The question on everyone's lips (...if, by "everyone", you mean everyone presently in my den as I type this - which adds-up to only me) is... "What made up Joe's Christmas 2020: Reading and Viewing, and when will we find out about it?"
The answer to the second question is NOW! (...If, by "NOW", you mean going on a month after Christmas - all the usual [all together now] "horrifically busy" factors being applicable!) As for the first...
Since the days of home-recorded VHS Tape, I've had TWO Basic and Absolute Christmas Viewing Standards for the longest time, and have added (variably, depending on the year, and amount of available time) to them over the years, to where there are now FOUR annual absolutes.
Others come and go per the above variables, but these are the perennial-programmers of my "Christmas Show"...
THE FLINTSTONES: "Christmas Flintstone" (1964): Department store Santa Claus Fred fills-in for the real thing, when Jolly Old St. Nick temporarily takes ill.
This is the real-Christmas-deal that aired the evening of Christmas Day, 1964, and not to be confused with any number of permutations that came later!
An extraordinary effort for 1964 Hanna-Barbera, with more elaborate than usual backgrounds, and some soundtrack music that might never have been used more than that once.
It also came "on the cusp" of my believing (or not believing) in Santa, and may have held-off the skepticism for another few days or weeks. A perfect storm of story, execution, and "time-of-life" for me, made this my All-Time-Favorite-Christmas-Thing!
LOST IN SPACE: "The Toymaker" (1967): Will Robinson and Doctor Smith are imprisoned in an "other-dimension-based" toy factory, by an eccentric yet stubborn old toymaker who views them as animated toys to be shipped-off to a world of giant children!
He also refuses to see that events occurring on the Robinson's planet will imminently destroy the Toymaker's shop... and everyone in it!
Though more tangentially related to Christmas than its prior season predecessor "Return From Outer Space", "The Toymaker" still acknowledges the Christmas season in a most imaginative way.
"Christmas Flintstone" and "The Toymaker" are my two Basic and Absolute Christmas Viewing Standards. As for the other two, added-as-absolutes later-on, we have...
BEWITCHED: "A Vision of Sugar Plums" (1964): Airing literally the DAY BEFORE "Christmas Flintstone" on Christmas Eve, 1964 (while "Christmas Flintstone" aired on Christmas Day, 1964), "A Vision of Sugar Plums" had the same "Santa-Believing-Effect" for "on-the-cusp" little me.
...It also guest-stars a Pre-Lost In Space Billy Mumy, seen below.
But, I remembered it, and it fit right in with the Absolute Christmas Viewing Standards where it's remained ever since!
JUSTICE LEAGUE ANIMATED: "Comfort and Joy" (2003): Three separate tales of Christmas, starring GREEN LANTERN AND HAWKGIRL...
...THE FLASH...
...SUPERMAN and THE MARTIAN MANHUNTER!
All superbly written by the great Paul Dini! Even if you are not a DC Comics fan, this is a must-see that transcends the expected super-doings, and perfectly captures the spirit of the season.
Oh, and in that last one a Martian (The Martian Manhunter) discovers Christmas...
As for the "something I haven't read before", how could I go wrong with BUGS BUNNY CHRISTMAS FUNNIES #3 (Dell Comics, Cover Date: 1952) - especially after so enjoying THIS ONE!
Since this issue is so packed full of yuletide goodies, we'll just cover some quick highlights...
...Jolly Old Saint Nick gets into the act, and turns the story in a completely unexpected direction... leading to this wonderful image - courtesy of writer Don R. Christensen and artist Tony Strobl...
14 comments:
So, you know I like making Lists. I have always found this to be a soothing activity. In 2020 I needed a lot of soothing, so I did a lot of list-making. In early December I assembled a grand Christmas Read/Watch Calendar for myself. Here’s how that developed: first, in November I realized that my Top 30 Disney Christmas comics included stories featuring just about every character I cared about in the Duckworld (featuring does not necessarily mean starring). This pleased me, so I decided to organize that list by featured character and make an Advent calendar of the stories so organized. I now have a grand list of comics stories to read from December 1st through January 6th.
