When you're a kid, few times of the year can match the absolute magic of Christmas I feel. Whether it's the amazing bright lights and decorations, the fact that you're off of school for a time, the crisp white snow (depending on where you live, though, seeing as how the only white Christmas I've ever had was just a couple of years ago), or, best of all, the presents, there's no doubt that Christmas is something you never forget when you're a child. And everybody has their own special traditions for the holiday as well. One that I had for the longest time was that myself and my two cousins would spend the night with my grandmother a week before Christmas. It would just be a chance for us to spend some time together and hang out. Nana would always give us some little tiny presents that night (like suction-cup guns or slinkies) and even though she knew that we were too old and wise to fall for this, she would always say that Santa Claus brought them by and would actually have us go in the next room while she put whatever she got us into our stockings and would then run to the door, waving and yelling, "Bye, Santa!" Old habits die hard, I guess. Anyway, that tradition lasted up until middle school, when we got a little too old to do that. One tradition that has still lasted, however, is the fact that we go to the house of my grandmother on my father's side (the one that let us spend the night with her) on Christmas Eve and to the house of my grandmother on my mother's side on Christmas Day (usually anyway, because sometimes we've had to go to my sister's house). We eat dinner, exchange presents, and, overall, spend the holiday with people from both sides of the family. As I said in my review of A Charlie Brown Christmas, while Christmas has lost some of its luster for me in recent years, it's personal, ongoing traditions like those that still manage to bring a smile to my face every year and remind me that Christmastime can still be a joyous, enjoyable season.
In any case, that's not what this post is going to be about. As the title says, this is going to be about Christmas stuff that I remember from when I was a kid. This is not going to be like my Memories of Horror post where I go throughout my entire life and talk about how Christmas changed and evolved for me because that would be beyond what the scope of this blog is meant to be (even that introduction up above is kind of pushing it). Instead, I'm just going to muse for a little bit about movies, cartoons, and so on from my childhood that I have memories of. Some of them are good memories, naturally, but some of them not so much. In fact, some of these... things are kind of traumatizing for a little kid and, to this day, I'm not exactly sure why this stuff is put in with actual Christmas material. I'm not exactly sure where this thing is going to go because I'm kind of doing this by the seat of my pants and it was something I came up with just a couple of days before I started writing it. I'll try my best to keep it coherent and to the point though.
Let's start with a good memory. Everybody has those Christmas films that they grew up with that pretty much epitomize the season and their childhood memories of it. For many, it's classics like Miracle on 34th Street and It's a Wonderful Life or even more contemporary films like A Christmas Story (I'll get to that presently) but for me, it's a select group of films from the early 90's that I saw many times while growing up. One is the film that has basically become a Christmas tradition all its own: Home Alone. I've already reviewed this film so I won't take up much time with it here but I remember back when I was a young kid, NBC would always play this film either on Thanksgiving or the day after as a sort of tradition to commemorate the end of Thanksgiving and the beginning of the Christmas season (not that that applies to nowadays, though, seeing as how the Christmas season now seems to begin right after Halloween or even a little bit before) and I have fond memories of always watching it around that time. It's one of those films where I can't remember exactly when I saw it for the first time, seeing as how I was only three when it was originally released, and, if I were going to make a guess, I probably first saw it not too long after it came to video due to one of my cousins having owned a copy (I never owned it myself, though) but, how ever it came into my life, it's just a film that's always been a part of Christmastime for me ever since I was young. When I was a little kid, I obviously enjoyed the slapstick involving the burglars near the end of the film but, as I've gotten older, I've learned to enjoy the film's deeper themes such as the importance of family around Christmas as well as just the warm feeling that the music and visuals give me every time I watch it (particularly the ending scene where Kevin sees that Marley has reconciled with his son and now won't have to spend Christmas by himself). Granted, there are some things about it that I'm not too keen on (I still want to punch Buzz and Uncle Frank every time I watch it) but, still, it's always been a tradition for me, especially now that I have the DVD. I try to watch it every Christmas. The same goes for Home Alone 2, although I'm even less sure of how I first saw that one. NBC never played it (in fact, it's always been looked down upon when compared to the first one), but I remember seeing it a few times as a kid as well. Maybe I saw it on some other channels or it could have been due to my cousin again but what ever the case, it seems to have always been as big a part of Christmastime for me as the original. While it is little more than the original done again in a new setting, I think there are some things about that are just as enjoyable. In fact, I think it's a lot funnier than the original when it gets to the slapstick as well as when it comes to the schtick with Tim Curry as the hotel concierge (the part where Kevin fools him an inflatable pool toy and a recording of his uncle singing in the shower always cracks me up as well as the rehash of the gag with the old gangster movie from the first film). It may not quite have as much as heart as the original, sure, and more than likely it was meant as just a cash-in on that film's incredible success but, like the first one, it's always been a tradition for me to watch it at Christmastime (which isn't hard to do seeing as how ABC Family plays the crap out of it around this time).
