Merry Christmas from The Animation Empire

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Cartoon 34: Mickey Mouse Christmas Vacation

Clips from the Mickey Mouse Christmas short are set to the song from National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.



That's it! Today's Christmas! Merry Christmas!!!

- TAE

Christmas Cartoon 33: Christmas Mix (Muppets, Mickey Mouse, Chipmunks, Frosty, Rudolph and more)

A mix of a lot of Christmas cartoons set to a song.

That's it! Today's Christmas! Merry Christmas!!!

- TAE

Christmas Cartoon 32: Santa's Workshop (1932 Silly Symphony)

This is the original version of the classic Disney Silly Symphonies short. Ethnic Humour was the norm in these early days, so viewer discretion is advised.

Notice that it says "Mickey Mouse Presents" in the title? That was because Mickey was so popular, Walt wanted to remind viewers that it's from the Mickey Mouse guys. Pixar does the same thing today in their trailers.

The elves remind me of Snow White's dwarves. =^)

Checkered paint 3:19! LOL

4:54 Chaplin doll!!! It'd be like a cartoon today including a Will Smith doll that chased aliens. =^)

Enjoy!

- TAE

Christmas Cartoon 31: Santa vs Frosty

Santa Claus battles the drug dealing Frosty!!!



It looks pretty painful, but it ends well... sort of. =^)

We're posting a Christmas animation every day until Christmas!

Enjoy!

- TAE

Christmas Cartoon 30: Frosty the Inappropriate Snowman! - Two and a Half Men/Frosty

Frosty the Inappropriate Snowman! - Two and a Half Men/Frosty

What happens when you cross 'Two and a Half Men' with 'Frosty' & 'Frosty Returns'? You get Frosty the Inappropriate Snowman!!



Yet another promo for Frosty. This one takes audio from Two and a Half Men and puts it on Frosty clips. Hmm, not sure if sex jokes on a childrens' cartoon is such a great idea. =^)


We're posting a Christmas animation every day until Christmas!

Enjoy!

- TAE

Christmas Cartoon 29: Frosty the Snowman - The Frostinator

Frosty the Snowman - The Frostinator

He's one lean, mean, snowball makin' machine.



CBS does it again. They parody Frosty by making it look like a trailer for an action revenge film.

Good voice over work sells it. I like the bit at the end for Frosty Returns, "This time it's personal" when Frosty's got a hole in him.

They don't make it as obvious that this is a parody, so they have to end it with "This promo is a parody."


We're posting a Christmas animation every day until Christmas!

Enjoy!

- TAE

Christmas Cartoon 28: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer - CSI: North Pole

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer - CSI: North Pole

Rudolph and his team investigate the mysterious death of the Abominable Snowman.




Wow. CBS spliced together clips from their Rudolph special with audio from CSI: NY. It's effective advertising and a little risky. =^)

We're posting a Christmas cartoon every day until Christmas.

- TAE

Christmas Cartoon 27: Santa's Isolation

Far, far, far, away up North

"Isolation, for anyone, can lead to MADNESS! Happy holidays everybody."



We're posting a Christmas animation every day until Christmas!

- TAE

Christmas Cartoon 26: Petey & Jaydee Merry Christmas

"Following the huge success of its previous six seasons Petey and Jaydee are paying the world a visit at Christmas time. They are about to explore nicely decorated homes with brightly lit up Christmas trees where a lot of dangerous things can be found to play with. Be prepared as it always gets very dangerous with the two quirky aliens!
With scathing black humour these reckless fellow explorers will do anything for the big thrill -- and a good spiteful laugh."



We're posting a Christmas animation every day until Christmas!

- TAE

Christmas Cartoon 25: Xmas Speed-tooning with World of Cow

"Witness StiK drawing 2 new Christmas World of Cow cartoon in under 5 minutes. It's been sped up of course."



"A Christmas Cow cartoon created before your very eyes, with the cartoonist StiK providing commentary."







We're posting a Christmas animation every day until Christmas!

- TAE

Christmas Cartoon 24: Arctic Holiday

"The farther North you go the harsher the holidays can be. Season's greetings everyone."



We're posting a Christmas animation every day until Christmas!

- TAE

Christmas Cartoon 23: Twas The Dark Knight Before Christmas

"Batman stars in this new spin on "Twas the Night Before Christmas.""



We're posting a Christmas animation every day until Christmas!

- TAE

Christmas Cartoon 22: Yeti's Christmas

"Gnome is feeling the Christmas Spirit"



We're posting a Christmas animation every day until Christmas!

- TAE

Christmas Cartoon 21: Adventures of Chocolate Santa Claus

"A Stopmotion film about a chocolate Santa Claus. It took us nearly 7 hours and over 500 pictures to create this 1 min. shortfilm."



We're posting Christmas animations every day until Christmas!

- TAE

Racism in Animation 2 (Christmas Cartoon 20) - Santa's Surprise (1947)

Here is Santa's Surprise, an old 1947 animation from Paramount studios.

This shows how sterotypes in those times weren't intended to be offensive, although they easily could be.

Here you have everything stereotypical, including a black boy who shines shoes, and a Chinese boy who does laundry (and has a very stereotypical accent).