Don’t worry, I won’t try to name all the stories here! But here’s how they are placed according to featured character. December 1-5 are non-Duckworld Disney characters: Ariel, Maleficent’s Goon, Pongo & Perdita, and two Mickey stories. This places a Mickey story on December 5th, Walt’s birthday; I think he would appreciate that! The 6th is St. Nicholas Day, so there’s a Sinterklaas story from the Netherlands. Then 7-24 are stories set in the Duckworld, featuring Chip ‘n’ Dale, Minima, Magica, the Beagle Boys, Jones vs. Donald, Gladstone vs. Donald, Gyro & Helper, Goldie, Daisy, Panchito, Grandma Duck, two for Huey, Dewey & Louie, two for Donald and two for Scrooge, then topping off with A Christmas for Shacktown (featuring whole central cast) on the 24th. Panchito is on the 16th because it’s a Posadas story, and Las Posadas starts on the 16th! From the 26th to Epiphany, it’s a mix of Disney and non-Disney comics stories, with my favorite non-Disney Christmas comics stories including stories by Walt Kelly and John Stanley, a Roger Langridge Muppets story (yes, I know the Muppets are a Disney property *now*!), a Christmas issue of Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, a girl-focused story from Santa Claus Funnies and, thanks to a certain blogger!, Christmas in Bedrock. There are Donald Duck stories for New Year’s Eve and Day, and the Christmas story featuring Gus Goose goes on December 30th, the 6th Day of Christmas, for “six geese a-laying”!
The calendar also includes favorite Christmas cartoons and live-action TV episodes (the Lassie Christmas episode from 1958, The Blue Carbuncle with Jeremy Brett) which I watch every year. Christmas movies are not assigned to dates. I have about ten favorite Christmas movies, of which I watch two or three every year, whenever I feel like it. So I’m not rigid about everything! But it felt comforting this anxious year to have my Christmas comics-reading in such a satisfying order. :-)
Joe,my Christmas holiday viewing was compromised of (in order of when I viewed it)Tom and Jerry’s Night Before Christmas, the (Amazing World Of) Gumball episode Christmas, the Looney Tunes short Bedtime For Sniffles, all 3 Christmas We Bare Bears episodes, A Very CatDog Christmas, and Pluto’s Christmas Tree. (As for reading, I was too busy working on my comic, which is now finished being drawn. All it needs is glorius Techicolor. Don’t worry, I’ll read my Christmas Dell Comics and Golden Books soon)
Also here’s my potential idea for a Dell Giant:
Fanmade Dell Giant Holidays with Tom and Jerry (fake dated December 1954)
Cover Art: Tom and Jerry holding a calendar
15 page Tom and Jerry story "The Lie"
1 page activity “Tom and Jerry’s Sluzzle Wurst”
5 page Spike and Tyke story "The Shell”
1 page activity “Make your Own Valentines with Spike and Tyke”
6 page Droopy story “The Curse”
8 page Barney Bear & Benny Burro story “The Mothers”
1 page activity “Mother’s Day Cards”
8 page Wuff the Prarie Dog story "The Vacation"
1 page activity “Make your own scary summer scene”
5 page Jerry and Tuffy story “I’m On My Way”
8 page Fuzzy and Wuzzy Story “The Return”
15 page Adventures of Tom story “Halloween”
1 page activity “Ghosted Tom Cat”
15 page Tom and Jerry story “Christmas”
1 page activity “ Tom and Jerry’s Maze to Santa, Tuffy, and Spike and Tyke”
Back cover art: Tom and Jerry, Tuffy, Spike, Tyke, Barney, Benny, Droopy, and Fuzzy and Wuzzy sitting at a table eating dinner
(As you can probably tell, all of these are adaptations of episodes of (The Amazing World Of) Gumball, as all my fanmade Dell comics are. (my only one at this point is my T&J adaptation of The Deal with a gag and backup based on The Compilation Someday I will make this one as well as a Bugs Bunny Four Color based on The Father episode).
Nice list, Anon!
As you know, I’m a very big fan of Tom and Jerry’s “Night Before Christmas”, and “Bedtime for Sniffles”, and can’t much argue with anything featuring Pluto. The rest of it, I’m certain, is good and appropriate as well. Just can’t say so from personal experience. But that’s what makes these posts interesting… the fact that everyone seems to have their commonalities and differences.
And, on the subject of ”commonalities and differences”…
That is one prodigious and well-chosen list, Elaine!
