On a plane trip headed to California, Joyce C. Hall (the founder of Hallmark cards and a longtime friend of Walt Disney) asked three children seated nearby what they most wanted to see in Southern California which was filled with so many interesting places and things.
All agreed eagerly that the most important thing was to visit Disneyland.
Then, Hall asked the oldest girl what she thought Walt was, whether he was a real man or somebody more like Santa Claus. She pondered the question for a moment and answered in thoughtful seriousness, “Both.”
Hall wrote a letter to Walt that shared that revelation and a copy of it is on display at the One Man’s Dream Attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios.
Hall and Walt had a lot in common beyond their midwestern roots and their humble beginnings of near poverty. (Hall kept his first inventory under his bed at the Kansas City YMCA).
They both shared a common philosophy about life, believed in their own instincts and felt that the products produced with their names on them needed to reflect quality.
Hall became one of the first Disney licensees in 1931, producing greeting cards for 24 years that featured the Disney characters. Gibson took over that license in 1955 by agreeing to set up a shop at Disneyland, but Hallmark got the license back in 1960 and set up their own shop at Disneyland.
Many of those early rare cards are in the Hallmark Archives to this day and, in 1998, Hallmark produced a wall calendar showcasing some of those early Disney treasures.
Of course, that collection includes a variety of Christmas cards (and tags for presents like one from 1936 with a present tied with a ribbon hanging from Pluto’s tail and the phrase “All Tied Up For You!”) with Mickey and his friends celebrating the holiday season.
Since 1994 (with its Lion King collection), each year Hallmark has produced a line of Disney keepsake Christmas tree ornaments, as well as other Disney related Christmas items.
Like Christmas itself, Walt created a special world for children of all ages filled with joy and hope. Every Christmas season saw the release of a special Disney film (like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in December 1937) as well as toys, books and games with the Disney characters to be placed under Christmas trees in homes throughout the world.
A promotional photo sent to newspapers to publicize the television episode “From All of Us To All of You” © Disney.
For Walt, Christmas was a special time of the year for family togetherness. For a brief moment, time seemed to stand still and worries temporarily forgotten. His father and mother struggled to simply clothe and fed their family of five and there was little money left over, if any, for luxuries and frills at Christmas.
Yet, Walt and his family enjoyed the true spirit of the season together with the simplest of pleasures.
Walt learned to cherish even the smallest of gifts, like a spinning toy top given to him by his older brother, Roy, or a sketch pad and pencils from his Aunt Margaret.
Living in Marceline, Missouri, young Walt would go out into the forest with his older brothers to find the right Christmas tree, usually a cedar or a pine, for the Disney home. They would cut it down and drag it home through the snow covered ground.
The older brothers would shoot down holly with large red berries as well as mistletoe from the top of tall oak trees to serve as festive decorations.
Walt would help string popcorn and cranberries to decorate the tree. He demonstrated his early artistic skill by making stars and angels and other ornaments out of bits of paper and foil.
When Walt had a family of his own, and even though he could afford it, he was careful not to spoil his children. While he was generous (one time his daughter Diane got a piano because she promised to take lessons if she got one), he was careful not to give them everything they wanted. He felt they would appreciate it more if they were left wanting a little bit more.
“When it came to the time when we really wanted things…when we were about five or six…when you want roller skates or you want a bicycle or a dog or a doll. And we had to want them a long, long time,” recalled Walt’s oldest daughter, Diane Disney Miller. “(Dad’s) always been generous. But I think he realized after a time that you mustn’t spoil children and that because it’s an age when the more you want things, the more you like them better while you’re wanting them before you get them. When you get them, you’re crazy about it for a few days or weeks and then it’s old.”
Walt’s holiday generosity extended to his studio staff and Disneyland (where the first Disneyland employee Christmas party was celebrated in December 1956). Walt was quite literally Santa Claus (anonymously) for dozens of different charities over the decades.
He also provided a special gift for his large television audience.
Over the years, the Korkis family developed many traditions (including opening presents, except for one, on Christmas Eve so the three rambunctious Korkis brothers wouldn’t wake up their parents at 5 a.m. to see what Santa had brought). Another was to watch some iconic animated Christmas television specials.