The other Christmas film that was the embodiment of the season when I was a child was the 1993 Disney flick, The Santa Clause. If Home Alone was the film from my childhood that personified the family side of Christmas, then this was the movie that did that for the magical fantasy side. Let's face it, as a kid we all believed in Santa Claus. It doesn't matter that we eventually discovered that he isn't real. We simply believed in something truly magical at one point in our lives and, for me, this movie embodies that perfectly. Like Home Alone, I'm not exactly sure when I first saw The Santa Clause but I'm pretty sure it was either at school during one of those times when the teachers had nothing to teach us one particular day and decided to show us a movie or it was one of the many times the film was shown on ABC's Magical World of Disney in December. In any case, it became another film that I've loved ever since I was a kid and it also "taught" me how Santa Claus makes all of his toys, how he delivers them, how he gets down chimneys that are far too small for him or even into houses that don't have chimneys (which I myself wondered, seeing as how our chimney has never worked and is actually blocked off) and so on. Plus, it doesn't hurt that Tim Allen is just awesome in the film. I actually knew of him when I first saw the movie because of the popularity of Home Improvement, although I was too young to watch and enjoy the show at the time, and so, it was interesting to see him become Santa Claus. I never actually thought that he really was Santa but I did think he did a good job "playing" him, enough so that I was sure that the real Santa was very proud. Looking back at this film as an adult, I think it's a testament to Allen's talent that he could begin playing the character of Scott Calvin as such a cynical person who doesn't believe in Santa, wants no part in becoming Santa himself, and initially tries to pass the whole thing off as a weird delusion but eventually embraces his responsibility and becomes Santa in every way imaginable, all in such a believable fashion. It takes a really good actor to do that, which is what I've always felt Allen is. In any case, I think The Santa Clause, like Home Alone, is a modern Christmas classic worthy of being alongside all those others from yesteryear. I haven't seen the film in a long time though but, hopefully, I will get a chance to see it again this year. And before you ask, I've never seen either of the sequels, mainly because by the time they finally came out, I didn't really care but also because I've heard that they weren't that good either. It's a testament to the fact that some films just don't need sequels.
Like I said earlier, the movie that personifies the holiday season for many people is Bob Clark's A Christmas Story from 1983. Whenever somebody asks me if I've ever seen that movie, my response is always, "It'd be impossible not to," due to TBS' 24-hour marathons of it lasting from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day. A Christmas Story is an odd film for me because it's one of those movies that I've always been aware of, whose most famous scenes and lines I've always known (the frozen tongue scene, "You'll shoot your eye out, kid," and so on), and yet, I can't remember how it first came into my life. Now, this is not in the same way as it was with Home Alone and The Santa Clause. Yes, I can't pinpoint the first times I saw those movies but that said, I remember watching them from beginning to end whenever they played on television when I was a kid and, like I said, they became holiday staples of mine. A Christmas Story, however, is sort of an enigma to me. The first time I may have really watched it was when we were shown it during middle school but I'm pretty sure that I had seen bits of it beforehand, particularly that part with the tongue. Granted, those 24-hour marathons of it began on TNT in 1997 when I was ten years old so I no doubt first caught snippets of the film around that time but, again, this is all speculation on my part. And, honestly, until just last year, I had never seen the film completely from beginning to end. I had seen so much of it during those marathons that I felt I knew the story and didn't really see the point of watching it all the way through. But, however I first became aware of it, I can safely say that, as an adult and having finally seen it all the way through, I do understand why it's such a beloved flick. Even though it's set in the 1940's, the film's depiction of childhood and Christmastime is quite relatable, be it from really wanting a great gift for Christmas, having to deal with bullies, peer pressure from your fellow classmates to do something both painful and stupid (though I can't remember the kids at my school ever saying, "I double-dog dare you,"), saying your first swear word in front of your parents (something that I remember all too well, I'm afraid), and so on. It really is a film that encompasses all of your memories of both the season and just growing up in general. For that reason, I can definitely understand why people love this film so much and I also can, in all probability, see myself checking it out again come Christmas Eve.
