Today I wanted to talk about something which is almost a guaranteed to piss me off. It’s three little words :
Ah, no! Just…no! Christmas is a big deal to me and one of the reasons why is because it comes once a year, in December. So not only does it feel like dragging this stuff out in July make it feel like we’re blatantly commercializing on it, but who wants to sing Christmas songs and watch Christmas specials when it’s hot as hell outside? And even more annoying than that..July is MORE than six months since Christmas!
In doing research it is kind of a big deal. There are events out there where beach parties are mixed with a Christmas theme. Of course there are parks like “Santa’s Village” in New Hampshire which is very Christmas themed but operates in the summer. Radio stations will pull out Christmas standards and ABC Family (now Freeform, which is a stupid name) will run all their Christmas specials for one week-at least they used to. QVC has Christmas sales and Hallmark Channel is probably the worst, running all their Christmas movies that run constantly in December throughout July. Ugh.
Ok, this is just me and if you love getting to see these movies or sing these songs more than once a year, more power to you. I just feel like only watching this stuff (or listening to the music) just during December makes it more special. Having it on in the summer makes it seem less so. And yeah I get that it’s really just people having fun more than anything and it probably isn’t meant to be taken that seriously. It still pisses me off.
To be fair, Christmas in July (or some other time of the year) isn’t without some precedent. A lot of times Christmas appears in TV and movies even though the movie or show takes place in summer and/or has nothing to do with the holiday. Sometimes Christmas works its way into the plot as a gag, and other times it’s a movie which sneaks in a few minutes of a Christmas scene before moving on. Here are some examples of Christmas scenes or gags in programs or movies like that.
For instance, there was an episode of Garfield and Friends where Garfield decides the best way to beat the heat on a blistering August day is to put out Christmas decorations. The neighbors see this and put them up too, and soon everyone is getting into the spirit. Before you know it it’s Christmas in the middle of the summer! They even have a Christmas morning!
In the same vein, did you know “The Christmas Song” was written on a blisteringly hot day in summer? Lyrcist Bob Wells was coming up with images to beat the heat and these image she wrote down became the song’s first verse.
It’s the Easter Beagle Charlie Brown has a cute gag where the kids go to a shopping mall to find all the Christmas decoeations are already up. Funny how this gets more and more accurate every year.
Then there’s the Cheers episode “A House is not a Home”. The plot had Diane find a house for her and Sam. But she feels bad because the elderly couple who lived there love the place and will miss it, especially having Christmas there. So, Sam and Diane give them one last Christmas in the house with decorations, presents, and even Sam dressed as Santa…even though the episode take place on an 80 degree day in May.
One of the first Night Court episodes gave us a story of a man pretending to be Santa Claus. The episode aired in January at least a month after Christmas. Friends had an episode where Rachel hurt herself trying to take down the Christmas lights, in February. Another time Phoebe was seen wearing Santa pants as maternity clothes, though she didn’t realize it until she found a list the pants came with of names of good and bad boys and girls. And even Everybody Loves Raymond had a gag in one episode about Robert finding a Christmas present his mother had hidden and forgotten to give him (I know there are other examples out there, but those were the only one’s I could think of).
And movies having a Christmas scene in a film having nothing to do with the holiday is far from rare. The Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda film “Yours, Mine, and Ours” has a beautiful Christmas scene at the end of the movie. Even though absolutely nothing in the rest of the movie has anything at all to do with Christmas. A little more recently, what about the big Christmas scene in the first Harry Potter movie? Which has nothing to do with Christmas. Thank goodness for that scene or else ABC Family wouldn’t have had any other way to justify playing Harry Potter every December. There are tons of these from When Harry Met Sally to Stepmon to Catch Me if You Can. The Nicholas Cage film Family Guy is highly regarded as a Christmas movie even though the time line in the film goes a few months past December. And of course there is Meet me in St Louis which gave us one of our most iconic Christmas carols (Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas) even though the movie covers events through an entire year, opening in summer and ending the next spring. And yes Christmas pops up at the end of several Disney films including Lady and the Tramp and of course the original Toy Story. Heck even Star Trek Generations has a little Christmas in there. The classic Holiday Inn covers all holidays, not just Christmas. And man is that movie awful, but I digress.
But there is one movie out there which comes right out and announces that it is literally celebrating Christmas in July. Of course it came from Rankin/Bass. This was literally released in theaters in 1979 and it bombed, big shock. This is :
This movie tries so hard to be a Christmas and 4th of July movie that it fails at both. Hard. It’s an amazing amalgam of Rudolph, Frosty, Santa, a circus, and 4th of July fireworks. How can these things possibly have anything in common? Don’t worry the movie couldn’t figure it out either.
