besides Year is a sort of sequel to Comin to Town. Well, Mickey Rooney did the voice of Kris in both anyway. And did a fantastic job I might add.
There was a time when neither of these was never aired. The networks never re-ran them and there was no ABC Family to show it a hundred times in December. So Santa Claus is Comin to Town was the special I sort of remembered but never got to see. And Year Without a Santa Claus was the special I heard of but had never watched. Today, I can’t imagine Christmas without either. So what is the appeal of these two specials?
In “Town”, it may be the villain. Paul Fress voiced many many characters but I think the one everyone remembers is the Burgermeister Meisterburger. He’s so nasty and with no real reason. Though I do give the special credit that the villain has a reason to hate toys. He broke his ankle tripping over one. Yeah it’s a stupid reason but at least it’s a reason, that puts this special above others specials where the villains just hates the holiday…for reasons. Also the villain never really gets defeated, which is an interesting choice. I guess we can blame that on the time period, we can’t show violence and having Santa Claus beat the bad guy wouldn’t work, so he dies off screen. That was common with these, the villain either reforms or just kind of disappears off screen. No one ever dies. Heck even in Rudolph Cornelius stays “dead” for a whole two minute in the film!
That doesn’t mean the special is perfect, like the stupid Winter Warlock who is menacing for a whole five minutes before turning into a massive wimp. The story doesn’t always add up, like how making reindeer’s fly breaks the characters out of prison. Or why the Kringles would be toy makers if there isn’t anyone around to appreciate them. And some of the songs are kind of…meh. This is one time when the broadcast cuts are ok with me. The love story is ok but it’s sort of a Disney love story, they fall in love pretty fast. And what was that penguin there for exactly? But at least they did a good job explaining where Santa’s beginnings, er, began. Even if it was totally made up. I always liked that it’s clear that Christmas Eve came first, Santa decided that would be the perfect day to give his presents.
What about “Year?” It’s just a really good story. Of course it doesn’t hurt that it was based on a book. When I first saw this I thought it was kind of odd, but it grew on me. Who doesn’t love Heat Miser and Cold Miser? But as I said the real thing that works is the story of the sad Santa. It also has possibly my favorite version of “Blue Christmas”. It comes in at the perfect moment and is sung simply..but effectively. I’m not kidding this version made me like this song. Actually unlike “Town”, all the songs are good in “Year”. By the way Shirley Booth is the star of this one, playing a Mrs.Claus with a mind of her own, strong willed and not subservient to Santa….even if she does do things without thinking them through all the way. There’s also no real villain here either , the Miser Bros are more bratty kids than they are villains. And this has story problems to, for instance most of the action with the Miser Bros is really filler, all the time we spend with them does nothing to actually solve the main problem, Santa does it all himself.
I almost forgot to mention that Fred Astaire the narrator in “Town”. It’s kind of ironic, I don’t have much to say about Astaire or Booth except for these two specials. And they’re fantastic here. Sometimes the narrator tries to hard in these specials (like Danny Kaye in the Peter Cottontail one. he gets annoying by the end). The final speech in “Town” by Fred Astaire is so awesome, I’m sharing it below:
Poor, misguided folks. They missed the whole point. Lot’s of unhappiness? Maybe so. But doesn’t Santa take a little bit of that unhappiness away? Doesn’t a smile on Christmas morning scratch out a tear cried on a sadder day? Not much maybe. But what would happen if we all tried to be like Santa and learned to give as only he can give: of ourselves, our talents, our love and our hearts? Maybe we could all learn Santa’s beautiful lesson and maybe there would finally be peace on Earth and good will toward men.
Why does this speech become more relevant every year? While I can’t really say they were part of my childhood I can say that I love them and still watch them every year.
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