Cartoon Network played a lot of Christmas-oriented cartoons and films during their annual Christmas marathons, something which has now been taken up by Boomerang. As I said in my review of it, this is where I saw The Town Santa Forgot for the first time. Of course, there was a lot, lot more to it than just that. They played Christmas episodes of The Flintstones and The Jetsons, episodes which you never saw for the rest of the year, I might add. The former episode was about Fred getting a part-time job as a department store Santa and eventually having to perform Santa's Christmas Eve duties when ol' St. Nick comes down with a cold. Typical episode but enjoyable nonetheless. As for The Jetsons, their episode was always one from the 80's revival of the show and basically told the story of A Christmas Carol, with Mr. Spacely being visited by the three ghosts of Christmas after he's been very Scrooge-like to George and his other employees. There's also a subplot with Astro accidentally swallowing a sprocket after messing around with a mechanical cat he got as a present and being in danger of dying since all the veterinarians are closed for the holiday. It's a nice episode, although the only reason why Mr. Spacely decides to "change" his ways and help the Jetsons save Astro is because he hears that he'll eventually die in poverty because George sues him for making the sprocket that killed Astro, which leads to the Jetson family becoming millionaires. Not a very noble reason for Spacely's change of heart but, regardless, it's still an enjoyable episode I think. Going back to The Flintstones, there were a couple of other Christmas specials involving them. One was simply called A Flintstones Christmas, which had the same fundamental plot as that aforementioned actual episode of the show except Barney joins Fred in taking Santa's place and this time, it's actually Fred's fault since Santa sprains his ankle on Fred's roof. A much later special from 1994 called A Flintstones Christmas Carol also often played during the marathons and still does during the Boomerang one nowadays. It's not exactly what you would think it would be, though. Instead of a simple retelling of the story except with the Flintstones characters playing the various parts, it's actually about Fred being cast in the role of Scrooge in a performance of it at a Bedrock theater but he becomes so obsessed with it that he starts to become greedy and selfish himself and goes through the same arc that Scrooge did while performing the play. While I personally like A Flintstones Christmas more, this is still pretty good and let me tell you, Fred does the whole Scrooge thing much better than Mr. Spacely.
While The Smurfs was never a show I was all that keen on, I did end up watching a couple of Christmas specials based on it during those marathons. One, simply called The Smurfs' Christmas Special, I thought was the better of the two and involved the Smurfs helping two young children who are separated from their grandfather when an evil, powerful man causes their sleigh to turn over. The best thing about this special is that villain. You never find out who he is or where he came from (although Papa Smurf seems to recognize him, a concept which is never explained beyond that) but it's suggested by his powers that he could be of Satanic origin and, unlike Gargamel, he's quite an intimidating and, at times, even frightening presence. The fact that he's after these two kids and never explains what his true intentions are makes him even creepier. The other special, 'Tis the Season to Be Smurfy, is a much tamer story about Grandpa Smurf and Sassette traveling to a human village where they try to help an old couple have a merry Christmas. It was okay but I never got that excited about it, which is why I can't go into much detail simply because I don't have many solid memories of it. An odd little thing that was shown during the marathons was Christmas Comes to Pac-Land, a spin-off special of that little cartoon series based on the video game (I actually kind of remember watching that show but only vaguely since it never became something that Cartoon Network showed regularly). It's another basic story: Santa Claus, while on his Christmas Eve delivery mission, crashes his sleigh in Pac-Land and Pac-Man and his family and friends try to help him get back in the air. Of course, the Ghost Monsters end up complicating things for everyone. It's okay but was never something that I went out of my way to watch. There were also a couple of films involving Yogi Bear and the gang. One was Casper's First Christmas, which involved Yogi and the gang getting lost and ending up at an old house that, unknown to them, is inhabited by Casper the Friendly Ghost and his friend Hairy Scary. They fix the house up for Christmas and befriend Casper but Hairy Scary, who likes to scare people, at first ruins everything but has a change of heart when he discovers that Casper wrote a letter to Santa Claus in which he wished to have the housed saved from an upcoming demolition for Hairy. Another special that was okay for what it was but, again, I could take it or leave it. A better film was Yogi's First Christmas, which involved Yogi Bear and Boo Boo's normal hibernation pattern is interrupted by the Christmas festivities going on at a nearby lodge and when they realize that it's Christmastime, they decide to stay awake for the holiday. Several subplots involve the gang trying to keep the visiting lodge owner from closing it down, Yogi and Boo-Boo getting jobs at the hotel with Yogi constantly being promoted without intending to, the gang having to deal with the owner's spoiled brat nephew and a Christmas-hating hermit who is trying to have the place closed, and Yogi eventually having to fend off Cindy Bear, whom Boo-Boo awakens from her hibernation to help Yogi with his various tasks. This is actually a pretty good little flick, with lots of laughs, some nice songs, and a genuine feeling of Christmas spirit. I've never really been a fan of these characters but I have to admit when I think something is done well and for me, this film is.
