Another Top forgotten Christmas Cartoons

There are more Christmas shows out there than meets the eye.  Heck, Hallmark themselves have put out too many to count.  As such, even the cartoons could be swept under the rug.  This is another list of some of rarest yet in some cases the best Christmas Cartoons ever made.  Missed the previous list, come on over here

1. Spinach Greetings (early 1960s)

It's not the rarest of the bunch since Popeye is everywhere again, but I can't say it's the easiest to find.  The TV Popeyes of the 1960s result to over 200 cartoons making this a needle in the haystack.  Good news, the story of how Popeye saved Christmas from the wicked Sea Hag could easily be tracked down with this, and the Youtube channel is currently promoting it,

2. From All of Us to All of You (1959)

As part of his anthology series on TV, Walt Disney himself brought us this special treat.  Hosted by Jiminy Cricket and special appearances by Mickey and Pluto, it's a showcase of Christmas cartoons with great moments from classic Disney favorites.  Despite this, the show had some re-edits over the years.  Surprisingly, it's currently more popular overseas causing most of the segments to be restored, but sadly, even they have re-edits to promote recent films like Frozen and Moana.  Many different color segments were found over the years, but the last remaining segments left only exist in kinescope form in black and white.  I believe Disney has everything well preserved, but until we know for sure, frankensteined versions of the show has been (illegally) uploaded to Youtube being the only versions available at this time.

3. Santa and the Three Bears (1970)

This is a crazy story so hang on.  Legendary Hanna-Barbera writer Tony Benedict self produced this in hopes of a network picking it up.  Originally gonna be called a Yellowstone Christmas, all three networks turned it down for not having a villain in the story.  He tried approaching WB/7arts for a theatrical distribution, but was then asked to pad it to make it longer and was renamed Santa and the Three Bears.  The story was about a couple of bear cubs who hear about Christmas from the ranger, so they try to stay up and celebrate despite it being hibernation time.  The film was finished, but WB/7arts said no.  Finally, a distributor in Florida who somehow owns the defunct park Pirates World and also makes kiddie films and porn bought it to sell in theaters.  It was a success, but Benedict received no money for his baby.  The company is long gone, and the film only now circulates in grey market form varying in quality.  Mr. Benedict, however, still has the master negs for the original Yellowstone Christmas half hour special and has uploaded it on his vimeo page.

4. Casper's First Christmas (1979)

Ok so what happens when Worldvision owns the rights to both Hanna-Barbera and Harvey Comics?  the answer, combine them.  A typical plot for Casper as he wants to celebrate Christmas instead of scaring people, but atypical when who should pay his house a visit for Christmas but the likes of Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Snagglepuss, and more.  It's also been confused with Yogi's First Christmas which came out THAT SAME YEAR. Same songs, same characters (minus Casper), nearly same plot.  Typical Hanna-Barbera at the time.  This confusion led to it swept under the rug by the general public, though Boomerang still runs it annually.

5.  The Berenstain Bears Christmas Tree (1979)

Speaking of bears, Stan and Jan's Berenstain Bears lands in their first TV outing in which Papa decides to cut down a Christmas Tree.  Along the way, the Bears learn about the true meaning of Christmas, thinking of "nature's creatures great and small, fellow creatures one and all."  The show was a success, and led to more specials and a TV show, but time passed on the Bears and the specials are no longer running on air despite being on home video a lot over the years.  This combined with the 2003 PBS edition of The Berenstain Bears being the more popular adaptation pushed all other shows and specials aside, thus making it on this list.

6.  The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives (1932/33)

Even the great WB cartoons have their lost moments.  As part of their Merrie Melodies series, this one is about a poor boy who seems to not have any Christmas presents, but Santa Claus arrives to take him to his workshop up at the North Pole.  Despite being a Looney Tunes cartoon, here's why it's rare: 1. it's in black and white, 2. none of the popular characters were in it or created at that time, 3. there are scenes that depict typical racial stereotypes being a product of its time, and 4. it contains outdated celebrity/radio references throughout.  It has since fell into the public domain, making it possible you've at least seen snippets.

7. Toyland Premiere (1934)

This early Walter Lantz short is heavily inspired by the Macy's Santa Claus Parade (now called the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade).  In it, Santa flies down from the North Pole to visit with famous celebrities such as Universal's own Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, bringing with him giant balloons and funny floats to kick off the holiday season.  Like the previous entry, it is a product of it's time.  Many faces may be unfamiliar by most and it also includes politically incorrect humor.  Surprisingly, it has appeared on Woody Woodpecker DVDs.

8. The Snowman (1932/33)

Now for the darker side of Christmas.  An Eskimo and his friends build a giant snowman that ends up coming to life.  But he doesn't sing and dance nor says "Happy Birthday!"  No no...he becomes an evil monster that wrecks havoc and terrorizes the creatures of the north.  When it aired on TV, only black and white prints circulated making this not run-able by the time color came in.  Thanks to Thunderbean Animation and the hard work Steve Stanchfield and his team did, they were able to restore the original theatrical color version.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!