Every year, that meant the episode “From All of Us To All of You” hosted by Jiminy Cricket that first debuted December 19, 1958, on the weekly Disney television show.
A promotional photo sent to newspapers to publicize the television episode “From All of Us To All of You” © Disney.
Using the premise of Christmas cards (stylistically designed by John Hench, who designed many of the Disney Studio Christmas cards over the years) to transition into excerpts from classic Disney cartoons with, starting in 1963, the last Christmas card showcasing the newest Disney animated film.
As Jiminy explained, “one of the nicest things that can happen this time of the year is to receive Christmas cards from your friends. Our gang would like to present their cards and through them share some memorable moments.”
In the years before home video and later DVDs, it was truly a Christmas treat to see excerpts from Disney animated films.
The original ending of the special featured Jiminy standing in front of a card that was a portrait of a snow-covered New England village with a church and a single shining star in the background.
He sang his signature tune, “When You Wish Upon A Star” and told the audience that his song “symbolizes faith, hope and all the things that Christmas stands for. So this is my personal wish for you, something that can make Christmas everyday.”
The show was directed by Disney Legend Jack Hannah, with some new pieces of animation under the supervision of Disney Legend Les Clark.
The original broadcast also included an introduction by Walt Disney, who was magically shrunk to “cricket size” to fit on a fireplace mantel to wish “on behalf of the human members of our staff” a “Merry Christmas,” before turning over the show to Jiminy Cricket and other Disney animated characters.
A silent Tinker Bell and Mickey Mouse playing a piano were supposedly the two other co-hosts for the original special, but, in later years, it was just Jiminy who introduced the segments.
The memorable title song was composed by Gil George (the pseudonym of Disney Studio nurse Hazel George) and Paul Smith, and later released on Disneyland records.
The show was later reformatted into a 90-minute hodge-podge special that included some live-action interludes at the Disney parks titled “A Disney Channel Christmas” that debuted December 1983.
Two years ago, I wrote about the two Disney Silly Symphony cartoons that dealt with Christmas: Santa’s Workshop (1932) and The Night Before Christmas (1933).
I thought it was probably time to write about the Mickey Mouse cartoons with a Christmas theme, as well. Santa Mickey has become almost as iconic as Sorcerer Mickey and appears on ornaments, record covers, stockings and much more.
Here are some cartoons you may want to re-watch this next week as you roast some chestnuts, sip some eggnog and wonder if you were on Santa’s good list.
Mickey’s Orphans (December 9, 1931): A basket of orphan kittens are left on Mickey’s doorstep at Christmas. Minnie plays the song “Silent Night” on an organ and Mickey dresses as Santa, with Pluto as a reindeer. They give the kittens presents that seem to be primarily saws, hammers and toy weapons, and the children proceed to destroy items in the house as well as terrorize Mickey and Pluto. At the end, they also decimate the magnificently decorated Christmas tree probably for the candy canes.
The short, directed by Burt Gillett, was nominated for an Academy Award, but lost to another Disney short, Flowers and Trees, the very first full Technicolor cartoon.
It was the first Disney cartoon with a Christmas theme, if you don’t count the earlier Oswald the Rabbit cartoon Empty Socks (November 2, 1927). In the Oswald short, the lucky rabbit plays Santa Claus at an orphan asylum. The orphans end up accidentally setting the place on fire, so Oswald has to be a firefighter, as well to make it a happy Christmas.
Mickey’s Good Deed (December 17, 1932): On Christmas Eve, Mickey and Pluto are street performers in dire straits. Mickey has to sell Pluto to a rich family (whose spoiled brat son wants the “doggie”) to get money to help out a poor single mother’s large family (another group of poor cat children) but the two pals are reunited happily at the end.
This cartoon, also directed by Burt Gillett, was made during the Great Depression where poverty was a very real issue for much of the audience, and children were not getting Christmas presents. Pinto Colvig supplies the voice for the brat’s rich father, as well as Pluto. The concept of down-on-their-luck street musicians who get their instruments crushed may have come from the Laurel and Hardy short Below Zero (1930).