Indeed, one of the relatively few pleasant side-effects of having “survived” 2020!
I’m not entirely certain of the origins of this particular topic but, if I had to guess, I’d say it was the notion that you and I independently developed this Holiday-and-Other-Occasion-Reading-and-Viewing-List-Thingie as an outgrowth of the similarities in our respective personalities and, from a casual mention of same by one or both of us, it grew into a fun-thing for us all!
But, despite those “similarities”, I must confess that you put me well-and-truly to shame for the 2020 holiday season! …Wait’ll next year! Ahhh, who am I kidding, it’ll be the same for me, only with some different moving parts!
Some quick notes, in the face of such “intimidating joyousness” (…Um, could “intimidating joyousness” even be a thing? …Maybe Scarecrow33 can tell us!)
You certainly cast a much wider net over the vastness of Disney than my narrowly-focused interest in the Duck and Mouse Worlds!
Wonderful touch, landing Mickey on Walt’s birthday! When even what passes for the contemporary version of “Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories” has apparently forgotten exactly WHO started that whole ball rolling, it’s nice to know that a few of us have not.
Dare I hazard a guess as to the two Mickey Stories? “The Mystery of the China Santa” and (Ahem!) “The Coat of Christmas Magic”? It may be January, but am I warm?
Honored to have added “Christmas in Bedrock”, as seen in this very post, to that special list!
Amused that June Lockhart overlaps our Christmas List Venn Diagrams – you for Lassie, me for Lost in Space!
I hope it was every bit as much fun as it sounds – and more!
Here is a partial list of my Christmas viewing and reading for the recent season:
"Miracle on 34th Street" (my all-time favorite Christmas movie, watched on Thanksgiving Day)
"The Preacher's Wife" (which I had never watched before, loved it)
"Babes in Toyland" (Laurel & Hardy version)
"It's a Wonderful Life"
"A Christmas Carol" (Reginald Owen version--contains another June Lockhart sighting)
"Christmas with the Honeymooners"
"From All of Us to All of You" (Disney special)
"Yogi's First Christmas"
"Casper's First Christmas"
"Yogi Bear's All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper"
"Christmas in Bedrock" (a DVD of my own compilation which is comprised of "Christmas Flintstone," "The Flintstones' Family Christmas," "A Flintstone Christmas," "The Jetsons' Christmas Carol," and "Hanna-Barbera's Christmas Sing-a-long" plus Dino in "The Great Egg-Scape" and a Breezly and Sneezly cartoon)
"Babes in Toyland" (Annette version)
"A Christmas Carol" (Patrick Stewart version)
"White Christmas" (my good friend's favorite Christmas movie)
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (Fleischer version)
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (Rankin/Bass version)
"Santa Claus is Coming to Town"
"Frosty the Snowman"
"Frosty Returns"
"The Year without a Santa Claus"
"Rudolph's Shiny New Year"
"Frosty's Winter Wonderland"
"Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July" (which references every one of the RB Rudolph, Frosty, and Santa specials)
Plus I have a DVD called "Merry Sitcom" which contains the following Christmas episodes:
"The Christmas Story" (Father Knows Best)
"A Very Merry Christmas" (The Donna Reed Show)
"The Day they Captured Santa Claus" (McHale's Navy)
"A Vision of Sugar Plums" (Bewitched)
"Christmas and the Hard Luck Kid" (That Girl)
"Wailing in a Winter Wonderland" (The Flying Nun)
"Christmas Memory" (Window on Main Street)
And for more reverent viewing:
"Holy Night: The Beginning of the Life of Jesus" (live action)
"The King is Born" (animated)
My reading consisted of Walt Disney's Christmas Parade from Gold Key, issues #1 through #9, as well as the giant-sized Golden Press edition of "Walt Disney's Christmas Parade," which I claim as #10 in the series.
Plus the accounts of the birth of Jesus in the Gospel of St. Matthew and the Gospel of St. Luke. As well as commentaries on same by some of my favorite theologians.
Amazingly, though it has nothing to do with Christmas, I also managed to squeeze in reading "Around the World in Eighty Days" by Jules Verne (which I found on sale in a book shop during holiday time). I had read it before, but I need it fresh in my memory as part of a new writing project.
