Christmas Oddities: Special Christmas Specials

 

Every year I like to watch the traditional Christmas specials that everyone knows, from Charlie Brown to Rudolph to the Grinch. You can see them on many different channels, sometimes multiple times a month, or you can own a copy to play whenever the mood hits you. But there are some Christmas specials (though they may be available on YouTube) that don’t come up and slap you in the face. You have to go and seek them out. I present here are a few of Christmas curiosities that tease my sensibilities at this time of year.

The Captain’s Christmas (1938; MGM; 8 min.) Notable Talent: Director Friz Freleng, Writer Joseph Barbera, Voice of John Silver: Billy Bletcher (although usually done by Mel Blanc). “The Captain is playing Santa for the kids; John and his henchmen stick him up and take over, but John breaks all the toys. Seeing the kids crying fills John with remorse.

The pirates go into town and sing to make money to buy new toys but do so badly that people throw things at them to get them to stop. But this turns out all right as the things include toys, trimmings, and food.”- slightly adapted from IMDB. My favorite part is when John’s conscience (which takes the form of his childhood self, with golden curls and a little Lord Fauntleroy suit – but who already has a peg leg) scolds him with “And to think I grew up to be you!” That really hit hard when I was a kid, somehow.

I’m just going to put these two animated adaptations of “A Christmas Carol” together, as they were released so close to each other we tended to get them mixed up, and because the story is so well-known it needs no recounting. A Christmas Carol (1970, API, 45 minutes). Known for its grisly version of Jacob Marley and the eccentric dancing of Mr. Fezziwig.

A Christmas Carol (1971; 25 min.)

Oscar-winning animated adaptation. Notable Talent: 

Alastair Sim and Michael Hordern recreating their roles as Scrooge and Marley's Ghost, narrated by Michael Redgrave; Produced by Chuck Jones.

A Cosmic Christmas (1977; 26 min; Nelvana) Came out when I was in Briesemeister Middle School. It intrigued me as a science-fiction themed Christmas story. “Three aliens from an unknown planet, a Biblical Magi allusion, visit Earth to know the true meaning of Christmas. Peter, a young boy, and Lucy, his goose, are the first to encounter them. Unable to find the true meaning of Christmas in town, Peter takes them to his family's house in the woods.

While Peter's grandmother tells the aliens about her memories of Christmas, Marvin, one of the town's bullies, steals Lucy. In the chase to rescue Lucy, Marvin falls through the ice in a lake. Peter attempts to rescue him but falls into the lake as well. The townsfolk, who were out searching for the aliens, attempt to save the boys but their human chain is not long enough to reach them. The three aliens, who had sworn not to interfere with events on Earth, decide to help in order to learn the meaning of Christmas. The rescue effort is successful. The townsfolk are quick to condemn Marvin for stealing Lucy, but have a change of heart when they realize that Marvin stole Lucy because he had nothing to eat. Peter offers Marvin and his friends the chance to join them for Christmas dinner and the aliens realize that family and the spirit of forgiveness are the true meaning of Christmas.” – Wikipedia.

The Box of Delights (1984 - 1985; BBC; 6 30-min. episodes or 2 hrs. 57 mins.) Notable Talent: Patrick Troughton, the 2nd Dr. Who and Melanthius in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger as Cole Hawlings.  Got taken with this by a showing on Nickelodeon, recorded it, and became enamored of the John Masefield books (they had an obvious influence on Susan Cooper’s The Dark is Rising series). “Kay Harker (Devin Stanfield) is returning from boarding school for Christmas 1934 when he finds himself mixed up in a battle to possess a magical box. The current owner of the box is an old Punch and Judy man called Cole Hawlings (Patrick Troughton) whom Kay meets at the railway station. They develop an instant rapport, which leads Cole to confide that he is being chased by a magician called Abner Brown (Robert Stephens) and his gang, which includes Kay's former governess.

The box allows the owner to shrink in size, to shapeshift, to fly, to travel to the past and to experience various magical wonders and creatures, and thus is sought for evil purposes by Abner. Cole (who turns out to be the medieval philosopher and alleged magician Ramon Lull) entrusts the box to Kay. The schoolboy then goes on to have many adventures across time as he protects the box from Abner Brown.

During his travels, Kay encounters many characters drawn from English folklore, history and pagan mythology including Herne the Hunter, King Arthur, Father Christmas, unicorns, Roman soldiers, and medieval monks.” – Internet Archive.

The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (1985; Rankin/Bass; 50 mins.) Based on the book by L. Frank Baum; not to be confused with the 2000 cell animation version. The last and odd-man-out of the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials, not being in their Christmas Continuity.  Love the introductory song “Ora e Sempre” (Today and Forever).

