Merry Christmas!

Posted on December 24, 2012 by Nikki G under classic television, holiday picks, nikki's faves

Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday. I mean, seriously, what’s not to love? There’s food, good cheer, presents, music, decorations, family togetherness (ok, that one’s not always fun, but you get the idea), goodwill towards everyone, and Christmas specials on TV. And I am not talking about the various Christmas concerts, holiday episodes of your favorite shows, or the Hallmark/Lifetime/ABC Family made-for-TV movies (though I will admit to watching a lot of that last category this time of year). I am talking about the classic half-hour to full-hour short animated specials like A Charlie Brown Christmas and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. In the last 40-50 years since many of them were produced, these specials have become a part of our Christmas traditions to where many don’t think Christmas is complete without watching them at least once during the season. Rankin/Bass was perhaps the most prolific studio, producing such perennial favorites as Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, and Santa Claus is Coming to Town. These specials have a very distinct style regardless of animation type (claymation or traditional), lots of fun songs, and usually feature at least one popular star of the era lending voices to characters and narrators, including Burl Ives, Jimmy Durante, Mickey Rooney, and Fred Astaire. While Rudolph, Frosty, and Santa are perhaps the best known, they are only just 3 of the 18 Christmas specials produced between 1964 and 1985. Here are a few of my favorites that you should check out:

Nestor the Long Eared Christmas Donkey (1977) – This classic is about Nestor the donkey’s who ears were so long they dragged the ground causing him all sorts of trouble until they are used to guide him through a sand storm as he takes Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem. Starring Roger Miller as the narrator Speiltoe and singer of the title song (which was written by Gene Autrey), this classic is great for anyone looking for movies that are less about Santa and more about the religious aspects of Christmas.

Stingiest Man in Town (1978) – As I have said previously, I love A Christmas Carol in all of its forms but this is my top favorite animated one hands down. Yes that would be ahead of Mickey which I know is blasphemy from a Disney fan but so it is. This version stars Walter Matthau as Scrooge with Tom Bosley serving as narrator in the character B.A.H. Humbug along with Theodore Bikel (My Fair Lady) as the voice of Marley. This version features two of my absolute favorite songs written specifically for Rankin/Bass: “Birthday Party of the King” and “Yes, There is a Santa Claus” (which is probably the best way I know to explain what Santa means to adults).

Frosty’s Winter Wonderland (1976) – This classic sequel to Frosty the Snowman follows Frosty as he decides he needs a snow-wife to combat the loneliness that comes with being the only living snowman and the trouble they have when Jack Frost shows up wanting Frosty’s magic hat for himself. This special is narrated by the Andy Griffith as pretty much himself and also features Shelly Winters as the voice of Crystal and Jackie Vernon reprises his role from the original as Frosty.

Rudolph’s Shiny New Year (1976) – Picking up on the same foggy Christmas when Rudolph saved the day, the baby New Year Happy has run away, and it is up to Rudolph to find him and make sure he’s back at Father Time’s castle by the strike of twelve on New Year’s Eve or the old year will go on forever. Featuring Red Skelton as Father Time serving as narrator (complete with a patch of red hair) and doubling as Baby Bear, this one is a great one to watch the week leading up to New Year’s.

We here at True Classics would like to wish all our readers a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year–and may it be shining, too!

RIP Robert Sherman

Posted on March 25, 2012 by Nikki G under classic disney, nikki's faves, remembering

I was very saddened a few weeks ago to hear that Robert Sherman, one half of one of the greatest movie music-writing teams, was gone. The Sherman Brothers are responsible for giving the world the music of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968), The Aristocats (1970), Charlotte’s Web (1973), The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977), and probably their most famous work, Mary Poppins (1964), which earned them Oscars for Best Song and Best Score. The folks over at Mental Floss put together a great list of the most beloved Sherman Brothers songs but I have a few I’d like to add to the mix:

“Sister Suffragette” from Mary Poppins – Anytime that the women’s rights movement, especially suffrage, comes up, this song always comes to mind for me. And since March is Women’s History Month, I thought this video was double appropriate.

“Let’s Go Fly a Kite” from Mary Poppins - When those first warming, windy days of spring come, I find myself humming this wonderful song and wishing I could out and enjoy the fantastic weather while it lasts.

