i always try living like its always christmas with respect for other...and one kind act at a time doenst matter how small. (and with always christmas i dont mean the holiday) but the warmth behind it you see every year.
Shyknight Fallen I know I've been sarcastic and smart Alecky about the way the orphans in this cartoon seem weird, but I'll get serious for a second. If you notice, you don't see any adult caretakers at that orphanage. I firmly believe their absence and the condition of those trashy toys were related. Between the ratty Christmas tree and the doorway to the orphanage bedroom, at the beginning of the film you'll see a picture of a very mean looking old man, and the pictures labeled "our headmaster". Later on, when Grampy is dressed as Santa, and ringing the bell, you'll see that picture has been replaced with one of Santa. Given how all the toys broke almost in unison makes me believe that mean looking headmaster and his subordinates had a deliberate hand. I think this was a result of embezzling the better donation toys (that were supposed to go to the orphans), selling them, and putting the most fragile, worn, and unsellable toys in the kids stockings before abandoning them with the stolen money overnight while they slept (explaining why he and the other caretakers weren't there that particular morning to make them food or keep the stoves and fireplaces running). I base this statement on many subtle clues I spotted after watching this many times. I heard the real orphanages of the Depression era often had mean/crooked caretakers and it wouldn't surprise me watching this. Miss Hannigan from Annie is a good (but mild) example. Grampy breaking into the orphanage later was more than just for making new toys, but he probably saved the little orphans' lives too, namely from freezing to death (while crying on their beds with no toys) with no fires in the fireplace that cold morning. As for the orphans looking, acting, and dressed weird, this is likely the caretakers fault. They Probably looked down on all of them like gross little rats that they had to tend to, and they probably dressed them in no other clothes other than those undersized nightgowns they were wearing. Those caretakers might have been abusive too and regularly beat them, locked them in closets, or who knows what else shy of hate crimes for petty infractions or just to sadistically bully them for the reasons I posted earlier. If they ever made an animated epilogue to this story, I would like to think that Grampy got a Key to The City, and the story of the orphans plight attracted the attention of loving families that wound up adopting every one of those poor children. And I sure as heck hope they busted those wicked caretakers too.
me too and i see thank you for giving this info it was very cool to know this but also sad, but really why would you get a job that you hate? i mean thats not very smart of them
Shyknight Fallen Don't know why they'd do this kind of work if they had a red hot hatred for poor orphans, other than to use their orphanage job to extort money like alot of other of cowardly monsters around the globe do each day. Not just extorting donated toys, but probably donation clothes too as the orphans are seen wearing nothing but those ratty, undersized girls nightgowns with no pants or socks on a cold winter morning (worn by BOTH boys and girls ). Little wonder Grampy turned the stairs into a ski slope, because the orphans would freeze in those gowns without boots if they really went outside (and I'm amazed they didn't die of hypothermia in the night when the jerk caretakers abandoned them without a fire in the stove to keep them warm).
He's like a jovial surrogate grandfather figure to all children where his life's goal is to make and see ALL children happy. And he deserves more than just a Key to the City; he deserves a humanitarian award.
Beatriz Montiel I have mixed feelings about it. I truly love the cartoon story (as I help and support real orphans in real life), but the cartoonist's depiction of these particular orphans had me fight off laughing at how weird/freaky they looked and acted. I mean, the way the ones that got the broken gun and football (boys???) were crying like screechy voiced 2 year old girls (in undersized/pant less girl nightgowns) made me and my kids crack up first time we watched it. Had they been real kids, they'd be real bully bait. I'm better now, but man it was an effort for sure and I truly do love the premise of the story overall.
Seth Carlow I know I've been sarcastic and smart Alecky about the way the orphans seem weird looking/acting, but I'll get serious for a second. If you notice, you don't see any adult caretakers at that orphanage. I firmly believe their absence and the condition of those trashy toys were related. Between the ratty Christmas tree and the doorway to the orphanage bedroom, at the beginning of the film you'll see a picture of a very mean looking old man, and the pictures labeled "our headmaster". Later on, when Grampy is dressed as Santa, and ringing the bell, you'll see that picture has been replaced with one of Santa. Given how all the toys broke almost in unison makes me believe that mean looking headmaster and his subordinates had a deliberate hand. I think this was a result of embezzling the better donation toys (that were supposed to go to the orphans), selling them, and putting the most fragile, worn, and unsellable toys in the kids stockings before abandoning them with the stolen money overnight while they slept (explaining why he and the other caretakers weren't there that particular morning to make them food or keep the stoves and fireplaces running). I base this statement on many subtle clues I spotted after watching this many times. I heard the real orphanages of the Depression era often had mean/crooked and abusive caretakers and it wouldn't surprise me watching this. Miss Hannigan from Annie is mild example. Grampy breaking into the orphanage later was more than just for making new toys, but he probably saved the little orphans' lives too, namely from freezing to death (while crying on their beds for their toys) with no fires in the fireplace that cold morning. As for the orphans looking, acting, and being dressed weird, this is likely the caretakers fault. They Probably looked down on all of them like gross, diseased little rats that they had to tend to, and they probably dressed them in no other clothes other than those undersized nightgowns they were wearing. Those caretakers might have been abusive too and regularly beat them, locked them in closets, or who knows what else shy of hate crimes for petty infractions or merely to bully them cruelly for the reasons I posted earlier. If they ever made an animated epilogue to this story, I would like to think that Grampy got a Key to The City, and the story of the orphans plight attracted the attention of loving families that wound up adopting every one of those poor children. And I sure as heck hope they busted those wicked caretakers too.
Well actually this cartoon was acted out - toons are actors - but your theory could be the origin behind the creation of this cartoon. Maybe in-universe Grampy did save a bunch of orphans around Christmastime, and they decided to make this cartoon to honor him. As for our universe, the Fleischer's might've made this cartoon to show other people that there are a lot of orphanages out there that needed to be improved. Sort of like how nowadays various organizations add videos to their e-mails to further inspire others to help those in need.
MWolfL At the end of the cartoon, when Grampy and the orphans were singing around the tree, you see a giant Christmas Seal with Santa's image displayed. These Seals were issued to, quite often, support well-being programs for disadvantaged children such as the sick, crippled, and orphaned. Given them showing it, the other elements such as absent caregivers, ramshackle orphanage, furniture, junky toys (and lack of others before Grampy), orphans looking/acting strange, and lacking clothes other than one single, pathetic, undersized nightgown were meant to call attention to many orphanages treating the kids like 3rd Class subhumans that could be treated or cared for (or not) any way they wanted. I think the foster care system was meant to bring better, more individualized care to children without parents as time went on as an effort to avoid crap scenarios such as this orphanage in the cartoon.
I told others on this blog what I think of this, either silly or serious. I think the orphanage workers were derelict and incompetent enough to let others give them blight ridden toys and also leave them alone overnight and not feed them. They also gave the kids just one outfit each . . . an excessively short girl's night shirt regardless of their gender, didn't give them shoes, socks, or even pants () to wear even in winter, and gave them all butt-ugly Dutchboy haircuts so you couldn't tell what they were. This might sound far fetched until you see that puppy cruelly locked in a small-clock box until 7:00 am and see the smallest orphan (the bald one) wearing a girly nightgown 5 times too big. Second, what ever came of the little bald kid in white? Did the other freaky-looking and acting kids eat him, or did he crawl outside and freeze to death? This also disturbed me.:(
I use to have this VHS tape when I was little. It always made me cry when their gifts broke. Poor little kids, I wonder who takes cares of them? I'm glad grandpa make them new gifts, so sweet :)
Allysse W I agree with you. Even sadder though is I couldn’t watch this because the cartoon was so creepy and there were unexplained elements. Where was their caretaker? Why were those orphans so underdressed and had ugly hair? And what happened to the cute bald baby after the toys broke? Did the fat bug eyed orphan on Grampy’s rocking “horsey” eat him, or did he crawl outside and freeze to death? With no food, did the orphans start eating each other? Did the caretakers blame the orphans for wrecking the belongings and proceed to viciously spank them for a minute or more each later? (making their wailing over their toys look like a mild trip). This cartoon would make even Senator Feinstein want a semi-auto arsenal.
When something I own breaks (new motherboard is broken after one hour of use) , I immediately think of the scene where the kid's toys break and they break down in a sob which is what brought me to this video.
I use to have the VHS of this with Rudolph and that Christmas story that involves toys saving a girl toy that’s eating a bowl of porridge from the Spider as a kid years ago, but I accidentally lost it on the Scooby Doo Ride at Six Flags St. Louis
lol mine was a collection of old Christmas cartoons, which for some odd reason included a Wild West parody toon whose name escapes me. Still, why’d you take a vhs with you to Six Flags?
@@JPLOWMAN2well I was a little kid and a little stinker and I didn’t know any better, and I still feel alone when I’m on it so I brought the movie on the ride to keep me company! 😂 Don’t judge me LOL 😂
I used to watch this movie every Christmas now I realize this cartoon was in the great depression era where sadly many children were orphans and had to look after themselves some even had to get jobs to look after themselves but this is a wonderful cartoon that is timeless and brings hope and happiness for children just by one act of kindness
Sadly I never knew of this animation before now☹️ My mother was born 10 years after this in the middle of the war (I'm from Finland 🇫🇮) and this is pretty much how I envision her poverty stricken childhood.