I have tried, I really have, to sit through this thing. But it’s so long and boring. But the movie is, interesting. It was Rankin/Bass’s attempt to take all the characters from the previous specials and spin them into a full length movie. Not a TV movie, a released in theaters full fledged movie. Problem is, it’s awful. The story is all over the place and it just goes on forever. I could recap the convoluted plot but I’d be here all day.
It’s amazing how this special simultaneously respects and ignores the continuity from the previous specials at the same exact time. They have characters pop in from other specials and refer to events that happened in them, while at the same time retconning other details like how Rudolph got his shiny nose (and everything else in the classic special). The cast is pretty cool. Not only do we have Billie Mae Richards, Jackie Vernon and Mickey Rooney again but we also have Shelley Winters, Ethel Merman, and Red Buttons. And of course R&B standard Paul Frees as the villain. Callbacks include Big Ben from Rudolph’s Shiny New Year, Jack Frost, and even a reference to the Kringles from Santa Claus is Comin to Town. However while it’s nice to see these characters all interacting it just isn’t worth sitting through. The villain is creepy but useless, there are huge plot holes and in fact the whole plot about the circus is just….a mess, and the the thing is stuffed with filler to pad out the run time. Also the movie can be downright scary for kids, I mean what the hell Rankin/Bass?
I was going to try to sit through this again this year, but just couldn’t. There is no copy anywhere though I do have the DVD. Still I was thinking about reviewing it finally. Then I stumbled across internet reviewer Bobsheaux who has just released his own review on it. And he did it pretty damm good too. So good that there is not point in my rehashing things he said, just watch his review. Or Shark Jumping’s, they did a good job with this too. The truth is there is no way to review this in written form, it really needs to be seen to be believed.
So since i didn’t do a review but a little look at this, I wanted to leave something for you so you can get a feel for this. Here is a clip from an Ethel Merman song from that special:
And yes there is a very old movie called “Christmas in July” which has nothing to do with Christmas at all. There’s also a god awful Cynthia Rothrock movie called “Santa’s Summer House” which I won’t dignify. But i figured I should mention it just in case someone else does.
I love Christmas…but not in July.
Ah, no! Just…no! Christmas is a big deal to me and one of the reasons why is because it comes once a year, in December. So not only does it feel like dragging this stuff out in July make it feel like we’re blatantly commercializing on it, but who wants to sing Christmas songs and watch Christmas specials when it’s hot as hell outside? And even more annoying than that..July is MORE than six months since Christmas!
In doing research it is kind of a big deal. There are events out there where beach parties are mixed with a Christmas theme. Of course there are parks like “Santa’s Village” in New Hampshire which is very Christmas themed but operates in the summer. Radio stations will pull out Christmas standards and ABC Family (now Freeform, which is a stupid name) will run all their Christmas specials for one week-at least they used to. QVC has Christmas sales and Hallmark Channel is probably the worst, running all their Christmas movies that run constantly in December throughout July. Ugh.
Ok, this is just me and if you love getting to see these movies or sing these songs more than once a year, more power to you. I just feel like only watching this stuff (or listening to the music) just during December makes it more special. Having it on in the summer makes it seem less so. And yeah I get that it’s really just people having fun more than anything and it probably isn’t meant to be taken that seriously. It still pisses me off.
To be fair, Christmas in July (or some other time of the year) isn’t without some precedent. A lot of times Christmas appears in TV and movies even though the movie or show takes place in summer and/or has nothing to do with the holiday. Sometimes Christmas works its way into the plot as a gag, and other times it’s a movie which sneaks in a few minutes of a Christmas scene before moving on. Here are some examples of Christmas scenes or gags in programs or movies like that.
For instance, there was an episode of Garfield and Friends where Garfield decides the best way to beat the heat on a blistering August day is to put out Christmas decorations. The neighbors see this and put them up too, and soon everyone is getting into the spirit. Before you know it it’s Christmas in the middle of the summer! They even have a Christmas morning!
In the same vein, did you know “The Christmas Song” was written on a blisteringly hot day in summer? Lyrcist Bob Wells was coming up with images to beat the heat and these image she wrote down became the song’s first verse.
It’s the Easter Beagle Charlie Brown has a cute gag where the kids go to a shopping mall to find all the Christmas decoeations are already up. Funny how this gets more and more accurate every year.