And, of course, while we're on the subject of cartoons, we have to talk about Christmas-oriented cartoons featuring the classic characters most people, myself included, grew up with. I saw a lot of these not only during those marathons but also simply on VHS tapes and on Cartoon Network in general. There's the Tom and Jerry short called The Night Before Christmas, which was only the third Tom and Jerry cartoon period and also has the distinction of being the only Christmas-oriented episode from the original Hanna-Barbera era of this series. I've only seen it a few times but I remember it being pretty good, not only containing some good gags involving a bunch of toys that Jerry uses to hide in as well as to battle Tom but also a fairly moving ending when Tom chases Jerry out into the freezing cold and blocks the door so he can't get back in but he eventually has a change of heart and rescues him. The whole scene is quite striking and dramatic due to shots of Jerry desperately trying to warm himself in the freezing wind and the sounds of a choir singing carols about peace and goodwill. It's also nice to not only see Tom save his adversary from the cold and give him a candy-cane as a peace offering but for Jerry to do the same and prevent Tom from getting his tongue caught in a mousetrap that Jerry hid in his milk bowl. This plot was repeated later in one of the cartoons from the Chuck Jones era called Snowbody Loves Me, which has Jerry sneaking into a cheese shop in the Swiss Alps and Tom, who lives in the shop, begins chasing him. The ending is also the same, with Tom throwing Jerry out in the cold but he soon feels guilty about it and saves him. It was done a lot better in that earlier short in my opinion, though. And here's where I have to bring up an odd sort of theme to these cartoons. As far as those in charge of network programming and putting together compilations are concerned, all a cartoon has to feature in order to be considered Christmas-oriented is snow. There are quite a few of these old shorts that don't have anything to do with Christmas but, because they take in a snowy environment, you will often find them amongst those that actually do take place during the holiday. That's the case with Snowbody Loves Me and it's also the case with another Tom and Jerry cartoon you often see around this time of year: The A-Tom-Inable Snowman, another short that takes place in the Swiss Alps and involves a running gag where Tom has to be revived by a St. Bernard's brandy and is drunk throughout the entire cartoon. It's funny, there's no doubt about that, but it's not Christmas related at all.
As far as the Looney Tunes go, one cartoon that I often saw placed amongst Christmas cartoons was Fresh Hare, a short featuring Elmer Fudd (during his fat period in the early 40's) as a Mountie who is trying to track and arrest Bugs Bunny for a laundry list of crimes that he's been perpetrating. There's only one reference to Christmas in this cartoon and that's a gag that happens when Elmer is chasing Bugs beneath the deep snow and bashes into a snow-covered pine tree. The snow falls off the tree to reveal Christmas decoration and Elmer emerges with snow on his face that makes him look like Santa Claus. You hear Jingle Bells playing in the background and Bugs comments, "Merry Christmas, Santy." Except for that one joke, this short has nothing to do with Christmas and yet I always saw it during Christmas marathons as well as on compilations on VHS (which they could do since this one is public domain). It's okay but, again, nothing to do with the holiday. (Weirdly enough, I once saw this cartoon during a Valentine's Day marathon on Cartoon Network and they only put in there because at one point, Elmer hits a wall of ice and the impact creates a heart with an arrow through it. That, by far, is an even bigger reach.) There was also a Sylvester and Tweety cartoon entitled Tweetie Pie that had nothing to do with Christmas but, again, took place during snow-covered winter so it was always included in marathons and compilations. One that was Christmas-oriented was Gift Wrapped, which involved Sylvester trying to eat Tweety, whom Granny receives as a Christmas present, and all the while Hector the Bulldog is trying to eat Sylvester. I actually remember seeing that on a VHS that had a weird cartoon adaptation of The Night Before Christmas and another on stories from the Bible featured on it as well. Also, when I would watch these Looney Tunes cartoons on Saturday mornings as a kid, I often saw Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol, a short from a 1979 compilation called Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales that featured Yosemite Sam as Scrooge, Porky Pig as Bob Cratchit, and Bugs as someone who tries to teach Scrooge the true meaning of Christmas by pretending to be a ghost and threatening to take him to see "the man in the red suit" (i.e. the Devil) if he doesn't change his ways. I haven't seen this cartoon in a while since it didn't play on Cartoon Network much and, obviously, it's not exactly the truest adaptation of the Dickens story, one of the biggest reasons being that it runs the typical Looney Tunes running time of just eight minutes, but I do remember some funny moments, like when Bugs puts snow in Scrooge's hot bath and so on.