“Pink of Perfection” from Summer Magic (1963) – Summer Magic is not as well-known among the Disney live-action films of the 50s and 60s, but it does feature a great cast including Hayley Mills and Burl Ives. I don’t really have a reason why I love this song but I do along with “Femininity,” “The Ugly Bug Ball,” and “Flitterin’.”

“The Gnome-Mobile” from The Gnome-Mobile (1967) – This one is for my stepdad who, while not much of a Disney film watcher, loves this film and its star, Walter Brennan. The video is the reprise at the end of the film.

“Little Black Rain Cloud” from Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree (1966) – Winnie the Pooh is just awesome and this song leads into one of my favorite quotes to use in conversation: “Tut-tut. It looks like rain.”

I’m not sure what else to say here except for the word to use when you don’t know anything else to say: Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.

Tale as Old as Time

Posted on May 7, 2011 by Nikki G under disney renaissance, nikki's faves, saturday morning cartoons, they made movies after 1970?

This week’s film, 1991′s Beauty and the Beast, is probably my favorite of the Disney Renaissance-era films and is a very close second behind my personal triumvirate for best Disney film ever. The voice cast is awesome, the animation is fabulous, and the music is just beautiful. And then there is a story that is as old and as well told as Cinderella. Like Cinderella, Disney opted to use the French version of the original fairy tale, as it is probably the most famous and more family-friendly.

This film features not only a great cast but great characters in general. Gaston is just so full of himself that he has no idea why anyone would turn him down. Beast mostly just needs to learn some manners and to count to ten when he’s angry and he’d be fine. The household objects have their own idiosyncrasies but wouldn’t you after 10 years as a wardrobe or a mantle clock? But of all these, my favorite is Belle. She is probably my favorite of the Disney Princesses (shocking, I know): mostly kind, loves to read, wants to take care of her family, and is a little bit out of the social “norm.”

"Forests of books, cascades, mountains of books"

As I said earlier, the voice cast is just phenomenal. Almost the entire cast had serious Broadway credits, which was actually part of the idea because the music was written with a Broadway show style in mind. What’s interesting (to me, anyway) is that the three lead actors (Paige O’Hara—Belle, Robby Benson—Beast, and Richard White—Gaston) are still not all that well known except for these signature roles, while three of the supporting actors have been household names in various TV and film roles for years:

David Ogden Stiers was probably best known to audiences at the time of the release for playing Major Charles Winchester on the TV show M*A*S*H but would go on to do more voices for Disney including Ratcliffe in Pocahontas and the Archdeacon in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Stiers actually originally auditioned for the role of Lumiere, but thankfully someone there asked him to try Cogsworth as well, and that’s the role he ended up with. He also provides the wonderful narration at the beginning of the film.

Jerry Orbach actually started his career on Broadway and starred as Billy Flynn in the original production of Chicago (who knew!), but he had trouble breaking into more serious roles because of that musical background. Eventually, though, he did get those serious roles that we know him best for: Dr. Jake Houseman (Baby’s father) in Dirty Dancing and Detective Lennie Briscoe on Law & Order and its various spinoffs–he was actually one of only four actors to appear in all four L&O series, playing the same character.

And then there is one of my all-time favorite actresses ever and, for a long time, the only person I could point out when watching this movie: Angela Lansbury. Longtime film and Broadway actress, she was in such movies as Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Manchurian Candidate, Gaslight (her first movie and Oscar nomination), Anastasia, and Nanny McPhee. But she is, of course, best known as Cabot Cove’s favorite mystery writer, Jessica Fletcher, on Murder, She Wrote—on which, interestingly enough, both Jerry Orbach and David Ogden Stiers made guest appearances (Orbach as recurring character Harry McGraw and Stiers in various roles).

Just like in The Rescuers Down Under, Disney used a hybrid system of hand drawings and digital postproduction effects to complete the film. One thing that really sets this movie apart was it was the first use of CGI in an animated film. While Beast and Belle’s dancing figures were hand-drawn, the ballroom backgrounds, camera angles, and chandelier were all done by computer. It was a huge risk because they were running a little low on time and weren’t sure if they could get it to work, but they did, and it is one of the best animated scenes ever.

You cannot talk about this film and not talk about the music. Among the many firsts for this film is that “Beauty and the Beast” was the first Disney song to have a pop version recorded for the ending credits (sung by Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson). Also of note is that Angela Lansbury really did not want to be the one to sing the movie version of “Beauty and the Beast” because she did not feel her voice was right for it, but eventually they talked her into doing one take just to see how it went and that one take is the one that’s in the film.

Alan Menken and Howard Ashman were, in some ways, much like the Sherman Brothers of the 50s and 60s in terms of using music to tell the story and collaborating with the rest of the creative team on story, animation, casting, etc. It was Howard Ashman who suggested that household objects should have dialogue and individual personalities. Along with a Best Picture Oscar nomination (the first animated film to ever be nominated in that category), Beauty and the Beast won Oscars for the score and the song “Beauty and the Beast.” But Ashman would sadly not live to see it. He died on March 14, 1991 from AIDS, eight months before the film premiered. Beauty and the Beast is dedicated to his memory—at the end of the credits, a tribute reads: “To our friend Howard, who gave a mermaid her voice and a beast his soul, we will be forever grateful.” So I would also like to add my thanks, some twenty years later, for his help—along with that of so many others—in bringing Disney back to its former glory.

Deep in the Hundred Acre Wood.

Posted on March 5, 2011 by Nikki G under animation, classic disney, nikki's faves, saturday morning cartoons, they made movies after 1970?

Winnie the Pooh has been a family favorite as far back as I can remember–from my Winnie the Pooh books and my brother’s toys to calling my sister Eeyore when she was in a particularly pessimistic mood. We also grew up watching the various spinoff shows that aired in the late 80s and 90s (to this day, I still know all the words to the theme for The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh) and the original film as it was shown on the Disney Channel.

So you can imagine my surprise to find out on a recent viewing of the DVD of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh that the version I grew up with was not the ACTUAL feature version released in 1977. The version I remember contained three featurettes: “Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree,” “Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day,” and “Winnie the Pooh and a Day for Eeyore.” But while the original does include the first two plus “Winnie the Pooh and Tigger Too,” “A Day for Eeyore” was not released until 1983 and has a slightly different animation style and voice cast.

Disney acquired the film rights in the early 60s, but at the time, most American children had not read the books. Walt decided to release parts of the story early so that when the feature-length film came out, kids would already be familiar with the characters. All four of the featurettes were released in theaters in conjunction with other Disney animated releases (and actually, I’m not sure why “A Day for Eeyore” was released this way after the fact). Another thing Disney did to help American children relate to the films was to add an “American” character, Gopher, who frequently points out that he’s “not in the book,” which subtly reminds the audience that Gopher was not part of A.A. Milne’s original Hundred Acre Wood. This film would ultimately mark the final project with which Walt Disney had any involvement.

"I'm not in the book!"

While using a book as a way to open a Disney classic had been done since Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, this one was unique in that the book was a part of the story itself. There are several places in the film where the Narrator comments on something, starting on one page and ending on another page, or where you see the characters coming out of the book, like when Pooh is flying toward the honey tree and Gopher shouts to turn the page so Pooh doesn’t completely leave the book. There is also quite a bit of interaction between the Narrator and the other characters–particularly Winnie the Pooh–between chapters in the original story. My favorite such moment is in “A Day for Eeyore” when the Narrator clears up the dispute over whether Tigger “coughed” or bounced Eeyore into the river:

Narrator: “Excuse me. Perhaps I can help.”

Rabbit: “Who said that?”

Tigger: “It’s the Narr-A-Tor.”

True to Disney form, the original film featured a fabulous voice cast made up of both Disney regulars and a few new faces:

Of all the roles that Sterling Holloway played during his 30-plus years at the Disney studios, he is perhaps best known (to me, anyway) as the voice of Winnie the Pooh. His filmography is long and varied (and we’ve covered it quite a bit here on True Classics), but for me this is probably my favorite of his many roles (followed very closely by Roquefort from The Aristocats). And while two other actors have since provided the voice for Winnie the Pooh, Holloway is still my favorite.

"I'm just a little black raincloud."

This film would be the last performance for Barbara Luddy, who rounded out her career in the role of Kanga.
Sebastian Cabot, who narrated the film, was best known at the time of the release as Mr. French on the television series Family Affair.
Paul Winchell, who provided the voice of Tigger until Jim Cummings took over in the late 80s, was popular as a ventriloquist before taking on the role and actually ad-libbed Tigger’s famed “TTFN” line.

