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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!!!
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