While I have a lot of memories of watching Christmas-related Looney Tunes material, Disney kind of got the short end of the stick on that score when I was growing up. As I've said many times, while I watched a lot of Disney stuff when I was very, very young, I went through a phase from eight years old up until high school where I almost completely shunned it since it was a general consensus among my peers that Disney wasn't cool. Because of that, I didn't see stuff like Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas when they were originally released and when I finally did, it was when I was much older and, therefore, is beyond the scope of what this post is meant to be about. Now that said, I do have memories of seeing some Christmas-related Disney stuff as a child. The biggest one was Mickey's Christmas Carol, which played on ABC during a Disney holiday special of some sort when I was very young. I remember liking it as a kid but, naturally, I now appreciate it much more so as an adult. As I said in my actual review of it, it's amazing how well the story is adapted into a twenty-minute short and how striking the atmosphere and setpieces are. The visual of Mickey Mouse shedding a silent tear over Tiny Tim's gravestone is still quite a powerful image, especially since it's being performed by a character whose mainly known for being very happy and cheerful. And Scrooge McDuck is just awesome in playing the role of his namesake character. So, the bottom line is this is a great Christmas cartoon without a doubt and definitely worth watching on Christmas Eve. The only other Disney Christmas cartoon I remember seeing from back in the day was Pluto's Christmas Tree, a 1952 short where Mickey and Pluto chop down a little pine tree and take it back to their house. Unbeknownst to them, though, Chip and Dale are living in the tree and soon create havoc for poor Pluto. I've seen this cartoon a few times over the years and it's okay. But there's nothing special about it at all and I've never been a big fan of Chip and Dale so I don't go back to it that much. And Disney itself isn't immune to that idea of something being a Christmas cartoon just because there's snow everywhere. The one I almost always saw around this time of year was Donald's Snow Fight, where Donald Duck goes sledding one snowy day and his decision to aggravate his nephews results in all-out war with snowballs as weapons. It's a fun short, yes, but, again, it has nothing to do with Christmas except for when Donald sings Jingle Bells at the beginning. A similar one was Polar Trappers, where Donald and Goofy are at the South Pole trapping animals and while Goofy tries to trap a walrus, Donald, sick of eating beans all the time, tries to lure a bunch of penguins into his cooking pot (I'm not even going to go into how disturbing it is to think of a duck wanting to eat penguins). That's pretty much all I've got for Disney-related Christmas stuff. It's not much, I know, but I explained why it is so.
One Christmas cartoon that I saw a few times as a very young kid was Peace on Earth, a 1939 short from MGM. At that time, I was far too small to comprehend just what it was really about but now, as an adult and especially living in a time like this, I understand it all too well. One Christmas Eve, two young squirrels ask their grandfather about the "men" who are mentioned in the lyrics, "Peace on Earth, good will to men." He proceeds to tell them that men don't exist anymore and the reason for that is because their constant fighting and warring led to them being completely wiped out. Looking at this cartoon now, it really is quite powerful. The fact that the animal world in this cartoon viewed humans as monsters, as illustrated by the grandfather squirrel describing how they looked with their war gear on, implying that that's how he and all other animals always saw them, and that the young squirrels, upon hearing this description, say that they're glad that men don't exist anymore, is a rather sobering concept. Equally so is when the grandfather says that he could never understand why men fought with each other all the time, saying that another fight would start up as soon as the one before it was settled. This all leads up to a scene of the last two men on Earth shooting each other dead; enemies to the end, even though there's nothing left to fight about since they're the last of their kind. It's a grim scene to say the least. Afterward, the animals rebuild society and follow the teachings of a book that they found in a destroyed building (the Bible), especially its most important one, which inspires them to create a world ruled by peace instead of violence. Needless to say, this entire cartoon is quite an impressive piece of animation, with much more complexity and deeper meanings than most cartoons produced at the time (and, sadly enough, its message is even more relevant now than ever). I highly advise any animation buffs to check it out if they already haven't because it will definitely make you think.
As for Dr. Suess' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, I don't think I ever saw that cartoon until I was like thirteen years old so it's teetering on the cut-off date for this post. In any case, I know the reason I saw it was because of the release of the Jim Carrey movie (and don't get me started on that atrocity), which prompted Cartoon Network to play it and I think both it and Boomerang have continued to do so in the years since. In any case, this is another Christmas special that I personally think is just okay. There's nothing wrong with it at all, it's well animated, has some memorable moments and songs, and Boris Karloff is great as the narrator and voice of the Grinch but it's not something I go out of my way to watch every year. If I come across it, I'll check it out if there's nothing else on but if I don't, then it's no skin off my nose. I don't have much else to say about it and I know some will be disappointed that I don't have that much of an opinion of it but, as always, I just have to be honest.
As far as cartoons go, Warner Bros. and Disney were the primary studios back in the day. However, there were other cartoons not produced by those studios that most of us undoubtedly saw on some public domain VHS tapes when we were little. These cartoons tend to be unlike any other cartoons produced around that time. It's hard to explain but when you watch them, you get the feeling that they exist in their own special little world. These cartoons are mostly standard fare but some of them are actually kind of scary and others are just bizarre. I saw most of these on tapes that my grandmother bought back when my cousins and I were kids and mainly during our annual Christmas sleepovers at her house, which is why I talked about that tradition at the beginning of this. It wasn't our preferred way of spending the latter part of the evening but it was harmless as well. The most unremarkable one was a three-minute, black and white musical adaptation of Frosty the Snowman from 1954. It was an okay, harmless little piece of fluff from UPA but not exactly something you would go out of your way to see over and over again. One that I did quite like as a kid and I kind of do is Santa's Surprise, a 1947 cartoon about a group of kids from all over the world who stow away on Santa's sleigh during his Christmas Eve deliveries and, upon arriving at the North Pole and seeing how exhausted Santa is, they decide to clean up his workshop and house for him. The main reason I like this cartoon is because of its depiction of Santa Claus. I just love how jolly he is, going all over the world and delivering presents to good kids, no matter where they live, and I think the song he sings while doing so shows how he takes pride in his work and asks for nothing in return. I can't find the name of the guy who voiced Santa here but I think he did it really well. It's also a nice gesture for the kids to help Santa out by tidying everything up as a token of their gratitude. Granted, I don't know how they expect to get back home from the North Pole or what they were originally planning on doing by sneaking into his sleigh but still, it shows some selflessness on their part. The only major problem with this cartoon is that some of the designs on the racially diverse group of kids are not exactly politically correct nowadays. The design of the black and Asian kids are especially cringe-inducing. But still, if you can look past that unfortunate staple of 1940's animation, this is a nice little Christmas cartoon that is worth a watch.
A rather bizarre cartoon was Jack Frost, a cartoon from 1934 that depicted the titular character as an elf-like painter who literally paints the fall colors on all of the plants. He warns the animals of the forest that Old Man Winter is on his way and advises to begin their hibernation but a snarky little bear cub doesn't heed his warning, thinking that his warm fur can keep him from freezing. However, when he sneaks out of the house when he's supposed to be hibernating since his mother spanked him for trying to do so earlier, he eventually runs into Old Man Winter and is forced to run for his life. This is just a weird little short with some bizarre musical sequences, particularly the one that involves a scarecrow coming to life and doing some weird scatting song along with the trees in the background (actually, I don't have a clue what he's supposed to be doing so I'm really just speculating). The bear cub is just annoying with his constant declaring how warm his coat is and, therefore, I don't have much pity for him when he's chased by Old Man Winter, who is portrayed as an ugly, bearded man made of snow and ice and can freeze anything that he touches. Again, it's harmless enough but it's just strange (and is another one that has nothing to do with Christmas). One that is definitely not harmless, though, is a black and white cartoon simply called The Snow Man. You want to talk about something that shouldn't be put amongst Christmas cartoons! As a reviewer on IMDB once said, this thing is more appropriate for Halloween. It's about an Eskimo kid and his animal friends who decide to build a snowman one day. Basic setup. They build the snowman and dance around it, much like you would see in a cartoon about Frosty. However, this short soon becomes as far from Frosty as you can get. The snowman unexpectedly comes to life and turns into an ugly, destructive monster who terrorizes the animals, tramples the little nearby igloo village, and so on, all the while growling and cackling like a madman. There isn't much funny in this cartoon, honestly. The scene where the snowman comes to life is terrifying, especially when his face melts into the hideous one that he has for the rest of the short, and one point, he actually swallows a little fish whole, stretches his beard out, and then laughs evilly! Even more disturbing than the snowman, though, is the singing that this walrus organist and a group of penguins are doing at a nearby church made of ice. I don't know if it's because of the bad sound quality of the cartoon or what but the singing (or at least what's supposed to be singing) that these animals do will make you want to pull your hair out! All in all, The Snow Man is a well-done and effective short but, that said, it's definitely not a Christmas cartoon and shouldn't be shown to little kids. (Although, I must say that when I saw it as a kid, I thought it was kind of cool. But, again, I was weird when I was a kid.)
While we're talking about some rather scary stuff, one Christmas-related horror flick that I have vivid memories of watching as a little kid was Gremlins. I've reviewed this movie so I won't go into too much more detail but, in any case, Gremlins was a movie that I rented many, many times when I was young. It was one of those weird sort of films that had stuff that children could enjoy like Gizmo, the Christmas setting, and the madcap, almost Looney Tunes-style gags and stuff that happen when the gremlins take over the town and yet, it still had some scary scenes like when the gremlins hatch out of their cocoons (which always freaked me out) or when the science teacher gets killed in classroom and so on. Because of all of this, you're really not quite sure who the movie is for. But, that didn't seem to matter since the film was an enormous hit and is still generally well-liked today. I caught up with it again in 2001 after having not seen it since I was a kid and since then, it's been a movie that I've always tried to watch every Christmas. I still think it holds up really well, from the likable characters to the well-done puppet effects and so on. While I don't think it should be shown to very young kids since it might scare them (as it kind of did me, even though, as I said, I rented it a lot back then), I do think it's deserving of being referred to as a Christmas classic. And since we're talking about Christmas horror films, you're probably wondering what I think of the notorious slasher flick, Silent Night, Deadly Night. The answer is... nothing. I've never seen it. Yeah, as much as I love horror films, that's always been a movie that's flown under my radar. I remember that VHS box cover when I saw it in the horror section of my local video rental store but that's it. I've never seen the actual movie. To be honest, I actually went through a period where I sort of avoided the movie because the idea of someone defaming the image of Santa Claus to the point of killing people while dressed up like him is one that I find disturbing. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not like all of those people who protested the film. I know that in the film, it's just an insane man dressed up as Santa and not really him but, still, that idea is rather troubling to me. I guess I'm just not really comfortable with something that I held near to my heart as a child being treated that way. I'm sure I'll see it and review it one day (it is one of the most infamous slasher movies ever and I am a fan so I kind of have to see it) but for now, I have nothing to say about it.