Then there’s the Cheers episode “A House is not a Home”. The plot had Diane find a house for her and Sam. But she feels bad because the elderly couple who lived there love the place and will miss it, especially having Christmas there. So, Sam and Diane give them one last Christmas in the house with decorations, presents, and even Sam dressed as Santa…even though the episode take place on an 80 degree day in May.
One of the first Night Court episodes gave us a story of a man pretending to be Santa Claus. The episode aired in January at least a month after Christmas. Friends had an episode where Rachel hurt herself trying to take down the Christmas lights, in February. Another time Phoebe was seen wearing Santa pants as maternity clothes, though she didn’t realize it until she found a list the pants came with of names of good and bad boys and girls. And even Everybody Loves Raymond had a gag in one episode about Robert finding a Christmas present his mother had hidden and forgotten to give him (I know there are other examples out there, but those were the only one’s I could think of).
And movies having a Christmas scene in a film having nothing to do with the holiday is far from rare. The Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda film “Yours, Mine, and Ours” has a beautiful Christmas scene at the end of the movie. Even though absolutely nothing in the rest of the movie has anything at all to do with Christmas. A little more recently, what about the big Christmas scene in the first Harry Potter movie? Which has nothing to do with Christmas. Thank goodness for that scene or else ABC Family wouldn’t have had any other way to justify playing Harry Potter every December. There are tons of these from When Harry Met Sally to Stepmon to Catch Me if You Can. The Nicholas Cage film Family Guy is highly regarded as a Christmas movie even though the time line in the film goes a few months past December. And of course there is Meet me in St Louis which gave us one of our most iconic Christmas carols (Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas) even though the movie covers events through an entire year, opening in summer and ending the next spring. And yes Christmas pops up at the end of several Disney films including Lady and the Tramp and of course the original Toy Story. Heck even Star Trek Generations has a little Christmas in there. The classic Holiday Inn covers all holidays, not just Christmas. And man is that movie awful, but I digress.
But there is one movie out there which comes right out and announces that it is literally celebrating Christmas in July. Of course it came from Rankin/Bass. This was literally released in theaters in 1979 and it bombed, big shock. This is :
This movie tries so hard to be a Christmas and 4th of July movie that it fails at both. Hard. It’s an amazing amalgam of Rudolph, Frosty, Santa, a circus, and 4th of July fireworks. How can these things possibly have anything in common? Don’t worry the movie couldn’t figure it out either.
I have tried, I really have, to sit through this thing. But it’s so long and boring. But the movie is, interesting. It was Rankin/Bass’s attempt to take all the characters from the previous specials and spin them into a full length movie. Not a TV movie, a released in theaters full fledged movie. Problem is, it’s awful. The story is all over the place and it just goes on forever. I could recap the convoluted plot but I’d be here all day.
It’s amazing how this special simultaneously respects and ignores the continuity from the previous specials at the same exact time. They have characters pop in from other specials and refer to events that happened in them, while at the same time retconning other details like how Rudolph got his shiny nose (and everything else in the classic special). The cast is pretty cool. Not only do we have Billie Mae Richards, Jackie Vernon and Mickey Rooney again but we also have Shelley Winters, Ethel Merman, and Red Buttons. And of course R&B standard Paul Frees as the villain. Callbacks include Big Ben from Rudolph’s Shiny New Year, Jack Frost, and even a reference to the Kringles from Santa Claus is Comin to Town. However while it’s nice to see these characters all interacting it just isn’t worth sitting through. The villain is creepy but useless, there are huge plot holes and in fact the whole plot about the circus is just….a mess, and the the thing is stuffed with filler to pad out the run time. Also the movie can be downright scary for kids, I mean what the hell Rankin/Bass?
I was going to try to sit through this again this year, but just couldn’t. There is no copy anywhere though I do have the DVD. Still I was thinking about reviewing it finally. Then I stumbled across internet reviewer Bobsheaux who has just released his own review on it. And he did it pretty damm good too. So good that there is not point in my rehashing things he said, just watch his review. Or Shark Jumping’s, they did a good job with this too. The truth is there is no way to review this in written form, it really needs to be seen to be believed.
So since i didn’t do a review but a little look at this, I wanted to leave something for you so you can get a feel for this. Here is a clip from an Ethel Merman song from that special:
And yes there is a very old movie called “Christmas in July” which has nothing to do with Christmas at all. There’s also a god awful Cynthia Rothrock movie called “Santa’s Summer House” which I won’t dignify. But i figured I should mention it just in case someone else does.
I love Christmas…but not in July.
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