Pluto’s Christmas Tree (November 21, 1952): Mickey chops down a tree for Christmas, not realizing it is the home of Chip 'n' Dale and that he accidentally brings them inside his house with the tree. The pair get into mischief as they explore their Christmasy surroundings. Pluto is continually thwarted in his attempts to show Mickey the truth until the very end of the cartoon. The short, directed by Jack Hannah, ends with carolers Goofy, Donald and Minnie on Mickey’s front lawn singing “Deck the Halls.”
This is one of just three Golden Age theatrical Disney shorts where all five characters appear together. The other two are On Ice (1935) and Hawaiian Holiday (1937). Freddy Moore does the animation of Mickey. This same year saw the release of the classic Halloween short Trick or Treat, also directed by Hannah.
Cover of 1974 record album that inspired the animated featurette “Mickey's Christmas Carol” © Disney.
Mickey’s Christmas Carol (October 20, 1983): A 26-minute loose adaptation of Charles’ Dickens’ famous story A Christmas Carol with Uncle Scrooge playing Ebenezer Scrooge and Mickey as his clerk, Bob Crachit. Inspired by a 1974 Disneyland Records Storyteller Album original musical titled An Adaptation of Dickens' Christmas Carol Featuring the Walt Disney Players co-written by actor Alan Young, who supplied the voice of Scrooge McDuck.
Director Burny Mattinson discovered the album and pitched the idea of doing it as a featurette to CEO Ron Miller, who greenlit the production. Publicity promoted the film as the first theatrical appearance of Mickey Mouse in 30 years, since The Simple Things (1953). It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Short, but lost to Sundae in New York. It was also the first film where Wayne Allwine provides the voice for Mickey Mouse. Animator Mark Henn does the animation of Mickey. This was the only Mickey Mouse cartoon on which John Lasseter was involved as an animator.
Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas (November 9, 1999) A straight-to-video release, directed by Alex Mann, with three separate segments linked through narration by actor Kelsey Grammer. In one of them, Mickey and Minnie appear in an adaptation of the O. Henry story, The Gift of the Magi. On Christmas Eve, Mickey trades his beloved harmonica for a chain for Minnie’s watch, but Minnie has traded her treasured watch for a case for Mickey’s beloved harmonica.
Mickey’s Christmas Chaos (September 16, 2000): Originally aired as an episode of the television series Mouse Works, where Mickey gets into a Christmas decorating contest with his neighbor Mortimer and it continually escalates. Mickey’s giant star drains the power from the entire town and eventually both homes are completely destroyed. It was retitled “Mickey’s Christmas Crisis” when it was re-aired as part of the television series House of Mouse.”
Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas (November 2004): A straight-to-video sequel to Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas, but done in computer animation. There are five segments and Mickey appears in “Mickey’s Dog-Gone Christmas,” directed by Matthew O’Callaghan. Pluto makes a mess of things as Mickey is decorating for a Christmas party and is sent to his doghouse. Pluto runs away and ends up at the North Pole, where he is adopted by Santa’s reindeer. A distraught Mickey runs around town with “Lost Dog” posters and even turns for help to a department store Santa who turns out to be the real Santa. Santa and the reindeer drop Pluto off just in time for the party.
As readers know, I am a huge fan of Mickey Mouse. In fact, I even wrote The Book of Mouse, but there is always more to learn.
Santa recently dropped an early stocking stuffer off in my mailbox, my contributor’s copy of A Mickey Mouse Reader by Garry Apgar. My little essay on “Steamboat Willie” takes up only about 15 pages in the over 350 page book filled with 81 terrific articles (some just one page long) about just Mickey Mouse, harvested from 1928-2007.Writers include John Canemaker, John Culhane, Lillian Disney (who describes herself as a “mouse widow”), Stephen Jay Gould, M. Thomas Inge, Gilbert Seldes, Maurice Sendak, Charles Solomon, John Updike, Irving Wallace and many others.
This is a wonderful resource and entertaining reading for the Disney historian in your family filled with some articles I never knew existed. Apgar has done an outstanding service to Disney history by compiling these lost treasures from magazines and newspapers (many long out of print).
This book is a highly recommended gift, especially during the holiday season.
