Christmas movies come, Christmas movies go. Many are considered timeless, others you have to dig deep. Some involve saving Christmas, other simply tell the joy of Christmas. Most are obviously live action, but there are good number of them animated. Those, in my biased opinion, are the most memorable of the bunch. Even if it becomes obscure, chances are if you've seen it, you remember it. The same could be said about this little film, Santa and the Three Bears.
Depending on where you lived and when you were born, you may remember this film. It was one of those cheap kiddie matinee movies released during the 1970s. But was it really that much of a B picture? Who made this picture anyhow? That is our story which has bizarre twists and turns along the way.
The story goes back to the 1960's. Tony Benedict was a writer at Hanna Barbera. Perhaps his most famous creation was Astro the Dog on Jetsons. He approached Joe Barbera with an idea of a Christmas special since Rudolph, Charlie Brown, and The Grinch took off. His idea was about two bear cubs trying to stay awake until Christmas. The problem already is that there was no villain for Hanna-Barbera. So Tony self financed this movie himself. He was able to finance this by telling the story to the children of some CEO in Vancouver. The children loved it so much that Tony walked away with a check to get this project started. As a result, Tony Benedict Productions was formed. Many people from Hanna-Barbera helped out along the way. Iwo Takamoto designed the characters. Ed Love was one of the animators. Jean Vander Pyle did the voice of Nana (Wilma Flintstone, Rosey the Robot) while Hal Smith (Otis on Andy Griffith) voiced the ranger. Originally it would be called A Yellowstone Christmas and would be pitched to TV stations, but didn't sell.
In came Warner Bros who became interested in it. At first from what I can surmise is that Warners picked it up as is perhaps as a featurette the same way Winnie the Pooh was for Disney. Proof of this could be seen on original prints for A Yellowstone Christmas. However, they decided that it should be longer than 30 minutes for Saturday Afternoon matinee. Songs were added, live action footage was added, and new animation/voice acting was commissioned. It was believed this is where A Yellowstone Christmas was renamed Santa and the Three Bears. The title could be misleading to some thinking it's like Goldilocks and the Three Bears when in all actuality it's nothing like that. Plus instead of a Papa, Mama, and Baby Bear is a Mama (Nana), Brother (Chinook), and Sister Bear (Nikomi). However at the same time this was all happening, Warner Bros. would merge with 7arts and while Warner Bros/7arts titles were placed on the film (even before becoming Santa and the Three Bears), eventually they decided to say no to the project all together despite it pretty much being all done.
Enter R and S Films in Hollywood, FL. "R and S films distributed two kinds of films," recalls Tony Benedict, "children's films and soft core pornography." It also had deep ties with the now defunct Pirates World theme park. Tony also recalls seeing posters of a children's film and a porno film side by side having the exact same actress. They found interest in the film and bought it. Tony was able to buy it back from Warner Bros/7arts and the film got distributed nationwide in 1970. A contradicting story, however, is that it was R and S Films that renamed the film Santa and the Three Bears, not Warners:
“Following multiple new rejections one opportunity arose. Shelly Schermer operated a small distribution company that specialized in children films and soft corn porn. It was the only offer I had so we made a deal. Shelly re titled the film as SANTA AND THE THREE BEARS and booked it in more than one hundred movie theaters on Saturday and Sunday for a matinee weekends release Thanksgiving Day through Christmas in 1970. At fifty and twenty five cents a ticket is racked up half a million dollars in it’s first year. Precious little of that money found it’s way back to me.”
Special thanks to Greg Ehrbar for the quote taken from Cartoon Research.
Many different prints were made of this however, and since it was a success that first year different versions of the film were released. This is where things get tricky for us as we have been exposed or not been exposed to several different versions of the film causing us to ask ourselves "which one is the real version" and "which one is the best version". This blog is no stranger to going deep diving, and I am not stopping now! So here we go, these are the many versions of Santa and the Three Bears:
1. A Yellowstone Christmas version
The shortest version on our list, this was the original version pitched to TV networks and Warner Bros. There are even a Warner Bros/7arts title card at the beginning and a Warner Bros/7arts logo at the end of the film during the credits. It could be seen why the TV networks turned it down. The story was not exciting, epic, or dramatic. It was short, sweet, and simple. Then again, Charlie Brown was short, sweet, and simple. Sometimes TV executives are the dumbest people in the world. Sure I could see where someone could be bored by this version, but it feels very wholesome. I can't say that a whole lot with Christmas specials today. This version was never released widespread due to not being sold by a network and the changes being made by Warner Bros/7arts later on. Tony Benedict at one time uploaded his 35mm copy of this version (omitting any reference of Warner Bros to make it look like it was made for TV), but it has since been taken down. Don't worry, I backed it up.
2. Hal Smith version
This version is believed to have been the original theatrical version and may be one of the most common. At this point is when the movie is longer with more songs and new animation, all still done by Tony Benedict Productions. The intro and outro features Hal Smith in live action. In the intro, he begins to tell the story to his niece and nephew about how when he was a park ranger and two little cubs wanted to stay up and enjoy Christmas bringing us into the actual movie. At the end of the credits, the children have fallen asleep but Hal wakes them up to show that Santa Claus had come while the song "Wonder of Christmastime" finishes up. Wikepedia claims that Barry Mahon directed the live action sequences with Hal Smith. This is false information. First, he nor R and S are given no credit. Second, R and S is a third rate movie production company based in Hollywood, FL. They reused actors and actresses from their production companies. There was no way they could have afforded Hal Smith to do scenes for them as he was in bigger time productions like Andy Griffith, and the only reason he did Santa and the Three Bears in the first place is his close ties with the folks at Hanna Barbera including Tony Benedict who considered him for the role. Finally, this version while officially released by R and S still bared a "distributed by Warner Bros/7arts" trademark. This made me believe that these were commissioned by Warners to help pad out time for theatrical release. Many streaming services as of late have been using this version, though the quality appears to come from 2nd generation VHS tapes. Goodtimes Video allegedly put this version out without the live action sequences.