Yes, I watched a lot and read a lot. I was very ready for this Christmas and I wanted to make the absolute most of it that I could.
Thanks, Joe, for keeping the Yuletide spirit aglow for just a little longer this year. Great post, as always, and it's so fun to read your thoughts and comments. And look at great pictures of my favorite scenes and characters.
Yuletide-Yeow, Scarecrow!
Did I mention something about a “prodigious and well-chosen list” earlier?
Consider me even more “joyously intimidated” than before! Not to mention “left further behind in the “Christmas Magic Dust”!
I knew that “Christmas Flintstone” and “A Vision of Sugar Plums” would be present… but WOW! And that is a very sincere “WOW!”
I didn’t know of the McHale’s Navy episode! I have the series on DVD, and will have to look that one up!
I never really associated June Lockhart with Christmas, but there she is again – “Three-for-Three”.
The Reginald Owen version of “A Christmas Carol” has always been my favorite, with no disrespect to Alistair Sim, much less to Patrick Stewart – whom I absolutely love! (…And who will play an unexpected role in an upcoming post – he says cryptically!)
I wish I had time this year for things like “Miracle on 34th Street”, but at least I heard part of its soundtrack on Lost in Space!
…So many wonderful things, so little time! …Even when retired, I find to my dismay!
Mickey stories: you are, what, half-warm? "The Coat of Christmas Magic" is indeed the story that lands on Walt's birthday, thanks in good part to your dialogue! The other one is one that hasn't been published in the USA--an Italian story whose title is "l'albero di Holly" or "Holly's Tree", which I was able to get a copy of in French. So both Mickey stories on my list feature Mickey and a new female character! Of the 28 Disney comics stories on my calendar, eight have not been published in the USA. For comparison, I looked at the c. 200 Duck stories by authors other than Barks or Rosa that have made it into my headcanon, and only 85 out of the 200 have been published in the USA. Among my favorite non-Barks Christmas stories, a larger proportion have been published here. That's largely because prelapsarian IDW Disney published a goodly number of the best European Christmas tales!
June Lockhart: Not only does she appear in the 1958 "A Christmas Story"--that episode very unusually gives her a pivotal role, where she has the idea (which she also carries out) of how to reach the veterinarian needed to operate on Lassie. That's one of the reasons I'm fond of the episode...along with the lovely soundtrack incorporating thoughtfully chosen Christmas carol tunes. That latter feature is also shared by "The Blue Carbuncle," by the way!
Scarecrow, I also really liked "The Preacher's Wife," a fine remake of "The Bishop's Wife." Neither makes my personal Top Ten Christmas Movies, but I'd be happy to see either again. Great music in "The Preacher's Wife"!
Elaine:
I am all the more honored that my American English version of Casty’s great story "The Coat of Christmas Magic" is your choice to commemorate the birthday of Mr. Disney! WOW!
I just seem to recall your mentioning “The Mystery of the China Santa” at some past point, although it could merely be the onset of age-related faculty-deterioration!
Yes, I should keep in mind that you have read so many of these stories that have never been (and, alas, are unlikely to be) published in the USA! “Holly”, BTW, is the name of Averi and Cici’s mom, and Esther’s and my daughter-in-law, so that’s doubly nice as well.
We should salute David Gerstein as the reason that “…prelapsarian IDW Disney published a goodly number of the best European Christmas tales!” - and YOU just for the use of the word “prelapsarian”, especially in this particular context!
My Christmas viewing list this year included:
Mickey’s Christmas Carol: Uncle Scrooge playing...Scrooge!
“Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire”: the debut half-hour episode of The Simpsons.
“Christmas Flintstone”: I think you know that one..
“‘‘tis the Fifteenth Season”, yet another Simpsons episode, where Homer buys himself an expensive Christmas gift and ends up learning...well, nothing. He IS Homer Simpson, after all. This one has lots of parodies of other Christmas specials in it.
“Miracle on Evergreen Terrace”: More Simpsons, with Bart accidentally burning down the family’s Christmas tree and blaming a burglar. The town of Springfield opens their hearts and wallets to the family, but once Bart’s lie is discovered...
“Grift of the Magi”: another Simpsons outing, with the kids at Springfield Elementary unwittingly designing the latest holiday toy fad, Funzo...that breaks other toys!