Kurtis Banks Heres a link to a good article on this from the FB site for the cartoonists who did it. The orphans were DELIBERATELY abandoned the night before. facebook.com/144854705561139/posts/2567163886663530/?d=n
Jake Tucker Everything I said was hypothetical. I firmly don't believe any of those terrible things would've happened in a heartwarming cartoon such as this. In real life, the risk would be greater but this is only a cartoon. Just relax.
this cartoon is absolutely adorable !!!! love the old stuff... can't help but notice though, that for one single day of playing , Gramps destroyed everything in the entire orphanage to build his toys lmao ! ehehe
Here's hoping they don't plan on eating any time in the future. Although apparently there aren't any adults around, so I assume they weren't going to last too long anyway.
Jesse Fortner Given how all the toys broke almost in unison makes me believe that it was more than the toys being worn out (which they clearly were). I think this was a result of the caretaker(s) embezzling the better donation toys, selling them, and putting the most fragile, worn, and unsellable toys in the kids stockings before abandoning them with the stolen money overnight while they slept (explaining why they weren't there that particular morning to make them food or keep the stoves running). I base this statement on many subtle clues I spotted after watching this many times. I heard the real orphanages of the day often had mean/crooked caretakers and it wouldn't surprise me watching this. Miss Hannigan from Annie is a good example. Grampy breaking into the orphanage was more than just making new toys, but he likely saved the little orphans' lives too. If they ever made an animated epilogue to the story, I would like to think that Grampy got a key to the city, and the story of the orphans plight and Grampys heroic actions attracted the attention of many loving families that wound up adopting every one of those poor children. I hope they busted those wretched caretakers too.
This always made me cry as a kid when I would see the orphans toys break. I must be a sensitive sap, because I'm almost 30 and it still makes me teary eyed, especially at the teddy bear. But I love the old man and his gifts! It's a great little cartoon.
Good to know I am not alone Saw this as a kid and it has made me sad for life. Any time I think of it I get sad. and especially about the teddy bear :'(
This makes me wonder; when we donate stuff to children, why do some people always give handmedown stuff that so easily break? Let this be a lesson for us, come Christmastime. Make sure that whatever we give to those in need, the items will last them forever. In any case, this is one of my favorite Christmas shorts. Seeing those kids play happily with Grampy's toy inventions is so heartwarming
Fair enough, but this was the thirties and the country was in financial turmoil. A lot of families couldn't afford new stuff and so they made due with what they had and hand me downs. It wasn't all terrible, people were a lot more creative back then. It was a rough time, not like today where we buy the newest iPhone simply because they release it.
Jalex Fine True, very true; it's just sad how some families choose to give "hand-me-downs" to kids, these days. Instead of brand new ones; as in the same toys but without the tears, broken parts and such
I haven't seen this in YEARS!! This used to be on an old VHS tape that my mom used to record some Christmas movies from cable way back when. Right after this cartoon was Mickey's Christmas Carol. Ahh...Memories. :)
SoulStealerSlayers I probably had it on VHS as well but I don't remember but this cartoon was but with some others but this has been in my repressed memory for years and just remembered it today but man was this one of my favorites
i love this ! im 21 now, but i grew up watchin these old christmas cartoons. i had a VHS with this, the old jack frost charlie brown and other ones. i miss this. i used to watch them with my parents.. my parents overdosed recently so this bring back memories, of a better time. thankyou for this.. it means more than you know .. :') xo
Kerry Dee It had a good story premise,. However it wasn’t the cartoonist’s intent, but why did the cartoonists had to draw these orphans to look like sappy, annoying, and ugly little freaks? Makes you wonder if they cloned Rosemary’s Baby for devil worshippers to adopt, but even THEY didn’t want these smelly little Dutchboy-haired, screechy voiced, pantless nightgown wearing, unwiped-smelling, and sissified hermaphrodites. On those merits alone, these weird cartooned brats deserved to have their toys break. Given this was the 1930’s, little wonder WC Fields hated children. Good thing real-life children are sweet and adorable.
Holly Widmark Biggest thing is that these orphans are so creepy and bizarre. I found myself feeling bad for them and laughing at them at the same time because of how weird and ugly they were and sounded . . . and I felt bad either way. Mainly I couldn't tell if they were male/female (they all acted like they were both, especially with their feminine prancing in their little girl nightgowns (with no pants . . . ), squeaky voices, yet having boy faces and ugly Dutchboy hair). As a kid I thought they were orphans because they were ditched for being so weird looking/acting, and remained unwanted for the same reason. Professor Grampy himself looked one step ahead of being as freaky as Stephen King's It clown (Pennywise) calling like the Joker, and those kitbashed toys looked dangerously unproven as all getout. I had nightmares of the clock-powered clock's fork feet gouging the orphans eyes, the spoon-propeller plane shattering a window in front of the effeminate boy/girl orphans squealing "SANTEEEE CLAUS!!!" prancing in their bare feet (slashing them to ribbons and needing an ER visit), the vacuum-ride strangling that kid riding in it with it's dangling electric cord, the shoe head rocking horse falling apart and breaking the neck of the fat, bug-eyed orphan squealing "GITTEE UP HORSEEEEY!!!" because Grampy spit nails to secure it versus using a hammer; the coffee-pot train exploding on the other kid and scalding/electrocuting them; the kids skiing/sledding down the cotton "snow" covered stairway having mortal falls when soap flakes get in their eyes and they get impaled or shattered limbs, and finally that sewing machine popcorn string device falling over, catching the orphanage's tinder-box flooring on fire and burning the place down on the screaming orphans while Grampy flees to avoid being implicated. With these hazards, Grampy should have just bought some better toys (or good haircuts, proper clothing, and voicebox surgery) or just left them crying and abandoned with their broken toys.
El Papi Heres a link to a good article on this from the FB site for the cartoonists who did it. The orphans were DELIBERATELY abandoned the night before. facebook.com/144854705561139/posts/2567163886663530/?d=n
Jeff McCartney I'll admit I didn't feel for the orphans until later on. At first, I found it hard to feel for a group of orphans that I felt looked and acted freaky. Their ugly Dutchboy haircuts, gender-indeterminate looks and behavior (e.g. Changing genders from screen shot to screenshot), their extremely undersized pant less nightgowns, and helium screechy voices made me actually laugh when they cried over their trash toys breaking because they sounded so weird and girly. I was young when I felt like this, but feel differently now.
When I first saw this, I was actually creeped out by them. I thought if there were boys among them, they might have been neutered in the same accident/tragedy that killed their parents or the mean orphanage caretaker put them out for illegal estrogen-injection experiments. The girls I'd have no question on if you go by personality . . . the question was which of these odd-little orphans WERE the girls? The indeterminate condition of these orphans was probably the orphanage caregivers fault, as it's clear they didn't care too much about them to even interact with them other than (possibly) be physically and emotionally abusive (e.g. giving them junk gifts they knew would break).
Jeff McCartney From hidden clues throughout watching it, I agree the caretaker and assistants were wretched jerks, responsible for the junk gifts and not being there to watch them, feed them, or have the fireplace going to keep them warm that cold Christmas morning . . . I firmly believe their absence and the condition of those trashy toys were related. I say this from having made some observations after seeing this many times . . . Between the ratty Christmas tree and the doorway to the orphanage bedroom, (seen at the beginning of the film) you'll see a picture of a very mean looking old man, and the picture labeled "our headmaster". Later on, when Grampy is dressed as Santa (and ringing the bell), you'll see that picture has been replaced with one of Santa. Given how all the toys broke almost in unison makes me believe that mean looking headmaster and his subordinates had a deliberate hand. I think this was a result of embezzling the better donation toys (that were supposed to go to the orphans), selling them, and putting the most fragile, worn, and unsellable toys in the kids stockings before abandoning them with the stolen money overnight while they slept (explaining why he and the other caretakers weren't there that particular morning to make them food or keep the stoves and fireplaces running). I base this statement on many subtle clues I spotted after watching this many times. I heard the real orphanages of the Depression era often had mean/crooked caretakers and it wouldn't surprise me watching this. Miss Hannigan from Annie is a good example. Grampy's breaking into the orphanage later had a greater purpose than making new toys alone, but he probably saved the little orphans' lives too, namely from freezing to death (while crying on their beds for their toys) with no fires in the fireplace that cold morning. As for the orphans looking, acting, and being dressed weird (as some watchers of this cartoon have attested), this is likely the caretakers fault. The orphan's ugly Dutchboy hair, their undersized, pant less girly nightgowns (for boys and girls, and in the freezing winter) and gender indeterminate behavior would render them bizarre & creepy to many, but it's likely the results of the caretakers treating them all the same . . . and not in a humane way. They likely looked down on all of them like gross little rats that they had to tend to. Those caretakers might have been mentally and physically abusive too, regularly beating them severely, feeding them infrequently (or with low quality food), locking them in closets, yanking them around by their hair or ears, bathing them (at least if they even did) by plunging them repeatedly in tubs of freezing water, or who knows what else shy of hate crimes for petty infractions (or just to bully them and make them cry because they thought it was funny to be cruel :( ). And they might have dressed the orphans in nothing else other than those undersized, barely-on gowns also for the purpose of keeping them from running away from that "wonderful, safe little home for kids" and to not "waste money" on clothing those "ugly little rats" :( But Grampy ultimately saves the little orphans' Christmas . . . and their lives too. And at the end of the cartoon, they post a large Christmas Seal of Santa as they sing the title song. Christmas Seals are sold to raise money for disadvantaged children (e.g. Orphaned, sick, starving, etc). The Fleischer Brothers likely made this cartoon to raise awareness of the reports of the horrid, subhuman 1930's orphan treatment and to issue a call for child-care reform. After seeing this, they obviously had a good point. If they ever made an animated epilogue to this story, I would like to think that Grampy got a Key to The City, and the story of the orphans plight attracted the attention of loving families that wound up adopting every one of those poor children out of that dumpy, ramshackle orphanage. And I sure as heck hope they busted those wicked caretakers too.
