Review of The Year Without a Santa Claus

I have always seen images and small clips of the cheesy children's Christmas specials, including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and A Charlie Brown Christmas, this is one of the most famous cartoons in this category, and with the festive season on the way, I treated myself, directed by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr. (Frosty the Snowman, Jack Frost, The Hobbit, The Last Unicorn). Basically it is Thanksgiving in the North Pole, Santa Claus (Mickey Rooney) has a bad cold, and the doctor tells him he should have some rest. Santa does not believe that anyone really cares about Christmas anymore, he decides to take a holiday, to not deliver any presents and cancel Christmas. Santa leaves it to elves Jingle (Bob McFadden) and Jangle (Bradley Bolke), to find proof that people still believe in Santa Claus. The elves take the youngest reindeer, Vixen, but are shot down by the Miser brothers; supernatural being the Snow Miser (Dick Shawn) who in charge of cold weather, and the Heat Miser (George S. Irving) who is in charge of warm weather. Jingle and Jangle land in Southtown, but get lost, a small town in the Southern United States, policeman complain about their clothing and the reindeer, Vixen is disguised as a dog, she ends up taken to the dog pound. The elves then meet and befriend a boy named Ignatius "Iggy" Thistlewhite (Colin Duffy), they visit his father, the sceptical Mayor of Southtown (Ron Marshall), who laughs hysterically at their story, but agrees to free Vixen if they can prove Santa exists, making it snow in Southtown on Christmas Day, which has not happened in years. On behalf of Santa and the elves, Mrs. Claus (Shirley Booth) visits the Miser brothers, she asks Snow Miser to make it snow, but the town is under Heat Miser's control, Mrs. Claus compromises with Heat Miser, he will only agree if Snow Miser surrenders the North Pole to his control. The brothers disagree, so Mrs. Claus goes "over their heads" by talking to their mother, Mother Nature (Rhoda Mann), Heat Miser and Snow Miser are persuaded to compromise, otherwise they will face the wrath of their mother. Santa, dressed in civilian clothes, arrives in Southtown to rescue Vixen, he discovers that some people still believe in him and the spirit of Christmas when all the world's children make him presents, this sets off headlines around the world. One little girl is upset by Santa's decision to skip Christmas, she writes a letter that she will have a "Blue Christmas", Santa is touched by all the caring and generosity, he decides to make his Christmas Eve journey after all. On Christmas Day, the children of Southtown are happy with the presents they find under their trees, Iggy gets a bicycle, and the town are delighted with the snowfall, in the end Santa is pleased to have delivered presents to all children of the world, he and Mrs. Claus look forward to next year. I should mention, this cartoon is seen in Batman and Robin when Mr. Freeze tries to get his henchmen to sing the Snow Miser song, and the sad letter scene was parodied in South Park, with Kyle writing to Fidel Castro hoping for democracy, with drawings. This hour-long television special was actually surprisingly enjoyable, it was cheesy, but not sickeningly, the highlight is definitely the catchy Snow Miser and Heat Miser songs, the stop-motion animation is charming, and it is a nice simple story the kids and adults can go along with, a fun seasonal animated short film. Good!