Underrated Christmas Specials, pt. 3: MICKEY'S CHRISTMAS CAROL

While I will stipulate that the story of Christ’s birth is perhaps the Greatest Story Ever Told, I maintain that Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol in Four Staves is one of the greatest stories ever written. A driven narrative, full of mood and atmosphere, it’s the ultimate redemptive story of humankind’s ability to change. It is no wonder more adaptations exist than one could easily number.

While The Muppet Christmas Carol has finally taken its place among more modern Christmas classics, it was the Walt Disney company’s featurette Mickey’s Christmas Carol that provided me my first telling of the tale. By the early 1980s, the core band of Walt Disney animated characters were on the decline. While Mickey Mouse has always been the grand ambassador of the company, Mickey shorts were less and less common and had not received any Academy Award-nominations since shortly after World War II.

Released with the re-issue of The Rescuers, one of many meager offerings from the animation department in the 1970s, 1983’s Mickey’s Christmas Carol won back a lot of cred in the animation world, being nominated for an Oscar and impressing by compressing Dicken’s great tale in a half-hour short that is funny, moving, and replete with charm one expects at the holidays.

Of course, Donald Duck’s uncle—Scrooge McDuck—takes center stage. The character, naturally, had been named for Dicken’s protagonist and once considered a one-off character, he became surprisingly popular as an extension of the Duck clan, including Huey, Dewey, and Louie, with who he would reunite in DuckTales.

While this casting is a given, across the board the characters are given the right Disney counterpart. Mickey is Bob Cratchit, Goofy is hilarious in his role as Marley’s ghost, Donald (rightly) is Fred. As the central Mickey cast gets, excuse the phrase, goofier (Clarabelle the Cow, anyone?), most of the other characters are rounded out by cast members from pictures like Pinocchio, The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, and Robin Hood.

Jiminy Cricket is the Ghost of Christmas Past, Willie the Giant (from the “Mickey and the Beanstalk” segment of Fun and Fancy Free) is the Ghost of Christmas Present, and (in a surprise turn) Peg-Leg (or Bad Pete) plays the Ghost of Christmas Future. While it works, I’m sure it would have been better to have had just a grim reaper figure, but it is obviously made for young children. Mr. Toad plays Fezzywig. Heck, even Clarabelle is dancing with Horace Horsecollar at the Fezzywig party!

The Mickey Universe of Disney is a wholesome panoply and the plot of A Christmas Carol we know as well as the freckles on our arms, and yet the presentation is beautifully drawn, moving, and manages to tell basically the whole story in the length of time of a network sitcom. A lot of this is helped by the joyous musical score (by Irwin Kostal) and the assured hands of the late director Burny Mattinson. While not one of the original “Old Men” from Disney’s animation department, Mattinson had been involved with everything from Lady and the Tramp to the more recent Wish, which is dedicated to his memory. This would also be one of the last times Clarence Nash voiced Donald Duck.

Mickey’s Christmas Carol was a rare bright spot in the gloomy days of Disney (early to mid-1980s) when the future of the animation department was in doubt. In a way, it’s a perfect combination of story and character and the Muppets did well to copy this basic premise when they tried their own hand at the tale in the early-90s, although with perhaps even better results, given the talents of actor Michael Caine and songwriter Paul Williams.

While the short film was critically acclaimed in its day, I would still call it underrated. Mickey shorts continued to be released infrequently (Christmas Carol was the first to be released in thirty years) and somehow, he still has resonance to kids today despite being overshadowed by the characters in the feature-length animated pictures.

Mickey kind of gets lost in the shuffle as most of his great media dates from before the fifties (when he was a little sneakier). Still, these characters keep getting reused in inventive ways—in shorts, television shows, and video games. There are dozens of shorts (and Disney Christmas specials), but I still don’t feel this Christmas Carol gets its due. The Christmas Future sequence, for a kid, is truly frightening (as it should be). It is a moral tale written, I think, to shape people’s hearts and change people’s minds. This makes it, in a way, a perfect vehicle for the house of Mouse.

You can currently watch the featurette on Disney+.

Underrated Christmas Specials, pt. 2: WILL VINTON'S CLAYMATION CHRISTMAS CELEBRATION

Premiering with A Garfield Christmas Special in 1987, Will Vinton’s Claymation Christmas Celebration is another underrated gem of a television special. My home video (again, thanks Dad) must have been recorded the night both premiered as they are back-to-back on the tape, still including those fabulous ‘80s Christmas commercials.

Before stop motion made a quasi-comeback with Henry Selick’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, the ‘80s was replete with advertising and merchandise by Will Vinton’s clay animation (Claymation), most prominently with the success of his “group” The California Raisins, who famously sang Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard it through the Grapevine.”

Vinton was an Academy and Emmy Award-winning animator who came to fame with when his Raisins began promoting Sun-Maid. Though largely forgotten now, Vinton created brilliant ad campaigns and, in some ways, his creations were perfect for a Christmas special, in some ways echoing the stop-motion folks classics from the Rankin-Bass group (Santa Claus is Coming to Town, etc.)