LEGOmega102 Lewis Hiniski Good article on this from the FB site for the cartoonists who did it. The orphans were DELIBERATELY abandoned the night before. facebook.com/144854705561139/posts/2567163886663530/?d=n
this thing freakin traumatized me i still spend hours crying about it. when i was a kid watching this i didnt realize what was going on but my mom found the old vhs and showed me and i cried for 3h straight i cant the teddy bear is the worst my poor heart
Kimy-Melody G if you knew about some of the subtle clues throughout this cartoon, you would realize that had the old man that showed up, the feet of the orphans might’ve been worse. It suggested that The caretakers might’ve made off with the real toys in the middle of the night and abandoned the orphans. That’s the reason why there was no fire in the fireplace that cold morning or any food prepared. Have the old man that showed up, they would’ve been more than a teddy bear falling apart that would’ve been heartbreaking. Given how dumpy the orphanage looked, chances are nobody would’ve looked in on the place until spring after the orphans likely . . . well . . . fortunately that was not the case As this is a cartoon you know.
I agree that Grampy’s kitbashed toys look dangerous and unsettling. I've had nightmares about any of the following happening: 1) The littlest kid (bald and dressed in white near the beginning of the cartoon) is not seen again after Grampy enters the orphanage, and may have wandered outside and froze to death, becoming a headline and earning Grampy a negligent manslaughter charge. 2) The clock-powered bird toy's fork feet tears the eyeballs from the kids’ heads, or that spoon-propeller plane strikes glass window, launching jagged glass on the floor as the kids are prancing around cheering that grating, high-pitched “SANTEEE CLAUS!!!” in their bare feet, slicing them to ribbons and an life-flight ER visit. 3) The vacuum-cleaner chair ride wraps it's ceiling-mount electric cord around the kid riding it and strangles or hangs him/her (e.g. I could never tell who was a boy or girl among them as they wore girly nighshirts but had ugly Dutchboy haircuts and ugly faces). 4) That rocking horse with the shoe head and broom tail rocks too far backward on it’s tracks, throwing that kid screaming “GETTEE UP HORSEEEY!!!” on his/her neck and breaks it. We can thank Grampy just spitting nails to secure it (versus using a hammer). 5) The kid playing with the electric coffee-pot train would've been sprayed by boiling hot coffee, and he/she would fall screaming with 3rd degree burns on the 120VAC electric tracks and got "Sith-lord" electrocuted to death. 6) On the cotton-covered and painted stairway, soap flakes get blown by the fan into the eyes of those giggling kids on sleds and skis, leading to mortal falls that cause the metal skis and sleds to come apart, shattering their limbs and impaling other kids or themselves. 7) That umbrella Christmas tree spinning on the turntable falls, pinning the kids to the floor in tandem with the popcorn string popping/sewing machine getting knocked over and burning the place down on the screaming kids. The surviving kids would be disfigured (although it wouldn't be worse than their creepy looks to begin with). EPILOGUE: In the aftermath, Grampy would get busted for trespassing, making dangerous untested toys, and negligent manslaughter while the absent orphanage caregivers get prosecuted for negligence, child endangerment, and accessory to manslaughter. CONCLUSION: If any of these things actually happened, Grampy would have done better to buy better toys, or just jump back in his wacky sleigh, leaving those kids crying and abandoned in the orphanage with their broken toys.
Amazing to see how many others who are in their 20s like me still watched this on vhs in the late 90's/ early 2000's when it was already over 60 years old.
I had this VHS tape in my childhood! Christmas season is always about sharing the joy and love even to those less fortunate around us. Like how Prof Grampy does his part to help those poor kids. But giving and sharing should be 24/7. In a world currently so volatile and full of shit all around the place, this is what the world needs to keep it going. And sometimes I feel, the poor, old or young, they are our teachers with much to teach us when we help or serve them.
My mother frequented garage sales (still does) when I was growing up. She found *tons* of old bootleg VHS tapes for me and my younger brother in the 1990's and I can't tell you how many of them featured this cartoon. Suffice it to say, I think it's devastating that those beautiful children were left all alone, but I still love the nostalgia connected to this cartoon...
Gotta love that grandpa with his inventions. They are always the best!! I LOVE the imagination that went into his toys. You know you have a person with a good imagination if the ideas seem like they could work (despite knowing that they really couldn't).
dancepiglover Given it was a cartoon, it has a happy ending but had it been real, there were mortal threats to the orphans for using these. Its frightening to think about the following happening: 1) The orphan riding the highchair and vacuum cleaner car gets that dangling electric cord wrapped around their neck and get strangled or hanged. 2) The orphan on that rocking chair rocking horse falls off the back and given he/she is fat, breaks his/her neck. 3) The orphan playing with the coffee pot "choo choo " has a mishap when the pot explodes boiling coffee all over them, and he/she falls shrieking with 3rd degree burns on the 120V tracks and dies of electrocution. 4) The orphans skiing and sledding on the stairs have their skis and sleds come apart and they get their limbs snapped or get impaled by the fragments. 5) That fork feet bird Grampy makes walks around and gouges the orphans eyes and/or gores them. 6) That airplane toy Grampy flies hits a window just in front of the orphans as they scream "SANTEE CLAUS!!!" , running from their bedroom in their bare feet and get slashed to ribbons as they prance around to get their toys. And finally 7) The umbrella Christmas tree falls and knocks the popcorn sewing machine thing over, catching the place on fire! Meanwhile Grampy runs from the building (to try to avoid manslaughter, negligence, and trespassing charges) and flees in his motor sleigh while the orphanage is engulfed and the surviving orphans (who survived Grampy's dangerous toys) all perish. Good job, Grampy!!! :( CONCLUSION: Maybe for the orphans' sake and their lives, Grampy should just walk away after peeking in the window and leave them crying with their broken toys.
dancepiglover I know you are. I firmly believe that the animators heart is in the right place and their idea was to make a great story. And I do like the story. However, I've heard many that felt weirded out by this cartoon, and as I've worked in engineering safety, I thought about all the "what could go wrong" items about the toys Grampy made.
So true I also as a kid thought he was brilliant at improvising the toys.Now as an adult I think the writers and creators were the ones pretty creative this is awesome!!!
This cartoon made me learn one thing about Christmas is that it’s not about gifts, it’s about bringing joy to people who shouldn’t be sad on this amazing holiday
omg, i saw this and i immediately started to remember all the times i cried watching this as a kid when i saw the kids cry, i still feel that way today. sweet memories
Film Exy I found this cartoon largely freaky, but not completely. Reminded me somewhat of the creepy scary part in Snow White when she's running through the forest. The cartoon was cute but had creepy and disturbing parts. The orphans, despite being somewhat adorable, were also extremely mushy & overly-cute, trying to cover for being hideously creepy & ugly, and sounding and acting weird. They also wore no pants with ratty undersized nightgowns that barely covered them properly. Also seeing their ratty toys break (given by cruel, uncaring orphanage caregivers) might be very upsetting for kids to watch . . . or they might laugh instead. My children actually laughed at them when their toys broke because they cried with helium screechy voices (that distracted from the story's intent to pull your heart strings and make you care). My kids also kept asking which orphans were girls or boys too and why they wore no pants (which I couldn't answer). I myself got the night creeps from seeing these freaky orphans as a kid, especially the black haired ones (wearing red undersized nightgowns) that included the bug-eyed, chubby one on the rocking horse and especially the one laying on his/her bed that suddenly shrieks "SANTEE CLAUS!!!" with a blood-curdling scream and charges crazily at the toy inventor. Made me ponder sleeping with a baseball bat or heated firepoke for months because I almost thought those orphans were satanic freaks/zombies. NOTE: I don't hate orphans in real life (real ones or these cartoon ones), but I wish the cartoonists made these in this cartoon more like the kids in the Fleischer cartoon "Somewhere in Dreamland". I won't condemn those who like this cartoon, but this is my opinion.
This is pure and beautiful.. Its everything Christmas should be , not money or greed. Giving and making someone else feel loved... even only if for a moment. Im 30 yr old male and it still brings tears to my eyes. From watching on old vhs as a kid til today, it always was the perfect definition of who santa clause was. For me it was my father.. Worked hard endless hours to give four kids a wonderful Christmas every single year. He just passed couple months ago... I miss him so much. He was such a selfless man. Much like this man. I hope cartoons like this reach these kids today. I hope people like him really exist today. We need love more now than ever. This year will be so hard without my santa.. Not to give me. , but for me to have gave him... I miss you dad...
Watched this when i was 3 or 4 at my old babysitters house . She died a peaceful death of old age about 10 years ago but she had a huge impact on my life. This brought back emotions feelings memories and even smells from those years. It made me wanna cry
I so totally remember watching all these great fantastic + the coolest classic timeless Christmas cartoons & movies when I was a young kid/teenager grown up. Even as an adult today I still miss watching these. Also I used to enjoy them as well. Now times have changed over the years. Oh boy has it ever. They don't even play these timeless classical Christmas cartoons or movies today the way they used to show them back in the 1980s and early 90s. They were the days back then. Not only that but they don't even make them today as well like they used to back then. Which is a shame. I truly do love and enjoy all these old classical timeless Christmas cartoons and movies that they used to show back then. Or even really lucky if they do play 1 or 2 today. Miss them all.
Ive tried to find what this was called for years!! The girl with the teddy bear stuck in my mind. I was watching this as a kid in the early 90's, had no idea it was so old!
cup cake I like this cartoon, even despite the mixed feelings that I have cited elsewhere on this blog. But in a nutshell, I do understand the cartoonist intent and I think it was clever. I just wish the cartoonist would've made the children look more like the ones in the cartoon "Somewhere in Dreamland", because the ones here look very freaky and weird otherwise.
I LOVED this when I was little!!!! I use to watch it all the time along with two other specials but lost the tape and have been trying to find this for awhile now! So happy I finally found it!!!
I remember watching this as a kid and after seeing grampy walk up to the window with snow stuck to his shoes immediately went outside to do the same thing. I was a little disappointed it didn't work for me. Great Cartoon.
This cartoon effed me up for life when I was little. I could never enjoy a good christmas present because it killed me to know that all my toys worked while most orphan children didnt even get toys. (Memmories popping back into Jaymans head) WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHUHAUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHU!
When I was about 4 years old (2011) I used to watch this and other cartoons like in the middle of summer and everyday and the souls will be gone but never forgotten and these cartoons will be in my heart ♥️
omg 24 years old and I still remember this! I loved it! I remember watching it every year and usually during the year as well. lol it was definitely a favorite of mine :)
This was such a genuinely sweet little animation. I didn't grow up with this one, but even as an adult, it fills me with so much warmth and joy! Probably my favorite Fleischer cartoon ever made tbh.
Nicholas Tosoni I remember seeing this on Pee Wee too when I was a kid. At the time, I saw those orphans and was certified creeped out by how ugly and sappy they were. I almost thought they deserved broken toys on those merits alone. I don’t feel that way now, but I am glad real children couldn’t be this hideous.
I think the lesson provides a very understated message- if the typical method doesn't work, improvising and making it from scratch can produce something just as meaningful, if not more so.
Talking about bad Christmases, I've had them at the joint where I worked. I did not get a present and I felt left out. I refused to attend any more events after that, and one of my supervisors writes me up as insubordinate to her.
This happened about 40 years ago. I'm now retired and a Person of Disability. I would like to go back to work, but it would have to be part time, and I think being a photographer would suit be the best. I was a data processing technician for many years with various companies where I live
I remember having this cartoon on a tape of Christmas shorts, and it was always my favorite despite how I cried watching the kids be so sad. I have pretty clear memories of it, especially considering I was only about six the last time I saw it (I'm now an adult). It's nice seeing a little bit of my childhood again.
THANK YOU SO MUCH. I have this on VHS and I so badly wanted to find it online and didn’t think I would 😭 this makes me so happy because I loved watching this as a kid and my mom loved it too.
I used to watch this all the time on VHS as a child but I could never remember the name of it. I'm twenty five now and I've found it again. Thank you so much for uploading!
Havent seen this in about 15 years or so. Its july 26th at 2 am and it randomly popped in my head to search for it, sitting here teary eyed thinking of great memories of my grandparents, thank you for uploading this
Thank you for posting this. I’m a 90s kid and have spent all of my adult life trying to remember what this was.
Me too!!
You're not the only one!
Did we all see it on Pee-Wee's Playhouse?
Same here!
Meto it was my favorite movie
I never realized how old this was. I grew up watching this but I am only 20. I usually find myself singing the song throughout the year.
Same here, though I'm 18. I can't recall where I watched this though.
I didn't either! I grew up watching little shorts like this that my dad recorded from tv for me on tape. I'm 31 :)
same I'm 23 ❤
I used to watch this on vhs tapes anytime during the year and sometimes catch myself singing it randomly at work. Im 27 so ppl just look at me lol
Same here.
This is what Christmas should be about: kindness, love and thinking of others first. In fact, it should be about all that ALL year.
Nina Gold tt
Nina Gold agreed, this real meaning of Christmas
But they forgot the thing why we even have Christmas...
i always try living like its always christmas with respect for other...and one kind act at a time doenst matter how small. (and with always christmas i dont mean the holiday) but the warmth behind it you see every year.
Amen
this old man has a heart of gold
Shyknight Fallen I know I've been sarcastic and smart Alecky about the way the orphans in this cartoon seem weird, but I'll get serious for a second. If you notice, you don't see any adult caretakers at that orphanage. I firmly believe their absence and the condition of those trashy toys were related.
Between the ratty Christmas tree and the doorway to the orphanage bedroom, at the beginning of the film you'll see a picture of a very mean looking old man, and the pictures labeled "our headmaster". Later on, when Grampy is dressed as Santa, and ringing the bell, you'll see that picture has been replaced with one of Santa.
Given how all the toys broke almost in unison makes me believe that mean looking headmaster and his subordinates had a deliberate hand. I think this was a result of embezzling the better donation toys (that were supposed to go to the orphans), selling them, and putting the most fragile, worn, and unsellable toys in the kids stockings before abandoning them with the stolen money overnight while they slept (explaining why he and the other caretakers weren't there that particular morning to make them food or keep the stoves and fireplaces running). I base this statement on many subtle clues I spotted after watching this many times. I heard the real orphanages of the Depression era often had mean/crooked caretakers and it wouldn't surprise me watching this. Miss Hannigan from Annie is a good (but mild) example. Grampy breaking into the orphanage later was more than just for making new toys, but he probably saved the little orphans' lives too, namely from freezing to death (while crying on their beds with no toys) with no fires in the fireplace that cold morning.
As for the orphans looking, acting, and dressed weird, this is likely the caretakers fault. They Probably looked down on all of them like gross little rats that they had to tend to, and they probably dressed them in no other clothes other than those undersized nightgowns they were wearing. Those caretakers might have been abusive too and regularly beat them, locked them in closets, or who knows what else shy of hate crimes for petty infractions or just to sadistically bully them for the reasons I posted earlier.
If they ever made an animated epilogue to this story, I would like to think that Grampy got a Key to The City, and the story of the orphans plight attracted the attention of loving families that wound up adopting every one of those poor children.
And I sure as heck hope they busted those wicked caretakers too.
me too and i see thank you for giving this info it was very cool to know this but also sad, but really why would you get a job that you hate? i mean thats not very smart of them
Shyknight Fallen Don't know why they'd do this kind of work if they had a red hot hatred for poor orphans, other than to use their orphanage job to extort money like alot of other of cowardly monsters around the globe do each day. Not just extorting donated toys, but probably donation clothes too as the orphans are seen wearing nothing but those ratty, undersized girls nightgowns with no pants or socks on a cold winter morning (worn by BOTH boys and girls ). Little wonder Grampy turned the stairs into a ski slope, because the orphans would freeze in those gowns without boots if they really went outside (and I'm amazed they didn't die of hypothermia in the night when the jerk caretakers abandoned them without a fire in the stove to keep them warm).
He's like a jovial surrogate grandfather figure to all children where his life's goal is to make and see ALL children happy. And he deserves more than just a Key to the City; he deserves a humanitarian award.
@@Jaymindrew1990 excellent bro
I'm 22 now, but had this on VHS and watched it every year. Was my favorite! still is! Hard to believe it's ALMOST 80 years old!!!
I'm 23, and I use to watch the VHS as well.
Funny that we are around the same age and love it, but the movie is almost 80 years old! :)
damn kids, I'm 44
I'm 25, and grew up watching it as well. Still a family favorite. I plan on letting my future kids watch it someday.
Damn man i know time flys
Always leaves me with a lump in my throat and watering eyes. I still want to cry when I watch this special.
I’m a 90s kid and I watched this one along with the Rudolph one
I just love them
Not only Does Grampy save Christmas for those Orphans, But he was also the Original MacGyver.
AHAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Thats funny.
+Jayman493 you idiot, it's sad.
Brady Anderson The kids toys breaking, but not that joke.
I use to watch this every year when I was little my mom got it for me in VHS I still love this little story
Beatriz Montiel I have mixed feelings about it. I truly love the cartoon story (as I help and support real orphans in real life), but the cartoonist's depiction of these particular orphans had me fight off laughing at how weird/freaky they looked and acted. I mean, the way the ones that got the broken gun and football (boys???) were crying like screechy voiced 2 year old girls (in undersized/pant less girl nightgowns) made me and my kids crack up first time we watched it. Had they been real kids, they'd be real bully bait. I'm better now, but man it was an effort for sure and I truly do love the premise of the story overall.
Beatriz Montiel same
Beatriz Montiel I used to watch it even when it wasn't Christmas
Same. Every Christmas I would pop it in the VCR!
Good times... good times!
i really fell sorry for the kids in this cartoon.
start to cry with them.
it wonderful that Professor Grampy came to the Rescue and save Christmas.
Seth Carlow I know I've been sarcastic and smart Alecky about the way the orphans seem weird looking/acting, but I'll get serious for a second. If you notice, you don't see any adult caretakers at that orphanage. I firmly believe their absence and the condition of those trashy toys were related.
Between the ratty Christmas tree and the doorway to the orphanage bedroom, at the beginning of the film you'll see a picture of a very mean looking old man, and the pictures labeled "our headmaster". Later on, when Grampy is dressed as Santa, and ringing the bell, you'll see that picture has been replaced with one of Santa.
Given how all the toys broke almost in unison makes me believe that mean looking headmaster and his subordinates had a deliberate hand. I think this was a result of embezzling the better donation toys (that were supposed to go to the orphans), selling them, and putting the most fragile, worn, and unsellable toys in the kids stockings before abandoning them with the stolen money overnight while they slept (explaining why he and the other caretakers weren't there that particular morning to make them food or keep the stoves and fireplaces running). I base this statement on many subtle clues I spotted after watching this many times. I heard the real orphanages of the Depression era often had mean/crooked and abusive caretakers and it wouldn't surprise me watching this. Miss Hannigan from Annie is mild example. Grampy breaking into the orphanage later was more than just for making new toys, but he probably saved the little orphans' lives too, namely from freezing to death (while crying on their beds for their toys) with no fires in the fireplace that cold morning.
As for the orphans looking, acting, and being dressed weird, this is likely the caretakers fault. They Probably looked down on all of them like gross, diseased little rats that they had to tend to, and they probably dressed them in no other clothes other than those undersized nightgowns they were wearing. Those caretakers might have been abusive too and regularly beat them, locked them in closets, or who knows what else shy of hate crimes for petty infractions or merely to bully them cruelly for the reasons I posted earlier.
If they ever made an animated epilogue to this story, I would like to think that Grampy got a Key to The City, and the story of the orphans plight attracted the attention of loving families that wound up adopting every one of those poor children.
And I sure as heck hope they busted those wicked caretakers too.
Well actually this cartoon was acted out - toons are actors - but your theory could be the origin behind the creation of this cartoon.
Maybe in-universe Grampy did save a bunch of orphans around Christmastime, and they decided to make this cartoon to honor him.
As for our universe, the Fleischer's might've made this cartoon to show other people that there are a lot of orphanages out there that needed to be improved. Sort of like how nowadays various organizations add videos to their e-mails to further inspire others to help those in need.
MWolfL At the end of the cartoon, when Grampy and the orphans were singing around the tree, you see a giant Christmas Seal with Santa's image displayed. These Seals were issued to, quite often, support well-being programs for disadvantaged children such as the sick, crippled, and orphaned. Given them showing it, the other elements such as absent caregivers, ramshackle orphanage, furniture, junky toys (and lack of others before Grampy), orphans looking/acting strange, and lacking clothes other than one single, pathetic, undersized nightgown were meant to call attention to many orphanages treating the kids like 3rd Class subhumans that could be treated or cared for (or not) any way they wanted. I think the foster care system was meant to bring better, more individualized care to children without parents as time went on as an effort to avoid crap scenarios such as this orphanage in the cartoon.
Ben Faltinowski
Ah, well, there you go then.
Really sweet of the Fleischers to participate in helping orphans get better care. ^^
I loved watching this as a kid, but I always wondered where the grown-ups were.
I told others on this blog what I think of this, either silly or serious. I think the orphanage workers were derelict and incompetent enough to let others give them blight ridden toys and also leave them alone overnight and not feed them. They also gave the kids just one outfit each . . . an excessively short girl's night shirt regardless of their gender, didn't give them shoes, socks, or even pants () to wear even in winter, and gave them all butt-ugly Dutchboy haircuts so you couldn't tell what they were. This might sound far fetched until you see that puppy cruelly locked in a small-clock box until 7:00 am and see the smallest orphan (the bald one) wearing a girly nightgown 5 times too big. Second, what ever came of the little bald kid in white? Did the other freaky-looking and acting kids eat him, or did he crawl outside and freeze to death? This also disturbed me.:(
I don't think this is taken from a true story. When I checked the newspapers of the time..nothing was mentioned about it. :^ }
@@Jaymindrew1990 I don't think the other kids ate the baby they aren't like mean or monsteros kids and I don't know what led you to think that
So how come that baby just sort of vanished from the story lol
I use to have this VHS tape when I was little. It always made me cry when their gifts broke. Poor little kids, I wonder who takes cares of them? I'm glad grandpa make them new gifts, so sweet :)
I honestly can't even watch this as an adult. My Dad would play this when I was a kid and I would cry my eyes out when their toys broke.
Allysse W I agree with you. Even sadder though is I couldn’t watch this because the cartoon was so creepy and there were unexplained elements. Where was their caretaker? Why were those orphans so underdressed and had ugly hair? And what happened to the cute bald baby after the toys broke? Did the fat bug eyed orphan on Grampy’s rocking “horsey” eat him, or did he crawl outside and freeze to death? With no food, did the orphans start eating each other? Did the caretakers blame the orphans for wrecking the belongings and proceed to viciously spank them for a minute or more each later? (making their wailing over their toys look like a mild trip). This cartoon would make even Senator Feinstein want a semi-auto arsenal.
When something I own breaks (new motherboard is broken after one hour of use) , I immediately think of the scene where the kid's toys break and they break down in a sob which is what brought me to this video.
I am not crying.
I AM NOT CRYING!
It’s alright to cry! I cried too. And twenty years later, I still cry on the inside about this.
I'm over 30 and it still brings a tear to my eye. Absolute classic.
Es normal llorar.
It is normal to cry
I haven't seen this in over twenty years! I am so glad to have found it again!
I use to have the VHS of this with Rudolph and that Christmas story that involves toys saving a girl toy that’s eating a bowl of porridge from the Spider as a kid years ago, but I accidentally lost it on the Scooby Doo Ride at Six Flags St. Louis
lol mine was a collection of old Christmas cartoons, which for some odd reason included a Wild West parody toon whose name escapes me. Still, why’d you take a vhs with you to Six Flags?
@@JPLOWMAN2well I was a little kid and a little stinker and I didn’t know any better, and I still feel alone when I’m on it so I brought the movie on the ride to keep me company! 😂
Don’t judge me LOL 😂
@@Ronno8567 my commiserations
SAME I USED TO HAVE THAT TOO
I also use to have that tape too.
I used to watch this movie every Christmas now I realize this cartoon was in the great depression era where sadly many children were orphans and had to look after themselves some even had to get jobs to look after themselves but this is a wonderful cartoon that is timeless and brings hope and happiness for children just by one act of kindness
Sadly I never knew of this animation before now☹️
My mother was born 10 years after this in the middle of the war (I'm from Finland 🇫🇮) and this is pretty much how I envision her poverty stricken childhood.
Kurtis Banks Heres a link to a good article on this from the FB site for the cartoonists who did it. The orphans were DELIBERATELY abandoned the night before.
facebook.com/144854705561139/posts/2567163886663530/?d=n
Jesus explains why this always felt incredibly sad for me...
I had this on VHS on some Christmas pack 30 years ago. My parents would put this on for me during the holidays growing up. Such fond memories : )
Same here I remember mine was in a green vhs case
This grandpa makes mgyver look like an amateur
Ben Faltinowski you have problems...
Jake Tucker Everything I said was hypothetical. I firmly don't believe any of those terrible things would've happened in a heartwarming cartoon such as this. In real life, the risk would be greater but this is only a cartoon. Just relax.
+Jake Tucker or perhaps Professor Grampy is a great-grandfather of MacGyver on a particular relative's side.
He's actually, Betty Boop's grampy
this cartoon is absolutely adorable !!!! love the old stuff... can't help but notice though, that for one single day of playing , Gramps destroyed everything in the entire orphanage to build his toys lmao ! ehehe
Here's hoping they don't plan on eating any time in the future.
Although apparently there aren't any adults around, so I assume they weren't going to last too long anyway.
Hopefully he replaced a lot of those things.