"My balloon. My birthday balloon. Red. My favorite color."

John Fielder provided the voice of Piglet from the original featurettes all the way through the TV show and the direct-to-video movies until Pooh’s Heffalump Movie in 2005, when he passed away. He was also a character actor in Hollywood for many years and appeared in such classic films as 12 Angry Men (1957), That Touch of Mink (1962), and True Grit (1969) as well as an untold number of television series (including perhaps his most notable role as the neurotic Mr. Peterson on The Bob Newhart Show in the 1970s).
The voice of Roo was done by several different child actors including Clint Howard, Ron Howard’s little brother.

"Tut tut. It looks like rain."

I think what I love most about these stories is the wonderful songs and quotes sprinkled throughout. I love a good Sherman Brothers soundtrack, and this one is no exception, with great classics like “I’m Just a Little Black Rain Cloud,” “Heffalumps and Woozles,” and, of course, the title song, “Winnie the Pooh.”

I recently found out that Disney is releasing a brand new, feature-length, traditionally animated film this summer called Winnie the Pooh.

This feature is expected to include stories from the books that were not included in the original film and will ultimately be more in line with the original film than the many spinoff shows and movies. It will feature the voice of Jim Cummings, who has been speaking for Pooh and Tigger since the 80s, and will have John Cleese taking over as the Narrator.

That’s it for this week’s edition of Saturday Morning Cartoons. Until next time, as Tigger says, “T-T-F-N!”

"T-T-F-N ... Ta-Ta for now!"

Because I’m a Lady-That’s Why

Posted on February 6, 2011 by Nikki G under carrie's faves, classic disney, nikki's faves, saturday morning cartoons

The Aristocats marks the beginning of the transitional period between the Walt era and the Renaissance that took the studio by storm in the late 80s and 90s, and as such is full of lasts and firsts. Most notably, this was the last story that Walt approved and the first film to be completed after his death.

The voice talent in this film is absolutely fabulous:

Maurice Chevalier had actually already retired when the film was in production, but when the Sherman brothers wrote the title song for the film, they knew there was only one person who could do it justice; so, using family connections, they sent Chevalier the demo and asked if he would record the song–and Chevalier agreed.

Bill Thompson, the original voice of Droopy Dog and who had brought to life such Disney characters as the White Rabbit, Mr. Smee, and Jock the Scottie dog passed away a year after the film was released, making Uncle Waldo his final role.
This film marked the first Disney roles for Eva Gabor and Pat Buttram. Incidentally, at the time they recorded the audio for The Aristocats, they were both appearing on Green Acres but they actually don’t share any scenes in the The Aristocats. Both would come back to the Disney studio at least twice more: Gabor as Miss Bianca in the Rescuers movies and Buttram as the Sheriff of Nottingham in Robin Hood and Chief in The Fox and the Hound.

Among some of the other better known actors on the film were Sterling Holloway, Carole Shelley (for our Wicked fans, this is the same person who would go on to play Madame Morrible), Paul Winchell, and George Lindsey (best known to fans as Goober of The Andy Griffith Show).
This film also features one of my absolute favorite voice actors to ever work for the studio: Phil Harris. I adore Phil Harris. I love the characters he voiced (Baloo, O’Malley, Little John, and Patou from Rock-a-Doodle). Harris was one of the first character actors that I remember knowing by name (thank you, Robin Hood credits!) While each of his characters was different, they were all very distinctly Phil Harris characters.

Carrie and Brandie have both talked in recent weeks about the use and reuse of pieces in animation, but I recently realized that Disney didn’t just recycle animation–they also recycled bits of score, too. During a recent viewing, while I was watching the chase sequences between Edgar, Napoleon, and Lafayette, I noticed that if I closed my eyes I didn’t see this chase but rather the end of Robin Hood where Robin is breaking everyone out of the castle. There were some appropriate sound effect differences, but the underlying score is the same. I guess when you have the same people doing the music each time, it’s expected, but somehow, I don’t think Walt would have approved.

"Because I'm a lady-that's why."

Finally, no post about The Aristocats would be complete without talking about one of True Classics’ favorite Disney characters of all time: Marie. She is feisty, adorable, sweet, not afraid to fight with her brothers, and not above calling on her mom when she things don’t go her way. She delivers some of my favorite lines, including the title of this post and, “Ladies don’t start fights. But they can finish them.” She is just too cute for words.