Claymation Christmas is a delight—full of music, comedy, and (of course) a special performance of “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” by those anthropomorphic shriveled grapes. The special is hosted by two dinosaurs—Rex, a serious emcee who is continually annoyed by his co-host Herb, who wants nothing more than to eat his way through the holidays. This begins a running gag in which Herb refuses to believe the lyrics to the famous carol is “Here We Come A-wassailing” as different karts of holiday food arrive in the town square with characters singing variations: “Here We Come a-” “Waffling” (dogs peddling waffles), “Waddling” (geese bringing in goody baskets), and “Wallowing” (pigs with fruit). Herb’s shenanigans aside, Rex tries to keep calm and collected as he introduces a bevy of musical numbers that are, each in their own right, classic.

My personal favorite is the rendition of “We Three Kings.” Each Magi (traditionally named Balthazar, Caspar, and Melchior) sings his verse (with the corresponding gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh) in reverent, staid fashion only to be interrupted by a doo-wop singing trio of their camels jazzing up the number on the chorus. While the jazz riff is funny, the animation of the verses is respectful and even brings an air of mystery to the nativity story.

Perhaps the funniest sketch involves a performance of “Carol of the Bells” played by a self-clapping orchestra of “bells” all under the baton of Quasimodo, for some reason, at the Notre Dame cathedral. One bell is just not paying attention, smacking himself at the wrong time trying to swat a fly, trying to steal another bell’s mallet when he discards his. Quasimodo gets progressively frustrated at the fledgling musician. As the rogue bell is the last note of the piece, the hunchback takes matters into his own hands and rings him with a slingshot before he takes his bow.

While specials today may be wall-to-wall comedy with little in the way of the spirit of the holiday, this special takes its time and presents some songs straight, rendering moving graphics at the same time. “O Christmas Tree” is a particular delight. We begin with two children marveling at their tree. As we zoom in on one of their ornaments, we begin an odyssey into various adornments that bring us into several living rooms— scenes of families preparing for and sharing at Christmastime.

I wonder if kids today have the attention span for some of these more reserved segments. I remember trying to show The Muppet Christmas Carol to a class of sixth graders in the mid-2010s to which they responded, “This is ancient!” Ah, well. Times change. What was fur and clay has become digital and doofy. What can you do?

Another reverent segment is a tribute to African American worship with a version of “Joy to the World.” This segment, while beautifully drawn, is not Claymation, but shifting panels of stained-glass images exquisitely celebrating family, children, and the central story of Christmas. I remember being awed by these segments as much as delighted by the funny ones.

As a child, my parents turned the living room and den into holiday wonderlands. Almost every surface was covered with decorations, both religious and secular. I would spend hours in the den, lit only by decorations, dazzled by the effect. There’s something of that feeling in the more tender moments which, of course, evens out the comical ones.

Two more funny segments remain: “Angels We Have Heard on High” is an instrumental in which a couple of walruses perform an ice ballet to the chagrin of a group of penguins who keep getting bruised up in the process. Finally, of course, the Raisins perform their own version of “Rudolph.” Legendary singer/drummer Buddy Miles, who played for Jimi Hendrix and Carlos Santana, was the lead singer of the Raisins, whose Motown-style are always a pleasure to listen to and watch. “Hey, Rudolph—come on and guide my sleigh” they riff as they create a makeshift Santa sleigh to rise to the skies and get home for the holidays.

The true meaning of “wassailing” is finally revealed to Herb, who has gained fifty pounds in the result of the 22-minute special gorging himself and the special ends with the Claymation critters in the square singing, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.”

While never as popular as Charlie Brown or Garfield, Vinton’s animation holds up and creates a special with many moods—all of which are pleasant, tuneful, and fun. As with Garfield, you can find the special on Youtube. Give it a shot—and get ready for two more recommendations as we continue in the holiday season!

Underrated Christmas Specials, pt. 1: A GARFIELD CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

Welcome to the holiday season. In my lifetime, Christmas has gone from something you might start celebrating the day after Thanksgiving to something you start just whenever you want to: in November or maybe even earlier. The reasoning I hear a lot is, “Thanksgiving is a day; Christmas is a season.” Technically, that’s true. But the Christmas season traditionally begins the day of Christmas. Right now, we find ourselves in the season of Advent, but in a mostly evangelical country, the old Christian calendar is not as well known.

That being said, I found myself kind of craving Christmas this year and even had some carols in my head back in the summer—“Christmas in July.” Perhaps I’ve looked forward to it more because of the stress and strain of this year. But, continuing in the spirit of the season of Christmas, I thought December would be a good time to look at some underrated and personal favorite Christmas specials from the boob tube. Some, I hope, may jog memories for you too, if you happen to be of or near my generation.

My father was fairly hip to VHS technology in the ‘80s. He loved recording us with those cameras you had to tarry on your shoulder or set on a tripod they were so heavy. He also recorded many Christmas classics from television for me, including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I’ve never bought official DVDs of them because I love getting out the old VHS tapes from the late ‘80s-early ‘90s and watching them as I have my whole life. Even with the increasingly poor quality, you get to see a snapshot of time: when were then shorter commercial breaks with more creative ads that themselves are booming with nostalgia, the images of which are ingrained in me just as much as the freckles on my forearms.

