something called “The mouse and the Mayflower” or was it on the Mayflower?
I dont remember a “Puff the Magic Dragon” show, as an adult I’ve listened a bit better to the lyrics, poor Puff.Sad song. Dont really want to listen to it anymore. I used to have a yellow 78 record of it…I’ve tried to save it over the years but it seems to have disappeared. Maybe it got into one of the other jackets of albums I still have. I played that record to death! :eek::eek: