Nearby Mount Crumpit

Before we leave Christmas behind, let us take a look at the snowy Mt. Crumpit from How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Layouts are by Oscar Dufau and Don Morgan, and the backgrounds were painted by Phil De Guard, Bob Inman and Hal Ashmead.



Designer Maurice Noble, I suspect, is responsible for the mood colour change in that last frame, as the personality of the Grinch has turned bright and sunny. Colour-for-mood is employed elsewhere in the cartoon.

Christmas With Jack Benny, 1927

What was Jack Benny doing for Christmas 89 years ago? Hanging out with Fanny Brice. And an almost empty theatre.

Yes, the show must go on. And on it went on December 25, 1927 at the New Orpheum Palace theatre in Chicago. Benny was the emcee and Brice was the headliner.

Judging by Variety, Billboard and the Vaudeville News, Jack was reworking his career a bit. He had been emceeing vaudeville shows of six acts. Billboard wasn’t all that impressed, though audiences loved him in Chicago; at the start of August 1927 he was held over for a fourth week as the m.c. But he realised he needed to freshen his act. Benny hooked up with The New Yorkers’ Band, 13 members from the defunct Frank Fay nightclub. He waved a baton and conducted them in a comic musical routine. He played the violin. Tenor John Griffin sang two numbers. There was a girl dancer (unidentified). Benny and his group hit up the independent theatres in New York, showing off the act to major circuit bookers. One of the houses was the Fox Savoy on December 5th.

It worked. Jack got a good review in Billboard and, more importantly, signed an 18-week contract with the Orpheum circuit to do his own act and act as m.c. on the bill. He played a week in Denver before returning to Chicago on Christmas Day.

After a week, Brice moved on but Jack was held over to host a new bill which included Olsen and Johnson, Lee Morse and Charlie Ruggles’ company doing a playlet. Billboard went into a detailed description of the second week’s show but this post is only interested in his Christmas stage appearance. The Chicago Tribune ran ads for the show, but didn’t review it. Variety gave its opinion in its December 28th edition but didn’t say an awful lot.

After a month or two of much heralding, of circus proportions at times, Fanny Brice is finally at the Palace. For a while it seemed her picture in the lobby was just a tribute. Now Fanny is here, so probably next week her photo will be ducked. But they should keep it in the lobby and paste reprints all over the house, for Fanny is one of the few genuine names left to the Palace and vaudeville, and one of the few whose "Comings" are worth bragging about.

Even with a small house Sunday matinee there is little need to question her drawing ability, even at the not too attractive Palace. The Sunday mat had legit abili for a change, Xmas. As to Fanny, her regular act seems to be stopping shows.
Comedy predominated, Jack Benny serving as m. c. Also reminiscent of the past, with standards bobbing up often.
A standard opened, in Raflin's monkeys, entertaining novelty.
Marie Vero, "schoolgirl soprano," a fair outlet for ego, regarded and billed as vaude's personal "find," but the show returned to stability shortly after with Arthur and Morton Havel. They are returned to the Palace within a few months, but seem as capable in this stop-over as in the former. Nice act.
Clifford and Marion whammed and grabbed a couple of extra bows when the girl walked out straight and in decolette. Clifford seemed to be laboring under handicap of a cold.
Miss Brice held the fin and closed the first part, Toney and Norman, of the old school, opening the second. The second mixed cross-fire turn of the bill, but of different routine. The older Jim gets, the better, etc., and the younger Ann gets, the cuter.
Benny found a spot for himself at this point and gagged for a hit, though he hit likewise throughout the show. Florence O'Denishawn and Snow and Columbus danced the closer. A sightly, clever flash, this, and would be at more advantage if spotted earlier in any other show.

Both Benny and Brice, as you likely know, ended up on radio when vaudeville died. Marie Vero appeared every so often on the air as well. She moved to San Francisco and I can find her name up until 1937 when she vanishes. Vero appeared in a Vitaphone Varieties short for Warner Bros. in 1929.

Oh, and here’s a bit of trivia. The band appearing at the Palace the week before Jack arrived was led by Don Bester, who later did the Benny radio show.