To wrap things up, let's talk about some stuff that almost everyone, for many generations, saw when they were growing up: the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials. Yeah, if you were a kid at any point in time from the mid-60's on, it was almost required that you would watch these specials. Ironically enough, I know that for some, watching these specials was kind of terrifying. Something about the stop-motion animation used in the majority of these specials has had the effect of weirding some kids out and I can actually kind of understand why. Stop-motion is great when used along with live-action elements like in those old 1950's monster movies and in the films that Ray Harryhausen worked on like Jason and the Argonauts and such. But, when a film is done completely through stop-motion, it takes on a bizarre quality that can be kind of freaky. For example, those Wallace & Gromit cartoons sort of freak me out. Even though when I actually watched those cartoons I did enjoy them for the most part, something about them (as well as all of Nick Park's films, for that matter) was always kind of... 'nyaah' about them. While I personally was, for the most part, never scared by the Rankin/Bass stuff, I can understand why other people were. Maybe it's because everything is clearly artificial and the image of these wooden things moving and talking is downright creepy. Maybe it's because of the blank expressions that these characters have on their faces, even though they're talking and going through all of the various emotions. (Although, for me personally, the expressions and facial movements of the Nick Park characters make them much freakier.) It's just really hard to describe and I'm probably not doing a very good of doing so but I think those who have had this feeling while watching these specials or something similar will understand what I'm talking about. But that's not what I'm here for. I just felt I'd better bring that up because I know it's a common topic whenever these specials are discussed. In any case, let's now actually talk about these individual specials, shall we?
There were two in particular that I watched a lot as a young kid, mainly because I had them on video. One was Santa Claus is Coming To Town. That was the one that I watched the most out of all of them, even though I was too young to comprehend just how epic it was in telling the origin of Santa Claus. I never quite grasped that the character of Chris Kringle grows up to be Santa Claus (even though I knew that Chris Kringle was one of Santa's aliases) but, nevertheless, I enjoyed watching it. There were some parts of it that were a bit scary like the evil Winter Warlock, particularly when you first see him in shadow at the beginning of the special but, other than that, it was enjoyable for me. And, looking back on it now, while I don't go out of my way to watch it, I still think it's a nice little cartoon and I particularly like the voice acting of Paul Frees as the cranky burgermeister who wages war on Chris and toys in general after he hurts himself by tripping on one. I also find it interesting as an adult to see how they explain the various aspects of Santa's mythology: why he goes down chimneys, how the idea of stockings filled with toys came to be, how they got reindeer to fly, how he met Mrs. Claus, how and why his workshop was built, and why he visits all of the children in the world on Christmas Eve. In fact, some of the ways they do so are pretty creative, like how Santa started going down chimneys because the burgermeister had ordered the doors of all of the village's houses to be locked and how Santa knows if someone is being naughty and nice with the use of a magic snowball that acts as a crystal ball. Again, while it's not something that I'd go out of my way to watch every year, I do think of it as a nice little Christmas cartoon from my childhood.