I first wanted to dig into the criminally underrated A Garfield Christmas Special from 1987. The deadpan, sarcastic feline first appeared in comic strips in the mid-seventies from creator Jim Davis. Arguably, on the same level as the work of Charles Shulz, his strip (first called Jon, then Garfield) translated perfectly into animated cartoons, reaching their apotheosis in the Saturday morning TV series Garfield and Friends. 

A Garfield Christmas Special, directed by Phil Roman and voiced by the legends Lorenzo Music and Pat Carroll (the original, ahem, only, Ursula from The Little Mermaid), was an autobiographical effort from Davis, who wrote the teleplay. The special also included songs sung by, among others, the late great Lou Rawls.

The special begins with a dream sequence where Jon presents Garfield with a machine that will give him any gift he dreams up. This rapture is quickly dissipated when Garfield wakes up to Jon announcing they’re heading back to his family farm to visit his parents and sibling for Christmas. The dialogue alone in the first scene is hysterical, even today.

“We’re gonna pack up our presents and go to the farm for Christmas. Won’t that be fun?” Jon asks, to which Garfield replies, “You’ve got a real sick sense of humor, Jon.” Jon counters, “The whole family’s going to be there. Dad, Mom, Grandma, and Doc Boy…” to which Garfield retorts, “…and Good Boy and Bad Boy and Oh Boy and Atta Boy and…”

When I see a lot of children’s television today, there may be some misplaced meanness (mostly at the expense of parental characters), but Garfield’s particular tone of ho-hummery, especially voiced by Music, is genuinely funny while still having a bite that children in the ‘80s apparently could handle but would apparently displease the so-called “parents” of today. While I never saw the “live action” Garfield movies, Bill Murray was, in a way, the perfect choice to voice our favorite orange cat. His early comic success depended on a harmless but cutting sarcasm that turned many off at first, but then became a trademark style that launched him into a successful second career as a serious dramatic actor, without ever really leaving behind his trademark persona—including a face with a sort of deep pessimism about the world but without cynicism. A great sarcastic cutting remark, if not cynical, can be joyous.

Garfield, Jon, and Odie do indeed pack up the roadster and this leads to our second musical number, probably the best in the special, “Can’t Wait ‘til Christmas,” which is one of many jaunty traveling numbers in animation, like the “On the Open Road” sequence in A Goofy Movie—tuneful and funny. Jon reminisces about how the family would celebrate. He sings, “Decorating the tree!” which Garfield describes as “Gardening.” Jon: “Wiring all of the lights!” Garfield: “Electrical contracting.” Garfield, of course, does not see the joy of the season, ending the song with, “Wake me when it’s through.”

Jon’s family, all voiced and animated perfectly, are charming. Doc Boy, the brother who apparently still lives at home, has a relatively small part, but shines in it. When he is asked to bless the food, he reluctantly complies, at first struggling to come up with anything, but when he gets going, his prayer becomes more florid and verbose, leaving him with a smack on the head as they begin to eat.

Typical Christmas shenanigans follow—reading a Christmas story, singing carols, opening presents. But the sweet stuff pretty much all involves the lovable Odie and Grandma. Odie spends the special making covert missions to the barn to collect random items for which purpose Garfield doesn’t yet know. Grandma, a feisty and sidesplitting woman who dares Jon to give her a punch in the stomach to show she’s as tough as ever, becomes Garfield’s idol. A particularly sweet scene, where she pets him while he sits in her lap, reveals how much she misses her deceased husband. 

When Garfield follows Odie to find out what he’s up to in the barn, he stumbles upon Grandma and Grandpa’s love letters, which he gives to her as a gift. It turns out Odie was assembling a homemade back scratcher for Garfield, which touches him. The overriding message of the special is summed up by Garfield: “Christmas: it’s not the giving, it’s not the getting—it’s the loving,” followed by a beautiful encapsulation of his character: “There, I said it. Now, get outta here.”

In a way, I find this overall theme more prescient today than even the one proffered by A Charlie Brown Christmas. While I personally honor the religious significance of the holiday, Linus telling the Christmas story without context and having nothing apropos to do with the special itself, is sweet but unfulfilling. Garfield’s message, on the other hand, is timeless and a payoff to a special that is geared toward that line. Christmas indeed should be about the loving, and in a hurting world, that is a message we need now more than ever.

It may seem like I’m overselling it but trust me that A Garfield Christmas Special has equal parts laughter and sentiment, both used to astonishing effect. That really can’t be said about A Charlie Brown Christmas, which expresses sentimentality over sentiment. This is not to denigrate Charlie Brown. It’s still a classic, but I would rather have the cutting jibe of Garfield than the morose whining of Charlie any day.

Stay tuned as, over the next three weeks, we’ll look at some more underrated specials that you might be able to find on streaming services to supplement the Rankin-Bass stuff.

You can watch the entire special on Youtube!