![[Aleal]](http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/messaging/images/1/19/Avatar.jpg){kind=avatar}
From Christmas Specials Wiki
Contents |
[edit] Frosty the Retake
Hey, Andrew, what does your R/B book say about the Frosty soundtrack album? The reason I'm asking is because I wanted to write about the releases (an MGM LP in 1970, and a CD on Rhino a few years ago), but then I saw your note about them not using June Foray's voice. However, the record does have her voice, and it's always struck me as odd that the record is almost exact, except for June's part. I always thought she did retakes. I never knew they used somebody else. So I wanted to somehow integrate that information with your trivia on not using her in the actual film's soundtrack. Any ideas? -- Ken (talk) 05:36, 12 December 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Santa and the confusing special
Hey, Andrew! I can't believe I haven't asked you about this before, but what's the story on Santa and the 3 Bears? I've watched that all my life, and I always thought it was an hour special. And then I found that IMDB has it as a theatrical movie from 1970 (and they have it as rated G, by the way), and it's apparently 76 minutes. But I've never seen it broadcast as anything but the hour special. And I have the record, and everything's there, so I don't know what would have been cut. I've never been able to find anything else on it. And another thing. I've never bought it, because it's always on some off-the-wall home video label (and different ones, on top of that!), but the end credits say Warner Brothers. This can't possibly be public domain already! I wish WB would put it out, because I know people would buy it! I really hope you can help me on this one, because this is one of my favorites! It's one of the rare specials like Charlie Brown that actually mentions the real Christmas story.
Gee, what are we going to talk about when I don't have any more cartoon questions to ask you? (Just kidding!) Thanks! -- Ken (talk) 08:16, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
- The film version had a live action wrap-around with Hal Smith as a grandfather and his grand kids. I think that was the only thing that was cut. My records show the thing was distributed by some minor outfit called Ellman, so I don't know where WB fits into it, or who owns it. Public domain can also happen if a company doesn't copyright the thing properly to begin with, and since it was a small firm, that may have happened, and later WB distributed it but didn't own it, or something. I'm off to bed (I just e-mailed you), so I'll look into it later. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 08:21, 30 November 2007 (UTC)
- Well, there's always been a live-action section at the beginning and the end, but I wonder if it might have been longer, or if there were some other live action parts in the middle that I've never seen. It just bothers me that for my whole life, I've only seen 50 minutes of it (or maybe even less in recent years), and now I know that I've never seen a third of it! The funny thing is that the record, which is around 35-45 minutes, would be exactly what the cartoon section is that I've been familiar with, so I've never known it was cut until I discovered IMDB! Well, I found a recent DVD that says it's 76 minutes, and I might try to order it. The company looks pretty good, and the picture on Amazon looks more professional than other ones I've seen. I'll take a chance, and let you know. By the way, I'd like to start a page. Where do I put it, with other feature animation, or in movies, since it's technically both animation and live-action? -- Ken (talk) 04:47, 1 December 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Hey, Cartoon Expert!
I am so happy you're here, I can't stand it! I've already run across a bunch of specials and cartoons that I've barely heard of but never seen, and of course it seems like you know them all! Anyway, I want to ask you something that's been bothering me for about 25 years. I keep seeing in various sources that Rudolph & Frosty's Christmas in July was a theatrical movie, but the box says that it's Not Rated, which means that it was a TV-movie. I think people get confused because it's the only 2-hour special Rankin/Bass ever did. If that had played theatrically, I would have seen it, because I remember seeing it the very first year it aired. So was it a theatrical movie? What does the Rankin/Bass book say? I figure you have one. It's out of print, and I can't find one. If you help me answer this, I would really appreciate it!
Oh yeah, one more side question. Have you ever figured out why R/B did "real" animation for the 2 Frostys and 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, when they were so well known for stop-motion? I've always wondered that, too. Thanks! -- Ken (talk) 02:51, 28 November 2007 (UTC)
- Actually, Rudolph and Frosty *was* released theatrically in 1979, but it came out in the summer and bombed. It basically had a limited release, showing at children's matinees. ("Not Rated" probably just means, in this case, they forgot the original rating, or possibly the ratings board didn't bother originally anyway, given the limited release). I've been meaning to recategorize the page accordingly (Rankin/Bass did do some longer form specials later in the 1980s, but those were strictly cel-animated adaptations, like Wind in the Willows and The Hobbit). Also, R/B pretty much alternated between stop-motion and cel from their early days in Canada, and once they started outsourcing to Japan, and later Taiwan (character designs, scripts, and soundtracks were done at the Rankin/Bass studio, the actual animation and such was done overseas), it probably made it fairly simple to alternate between mediums, possibly fluctuating according to budget, deadlines, etc. (a slew of specials done quickly to fill Saturday morning gaps, with no real holiday themes, were all cel, as were all their TV series after The New Adventures of Pinocchio). -- Andrew Leal (talk) 03:03, 28 November 2007 (UTC)
- Summer of '79, huh? I guess it got killed by The Muppet Movie! The only Disney cartoon that was playing then was a reissue of either Sleeping Beauty or 101 Dalmatians. So I guess we missed it, but I remember it being on TV that next Christmas. So thank you for clearing up that mystery!
- Sure! Feel free. -- Andrew Leal (talk) 04:07, 28 November 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Welcome
Woo-hoo! Merry Holiday Season :) —Scott (talk) 06:56, 26 November 2007 (UTC)
- And chestnuts roasting over a stake of holly through your heart to you, too! Or something. By the way, multiple questions for you: how would you feel about being clearer on the specials category, as far as direct-to-video stuff goes (which in many cases, never aired on television), or do you want to just lump it all together. It's mostly stub entries now, but I think these are worthwhile distinctions. Similarly, when you get a chance, Ken has a question on Category talk:Specials on dealing with theatrical stuff; my own take is, if it's something like Mickey's Christmas Carol which premiered theatrically but was later aired as a special on network television (becoming an annual tradition, and supplemented with shorts and new bridging voice-overs by Mickey and Donald), it belongs as both a Short and a Special. But The Small One (which I need to burn to disc to screengrab) was a theatrical featurette, later released on video, and as far as I can tell, if it had television exposure, it was only on The Disney Channel lumped in with other stuff, so I think it should be shorts only. As a final question, inasmuch as movies are also allowed, would *radio* Christmas specials be permitted? I have a ton of info on such, and in some cases, with Amos and Andy, Dragnet, and The Jack Benny Program, specific Christmas episodes debuted on radio and ran for years, and were later adapted for television (often with the same guest actors), and Lionel Barrymore played Scrooge on the radio more or less consecutively from 1934 through 1953 (missing only two years; I haven't been able to find a direct statement, but I'm pretty sure that this at least was a partial factor when Capra cast Barrymore as Mr. Potter in It's a Wonderful Life). -- Andrew Leal (talk) 08:22, 26 November 2007 (UTC)