“Long ago in the Forest of Burzee, a council meeting is held where the Great Ak tells the story of Santa Claus to the leaders of the Immortals, hoping to persuade them to grant Claus immortality. About 60 years earlier, the Great Ak finds an abandoned baby in the snowy woods on the border of the Forest. He gives it to the lioness Shiegra to raise. However, after hearing about the discovery of the infant, Necile, a Wood Nymph, steals him from Shiegra and goes to the Great Ak, begging him to let her raise the child. After initial concern that a human was brought into the Forest which is against the law, the Great Ak allows Necile to raise the child while Shiegra stays to protect them. Necile names the child "Claus".

When Claus has grown to be a young man, the Great Ak takes him to see the mortal world and its cruelty and suffering. Claus learns that he must live there and make it better. He leaves the Forest and lives in a workshop in the Laughing Valley of Hohaho with Shiegra and Tingler, a Sound Imp. As he gets older, he works to bring happiness to children in a nearby village. He eventually makes toys (the first being a wooden black cat modeled after the kitten Blinky that Necile sent to them, which he gives to the orphan boy Weekum). He is occasionally assisted by a group of Ryls, Knooks, and Wood Nymphs from the Forest.

Meanwhile, evil creatures called the Awgwas (who influence children to do bad things and who are led by King Awgwa) are not happy with Claus's efforts to bring happiness to children, so they attempt to stop Claus from making and delivering toys. At first, they send a warning to Claus, telling him to stop or they would come for him. After Claus ignores the warning, the Awgwas kidnap him, but he calls for aid from the Knooks, who help him escape. As he and his friends make attempts to deliver toys to the village, the Awgwas repeatedly ambush them and steal the toys. Claus tries to go alone by night, but he is again ambushed.

The Great Ak has had enough of this and summons King Awgwa and his followers to come and face him. King Awgwa defies the Great Ak's demand that he stop interfering with Claus's efforts and declares war on the Immortals. Later, the Great Ak and some other Immortals face off against the Awgwas and some monstrous friends that they brought. The monsters attack the Immortals, but the Immortals defeat them. The Immortals then charge toward the Awgwas, who flee in fear. Afterwards, the Great Ak informs Claus that he can resume his toy delivering without fear of interference, because the Awgwas "have perished".

Claus and his friends prepare a sleigh to deliver toys to the village, but it is too heavy for them to pull. Peter Knook comes up with the idea of hitching reindeer from the Forest to the sleigh in order to pull it. Claus travels across the valley in his sleigh along with Tingler and Shiegra. The sleigh makes multiple large leaps which Tingler says is like flying. Claus claims that he now knows why the valley is named the way it is, as he laughs in a "ho ho ho" manner. When he makes his first stop, he finds that the door of the house is locked since it is night, so he enters through the chimney. Once inside, he finds that the children's stockings were hung by the fireplace to dry, so he decides to put small toys in them while placing larger toys elsewhere. After Claus leaves and the family wakes up, they refer to him as "Saint Claus" or "Santa Claus". Once Claus returns, Peter Knook informs him that he can only use the reindeer once a year on Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve is only ten days away, so he will not have time to make enough toys. In order for Claus to have enough gifts, Peter Knook finds and retrieves the toys stolen by the Awgwas. Claus sets out on his first of many Christmas Eve sleigh rides.

As Claus nears the end of his life, he suggests that his friends remember him by decorating a tree every year. After hearing about Claus's life and good deeds, the council unanimously votes to give him the Mantle of Immortality. Having become known as "Santa Claus", he delivers gifts to children every Christmas Eve.”

Nicholas: The Boy Who Became Santa (1990; 30 mins.; CCC of America)

“The story of the boy whose charity and care for people helped him become Saint Nicholas, a great bishop whose spirit lives on as Santa Claus. Based on historical facts [and traditions].” – IMDB. 

St. Nicholas of Myra (in modern day Turkey) is the historical figure behind the legend of Santa Claus. “In one of the earliest attested and most famous incidents from his life, he is said to have rescued three girls from being forced into prostitution by dropping a sack of gold coins through the window of their house each night for three nights so their father could pay a dowry for each of them.  He was later cast into prison during the persecution of Diocletian, but was released after the accession of Constantine.’ – Wikipedia. Which is about where this adaptation for children ends, not going on to his disputed attendance at the First Council of Nicea and his ‘legendary’ slapping of Arius the heresiarch.

