We watch the same cartoons year after year – the Rankin-Bass Rudolph and all the other ones they made. A Charlie Brown Christmas (which you can see this year on PBS, even if you don’t have Apple+), and so on. But there are other, older, more obscure ones that don’t get aired as much.
I don’t mean Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol, the first network TV Christmas Cartoon (I don’t count the Disney “From All of Us to All of You” episodes of their weekly show, which weren’t specials, and basically shilled their latest release) – that is, I think, too well known.
I mean these pre-TV cartoons
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1948). Before Rankin and Bass did their version, Max Fleischer produced his last cartoon, a version of Rudolph that was faithful to Robert Lewis May book, which he wrote for Montgomery Ward for their giveaway coloring book in 1939. A completely different story from the 1964 stop-motion story
Christmas Comes but Once a Year
Directed by Dave Fleischer, and this time from Fleischer Studios (which was defunct by the time Max made Rudolph, having been essentially seized by Paramount and turned into Famous Studios). It’s the only Fleischer cartoon to star Grampy, the inventor character who had appeared in Betty Boop cartoons. This one was made in color, and features an impressive 3D rotating Christmas Tree at the end, made using Fleischer’s patented process.
Here’s another, although it’s not as old, it’s still probably as forgotten. In 1971 they ran a cartoon made for TV, an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
You’re not impressed – there are plenty of versions of a Christmas Carol, including several animated ones. Okay, but this one has some impressive contributors:
Chuck Jones – Producer
Richard Williams (who helmed the animation for Who Framed Roger Rabbit) – Animation Direction
Alistair Sim – reprising his role as Scrooge from the 1951 movie
Michael Hordern - reprising his role from the 1951 film as Markey’s Ghost
Michael Redgrave as the Narrator
The film was drawn in the style of famous illustrated versions of the story – imitating John Leech’s illustrations for the original 1843 edition and Milo Winter’s illustrations from the 1930s.
The film won the Academy Award in 1972 for Best Animated Short, before they changed the rules.
Well, since somebody else has already broken the premise of “pre-TV”, the Wacky Wall Walker special, written by Mark Evanier! And it is bad. It is very bad.
A Wish for Wings that Work, an Opus and Bill Christmas Special. It’s uneven, but has some memorable lines.
“Albatross! Just be glad your wife didn’t leave you for an ALBATROSS!” voiced by an uncredited Robin Williams. And a wonderful return from commercial break into Lost Horizon seamlessly integrated into the animation.
A Wish For Wings That Work is Madame Pepperwinkle’s favorite Christmas show. We have it on DVD and watch it every year.
My grandson (who is now 19) has always loved the Tom & Jerry’s Nutcracker Tale, but they show that every year, so it isn’t famous enough to be here.
Here’s The Enchanted Square (1947) - a kindly cop gives a blind girl a Raggedy Ann doll, and the blind girl can “see” through R.A.'s eyes, so to speak.
This version of A Christmas Carol takes a place among the best. It was produced by the great Chuck Jones, and directed by Richard Williams, who later was animation director for Who Framed Roger Rabbit? Bonus – Alastair Sim, arguably the best Scrooge ever, reprised his role, as did Michael Hordern playing Marley. Excellent animation, too.
I saw this one on TV when I was three or four, and it scared the hell out of me. Especially the part where the soldier with the gas mask rose out of the trench. Yikes!
