In a two-part story, Santa prepares for Christmas at his workshop, then heads out for the night and visits a house full of kids!
At the North Pole, Santa's elves are busy preparing for Christmas bringing in letters and cleaning the sleigh; they sing about how they love their hard work.
Others are cleaning and caring for the reindeer, and in his office Santa is busy reading letters from kids. One girl, Molly, is immediately slated for a dolly when it's determined she's been good, then Santa goes through a massive list of animals, adding in a cake of soap when his elf reveals the writer, Billy, hasn't washed behind his ears in seven years. Over in the workshop, a multitude of elves are effectively putting together what toys remain, using intricate conveyor systems to send everything around. Some hammer together rocking horses, a few are painting blocks and checkerboards, and still more are preparing baby dolls for inspection. Even Santa gets into the checking then, making sure a few dolls properly say "mama," though one is an...interesting depiction I'll get to later. After a biplane toy spins around and flies into Santa's mouth, he sends it on its way and it knocks over a bunch of toys that come to life. Some toy soldiers take charge, leading a colorful menagerie of toys in a march including donkeys, elephants, Noah's Ark, and other animals and references. Once they've all filed into Santa's bag, they are carted onto his sleigh, where the elves cheer as Santa bids them farewell and says he'll be going to deliver the toys now, and takes off amidst their cheers.
A year later saw the release of part two for this, The Night Before Christmas, was created to finish up Santa's adventure!
A narrator kicks this episode off with the beginning of the classic Night Before Christmas story, showing that the house is quiet as the children sleep.
Santa soon lands on the roof and grabs his bag, easily jumping into and sliding down the chimney, which gives him a playful burn before settling down. Sneaking over, Santa pulls out a tree and plays a quick tune to signal the toys, who march out to set things up. The force includes some toys from the previous cartoon, and they bring out ornaments and candles for the tree as well as stocking-stuffers. As toy soldiers launch ornaments onto the branches, a plane lays down the tinsel and firemen blast the tree with fake snow. Santa, meanwhile, prepares the stockings the kids set out, getting past one's attempted trickery with a long stocking and fixing another's torn sock. Santa and the toys are overjoyed when a blimp finishes up the tree with a star, but their noise causes a problem that brings the night to a hectic close.
Unlike the previous post, these two specials are together something I used to watch a lot growing up.
Over time we've gotten some creative takes on Santa and his workshop, like with Kids Next Door where Santa led an X-Men team. As these specials came out in the 30s, the portrayal we see of Santa is much more classic and fitting of an old-fashioned Christmas spirit. He's always fat and jolly, and his boisterous laugh is exactly the kind of spirited thing you would expect to hear from the big man. We get a simple version of the chimney issue in the second episode, as people have pointed out before how tight a squeeze it would be. Some stories, like The Santa Clause, have come up with explanations like Santa is just magically squeezed through, and likewise here he seems to simply slide down like it's not a problem at all. We always get well-oiled machines whenever seeing elves in these stories, and the first episode here is no different, with each elf working perfectly in sync as toy parts are sent down conveyor lines. Now getting back to what I mentioned before, occasionally the dolls appeared rather questionable from a modern viewing, along with some references. For the references, we get a cop toy chasing Charlie Chaplin's Tramp character, and Mickey Mouse in the force that readies the tree. However, when the toys all march to Santa's bag, there are a few that resemble a stereotypical Chinese character. These likely wouldn't be considered quite as bad, because there are plenty of beautiful dolls out there that have a similar look. The more problematic moment is in the first episode, and I actually didn't know about it until now because the tape I watched as a kid had actually cut it out. When Santa is checking the dolls, he starts out with a simple white doll who struggles to say "Mama," and he simply chuckles and corrects her before sending her along. The next doll is in the infamous blackface style of the time, with the doll having black skin and large white lips, and she excitedly yells out "mammy." I can see why Disney chose to cut this section out when they added the episodes to the tape I watched as a kid, though at the same time I found it interesting to see. Disney is of course no stranger to things like this, with people pointing out the issues of the crows in Dumbo and an episode of a Donald Duck cartoon where the duck repeatedly salutes Hitler. Obviously a company can either just get rid of the offending material, which would likely appease some, though perhaps it's better to simply say "This was in the original because of the time it was made, and while we may not agree with it, it should be seen so that people can know about it. The episodes are full of Christmas fun, and the racial aspects don't ruin them, but it can certainly feel odd to notice at a later date. If you can get past this easily, the episodes are just a good simple story in two parts to watch as a family on Christmas.
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AuthorI love the entertainment side of things. Video games, tv shows, superheroes and movies are my passion and I'd love to get the news out for things I enjoy. My contact page has links to my social media, so if you enjoy what I have to say, likes, shares, comments, and follows are always greatly appreciated! Archives
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