Radio stations don’t shut down on Christmas Day, and some are still staffed by people who give up their family time to entertain or inform their audiences. It was no different in the Golden Age, especially on networks where live performances were mandated. Jack Benny worked a couple of Christmas Days on the air, in 1938 and 1949. You can hear the shows below. Notice the difference in Eddie Anderson’s voice in the two broadcasts. He’s got more of an Amos ‘n’ Andy sound in the earlier one. Barbara Whitney in the 1938 show is played by Barbara Jo Allen, who later went on to radio and short film fame as Vera Vague. In the 1949 programme, you’ll hear the Bennys’ daughter Joan selling cookies, as well as Bea Benaderet.


December 25, 1938


December 25, 1949

Hugh Harman's Peace on Earth

Snow covers the remains of the devastation of war in the opening pan shots of Hugh Harman’s Peace On Earth, released at Christmas time 1939.

The first two frame grabs show a bombed-out church. The next frames are a right pan, with items in the foreground on overlays to add depth. Toward the end of the pan, we see houses that have been made out of soldiers’ helmets.



Harman and his writer aren’t very subtle. A boys choir sings “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” over and over, but remove practically all the lyrics except the lines about “peace on Earth” (“Silent Night” gets its lyrics butchered as well). And Mel Blanc’s grandpa squirrel keeps croaking “Peace on Earth” over and over and over so that you want to gag him after awhile. Regardless, Harman was proud of this cartoon. The artwork and effects are top-notch.

Daily Variety followed the film from its start through to its Oscar nomination (Disney won for The Ugly Duckling; I can only imagine Harman’s reaction). Here are the clippings:

April 19, 1939
Metro plans to give classical music heavy play next season in animated cartoons. ‘The Blue Danube’ has been selected by Producers Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising as first to reach cameras. Jack Cosgriff and Charles McGirl have completed script to fit Strauss waltz. Harman and Ising also plan production of pro-Americanism, anti-war cartoon under title ‘Peace On Earth.’ Insects will be used as characters to unfold story of how human race was wiped out through international conflict.

October 25, 1939
Eddie Ward scoring 'Bad Little Angel' at Metro, in addition to writing background music for two cartoons, 'The Bear Family' and 'Peace on Earth.'

December 1, 1939
Metro's Hugh Harman has turned out a telling preachment against war in 'Peace On Earth,' one-reel animated cartoon done in Technicolor, and intended for Christmas release. It was given preview last night at Fox-Wilshire.
Done in fable mood, briefie has venerable squirrel paying Xmas eve visit to his two grandchildren, whose question, 'What is a man?' he answers by relating the story of man's own extermination of mankind through war. Deftly handled background music, including vocal chorus, runs through his narration, which is given ironic emphasis by newest European conflict.
Battle scenes are done with drawings, with tag disclosing all animaldom peacefully intermingling as a result of lesson they have gleaned from humans who once inhabited earth.
Harman has highlighted his tints, bringing out hues in unusual sharpness. Opening scene showing snow falling on animal village is exceptional from standpoint of capturing varying hues.

December 6, 1939

Success of Metro's Hugh Harman one-reeler, 'Peace on Earth,' has studio pushing forward other serious subjects for treatment via animated cartoon route. Next to be put in work by Harman will be an Easter subject based on story of the Nativity. Jeanne Fuller suggested story idea. [Fuller married Harman in 1941]

December 12, 1939
Metro is submitting its one-reel technicolor cartoon preachment against war, 'Peace on Earth,' to the Nobel Prize Committee of the Academy of Sciences at Stockholm as entry for award for international peace promotion.

January 10, 1940 (New York Herald Tribune)
Consuls of warring European nations are invited to attend a film showing of the animated cartoon “Peace on Earth,” tomorrow night at 8:15 p.m. by Professor Frederic M. Thrasher, of the New York University School of Education, at the auditorium, 41 West Fourth Street. Produced by the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the film depicts the fallacies of war. It will be shown before Professor Thrasher’s class on the motion picture. The consuls will be invited to comment on propaganda in the films.

January 27, 1940
Cartoons entered for Sunday night showing follow ‘Goofy and Wilber,’ ‘The Beach Picnic,’ ‘The Ugly Duckling,’ ‘The Practical Pig,’ ‘The Pointer,’ all from Walt Disney; ‘Old Glory’ and ‘Detouring America,’ Warners; ‘Peace On Earth’ and ‘The Little Goldfish,’ Metro; ‘Scrambled Eggs,’ ‘A-Hunting We Will Go,’ ‘The Sleeping Princess,’ Universal; ‘Peaceful Neighbors,’ Mintz; ‘The Orphan Duck,’ 20th-Fox; ‘Fresh Vegetable Mystery,’ Paramount.