3. Pirates World/Porpoises version
R and S made their own version of the film which would be the longest version made. A handful of new animation was added, though it was mostly for the title sequence and additional footage at the beginning of the animation sequence. All live action scenes take place in the Miami/Ft. Lauderdale area. More specifically, the now defunct Ocean World Marine Park. Perhaps it too was owned and connected to Pirates World? The live action scenes were up to R and S quality standards......all bad quality. Here, another ranger is with his own nieces and nephews from Florida (much much older nieces and nephews I must add). They are complaining about not being in the Christmas spirit because of the Florida weather. They decided to do something fun by going to Ocean World and seeing the porpoises. The tour guide shows them all the animals in the park and they get to watch some of the dolphin shows. After a while, they sit and have lunch once again complaining about how it's too warm for Christmas. So the uncle tells the story about his co-ranger staying at Yellowstone for the winter and dealing with the two bear cubs wanting to stay up for Christmas. So wait, one ranger in one version is going to Florida to tell this story while the other ranger in another version, the real Mr. Ranger who experienced it all, goes to his own family and tells the same story..........ok. After the cartoon portion, the kids go back to seeing more animals and watching the porpoises perform. There was even a Christmas themed show with the dolphins getting their Christmas gifts to help brighten Christmas Spirits. The last of the performances ends the movie with "Wonder of Christmastime" playing the whole time (cause when I think of the magic of Christmas, I think of Dolphin Shows....DUH!!!!!). The film ends with a card advertising Pirates World showing some of their rides and attractions. Thus, turning a charming little film into one big commercial for Florida parks. Of all the versions of Santa and the Three Bears, this is the most cringe-y. The acting is bad, it's all about Ocean World as opposed to the cartoon itself as would R and S's next Christmas film, Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny. It gets worse, the film was not shy about talking about the capture of porpoises describing how "they finally give in realizing they could not escape". WHAT?! Why would you do that making these creatures feel emotionally traumatized by that? This is why I cringe the most at this version. Only to cringe more when you realize this park had connections to animal abuse. Fortunately, this version is very uncommon. Multicom Entertainment Group has this version well preserved as they have the original masters. More on that later
4. Modern Sound Pictures version
Finally, Modern Sound Pictures licensed this movie for non theatrical distribution. This now defunct company used to rent out 16mm prints of movies and short subjects both owned and licensed. Usually this meant showings at churches, schools, etc. However, as one would expect, this resulted in pirates going the extra mile renting out these prints and making multiple dupe copies of the film, which obviously was against the law. This resulted also in many bad prints of the film in circulation even to this day. Modern Sound Pictures took the Pirates World version but edited out the live action sequences and any references to those said sequences or Ocean World. This includes cuts and new titles created in some slots. This version is also very common because of the dupe prints made. Many copies of it gives an eerie feeling with the muffled sound, splices and dices, warped music, scratchy soundtrack, and a sudden spliced in Modern Sound Pictures title card. Oh, and sometimes faded too. If a fair print is shown, however, and is transferred properly, this version is not that bad.
There were also other versions to have allegedly appear including one in Dallas with sequences made for the Dallas locals. But as you can see, this movie has been altered multiple times with multiple versions during its peak run. When it was all said and done however, Tony Benedict received zero money for the film. R and S and its shady practices said "Oh...we need to recuperate funding." This shady practice forced the company to close and the copyright of the film to lapse. Not before, of course, being released theatrically for many years and also syndicated to local television. In later years, it appeared on TBN, USA, and Fox Family during their annual 25 Days of Christmas. But, because of it entering in the public domain, it has appeared several times on VHS and DVD in various quality from multiple companies like UAV and Goodtimes. Streaming companies mostly put this out in VHS quality with the Hal Smith introduction including Peacock and Tubi. However, only one company (outside of Benedict himself with his Yellowstone print) has tried preserving it in great quality, Multicom. After research from what I have concluded is that Multicom has the original masters to this film. But again, the library they have are dirty films (not necessarily porn though) and those God awful Goodtimes Video ripoff movies. This showed up on Youtube in 360p and on The Archive.tv in 486p. It even appeared (with ads) on IMDB/Amazon Prime. However, Multicom claims it's 4k ready. This all came out recently. Has that version or Tony's been released on home video? As far as I know, nope.
Santa and the Three Bears is no Rankin/Bass or Charlie Brown, but it is an enjoyable film. It's probably the best of those categorized low budget Christmas flicks because its original purpose was to be a higher budget film in the first place before having to steep so low. The characters are well designed and well animated. It gives me a little bit of The Berenstain Bears vibe as Nana is a lot like Mama Bear and Chinook and Nikomi remind me of Brother and Sister Bear. If one watches a good copy of it, it looks really cute and neat. It deserves to be preserved, restored, and presented better than what it has been these past 50 years. Because the kids that watched it and remembered it enjoyed it, be it in theaters or on television.
My special thanks to Tony Benedict and Stu Shostak who interviewed Tony on an episode of Stu's Show. Many of these stories you are reading today come from the show. I also hope you enjoyed reading about this rarely seen Christmas movie. I wish you all a Very Merry and Safe Christmas and here's hoping for a Happy New Year!
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