"This is the first appearance by Little Audrey. She would make a cameo in a Popeye cartoon "Olive Oyl For President" early in 1948, before inaugurating a new series of her own in June 1948.

"Like so many things from the 1940s, this cartoon is full of what would today be considered offensive racial stereotypes in what was probably an attempt at diversity. Check out the design on the black and Chinese kids, especially. "

More on this movie (above quotes from here):
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0152285/

This animation was created by Famous Studios, which was the successor to the Fleischer Brothers studio.

"Famous Studios, later renamed Paramount Cartoon Studios, was the animation division of the Hollywood film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942 to 1967. Famous was founded as a successor company to Fleischer Studios, after Paramount acquired Fleischer Studios and ousted its founders, Max and Dave Fleischer, in 1941...

"Fleischer Studios was a successful animation studio responsible for producing successful cartoon shorts starring characters such as Betty Boop and Popeye the Sailor. The studio moved its operations from New York City to Miami Beach in 1938, following union problems and the start of production on its first feature film, Gulliver's Travels (1939). While Gulliver was a success, the expense of the move and the expanded staff required to produce the feature created finance problems for the Fleischer Studios. The studio depended upon advances and loans from its distributor, Paramount Pictures, in order to continue production on its short subjects and to begin work on a second feature, Mister Bug Goes to Town.

"Compounding the problems the studio was facing was the fact that the studio's co-founders, brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, were becoming increasingly estranged, and not speaking to one another due to disputes. On May 21, 1941, Paramount assumed full ownership of Fleischer Studios, and had the Fleischer brothers submit signed letters of resignation, to be used at Paramount's discretion. Following the unsuccessful release of Mister Bug in December 1941, Dave Fleischer, no longer able to cooperate with Max, left Miami for California, where he was hired to run Columbia Pictures' Screen Gems animation studio. Paramount responded by producing the letters of resignation, severing the Fleischer brothers from control of their studio.

"Paramount renamed the studio Famous Studios, and although they had ownership of the company, it remained a separate entity. Four top Fleischer employees were promoted to run the animation studio: business manager Sam Buchwald, storyboard artist Isadore Sparber, animator Dan Gordon, and Max Fleischer's son-in-law, head animator Seymour Kneitel. Buchwald assumed Max Fleischer's place as executive producer, while Sparber, Kneitel, and Gordon shared Dave Fleischer's former responsibilities as supervising producers and credited directors. Gordon remained only briefly before departing after 1943. Although the Fleischers left the studio at the end of 1941, Famous Studios was not officially incorporated until May 1942, after Paramount's contract with Fleischer Studios had formally run its course.

The Famous Studios cartoon series include:

Popeye the Sailor (inherited from Fleischer Studios, 1942 – 1957)
Superman (inherited from Fleischer Studios, 1942 – 1943)
Noveltoons (1943 – 1967)
Little Audrey (1948 – 1959)
Little Lulu (1943 – 1948)
Screen Songs (1947 – 1951; originally produced by Fleischer Studios 1929 – 1938)
Casper the Friendly Ghost (1950 – 1959)
Kartunes (1951 – 1953)
Herman and Katnip (1952 – 1959)
Modern Madcaps (1958 – 1967)
Jeepers and Creepers (1960)
The Cat (1961)
Swifty and Shorty (1964 – 1965)
Honey Halfwitch (1965 – 1967)
Merry Makers (1967)
GoGo Toons (1967)
Fractured Fables (1967)


More on Famous Studios (above quotes from here):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famous_Studios



More Racism in Animation...

Racism in Animation 3 - Pluto's Dream House (1940):
http://theanimationempire.blogspot.com/2008/01/racism-in-animation-3-mickey-mouse-in.html

Racism in Animation 2 - Santa's Surprise (1940):
http://theanimationempire.blogspot.com/2007/12/racism-in-animation-2-christmas-cartoon.html

Racism in Animation 1 - Fantasia (1940):
http://theanimationempire.blogspot.com/2007/12/racism-in-animation-1-fantasia-bans.html


We're posting Christmas cartoons every day until Christmas!

- TAE

Christmas Cartoon 19: Santa Gets Busy!

"Santa was naughty this Christmas! It's time to deliver the presents and he is getting busy with Mrs. Clause!"



Hahahaha!!!

We'll have a Christmas cartoon every day from now until Christmas.

- TAE

Christmas Cartoon 18: Gotta Shop Shop Shop!

"Christmas is near and we gotta shop shop shop! This parody of Buster Poindexter's "Hot Hot Hot" will get you in the mood for Christmas time!"



We'll have a Christmas cartoon every day from now until Christmas.

- TAE

Christmas Cartoon 17: We wish you a MEOWY Christmas!

"These furry felines have a cute Christmas carol to share with you!"



Meowy Christmas!

We'll have a Christmas cartoon every day from now until Christmas.

- TAE

Christmas Cartoon 16: Who let the elves out!!!!

"It's quitting time at Santa's work shop and the elves are ready to party! Get down with Santa's elves in this silly Christmas parody of the Baha Men's "Who Let The Dogs Out"."



Enjoy!

We'll have a Christmas cartoon every day from now until Christmas.

- TAE