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\nI was recently informed by our website curator that the printing date for this article would be on Christmas Day, and was asked to take a week away from my ongoing series to come up with a one-shot of titles related to the holiday. Unlike many holidays, I have generally avoided a Christmas article – not because I am a Scrooge or a disbeliever. In fact, I am very fond and sentimental about the holiday. However, after years of following the posts of various contributors to this website, I have generally come to a conclusion paralleling the first spoken line from Foghorn Leghorn in \u201cWalky Talky Hawky\u201d – \u201cEvery year, it\u2019s the same thing.\u201d It seems infallible that someone trots out his own \u201cpersonal favorites\u201d list, or asks \u201cwhat\u2019s yours?\u201d – and the same sort of titles always turn up. The kind that are guaranteed to leave you with a warm, fuzzy feeling – also, the kind to which Screwy Squirrel would probably react, \u201cOh, brudder. Not that!\u201d Certainly, there is a place for tradition on Christmas. For many, this is virtually the only theme of the holiday. But the same small number of titles that seem to put a glow into everyone\u2019s heart is only a small piece of the overall picture, when it comes to animation\u2019s history concerning the Yuletide. <\/p>\n\n
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At least one creative blogger here has featured some articles spotlighting holiday specials that seem to be forgotten today, many of which still attempt to push all the right buttons to achieve sentiment but failed to achieve such goal for one reason or another. There are many others which deviated from the norm in taking storylines in unusual or unexpected directions not aimed at generating the typical holiday emotions, which again failed to withstand the test of time. For my part, I note that there is a sizeable body of animated work, many of which were not one-shot specials, which are not necessarily forgotten or of questionable quality or production values, but led down different roads than mainstream fare. These items never seem to receive discussion, nor come close to inclusion upon anyone\u2019s top ten list. Several were written as nearly-obligatory Christmas installments of ongoing series – a field that must have been daunting for many a writing staff, leaving authors chomping at the bit to do something different – sometimes dark, sometimes satiric, but anything besides jingle bells and ho ho ho. Other curious items may reflect the writer\u2019s reactions to over-established commercial traditions, drawing satiric humor through exaggeration – demonstrating that the seasonal world could be observed from a different point of view. Below, I attempt to spotlight a representative cross-section of work by competent and established animators of generally high-quality, which get passed over by the radar each year when scanning for Santa, due to their deviant directions, themes, or moods – messages that John Q. Public may have forgotten, or simply chose not to recall, during the hustle and bustle of the season.<\/p>\n
Mickey tries a new location, outside the home of a wealthy pig. Inside, the master of the house and his butler are attempting to keep quiet Junior, a spoiled brat pig who isn\u2019t satisfied with any of the many toys purchased for him, and wails constantly. The sounds of Pluto\u2019s howls to Mickey\u2019s music reach the child\u2019s ears, and he runs to the window. \u201cI want the dog\u201d, he shouts to his father repeatedly. Reaching into his pocket for a large wad of cash, the master instructs the butler, \u201cBuy him the dog.\u201d The butler proceeds outside, and attempts to hail Mickey. Thinking the butler intends to chase him away, Mickey instinctively picks up his instrument, and races away with Pluto. The butler calls after him that he wants to pay handsomely for the dog. Mickey at first responds, \u201cHe\u2019s not for sale. He\u2019s my pal\u201d, and outraces the butler, who slips in the snow, with money falling everywhere, and gives up the chase. Mickey, however, reaches a frozen ice pond, and also slips on the ice. The bass fiddle slides ahead of him, off of the pond ice, up a bank, and out upon a snow-covered city street – where the fiddle is immediaely trodden upon and run over by a passing horse-drawn sleigh full of happy children. With half of the destroyed fiddle dangling by its strings from the sleigh\u2019s runners, the sleigh disappears down the street, with the children ironically shouting to Mickey, \u201cMerry Christmas.\u201d <\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Mickeys-good-deed-poster.jpg\")
<\/a>Mickey\u2019s Good Deed<\/strong> (Disney\/United Artists, Mickey Mouse<\/em>, 12\/17\/32 – Burt Gillett, dir.) – Mickey Mouse on a list of off-beat Christmas titles? Of all the Disney holiday specials, this one probably takes the cake for presenting the mouse in a role of questionable motives and conduct, inducing sacrifice not of himself, but of his own best friend. This Chaplinesque tale, set in the height of the Depression, finds Mickey and Pluto on a snowy Christmas Eve, out on the street, with Mickey attempting to earn a living by playing Christmas music on a large bass fiddle. This setup closely resembles Laurel and Hardy\u2019s \u201cBelow Zero\u201d from 1930, and rival Ub Iwerks\u2019s Flip the Frog installment, \u201cWhat a Life!\u201d, which had premiered in March of the same year as this cartoon. (A note for original titles fans: original credits for this cartoon have been located at this link<\/a>, depicting a special opening where the snow begins to fall in mid-shot, before the actual opening of the cartoon events themselves.) Unfortunately, the day\u2019s cash receipts in Mickey\u2019s tin cup amount to a few handfuls of discarded nuts and bolts.<\/p>\n