Comments on: Searching for a Disney Santa Short on DVD

Question: Searching for a Disney Santa Short on DVD

anastasiav — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 08:03:09 -0800

I'm trying to find a copy of a favorite Disney Christmas-themed short (B&W, probably from the '20's or '30's, featuring a very jolly Santa and lots of little kiddies) on DVD. Problem is, we don't know the title or anything else about it -- can you help ID this film?

My husband has a well-worn VHS tape full of a wide variety of Christmas-themed animations that he had taped from TV over the years. We've been able to find copies of everything on the tape as DVD -- with one exception. I'm hoping you can help us ID and locate the one.

Its a black and white short animated film, probably from the '20's or '30's. It was produced by Disney, and shown on the Disney channel as part of a holiday special sometime in the '80's.

The film features a very fat, jolly Santa with a bag full of toys. He visits a house where there are a dozen or more quite tiny children, and when he lays the bag down the toys all march out and set themselves up, as well as decorate the tree. There are a lot of toys: some notable ones include a "Little Tramp" wind up walker, and a Dirigible that helps decorate the tree. Santa also fills up the many, many stockings hanging from the mantle -- each stocking has a list inside - one stocking gets a bat and glove, another gets a doll that flops over and Santa straightens her skirt, and another gets an umbrella put inside, opened, and then the now-expanded stocking is filled with other gifts. There is also a puppy in a box under the tree.

I think its possible that this is a section cut from a longer film, because on the copy we have it sort of fades up at the start and fades out at the end, and my husband remembers seeing a segment about elves in Santa's workshop associated with this, but its not on our tape.

What we don't have is the title, date, or any other info other than "its now owned by Disney". Any pointers you have would be helpful.

By: iconomy

iconomy — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 08:34:21 -0800

Sounds like it might be The Night Before Christmas, a Silly Symphonies Disney short from 1933? If so, in the comments it's mentioned that the short is on this compilation DVD called The Great Christmas Movies.

By: iconomy

iconomy — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 08:39:55 -0800

I found this version of The Night Before Christmas on youtube, but it's in color, so maybe not? Turn down the sound though, it's horrible!

By: anastasiav

anastasiav — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 08:44:48 -0800

That's it, although ours isn't in color and that YouTube video is a mangled mess. Its available on This Silly Symphonies DVD set, although there is some question as to whether the film has been edited for content here.

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By: roger ackroyd

roger ackroyd — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 11:31:15 -0800

The King of Cartoons presents an edited clip in Pee-Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special. As if a holiday special that includes Little Richard, Charo, Oprah, Cher, and Grace Jones isn't awesome enough already.