The other one that I owned on VHS as a kid was Frosty the Snowman. While I didn't watch it quite as much as Santa Claus is Coming To Town, it was still one that I have fond memories of. I actually wish that Rankin/Bass had done hand-drawn animation more often than they did because I think the character designs and overall look of this cartoon are quite appealing. Again, looking at it now as an adult, I think it does hold up fairly well. I still think it has some funny moments like the whole schtick with Professor Hinkle (although he turns nasty rather quickly, I must say), that moment with the traffic cop (it's interesting to see how they build on things that were referenced in the songs these specials were based on), and so on. I think Jackie Vernon's performance as Frosty is appealing, playing him as a naive, slightly dim-witted but loveable guy and I really like Paul Frees' brief performance as Santa Claus, coming across as jolly but also forceful when he has to (if you can't tell already, I really like Paul Frees as a voice actor). Anybody who's researched this special knows that legendary voice actor June Foray originally provided the voice of Karen, the young girl who becomes Frosty's best friend but, for some unknown reason, her performance was replaced in 1970 by a girl whose identity remains unknown to this day. Whoever she is, I always thought she did a likable enough job as Karen, particularly during the emotional moments, but it's just weird that there is no information on her whatsoever. Somebody needs to track her down, if she's indeed still with us. And that leads me to the reason why I didn't watch this cartoon nearly as much as Santa Claus is Coming To Town: the scene where Frosty is melted in the greenhouse and Karen is crying over the puddle of water that used to be him. That is downright traumatizing for a little kid to see! It's made even worse by that dream-like sequence afterward with Jimmy Durante mournfully singing the song Frosty the Snowman. Yes, I know Frosty is eventually brought back to life but still, it's really sad, especially with Karen crying her eyes out (and, apparently, this other girl couldn't cry because I'm sure that's June Foray's voice when she's crying). To this day, I look at that scene and all I can think is, "Oh, that's a cruel joke, guys." But, that sad moment aside, I still think this is a Christmas classic. Just be careful what kids you show it to, particularly if your child is really sensitive. As for the sequels to this special, I've never seen Frosty's Winter Wonderland so I can't comment on it. I have seen Frosty Returns, the 1992 cartoon that CBS produced. While it isn't really a sequel since Frosty doesn't actually return from anything but just sort of shows up, it's always showed along with the Rankin/Bass cartoon so it might as well be considered a follow-up. While I don't think it's anywhere near as charming as its predecessor, I don't think it's as downright awful as a lot of people seem to think it is. I like Jonathan Winters and, while I don't think he fits the spirit and personality that Jackie Vernon established for Frosty, John Goodman does a decent enough job with what he has to work with. The animation, character designs, setting, and so on are nothing like the Rankin/Bass film and I don't think the lead girl is as memorable or likable as Karen but, for me, Frosty Returns isn't terrible. It's just okay and there's nothing wrong with that in my book.
As for the other Rankin/Bass specials, I have memories of watching Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer a few times whenever it aired on CBS. I haven't seen it in a few years but I remember liking it, particularly when it came to the snowman character that Burl Ives played and Yukon Cornelius, a prospector who's one of those characters that is cheerful and full of energy that you can't help but love him. The character that kind of scared me as a kid, though, was the Abominable Snow Monster. I didn't care that he became a good guy by the end of the film, he still freaked me out with the way he looked and the frightening roaring and growling he did. And, finally, from what I can remember from the last time I saw it, I liked that they decided to take the lyric from the song about Rudolph being shunned because of his nose and expand it into a message for kids: it's okay to be different. (Although, I remember Santa being kind of a jerk in this cartoon, since he, like nearly everyone else, wanted nothing to do with Rudolph because of his nose. You'd think that, since he's the boss, he would have told the other reindeer to treat Rudolph the same as everyone else.) And the last Rankin/Bass cartoon I remember from my childhood was Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July, which may have been the craziest thing the company ever produced. Again, I haven't this cartoon in a long time but reading the plot synopsis, this is very overly complicated for something meant for children. It has to do with an evil wizard who awakens from a spell that he was put under years ago and has to get rid of Rudolph because his nose contains the only power that can defeat him as well as take back his territory from Santa Claus and he decides to take advantage of Frosty and his family in order to do so. What were the people at Rankin/Bass smoking when they came up with this? I remember watching this as a little child and not only not understanding a damn thing about it (I don't even get much of it now as an adult) but being more scared of it than any of the other specials that the company produced. The wizard, Winterbolt, is quite an intimidating villain (he's another character voiced by Paul Frees, who gives what could have been his best performance in any of these specials) but even scarier is the Genie of the Ice Scepter, who takes the form of a carved face in a wall of ice with glowing eyes, a mouth that slowly moves up and down, a strange "dinging" sound that you hear every couple of seconds, and a creepy voice. I cannot tell you how much that thing terrified me when I was little. Even looking at him now, he's still freaky. I have to wonder if they really thought that would go over well. In fact, Winterbolt's lair is creepy as well. With the ice all-around and the dark blue lighting combined with the stop-motion animation, it's all very surreal and nightmarish in a way. In any case, that's all I've got for the Rankin/Bass specials. I know that there are many that I didn't talk about but those are the ones I remember from my childhood. Save for The Mouse on the Mayflower, which I may have seen at school (which is all I do remember about it), I've never seen any of the other specials they produced.
Well, those are the Christmas films and cartoons that shaped my childhood. They sure do run the gambit, don't they? From wholesome family entertainment like the Home Alone films and The Santa Clause to nice cartoons like those from Warner Bros. and Disney to some that are a bit freaky, like that Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July, and others that are just bizarre, like some of those public domain cartoons. But, for better or worse, those are a big part of what I think of when I remember what Christmas was like when I was a child. Whether they're good or bad, though, it is important to have memories about the most special of holidays period and those are definitely some colorful ones for me. So, this holiday season, be sure to make some memories of your own. Have a safe and merry Christmas, everyone.
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