"Everybody wants to be a cat."

Oh, I Just Love Happy Endings!

Posted on January 8, 2011 by Nikki G under animation, classic disney, nikki's faves, saturday morning cartoons

Sleeping Beauty is the final member of the triumvirate that are my favorite Disney films. To me, this is one of the most beautifully crafted films in the Disney canon and of course, has some the most memorable characters and quotes ever.

When it was released in 1959, it was the most expensive film produced in the history of Disney at the time to the tune of $6 million (approx $43.5 mil today). The high cost was due in large part to the fact that it was done for Super Technirama 70 (first film ever) which has a 70mm negative instead of the standard 35mm causing every frame to be twice as wide. Because the negative was so wide, when the film was cut for full screen view, the pan and scan technique had to cut more of the frame than normal leaving an image that, while works if you don’t know the difference, leaves a lot of peripheral details off. (Side note: It was this film that actually made me appreciate how much you can miss if you don’t watch things in widescreen.)

But Walt, never wanting to repeat his previous work, wanted this one to look like a moving illustration so he hired Eyvind Earle to be the color stylist and oversee the backgrounds and the overall look of the film. Because of Earle’s attention to detail, each background took several days to do when normally it might take a day causing the film to have one of the longest production schedules for a Disney animated feature ever. The result was a beautifully crafted world that pays homage to pre-Renaissance paintings and tapestries.

While Disney originally intended to have an original score written for this film, it was decided that the music that would best fit this film had already been written for 75 years. Peter Tchaikovsky is probably best remembered today for writing the Nutcracker ballet but he actually wrote two other ballets of equal note: Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty. At the time the film was released, the Sleeping Beauty ballet was fairly well known to audiences and the music just matches the animation so well that it was decided that score would be adapted for the film. If you listen to the score for the ballet, you will easily hear the various bits of the score that were used in the film but you may also notice that they aren’t exactly in the same order. For example, the chorus that is sung at the beginning of the movie “All Hail Princess Aurora” is actually from toward the end of the ballet.

But really what everyone (including the three of us at True Classics) loves about this film is that it features the most wicked and badass Disney villain ever: Maleficent. The Mistress of All Evil has it all: perfectly evil voice, awesome robes, one dependable pet, imbecilic henchmen, and magical powers that include the ability to turn herself into a dragon. What’s not to love? Eleanor Audley was Walt’s first choice for the voice and after her performance in Cinderella, who could blame him. There’s just something in the tenor of her voice that sounds so heartless that is perfect for a Disney villain. Only her crow is dependable so you can understand her wrath when Merryweather turns him into stone. Her ability to come up with a really great curse is just awe inspiring. Just look what she came up with just for getting snubbed a party invite; obviously not a woman to cross. And then there’s the dragon thing. All I have to say is green fire. Nuff said.

I also want to give props to the three good fairies: Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. Really without them, there isn’t much movie. I especially love the squabbling between Flora (the bossy one voice by Verna Felton) and Merryweather (the short feisty one voiced Barbara Luddy who also did the voice of Lady in Lady and the Tramp). The scene where they fight over what color the dress is just fun to watch especially when they start zapping each other (pink really isn’t Merryweather’s color).

But I also have a special place in my heart for Fauna because without her, I wouldn’t have some of my favorite quotes ever such as “Tsp?”, “Cups, cups, cups”, and the title of this post.

If you haven’t watch this one in a while, I highly recommend putting it in and seeing what happened “once upon a dream.”

A few Christmas treats

Posted on December 25, 2010 by Nikki G under brandie's faves, carrie's faves, classic cartoons, nikki's faves, saturday morning cartoons

Merry Christmas! I hope you were very good this year so that Santa brought you what you wanted. Here are a few Christmas treats from Saturday Morning Cartoons to get you through the day:

Because it’s not Christmas without the Grinch, here’s the complete How the Grinch Stole Christmas as told by Boris Karloff:

Here we’ve got the Peanuts gang rockin’ it out to “Linus and Lucy” which was specifically written for the “A Charlie Brown Christmas” special

Linus explains to Charlie Brown what Christmas is all about:

On behalf of Brandie, Carrie and myself, we would like to wish all of you a very merry Christmas!

I love this Christmas-y time of year

Posted on December 24, 2010 by Nikki G under holiday picks, nikki's faves, they made movies after 1970?