The Motion Picture Herald offered these reviews from small-town theatres:

● Here is a swell cartoon that should be held off in booking until Christmas week of 1940. It is excellent for the proper time of the year. Save it. Running time, nine minutes. — A. J. Inks, Crystal Theatre, Ligonier, Ind. Small town patronage.

● This one is everything the critics have said. A swell cartoon that you can be proud to show and one you can brag about. — Fred Brown, Plymouth Theatre, Plymouth, Wis. General patronage.

● Fair cartoon in color which lacked comedy. Running time, seven minutes. — E. M. Freiburger, Paramount Theatre, Dewey, Okla. Small town patronage.

● There is no doubt about it. Here is the best cartoon of the year. Don't wait for next Christmas; play it now. The war angle is more dominant than the Christmas angle. Of course, this isn't funny so make your other shorts humorous. Unusually appreciative applause followed this. Running time, nine minutes. — W. Varick Nevins, III, Alfred Co-Op Theatre, Alfred, N. Y. Small college town and rural patronage.

● Above all others get this color cartoon. One grand cartoon. Will help in a big way to round out any program. Running time, nine minutes. — C. W. Hawk, Ada Theatre, Ada, Ohio. Small college town patronage.

● A grand short that everyone should play at this time. — C. L. Niles, Niles Theatre, Anamosa, Iowa. General patronage.

● Was especially liked. Running time, nine minutes. — Warren D. Smith, Lee Roy Theatre, Wallace, Neb. General patronage.

● Excellent.— L. A. Irwin, Palace Theatre, Penacook, N. H. General patronage.

● Very beautifully colored cartoon.— Gladys E. McArdle, Owl Theatre, Lebanon, Kansas. Small town patronage.

● Played this in October [1940]. Very appropriate subject in the Fall of the year. After last Xmas very poor. Running time, eight minutes. — A. L. Dove, Bengough Theatre, Bengough, Saskatchewan, Canada. Rural and small town patronage.

There was trade talk by MGM about re-issuing the cartoon every December. We suspect Pearl Harbor got in the way of that idea.

What did cartoon studio boss Fred Quimby think of Peace on Earth? Showmen’s Trade Review of December 9, 1939 reported:

Commenting on MGM's departure from the usual in screen cartoons with the production of a semi-dramatic subject for the Christmas season, Fred Quimby, head of the company's short subject distribution said that conditions this year suggested the idea of breaking precedent in connection with a seasonal cartoon subject.
Following a screening of the film for the trade press in New York, Quimby said: "We decided on something different and perhaps a little daring this year, because we felt that, with conditions as they are, this Christmas was the logical time to offer in place of the usual light and frothy cartoon a subject dramatically, yet at times whimsically, imparting the full significance of 'Peace On Earth, Good Will To Men'." The cartoon, "Peace On Earth" is reviewed in this issue.

We also know what Quimby thought of Hugh Harman and Rudy Ising. Not an awful lot. He told Hedda Hopper in her column of August 4, 1940 that the name their of producing partnership, Harman-Ising, was misleading. Growled Fred C.: “They could never work together and both of them are so high in the clouds they haven’t any idea of what money means.”

Is it any wonder Quimby was ready to be enticed by Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera into allowing them to direct cartoons. Both could stick to a budget and garner Oscar nominations. And about 15 years later, they came up with a cartoon that opened with a pan over a snow-covered bombed-out church, with a choir singing mangled lyrics to “Hark the Herald Angels Sing.” It was called Good Will To Men. Fred Quimby’s name was on it. Hugh Harman’s wasn’t. He deserved better. At least we’re remembering him today.

Tom and Jerry's Night Before Christmas

In 1936, Jack Zander, Bill Littlejohn and Joe Barbera were working for New York’s not-very-respected Van Beuren cartoon studio. A few years later, there were at the top-of-the-line MGM studio, turning out first-rate animation that could hold its own with anyone.

The Night Before Christmas (1941) is a real charming cartoon, with beautiful settings, well-executed special effects and loads of expression in Tom and Jerry. Van Beuren only made cartoons like this in their dreams.