Jesse Fortner Given how all the toys broke almost in unison makes me believe that it was more than the toys being worn out (which they clearly were). I think this was a result of the caretaker(s) embezzling the better donation toys, selling them, and putting the most fragile, worn, and unsellable toys in the kids stockings before abandoning them with the stolen money overnight while they slept (explaining why they weren't there that particular morning to make them food or keep the stoves running). I base this statement on many subtle clues I spotted after watching this many times. I heard the real orphanages of the day often had mean/crooked caretakers and it wouldn't surprise me watching this. Miss Hannigan from Annie is a good example. Grampy breaking into the orphanage was more than just making new toys, but he likely saved the little orphans' lives too. If they ever made an animated epilogue to the story, I would like to think that Grampy got a key to the city, and the story of the orphans plight and Grampys heroic actions attracted the attention of many loving families that wound up adopting every one of those poor children. I hope they busted those wretched caretakers too.
seems like being an adult takes the joy out of the little things sometimes. I still love it though!
I'm glad someone else noticed that
If only the world functioned like this. It be awesome
I always thought the coffee percolator train at 6:48 was the coolest thing ever as a kid. I wanted one so bad! XD
My daughter watched this on VHS tapes back in the 90s. I loved the song.
My mom watched this as a kid and naturally I did too as a child.
This still and was so beautiful.
It will always hold a special place in my heart!
♡
This always made me cry as a kid when I would see the orphans toys break. I must be a sensitive sap, because I'm almost 30 and it still makes me teary eyed, especially at the teddy bear. But I love the old man and his gifts! It's a great little cartoon.
The teddy bear always makes me cry. And those poor kids....😭 just seeing children sad and crying breaks my heart.
Good to know I am not alone
Saw this as a kid and it has made me sad for life. Any time I think of it I get sad. and especially about the teddy bear :'(
OMG! This might be my #1 Favorite Classic Christmas Cartoon, Ever!
I use to watch this when I was younger. It's was my favorite.
🕜🕜🕜🌈😊⛄⛄ You Are Going Well I'm Gonna Have 😃😋😋😋😋😂⛄☃😊😊 Is In
THANK YOU FOR POSTING THIS! I had this on VHS when I was a kid and would watch it ALLLLLLLLLLLLLL the time!!!! 💕💕💕
same here!
I'm watching this in 2018. I got stoned and remembered watching this when I was 3... As a VHS
I’m watching this when the second decade of the third millennium AD is ending.
This makes me wonder; when we donate stuff to children, why do some people always give handmedown stuff that so easily break?
Let this be a lesson for us, come Christmastime. Make sure that whatever we give to those in need, the items will last them forever.
In any case, this is one of my favorite Christmas shorts. Seeing those kids play happily with Grampy's toy inventions is so heartwarming
That's a profound statement!
Elizabeth Alvarado
Thank you
Fair enough, but this was the thirties and the country was in financial turmoil. A lot of families couldn't afford new stuff and so they made due with what they had and hand me downs. It wasn't all terrible, people were a lot more creative back then. It was a rough time, not like today where we buy the newest iPhone simply because they release it.
Jalex Fine
True, very true; it's just sad how some families choose to give "hand-me-downs" to kids, these days.
Instead of brand new ones; as in the same toys but without the tears, broken parts and such
Maybe people want to help but can only afford to give hand me downs 🤷
I've always loved this Christmas video even as a child to now , remember all Christmas comes but once a year soo enjoy everything about that day.😊
Real happiness is making others happy... like this lovely old man.
I haven't seen this in YEARS!! This used to be on an old VHS tape that my mom used to record some Christmas movies from cable way back when. Right after this cartoon was Mickey's Christmas Carol. Ahh...Memories. :)
SoulStealerSlayers I probably had it on VHS as well but I don't remember but this cartoon was but with some others but this has been in my repressed memory for years and just remembered it today but man was this one of my favorites
Yess! Our family loved this VHS. I will have to look up Mickey's Christmas Carol 😃
This is always one of my Favorite Classic Christmas Cartoons!☃️🎄🎁❤️📺
i love this ! im 21 now, but i grew up watchin these old christmas cartoons. i had a VHS with this, the old jack frost charlie brown and other ones. i miss this. i used to watch them with my parents.. my parents overdosed recently so this bring back memories, of a better time. thankyou for this.. it means more than you know .. :') xo
God bless you hunny. How are you doing love? 😇
❤️
My Father would watch this and the 1940’s Rudolph short with me as a child. This one always made me so sad as a kid!!
I cried at this when I was 6
I’m still crying at 36...can’t take this cartoon it’s too much 😭
Kerry Dee It had a good story premise,. However it wasn’t the cartoonist’s intent, but why did the cartoonists had to draw these orphans to look like sappy, annoying, and ugly little freaks?
Makes you wonder if they cloned Rosemary’s Baby for devil worshippers to adopt, but even THEY didn’t want these smelly little Dutchboy-haired, screechy voiced, pantless nightgown wearing, unwiped-smelling, and sissified hermaphrodites.
On those merits alone, these weird cartooned brats deserved to have their toys break. Given this was the 1930’s, little wonder WC Fields hated children.
Good thing real-life children are sweet and adorable.
I wasn't allowed to watch this anymore because I cried so much 😂😂😂 I felt so bad for the kids..
@@Fingerscrossedout isn't it weird how sensitive a lot of us were to the concept of being disappointed with gifts?
This is just too sad to watch those poor kids cry!! That's so sad!! :'(
Holly Widmark Biggest thing is that these orphans are so creepy and bizarre. I found myself feeling bad for them and laughing at them at the same time because of how weird and ugly they were and sounded . . . and I felt bad either way. Mainly I couldn't tell if they were male/female (they all acted like they were both, especially with their feminine prancing in their little girl nightgowns (with no pants . . . ), squeaky voices, yet having boy faces and ugly Dutchboy hair). As a kid I thought they were orphans because they were ditched for being so weird looking/acting, and remained unwanted for the same reason. Professor Grampy himself looked one step ahead of being as freaky as Stephen King's It clown (Pennywise) calling like the Joker, and those kitbashed toys looked dangerously unproven as all getout. I had nightmares of the clock-powered clock's fork feet gouging the orphans eyes, the spoon-propeller plane shattering a window in front of the effeminate boy/girl orphans squealing "SANTEEEE CLAUS!!!" prancing in their bare feet (slashing them to ribbons and needing an ER visit), the vacuum-ride strangling that kid riding in it with it's dangling electric cord, the shoe head rocking horse falling apart and breaking the neck of the fat, bug-eyed orphan squealing "GITTEE UP HORSEEEEY!!!" because Grampy spit nails to secure it versus using a hammer; the coffee-pot train exploding on the other kid and scalding/electrocuting them; the kids skiing/sledding down the cotton "snow" covered stairway having mortal falls when soap flakes get in their eyes and they get impaled or shattered limbs, and finally that sewing machine popcorn string device falling over, catching the orphanage's tinder-box flooring on fire and burning the place down on the screaming orphans while Grampy flees to avoid being implicated. With these hazards, Grampy should have just bought some better toys (or good haircuts, proper clothing, and voicebox surgery) or just left them crying and abandoned with their broken toys.
These old cartoons remind me how much i love kids and want them to be happy.
omg this was my favorite Christmas cartoon when I was little!
Probably my favorite Christmas cartoon. Truly appreciates creativity and using it to help people who need it most.
The one in charge takin care of kids: Hey where did all the kitchen utensils go
El Papi Heres a link to a good article on this from the FB site for the cartoonists who did it. The orphans were DELIBERATELY abandoned the night before.
facebook.com/144854705561139/posts/2567163886663530/?d=n
I remember seeing this when I was little and I started crying with with those orphans and seeing grampy build toys for them I started laughing
Jeff McCartney I'll admit I didn't feel for the orphans until later on. At first, I found it hard to feel for a group of orphans that I felt looked and acted freaky. Their ugly Dutchboy haircuts, gender-indeterminate looks and behavior (e.g. Changing genders from screen shot to screenshot), their extremely undersized pant less nightgowns, and helium screechy voices made me actually laugh when they cried over their trash toys breaking because they sounded so weird and girly. I was young when I felt like this, but feel differently now.
BA F1 actually come to think of it I couldn't even tell the gender of the orphans not even the baby orphan
When I first saw this, I was actually creeped out by them. I thought if there were boys among them, they might have been neutered in the same accident/tragedy that killed their parents or the mean orphanage caretaker put them out for illegal estrogen-injection experiments. The girls I'd have no question on if you go by personality . . . the question was which of these odd-little orphans WERE the girls? The indeterminate condition of these orphans was probably the orphanage caregivers fault, as it's clear they didn't care too much about them to even interact with them other than (possibly) be physically and emotionally abusive (e.g. giving them junk gifts they knew would break).
BA F1 anyway I meant to say the orphans were badly animated
Jeff McCartney From hidden clues throughout watching it, I agree the caretaker and assistants were wretched jerks, responsible for the junk gifts and not being there to watch them, feed them, or have the fireplace going to keep them warm that cold Christmas morning . . .
I firmly believe their absence and the condition of those trashy toys were related. I say this from having made some observations after seeing this many times . . .