“St. Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves, children, brewers, pawnbrokers, unmarried people, and students in various cities and countries around Europe.” – Ibid. The three golden balls traditionally displayed at pawnshops are a remembrance of the three golden gifts given to the distressed maidens, and as patron saint of sailors he was very popular in Russia, with many ports named after him.  Unlike most early saints, he did not die a martyr. His ‘stolen’ bones reside in Italy to this day.

So popular was St. Nicholas that many Protestant reformers found that they couldn’t simply ban him altogether, so they whittled him down into a figure of fun and folklore; similar efforts are being made by neo-pagans to turn him into Odin or something with made up origin stories. But the origin: St. Nicholas (feast Day December 6). 

Klaus (2019; Netflix, 1 hr. 37 min.) Notable talent: J. K. Simmons as Klaus; Norm McDonald as Mogens. I place Klaus in this category because I feel that its limited availability (only on Netflix) has narrowed its footprint in the Christmas film realm.  “In 19th-century Norway, the Royal Postmaster General enrolls Jesper Johansen, his lazy, spoiled, self-centered son, into a postman training academy in the hopes that it will reform him. Jesper deliberately underperforms, forcing his father to finally send him to the distant, northern island town of Smeerensburg with the task of posting 6,000 letters within a year. If Jesper fails, he will be cut off from the family's fortune.

Jesper finds Smeerensburg comprised almost entirely by two feuding familial clans, the Ellingboes and the Krums. Jesper desperately requests letters from the townsfolk, but to no avail. Searching far outside of town, he finds an isolated house filled with handmade toys and inhabited by a tall reclusive woodsman named Klaus. Terrified by Klaus' imposing appearance, Jesper flees, leaving behind a drawing from one of Smeerensburg’s Krum children. Klaus forces Jesper to bring him to the house depicted in the drawing and secretly deliver a toy inside, which cheers the boy up.

Word spreads to the other children and they go to Jesper the next day, believing they will receive a toy if they send Klaus a letter. Jesper capitalizes on the idea to make progress on his goal and asks Klaus if he can donate his toys; Klaus agrees provided they operate at night and Jesper continues to deliver the toys in secret. The Krum boy's toy leads him to play with an Ellingboe girl, much to their clans’ outrage. As more children write letters to Klaus, Jesper tells them that Klaus knows whenever any child misbehaves and only gives toys to good children. The children begin to perform acts of kindness, which gradually inspire the rest of the townsfolk to end their ancient dispute. The children ask bitter teacher-turned-fishmonger Alva to teach them to read and write so they can send letters; inspired, she uses her savings to reopen her school.

Jesper eventually notices that Klaus's toy supply has almost run out. With his deadline approaching, Jesper tries persuading Klaus to make more toys in time for Christmas. Klaus refuses, leading to a fight. Motivated by Márgu, a Sámi girl who can't write or speak in English, Jesper works with Alva to help Márgu write a letter, then attempts to build Márgu a sled. Seeing Jesper's effort, Klaus reconciles with him and the two finish the sled. Upon delivering the sled and seeing Márgu's joy, Jesper is genuinely moved. Klaus tells Jesper that he had made the toys for the children he and his wife Lydia hoped to have but could not conceive, only for Lydia to die from an illness. Klaus agrees to the Christmas plan, and Márgu arrives with the rest of her people to help. As the town and Jesper's relationship with Alva flourish, Jesper finds himself conflicted about whether to leave Smeerensburg.

Meanwhile, family elders Aksel Ellingboe and Tammy Krum form a temporary truce, wanting to stop Jesper and Klaus so the families can resume their feud. Together, they discover Jesper's scheme and post enough letters to meet well over his target. Jesper’s father arrives on Christmas Eve to congratulate his son, inadvertently revealing to Jesper's friends the selfish motives behind his deeds. Just before they leave town, Jesper's father notices his son's remorse, and after a private talk, he allows Jesper to stay. Jesper tries to stop the elders and their angry mob from destroying the Christmas toys; during the resulting chase, Aksel's daughter Magdalone and Tammy's son Olaf fall in love. Tammy seemingly destroys all of the Christmas toys; however, Alva and Klaus had already replaced the toys with decoys after being informed of the plot by the town's children. Still, Jesper's actions have redeemed him to Klaus and Alva.

Smeerensburg becomes a happy town, with the family elders being forced to end the feud due to the marriage of their children. Jesper marries Alva and they raise two children. He and Klaus continue to deliver presents in Smeerensburg and beyond for eleven years. On the twelfth year, Klaus feel's his wife's presence in the wind and, going to join her, disappears. Although he is gone, Klaus lives on in Christmas stories, and so every subsequent Christmas Eve, Jesper waits for Klaus, who returns every year to deliver toys across the world.” – Wikipedia.