“Mickey’s Good Deed” and “Mickey’s Orphans”: classic black and white Disney shorts.
I was really more in the mood to laugh than to celebrate the holiday this year.
Holiday reading:
Mostly an Archie Christmas comics collection. Working retail, you burn out on Christmas fast.
Ay Carumba! That’s a very Simpsons-centric list, Deb!
Funny (in both senses of the word), that I know all of these… except “‘‘tis the Fifteenth Season”! I’ll have to dig that one out, especially if it “has lots of parodies of other Christmas specials in it”!
“Working retail, you burn out on Christmas fast.”
I would imagine that, like almost every other job today – including my 35-year career in technology, retail is more difficult and strenuous than in what we nostalgically call “earlier, simpler times”!
Decades ago, in one of my several “other lives”, I also worked retail – for three chain stores, as salesperson, department manager, and assistant store manager for each succeeding one. And I always enjoyed the cheerful bustle of Christmastime!
It was “different”, and somehow “nicer” than the ordinary grind… But, then again, PEOPLE were “different”, and somehow “nicer” too – and I’m certain that has everything to do with it.
Deb (again):
Being “the-man-of-my-word-that-I-sometimes-can-be-on-a-good-day-with-no-distractions-or-other-temptations-to-prevent-me-from-acting-on-previously-declared-intentions-and-all-kinds-o’-stuff-like-that-there”, I actually DID dig out “The Simpsons – The Complete Fifteenth Season” DVD and watched “‘‘tis the Fifteenth Season” - and watched it again with the commentary track on!
No, I hadn’t seen this one before (as 2003 was a rather eventful time for me), and it’s everything you say it is – and more!
The “Grinch” parody (in the good old days, when there was only the Chuck Jones / Boris Karloff version) was great – but the “Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol” segment was all the more so, because they somehow managed to meld the “Simpsons style” with the “UPA style” of animation and create a very satisfying whole!
The “California Raisins/Prunes” bit reminds me exactly why I so much disliked TV in the ‘80s, at least until DuckTales and Star Trek the Next Generation came along!
As with so many Simpsons episodes, the little incidental bits are often the funniest moments – such as the real reason for the “light in the heavens” on Christmas morning.
And, for those fortunate enough to have it on DVD, play the commentary track of a gaggle of animators, writers, and producers, for much more funny stuff! …Yay, DVD! Booo, streaming!
Thanks for directing me to the additional good times!
This year, my Christmas viewing was limited to "A Charlie Brown Christmas." As this was the first time I watched it, I found it very moving. I thought it was nice to see a mainstream property take such a strong stance against the commercialization and materialism that has sadly come to dominate Christmas. Certainly, if one is to watch only one Christmas special, one could do a lot worse.
Happily, my Christmas comics reading was a bit more varied. I reread some of my favorite stories from "Santa Claus Funnies" #1 (Dell, 1942): "Santa Claus in Trouble," "The Fir Tree," and said issue's adaptation of "A Christmas Carol." I also read "Santa Claus Funnies" #1 (Dell, 1952) for the first time. Like its predecessor, this one is chock full of imaginative and deeply meaningful stories. Most notably, it features a *different* adaptation of Dickens's "A Christmas Carol." It was a lot of fun comparing the two versions, published in the same title ten years apart!
In addition, I read "Giggle Comics" #37, which features a hilarious Christmas-themed story. Very different in tone from the stories you see in "Santa Claus Funnies," which lean more towards the sentimental rather than the uproariously funny. I like both sentimental and funny myself. Both make life more special, in their own way.
Sergio:
You write: “I thought it was nice to see a mainstream property take such a strong stance against the commercialization and materialism that has sadly come to dominate Christmas.”
If you think so now (…and it certainly IS), just imagine what it looked like in 1965 – when I was a kid, but old and wise enough to “get” what it was doing! Not to mention that the commerciality of Christmas was far less questioned back then, than it has become in more recent times.
…And yes... I saw "A Charlie Brown Christmas" on its original broadcast, and for many years thereafter! The REAL Chuck Jones / Boris Karloff 1966 version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" as well!
Your choices in comics reading sound great as well, even if I haven’t read any of them. But, that’s one of the greatest things about comic book reading – the simultaneous overlap AND differences between readers!
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