Last Christmas, Brandie and Carrie each talked about some of their favorite Christmas movies so since this is my first year as an official contributor, I decided to do the same.

Here’s a list of some of my favorites:

Favorite Classic (as in pre-1970) Christmas Film – It’s A Wonderful Life (though I’m growing fond of White Christmas)
Favorite Christmas Scenes in a Classic non-Christmas movie – Desk Set, An Affair to Remember, Auntie Mame

Santa Claus's Reindeer? ... Dopey, Sneezy, Grouchy, Happy, Sleepy, Rudolph, and Blitzen

Favorite Recent Christmas Film – How the Grinch Stole Christmas (yup I like both versions)
Favorite animated version of A Christmas Carol – Stingiest Man in Town
Favorite Live Action version of A Christmas Carol – Tie between Muppets and George C. Scott
Favorite claymation animated special – Nestor the Long Eared Christmas Donkey, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Rudolph’s Shiny New Year
Favorite animated specials – How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Charlie Brown Christmas, Raggedy Ann and Andy’s Christmas Caper
Must save Christmas from the Big Bad Wolf

As you can imagine just from that short list, if I tried to talk about of all my favorites, we would be here until next Christmas before I got even close so I’m just going to pick three of my favorites from childhood to talk about: Prancer, Santa Claus: The Movie, and One Magic Christmas.

Prancer (1989)

Prancer is the story of Jessica Riggs and her faith and determination to help a reindeer she believes is Santa’s reindeer Prancer get back to Santa on Christmas Eve. Featuring Sam Elliot as Jessica’s dad John who is trying to keep his family together after his wife has died (though sometimes he’s not sure what to do with his daughter) and Cloris Leachman as their grouchy neighbor Mrs. McFarland who Jessica brings a little Christmas cheer, this one has lots of heart. Jessica is at that age where most of her friends have stopped believing in Santa. Jessica still does because to her believing in Santa is like believing in God. When her best friend Carol says well maybe there isn’t a God, Jessica gets very angry because if there is no God then there is no heaven so what happened to her mom. One of the funniest parts is where Prancer (who Jessica hid in the barn after finding) gets into the house while the kids are at school and John is sitting at the breakfast table and can’t tell what is going on. If you’re looking for a story of childlike faith and putting that faith into practice, this is the one to watch.

Santa Claus: The Movie (1985)

Yo!

This one tells the story of how Santa and Mrs. Claus came to be at the North Pole and how Santa was fairing in the 80s. This film has a great cast including David Huddleston as Santa, Dudley Moore as the creative if not always thorough elf Patch, and John Lithgow as unethical toy manufacturer B.Z. One of my favorite parts is when Dooley the head elf is reading “Twas the Night Before Christmas” not long after it is written. He gets to the part describing Santa and Santa takes great offense to the comment about his belly being like a bowl full of jelly. Everyone is trying very hard not to laugh and all his wife can say is that it’s the cookies implying that he could go on a diet. The special effects are exactly what you expect from the 80s but I think that just gives it some charm especially the twinkle effect they use for Santa going up and down chimneys and the reindeer flying. This is a fun one if you haven’t seen it in a while or for the first time.

One Magic Christmas (1985)

Starring Mary Steenburgen, Harry Dean Stanton, and Jan Rubes as Santa Claus, this film tells the story of a very stressed mom that has lost her Christmas spirit. Ginny (played Steenburgen) is struggling to hold it together after her husband Jack loses his job (and thereby their factory owned house) right at Christmas time. Jack is determined to make Christmas as best he can for their kids but Ginny cannot see any point in the waste when they should be focused on packing and him finding a new job. Harry Dean Stanton is the Christmas angel Gideon that appears to the couple’s daughter Abbie asking for her help to help give Ginny her Christmas spirit back.

Gideon the Christmas Angel with Abbie

In almost a It’s a Wonderful Life-esque manner, Gideon is able to remind Ginny that Christmas is about the people in your life not the presents and lights. I actually came to this movie a little bit later in life as we couldn’t find it on tape until sometime around 1998. This is one of my stepdad’s favorites and has replaced It’s a Wonderful Life as our Christmas Eve Christmas movie. So if you are tired of IaWL but want something similar, give this one a try.

What are some of your favorite Christmas movies?

True Classics

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