After a pan over a lovely room filled with a fireplace, bookshelves, a Christmas tree and presents (some of which are in silhouette on an overlay), we come to rest at a mouse hole. Narrator Frank Graham quietly purrs the opening lines of the famous poem and when he reaches “Not even a mouse,” Jerry pokes his head out of the hole, then smells some cheese.

The mouse has easily-recognised emotions in this scene. He won’t fall for the cheese trap laid out for him, then spots something delightful off screen. I don’t think I need to say much more. The pictures can tell the story.



Barbera’s well-constructed story comes back to the mouse trap at the end. It turns out to be a Christmas music box. Tom really did leave the cheese as a present.

Zander was the animator of this scene and (along with his assistant and in-betweeners) did a fantastic job in various scenes throughout the cartoon. Littlejohn, George Gordon, Cecil Surry and Irv Spence contributed some great animation, too. Unfortunately, I don’t know who painted the backgrounds in this cartoon. It may have been Bob Gentle, but Barbera and Bill Hanna had other background artists in their unit as well.

Variety reported the cartoon opened at Grauman’s Chinese and Loew’s State on December 11, 1941. Juxtapose the peaceful message of this cartoon with the bombing of Pearl Harbor only days earlier.

My thanks to Keith Scott, the ne plus ultra of voice experts, for identifying Frank Graham.

Broken Toys

Nothing says ‘30s cartoons like celebrity caricatures. And the holiday season wasn’t spared them either.

A few are supporting players in Broken Toys, a 1935 Disney cartoon about dolls and other kids playthings tossed in a dump. They vow to repair themselves and march to a new home in an orphanage in time for Christmas. And if the pathos hasn’t got you tearing up yet, listen to this—the climax comes in one those desperate races against time to restore the “sight” of a little girl doll through a delicate operation.

The result? It’s Disney. What do you think happened?

Ah, but it isn’t all melodrama and wet hankies. We get comic relief in the form of, yes, those winsome celebrities who found their way, in all kinds of forms, into cartoons throughout the ‘30s.



Ned Sparks in a box.



Oh, dear! It’s Zasu Pitts.



Aunt Jemima is slapping her nether region. Besides having her own pancake mix and syrup, at the time this cartoon was made the character “starred” in a show on NBC Red, singing away on Wednesday nights from 10 to 10:30 p.m. for General Foods and Log Cabin Products.



W.C. Fields and Stepin Fetchit. The calico elephant is a bit player.

You can learn more about the cartoon from Devon Baxter’s post on Jerry Beck’s Cartoon Research site.

Two Stories of Christmas From Hollywood

What does Christmas mean in Hollywood? Probably the same as anywhere else; it means different things to different people.

Associated Press reporter Bob Thomas covered the TV and movie scene in the city for decades. We’ve found a couple of seasonal columns of his that we’ll share.

The first is from December 23, 1964. It’s how Dick Van Dyke and his family marked the holiday, both religiously and secularly. As Mr. Van Dyke turned 91 a little over a week ago, it’s maybe fitting we spotlight him here.

Star Believes in the Spirit of Christmas
By BOB THOMAS
AP Movie-Television Writer
HOLLYWOOD (AP) – Everyone talks about having an old-fashioned Christmas, but few ever do anything about it. Exception: the Dick Van Dyke family.
For a guy who is as hep as any star in show business, Dick is a remarkably old-fashioned fellow. He believes in morality in movies, loyalty and the spirit of Christmas.
“I think the wrong emphasis has been placed on Christmas,” he said. “Now there is entirely too much obligatory giving. Christmas should be a time of giving to your family and close friends—the people you love. Instead, you're compelled to give to your customers, your boss, your employees, etc.
“I'm sure the average business man hates to see Christmas come around.”

