Remember those we lost this past week

This year has been nothing but celebrity deaths, and while it's true that many of them are getting up there at a ripe old age, names like Prince, Carrie Fisher, and David Bowie continue to be a shocker to their fans.  This past week, every single one of them had something to do with cartoons (if only for a brief moment).

First off, George Michael.  He was best known for being a part of the group Wham.  He went on to win a Grammy for his album, Faith.  What so many people don't know is that he performed the theme song to The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, which became one of the most popular cartoon theme songs for those who grew up watching Saturday Morning at the time of its airing.

Incidentally, Wham is also known for the holiday hit, Last Christmas.  This has been accused of being covered by artists way too many times, so may I add another one to the list?  When one of the Sailor Moon Christmas albums was released in Japan, Sailor Mars did a cover of Last Christmas, and it's really really good.  The song had some.....issues with the actress singing in English, but overall it is a nice cover and should be mentioned in this tribute

We now move on to George S Irving.  Unlike most of these celebrity deaths, Irving was pretty much done and left us at a ripe old age of 94.  While it's ok to feel sad, this is a great opportunity to celebrate his life.  Irving was a Broadway actor, and a Shakespearean actor at that.  He has won a Tony Award at least for his performance and has appeared in many TV shows including All in the Family.  You would think a guy like that would be ho hum about voicing cartoons.  Not at all, he loved it just as much.
Irving's role in animation mostly came from Total Television which made cartoons for Saturday Morning.  His first role was advertising Twinkles for General Mills.  When Twinkles cartoons would come on King Leonardo, he would narrate the story a la Thomas the Tank Engine style voicing every single character.

Occasionally he would do an incidental character, but when Underdog came on, he was the narrator and many villains of the show.  His introductions to the Underdog Show gave a feeling of excitement to tune into the next show.

Some other characters he's done inlcudes Major Minor in Klondike Kat, and Running Board in Go-Go Gophers.  In fact, Irving was one of the singers for the theme to Go-Go Gophers

There were other voices that he did such as Papa Gepetto in Rankin Bass's Pinocchio's Christmas.

But his most famous role would be that of Heat Miser in The Year Without a Santa Claus.  He sang one of the most popular Rankin Bass songs singing Heat Miser's song.  This special continues to be rerun to this day. When Warner Bros brought the Miser Brothers back for a new special for ABC Family (now Freeform), Irving came back as Heat Miser, marking it his final performance in TV.

Perhaps the biggest shock of them all, was when the news first rang out about Carrie Fisher being hospitalized due to a heart attack.  A few days later, she would not make it.  Fisher to everyone was best known for her role as Princess Lea in Star Wars.  She did a few things related to cartoons though. Though mostly it was with Family Guy, where she played Peter Griffin's boss.

The Family Guy staff loved Star Wars so much that they made parody episodes based on the first three movies.  They were really well done in detail, and yes Fisher got a cameo in one of the films.

Fisher was the daughter of famed movie actress Debbie Reynolds, who passed away one day later.  She was best known for movies such as Singing in the Rain, but she also did a few things animation related.  In the later years of Rugrats, Reynolds voiced Granpa's new wife (although by then Rugrats have jumped the shark so many times).  Reynolds however, also voiced Charlotte in  Charlotte's Web, which would be Hanna-Barbera's most successful full length feature film.  This scene I think is very fitting.

RIP to these and other celebrities we lost this year <3

Top forgotten Christmas Cartoons

Everyone has their favorite Christmas specials like Rudolph, Frosty, or The Grinch.  However, not all Christmas cartoons are well known to the general public.  This list takes a look at some of the rarest yet some of the best Christmas cartoons made.

1. Christmas Comes but Once a Year (1936)

This cartoon was part of Max Fleischer's Color Classics series.  The same studio that brought you Popeye and Betty Boop, this cartoon stars Grampy who makes Christmas merry for a bunch of orphans.

2. early Disney shorts (approx 1931-1933)

To be fair, everyone knows that Disney and Christmas goes hand in hand, and Disney has made some of the best Christmas cartoons and specials.  Heck, they have their own Christmas parade.  However, the earliest Disney shorts having to do with the holidays are a little bit difficult to see.  This is because the Mickeys are in black and white and some contain racial political incorrectness.  These include Oscar nominated Mickey's Orphans, The Night Before Christmas, Santa's Workshop, and Mickey's Good Deed.

 3.  Cricket on the Hearth (1967)

Rankin Bass is known for having the most highest rated holiday specials on television, but not all of them became classics.  This special stared Danny and Marlo Thomas in this hour long special.  Rarely seen, but has been released on DVD surprisingly.

4. Mice Meeting You (1950)

Paramount's Famous Studios is best known for Popeye and Casper the Friendly Ghost as well as other Harvey characters.  This entry from 1950 starred Herman and Katnip that were a lot like Tom and Jerry but a wee bit more violent.  These rare cartoons are hard to see due to the massive popularity with Casper, but they do turn up time to time.

5. Santa's Surprise (1947)

Another selection from Famous Studios, this marked the debut of Little Audrey who would become part of the Harvey family.  Since it showcases kids from different cultures, some political incorrectness has caused it to not air so much anymore.

 6. Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol (1962)

Considered the first televised Christmas special, this showcased Mr. Magoo as an actor as opposed to a comic character as he was in the 1950's and 60's.  The special was a hit.  However, when more specials such as Rudolph and Charlie Brown emerged, Mr. Magoo's popularity went down.  The special has been given good treatment over the years though, but seeing it on TV anymore is very rare.

7. Merry Jingles TV shorts (early 1950's)

Chicago TV was a big market in those days and probably still is.  As part of their kids shows such as Bozo the Clown and Garfield Goose, these shorts would showcase a popular kids song based on holidays at the time.  These include Frosty the Snowman, Suzy Snowflake, and Hardrock Coco and Joe (and for Easter, Here Comes Peter Cottontail).  UPA animated a couple with others using stop motion animation thus pre dating the Rankin Bass specials.  Ultimately, Frosty is the song that outlasted the rest, but the cartoon would be replaced with the more popular Rankin Bass special in 1969.

8. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (1940's)

Before becoming a hit song, Rudolph was originally a book to be sold for Montgomery Store.  Max Fleischer worked on a cartoon adaptation at the Jam Handy organization.  This well produced classic originally did not have the song until later on when Rudolph became a hit song in the late 1940's.  It has been seen occasionally on TV and the Rankin Bass special pretty much became the main cartoon version of the tale.  However, since this is a public domain film, you may see snippets of it here and there.

Got any rare Christmas cartoons that's your favorite?  Let us know.  And a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!!!