Between the ratty Christmas tree and the doorway to the orphanage bedroom, (seen at the beginning of the film) you'll see a picture of a very mean looking old man, and the picture labeled "our headmaster". Later on, when Grampy is dressed as Santa (and ringing the bell), you'll see that picture has been replaced with one of Santa.
Given how all the toys broke almost in unison makes me believe that mean looking headmaster and his subordinates had a deliberate hand. I think this was a result of embezzling the better donation toys (that were supposed to go to the orphans), selling them, and putting the most fragile, worn, and unsellable toys in the kids stockings before abandoning them with the stolen money overnight while they slept (explaining why he and the other caretakers weren't there that particular morning to make them food or keep the stoves and fireplaces running). I base this statement on many subtle clues I spotted after watching this many times. I heard the real orphanages of the Depression era often had mean/crooked caretakers and it wouldn't surprise me watching this. Miss Hannigan from Annie is a good example. Grampy's breaking into the orphanage later had a greater purpose than making new toys alone, but he probably saved the little orphans' lives too, namely from freezing to death (while crying on their beds for their toys) with no fires in the fireplace that cold morning.
As for the orphans looking, acting, and being dressed weird (as some watchers of this cartoon have attested), this is likely the caretakers fault. The orphan's ugly Dutchboy hair, their undersized, pant less girly nightgowns (for boys and girls, and in the freezing winter) and gender indeterminate behavior would render them bizarre & creepy to many, but it's likely the results of the caretakers treating them all the same . . . and not in a humane way. They likely looked down on all of them like gross little rats that they had to tend to. Those caretakers might have been mentally and physically abusive too, regularly beating them severely, feeding them infrequently (or with low quality food), locking them in closets, yanking them around by their hair or ears, bathing them (at least if they even did) by plunging them repeatedly in tubs of freezing water, or who knows what else shy of hate crimes for petty infractions (or just to bully them and make them cry because they thought it was funny to be cruel :( ). And they might have dressed the orphans in nothing else other than those undersized, barely-on gowns also for the purpose of keeping them from running away from that "wonderful, safe little home for kids" and to not "waste money" on clothing those "ugly little rats" :(
But Grampy ultimately saves the little orphans' Christmas . . . and their lives too. And at the end of the cartoon, they post a large Christmas Seal of Santa as they sing the title song. Christmas Seals are sold to raise money for disadvantaged children (e.g. Orphaned, sick, starving, etc). The Fleischer Brothers likely made this cartoon to raise awareness of the reports of the horrid, subhuman 1930's orphan treatment and to issue a call for child-care reform. After seeing this, they obviously had a good point.
If they ever made an animated epilogue to this story, I would like to think that Grampy got a Key to The City, and the story of the orphans plight attracted the attention of loving families that wound up adopting every one of those poor children out of that dumpy, ramshackle orphanage.
And I sure as heck hope they busted those wicked caretakers too.
Poor kids, all they wanted was some joy time on Christmas. Luckily this fine sir helped out
LEGOmega102 Lewis Hiniski Good article on this from the FB site for the cartoonists who did it. The orphans were DELIBERATELY abandoned the night before.
facebook.com/144854705561139/posts/2567163886663530/?d=n
This was my favorite Christmas cartoon
I watched this as a child. I'm now 27. I loved this cartoon. I have searched for it for years and now I've finally found it. I feel complete.
Professor Grampy's way of him making toys gives me an idea that he might be a great-grandfather of MacGyver.
this thing freakin traumatized me i still spend hours crying about it. when i was a kid watching this i didnt realize what was going on but my mom found the old vhs and showed me and i cried for 3h straight i cant the teddy bear is the worst my poor heart
Kimy-Melody G if you knew about some of the subtle clues throughout this cartoon, you would realize that had the old man that showed up, the feet of the orphans might’ve been worse. It suggested that The caretakers might’ve made off with the real toys in the middle of the night and abandoned the orphans. That’s the reason why there was no fire in the fireplace that cold morning or any food prepared. Have the old man that showed up, they would’ve been more than a teddy bear falling apart that would’ve been heartbreaking. Given how dumpy the orphanage looked, chances are nobody would’ve looked in on the place until spring after the orphans likely . . . well . . . fortunately that was not the case As this is a cartoon you know.
I'm from 1996, but I had this on video and I've watched it many times. Still love it!
Used to watch this all the time at my nan's house......now I'm 25 and still watch this each Christmas to remind me of her. Love this little cartoon!
All those toys Grampy made look dangerous as hell.
I agree that Grampy’s kitbashed toys look dangerous and unsettling. I've had nightmares about any of the following happening:
1) The littlest kid (bald and dressed in white near the beginning of the cartoon) is not seen again after Grampy enters the orphanage, and may have wandered outside and froze to death, becoming a headline and earning Grampy a negligent manslaughter charge.
2) The clock-powered bird toy's fork feet tears the eyeballs from the kids’ heads, or that spoon-propeller plane strikes glass window, launching jagged glass on the floor as the kids are prancing around cheering that grating, high-pitched “SANTEEE CLAUS!!!” in their bare feet, slicing them to ribbons and an life-flight ER visit.
3) The vacuum-cleaner chair ride wraps it's ceiling-mount electric cord around the kid riding it and strangles or hangs him/her (e.g. I could never tell who was a boy or girl among them as they wore girly nighshirts but had ugly Dutchboy haircuts and ugly faces).
4) That rocking horse with the shoe head and broom tail rocks too far backward on it’s tracks, throwing that kid screaming “GETTEE UP HORSEEEY!!!” on his/her neck and breaks it. We can thank Grampy just spitting nails to secure it (versus using a hammer).
5) The kid playing with the electric coffee-pot train would've been sprayed by boiling hot coffee, and he/she would fall screaming with 3rd degree burns on the 120VAC electric tracks and got "Sith-lord" electrocuted to death.
6) On the cotton-covered and painted stairway, soap flakes get blown by the fan into the eyes of those giggling kids on sleds and skis, leading to mortal falls that cause the metal skis and sleds to come apart, shattering their limbs and impaling other kids or themselves.
7) That umbrella Christmas tree spinning on the turntable falls, pinning the kids to the floor in tandem with the popcorn string popping/sewing machine getting knocked over and burning the place down on the screaming kids. The surviving kids would be disfigured (although it wouldn't be worse than their creepy looks to begin with).
EPILOGUE: In the aftermath, Grampy would get busted for trespassing, making dangerous untested toys, and negligent manslaughter while the absent orphanage caregivers get prosecuted for negligence, child endangerment, and accessory to manslaughter.
CONCLUSION: If any of these things actually happened, Grampy would have done better to buy better toys, or just jump back in his wacky sleigh, leaving those kids crying and abandoned in the orphanage with their broken toys.
People had common sense back then and did not sue each other like they do now.
Amazing to see how many others who are in their 20s like me still watched this on vhs in the late 90's/ early 2000's when it was already over 60 years old.
When I was a kid I always liked this cartoon. These days it actually brings a tear to my eye, as an example of what kindness and generosity can do.
God I love Grampy he's too cute 😍
I had this VHS tape in my childhood!
Christmas season is always about sharing the joy and love even to those less fortunate around us. Like how Prof Grampy does his part to help those poor kids. But giving and sharing should be 24/7. In a world currently so volatile and full of shit all around the place, this is what the world needs to keep it going. And sometimes I feel, the poor, old or young, they are our teachers with much to teach us when we help or serve them.
This is my all time favorite Christmas cartoon!
This felt so emotional for me when I was younger
My mother frequented garage sales (still does) when I was growing up. She found *tons* of old bootleg VHS tapes for me and my younger brother in the 1990's and I can't tell you how many of them featured this cartoon. Suffice it to say, I think it's devastating that those beautiful children were left all alone, but I still love the nostalgia connected to this cartoon...
Gotta love that grandpa with his inventions. They are always the best!! I LOVE the imagination that went into his toys. You know you have a person with a good imagination if the ideas seem like they could work (despite knowing that they really couldn't).
dancepiglover Given it was a cartoon, it has a happy ending but had it been real, there were mortal threats to the orphans for using these. Its frightening to think about the following happening: 1) The orphan riding the highchair and vacuum cleaner car gets that dangling electric cord wrapped around their neck and get strangled or hanged. 2) The orphan on that rocking chair rocking horse falls off the back and given he/she is fat, breaks his/her neck. 3) The orphan playing with the coffee pot "choo choo " has a mishap when the pot explodes boiling coffee all over them, and he/she falls shrieking with 3rd degree burns on the 120V tracks and dies of electrocution. 4) The orphans skiing and sledding on the stairs have their skis and sleds come apart and they get their limbs snapped or get impaled by the fragments. 5) That fork feet bird Grampy makes walks around and gouges the orphans eyes and/or gores them. 6) That airplane toy Grampy flies hits a window just in front of the orphans as they scream "SANTEE CLAUS!!!" , running from their bedroom in their bare feet and get slashed to ribbons as they prance around to get their toys. And finally 7) The umbrella Christmas tree falls and knocks the popcorn sewing machine thing over, catching the place on fire!
