Yep, I watched it again tonight for the first time in many years. The bird murder scene was quite cruel. There’s the elf, equipping each toy with its own personal umbrella to guide it safely down to earth, until he comes to the bird. The elf even pulls out an umbrella, opens it, holding bird in one hand, umbrella in the other, as if to give one final taunt. The viewer is expecting the elf to hand over the umbrella at any moment, when suddenly, with no change of expression and showing no remorse, the elf simply tosses the bird over the sled, with complete and utter disregard for any sanctity of life.
My brother was watching this with his kids. He had pounded a few beers and when Mrs. Clause starts shouting, “eat Santa, eat!”, he came back with, “yeah, drink Santa, drink!” Been something of a partying catchphrase ever since.
Anyway, is the person (I always assumed a woman) who voiced Rudolph still around? (S)he was somewhat famous in the voiceover business, having done such characters as Speedy the Alka-Seltzer guy and Davie from Davie & Goliath (that religious kid’s show).
I just watched it tonight too and saw something completely different. All the other toys before the bird grabbed the umbrella; it looked like the elf was waiting for the bird to do the same, but the bird looked at the umbrella, and then chose to fly off itself (a miracle!). I also did not see the elf’s right arm (the one without the umbrella) move, so IMHO no tossing occurred.
Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, now that the defense has given his closing statement, the case is now in your hands.
Did the elf, as I claim, ruthlessly and maliciously deny this bird an umbrella? An umbrella which would provide him free passage from Santa’s sled, down to the surface of the earth. An umbrella, without which my client would most assuredly plummet to certain death upon arrival at his destination, being that he is a bird gifted with swim, however, deprived of flight.
Or, as ArchiveGuy, elf defense attorney, claims, did this bird suddenly gain an ability to fly, and therefore willfully waive any and all rights to possession of the umbrella upon this discovered ability.
I ask you–Has an ostrish ever been known to soar among the clouds? Has an emu ever flapped from treetop to treetop, sailing through the wind? I think not; a bird, at once without flight, shall always be without flight.
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I am outraged. If the bird does not fly, it shall surely die.
I mentioned this in another thread last night. I’ve watched Rudolph every year for as long as I can remember, but somehow I only noticed the part with the bird about five years ago.
It seems that all these years we’ve been watching a toy homicide passed off as wholesome family holiday entertainment.
Some of you are very close, but you simply have the facts mixed up.
The doll was actually a hermaphrodite. I’ve watched the film frame by frame, and in one scene, a breeze blows the doll’s dress up, and both sexual organs are clearly visible for two full frames. Consequently, it is the doll and not the elf who is named “Hermie” for obvious reasons.
I watched it last night as well and just realized that there were a bunch of really out of date references in it, kind of like those old Bugs Bunny cartoons from WWII or those Woody Woodpecker cartoons where he’s stealing ration books.
I got that there was a Phil Silvers elf (of the old Sgt. Bilko show, pretty big in it’s day). He was the bald elf with the thick, black glasses who was lazing off and eventually as comeuppance gets stuffed in a bag. But who the heck was/is Burl Ives? How’d he manage to get top billing?
Was Hermie supposed to be based on Liberache?
Was the Charlie in the Box suposed to be Ray Bolger (scarecrow from “Oz”) or maybe he might be based on Joe Besser?
Anybody catch any others?
On a side note: I think Santa should have combined the misfit toy bird who swam instead of flying with a toy fish who flew instead of swimming, then given them to a dyslexic kid. Sadly, the swimming bird was killed by the homicidal elf before this could happen.
Okay, one thing I’ve felt pretty strongly about for all these years, and nobody seems to have brought it up, is that Santa is depicted as an outright bastard. Here’s what I’m talking about:
[ul]
[li]He is extremely mean and callous to Rudolph’s family[/li][li]Pays no attention to the elf’s song and offers only criticism[/li][li]Is disrespectful and rude to his wife[/li][li]Only acknowledges Rudolph’s abnormality when it serves his needs[/li][/ul]
So, I’ve wondered why they chose to portray Santa as a complete Jackass…am I the only one who sees this?
Who’s Burl Ives? Surely you jest? Burl Ives was a big star in his day, in more ways than one.
Besides being a noted folk singer (although mainly of popular stuff), he also was an actor whose two most famous roles were that of Big Daddy in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof”, and
Rufus Hannassey in “The Big Country”. He won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the latter role.
I sentence you to three consecutive hours of Burl Ives singing “The Big Rock Candy Mountain” as punishment.
Santa is a total jackass, as are all the authority figures, esp. Donner. Consider all that macho crap about not letting Rudolph join in any reindeer games because he’s “different,” along with the glorification of silver and gold as well as fame and fortune, not to mention the already discussed toy homicide and it’s all quite disturbing.
The elf was not on the Island of Misfit Toys, so the elf would probably not know.
Or maybe the producers themselves forgot. The original airing in 1964 (or 1064, if you believe the opening credits) did not have the end credits we see today. After a letter-writing campaign, they were added the next year. Unfortunately, a gag regarding what Yukon Cornelius was really looking for-peppermint-had to be removed to make room for the new ending.
Also, the original airing had animated ads for the sponsor, General Electric, featuring the singing elves. It was GE’s head who did not like “We’re a Couple of Misfits,” which had them remove it and replace it with “Fame and Fortune” from 1965 (1065?) to 1997.
Yeah Santa is a jerk- how come he didn’t realize what an arse the head elf was? Its Santa’s job to know the ins and outs of the North Pole…
And yeah it is unfair that they only like Rudolph after they find out he’s useful to them. Except for Clarice, Hermie, and Yukon Cornelius, who always liked him. I mean, Mr. Good and Charitable himself, Santa Claus, and Rudolph’s old man, were cruel…
In addition to the excellent observations everyone else has made, what about the following things my roomie and I noticed?
-How come they have Reindeer practice to train new reindeer to pull the sleigh, but it’s always the same reindeer pulling every year? What’s the point?
-If Rudolph could fly so well (like he did at the end of the show), how come he didn’t just fly back to Christmas Town instead of walking?
-King Moonracer told Rudolph, Hermey and Yukon Cornelius that he circled the globe every night in search of misfit toys; yet he asked them to tell Santa about the Island of Misfit Toys. Why didn’t he just fly to tell Santa himself?
-When Sam the Snowman sings “Silver and Gold”, he’s playing a banjo, yet the only instruments heard are a piano and a horn. Hmmmmm.
-Why does everyone call Donder, Donner? It’s Donder and Blitzen…Thunder and Lightning. Duh!
-How come the Bumble didn’t just use his hands and feet to crush all of the good guys after his teeth were pulled out?
-Yukon has a large gun in his belt. Why didn’t he just shoot the Bumble?
-At the beginning of the show Sam the Snowman says “You know Dasher and Dancer” etc. and then, “what, you’ve never heard of Rudolph?” but then he says that Rudolph is the most famous Reindeer of all. So, if you’ve heard of the other reindeer, you should’ve heard of Rudolph because he’s the most famous reindeer of all!