The Van Dyke Christmas starts with picking out a tree. That's an all-family affair.
“Everybody goes along to the lot to make the choice, including the maid.” Dick said. “We look at every tree until we find the one that suits everyone. Then we bring it home and everyone has a job to do in the decoration.
“The big kids (Chris, 14; Barry, 13) handle the breakable ornaments, the younger ones (Stacy, 10; Carrie, 3) take care of the less fragile things. We've built up quite a collection of ornaments they have made; I mean like clay balls with glitter. We save them all.
“Me, I take care of stringing the lights and hanging the angel on the top of the tree, which is usually a 12-footer.” The Van Dykes attend the early Christmas Eve service at their church, the Brentwood Presbyterian. When they come home, Dick reads the St Luke version of Jesus’ birth from the big family Bible. The children hang up their stockings, and Dick and wife Margie exchange their gifts to each other. Christmas morning is for the kids.
“We've got it fixed now so they will wait until 7 a.m.,” Dick remarked. "Everyone has to line up to enter the room at the same time. Each child goes to the place where he or she has been stacking his presents in the room. Then they start opening. All I have to do is keep separating the wrapping paper.”
Friends drop in during the day, and the family sits down to a dinner in the afternoon. "We have a big ham, rather than turkey, which we have at Thanksgiving," said Dick. "Nobody's hungry,anyway. There's too much excitement for everyone.”

Let’s turn back the clock exactly four years from the previous post and look at Hollywood itself. We get the feeling this particular column is autobiographical, with Thomas himself searching for evidence of the “true” meaning of Christmas.

Visitors In Hollywood Look For Celebration
By BOB THOMAS
AP Movie-TV Writer
HOLLYWOOD (AP) – ‘Twas the night before the night before Christmas, and all through the town the visitor could find no indication of what the celebration was about.
He walked along the marble-fronted buildings of Beverly Hills, their windows ablaze with sable and silver. The street lamps of Wilshire Boulevard were brightly lighted with pictures of choristers, reindeer and a fat man in a chimney. Judging from these, the season might mark some pagan fete.
TV cowboys just off the range were filling their sports cars with gifts. The choice was vast. At Uncle Bernie’s Toy Menagerie, parents could buy their kiddies a six-foot stuffed dinosaur for $350 or some singing toy birds for $400, including cage.
At the Gourmet, late shoppers could pick up fresh Iranian caviar at $45 the pound or a methuselah (208 oz.) of French champagne for $75. Or, for those with jaded tastes, there were baby bees, chocolate covered ants, buffalo meat, quail eggs, rattlesnake (diamond back, of course), alligator soup, fried grasshoppers, whale meat.

The victor wandered into the drug store at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. It was also equipped for the outpouring of dollars. Five hundred of them could buy a man's hair brush—satinwood, wild boar bristle—$450 a solid gold compact.
“We don't sell many compacts because they're too heavy,” explained a salesgirl. “But we do sell some of the brushes: they’re a nice gift for the man who has everything.”
The visitor journeyed eastward, stopping at a wayside inn on the Sunset Strip. There he found celebrators but no hint of what they celebrated. Some gained cheer with a wassail called the Santa baby cocktail — cranberry juice and vodka.
Onward to Hollywood Boulevard he went, then to be greeted by endless repetition overhead of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer wreathed in gold tinsel. The visitor contemplated what Dancer, Prancer and the other black-nosed veterans would say about this reindeer-come-lately.
The visitor failed in his quest until he left the brilliant lights behind and started over the Cahuenga Pass. High on a hill above the pilgrimage theater he discovered a white neon cross that gave him a hint of what the celebration was for.

Scrappy Meets Santa

The Charlie Mintz studio goes for sentiment in the fantasy cartoon Holiday Land, released at Christmas time in 1934. It’s a nice little cartoon where little boy Scrappy dreams that Father Time appears and, like a miniature Monty Hall, leads him to various curtains behind which are a special prize—an enactment of one of the annual holidays.

Calendar pages are ripped onto the floor. Father Time jumps through one and blares his trumpet to page Santa Claus, Easter rabbits, Hallowe’en witches and so on. Santa jumps through his calendar date and joins the parade. There’s a throwaway bit where a rubber ball from Santa’s bag accidentally falls out of the bag and bounces around, squashing and stretching. It’s not necessary animation but Sid Marcus and Art Davis were trying for Disney charm here.



Santa lifts up Father Time’s robe to reveal a little cherub band playing the American patriotic marching song, The Girl I Left Behind Me. Santa weaves over and back as he walks in a bit of thoughtful cycle animation. A toy in his bag stretches its head up and down in another cycle. All that movement is elaborate for a Columbia cartoon of the period.



And what would a post about a Scrappy cartoon be without Scrappy? (This for you, Harry).



The cartoon features two-tone Technicolor, cel overlays and special songs. The Mintz staff put a good deal of effort into this one and it was nominated for an Oscar.