Meanwhile Grampy runs from the building (to try to avoid manslaughter, negligence, and trespassing charges) and flees in his motor sleigh while the orphanage is engulfed and the surviving orphans (who survived Grampy's dangerous toys) all perish. Good job, Grampy!!! :(
CONCLUSION: Maybe for the orphans' sake and their lives, Grampy should just walk away after peeking in the window and leave them crying with their broken toys.
I'm talking about the imagination of the story writers and animators.
dancepiglover I know you are. I firmly believe that the animators heart is in the right place and their idea was to make a great story. And I do like the story. However, I've heard many that felt weirded out by this cartoon, and as I've worked in engineering safety, I thought about all the "what could go wrong" items about the toys Grampy made.
I see.
So true I also as a kid thought he was brilliant at improvising the toys.Now as an adult I think the writers and creators were the ones pretty creative this is awesome!!!
This cartoon made me learn one thing about Christmas is that it’s not about gifts, it’s about bringing joy to people who shouldn’t be sad on this amazing holiday
omg, i saw this and i immediately started to remember all the times i cried watching this as a kid when i saw the kids cry, i still feel that way today. sweet memories
Film Exy I found this cartoon largely freaky, but not completely. Reminded me somewhat of the creepy scary part in Snow White when she's running through the forest. The cartoon was cute but had creepy and disturbing parts. The orphans, despite being somewhat adorable, were also extremely mushy & overly-cute, trying to cover for being hideously creepy & ugly, and sounding and acting weird. They also wore no pants with ratty undersized nightgowns that barely covered them properly. Also seeing their ratty toys break (given by cruel, uncaring orphanage caregivers) might be very upsetting for kids to watch . . . or they might laugh instead. My children actually laughed at them when their toys broke because they cried with helium screechy voices (that distracted from the story's intent to pull your heart strings and make you care). My kids also kept asking which orphans were girls or boys too and why they wore no pants (which I couldn't answer). I myself got the night creeps from seeing these freaky orphans as a kid, especially the black haired ones (wearing red undersized nightgowns) that included the bug-eyed, chubby one on the rocking horse and especially the one laying on his/her bed that suddenly shrieks "SANTEE CLAUS!!!" with a blood-curdling scream and charges crazily at the toy inventor. Made me ponder sleeping with a baseball bat or heated firepoke for months because I almost thought those orphans were satanic freaks/zombies. NOTE: I don't hate orphans in real life (real ones or these cartoon ones), but I wish the cartoonists made these in this cartoon more like the kids in the Fleischer cartoon "Somewhere in Dreamland". I won't condemn those who like this cartoon, but this is my opinion.
uh.....alright then.... thanks for ruining my childhood......:-: i really want to kill myself now..... im such a freak for thinking that.....
This is pure and beautiful.. Its everything Christmas should be , not money or greed. Giving and making someone else feel loved... even only if for a moment. Im 30 yr old male and it still brings tears to my eyes. From watching on old vhs as a kid til today, it always was the perfect definition of who santa clause was. For me it was my father.. Worked hard endless hours to give four kids a wonderful Christmas every single year. He just passed couple months ago... I miss him so much. He was such a selfless man. Much like this man. I hope cartoons like this reach these kids today. I hope people like him really exist today. We need love more now than ever. This year will be so hard without my santa.. Not to give me. , but for me to have gave him... I miss you dad...
I'm only 17 and I love the older things
Kamui I'm 12 and I love the classics as well
Nice man, I was 5 watching this on VHS lol
Bryson Raber yep pretty sure it was the same for me but I don't remember much
14
Tramp The Elite i love older things like MILF's :p
I found........My Childhood Memorie😀😁😂
Watched this when i was 3 or 4 at my old babysitters house . She died a peaceful death of old age about 10 years ago but she had a huge impact on my life. This brought back emotions feelings memories and even smells from those years. It made me wanna cry
I love the cartoon when I was a young boy, & Professor Grampy came to the rescue. 10/10 likes.
I love the art here. Back when cartoons were always cute, without needing cute main characters.
I so totally remember watching all these great fantastic + the coolest classic timeless Christmas cartoons & movies when I was a young kid/teenager grown up. Even as an adult today I still miss watching these. Also I used to enjoy them as well. Now times have changed over the years. Oh boy has it ever. They don't even play these timeless classical Christmas cartoons or movies today the way they used to show them back in the 1980s and early 90s. They were the days back then. Not only that but they don't even make them today as well like they used to back then. Which is a shame. I truly do love and enjoy all these old classical timeless Christmas cartoons and movies that they used to show back then. Or even really lucky if they do play 1 or 2 today. Miss them all.
Ive tried to find what this was called for years!! The girl with the teddy bear stuck in my mind. I was watching this as a kid in the early 90's, had no idea it was so old!
this was heart touching 😳n very creative reallly☺
cup cake I like this cartoon, even despite the mixed feelings that I have cited elsewhere on this blog. But in a nutshell, I do understand the cartoonist intent and I think it was clever. I just wish the cartoonist would've made the children look more like the ones in the cartoon "Somewhere in Dreamland", because the ones here look very freaky and weird otherwise.
I LOVED this when I was little!!!! I use to watch it all the time along with two other specials but lost the tape and have been trying to find this for awhile now! So happy I finally found it!!!
These are great cartoons.
I used to have this on an old VHS as a kid. I used to watch this every Christmas morning.i miss those days.
I remember watching this as a kid and after seeing grampy walk up to the window with snow stuck to his shoes immediately went outside to do the same thing. I was a little disappointed it didn't work for me. Great Cartoon.
I'm 22 and this brought so many memories back and I cried my heart out over this movie
it wasn't a movie.
No way! I watched this when I was little! *tears up from nostalgia*
Be grateful for the things already have 💕
This cartoon effed me up for life when I was little. I could never enjoy a good christmas present because it killed me to know that all my toys worked while most orphan children didnt even get toys.
(Memmories popping back into Jaymans head)
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHUHAUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHUHU!
Jayman493 *pats your back*
Mmhmm, and what'd you do about that??
also the santa face on the card at the end creeped me out as a near-infant
I LOVE THIS.
This brings back so many Christmas memories from long ago.... Loved looking at this....
When I was about 4 years old (2011) I used to watch this and other cartoons like in the middle of summer and everyday and the souls will be gone but never forgotten and these cartoons will be in my heart ♥️
I haven't seen this cartoon for at least 30 years.
omg 24 years old and I still remember this! I loved it! I remember watching it every year and usually during the year as well. lol it was definitely a favorite of mine :)
sivamet90 I've got you beat. I remember it, and I''l be 63 on July 4th!
has it ever been televised?
By far the best Christmas movie ever
This was such a genuinely sweet little animation. I didn't grow up with this one, but even as an adult, it fills me with so much warmth and joy! Probably my favorite Fleischer cartoon ever made tbh.
Good lord this brought some old memories back. I loved this film as a kid.
How good it is to see the whole thing. _Pee-Wee_ cut most of the gags out to get it down to a minute or so.
Nicholas Tosoni I remember seeing this on Pee Wee too when I was a kid. At the time, I saw those orphans and was certified creeped out by how ugly and sappy they were. I almost thought they deserved broken toys on those merits alone. I don’t feel that way now, but I am glad real children couldn’t be this hideous.
Thank you for shareing! I lost all of my old movies and it was really awsome to see some old Christmas movies again! Thumbs up!
I think the lesson provides a very understated message- if the typical method doesn't work, improvising and making it from scratch can produce something just as meaningful, if not more so.
Talking about bad Christmases, I've had them at the joint where I worked. I did not get a present and I felt left out. I refused to attend any more events after that, and one of my supervisors writes me up as insubordinate to her.
I hope you left that shithole.
I did; that joint went belly up due to bankruptcy
I hope you found a place that suits you and treats you better. Fuck them, pride comes before the fucking fall.
Cheryl Keil The managers get jerky and quit listening when they know their project is going to fail and hope you don't know it. It never fails.
This happened about 40 years ago. I'm now retired and a Person of Disability. I would like to go back to work, but it would have to be part time, and I think being a photographer would suit be the best. I was a data processing technician for many years with various companies where I live
Its 2am , i randomly thought about this. I watched this when i was younger , im 19 now. And i am in tears 😭
my weird vague memories from childhood are returning.
Same...
I remember having this cartoon on a tape of Christmas shorts, and it was always my favorite despite how I cried watching the kids be so sad. I have pretty clear memories of it, especially considering I was only about six the last time I saw it (I'm now an adult). It's nice seeing a little bit of my childhood again.
I remember when I was little my parents bought me this DVD set at Walmart with 500 cartoons and having this on here and watching it every December
THANK YOU SO MUCH. I have this on VHS and I so badly wanted to find it online and didn’t think I would 😭 this makes me so happy because I loved watching this as a kid and my mom loved it too.
I used to watch this all the time on VHS as a child but I could never remember the name of it. I'm twenty five now and I've found it again. Thank you so much for uploading!
Havent seen this in about 15 years or so. Its july 26th at 2 am and it randomly popped in my head to search for it, sitting here teary eyed thinking of great memories of my grandparents, thank you for uploading this
Me too 😊 I love all the old cartoons especially the Silly Symphony from Disney
I adore Grampy, he always finds a way to fix things