70 YEARS OF RANDOM SANTAS ON THE BIG SCREEN

 

It's a Winter Wonderland Wednesday down in The Dungeon, and since there's been so many Christmas movies made, I just thought I'd give you a random sampling of Santa interpretations that have shown up on the big screen over the years.

From 1950, here's Santa as portrayed by a puppet from the Mabel Beaton Marionettes!

This odd film was called "The Spirit Of Christmas!"

In this 1951 short called "Santa And The Fairy Snow Queen," this snoozing Santa Claus was played by Edmund (Adventures Of Superman) Penney.

I decided not to split hairs and make any distinction between the real Santa Claus and guys just dressing up and acting like him, like Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye here in........

..........."White Christmas" from 1954.

This 1959 Mexican Santa was played by José Elías (La Loba) Moreno in K. Gordon Murray's holiday creepfest simply titled "Santa Claus."

 

By 1972 Santa was starting to get grubbier and weirder like in..........

.........This Florida short from 1972 titled "Santa And The Ice Cream Bunny" that has Jay (True Grit, Petticoat Junction) Ripley as Santa Claus.

In 1985 they made "Santa Claus: The Movie."

"Santa Claus: The Movie" starred the incredible David (The Big Lebowski) Huddleston as Santa!

 

In 1989 they came out with part three of a sick Santa with a completely different personality called..........

 

........"Silent Night, Deadly Night 3: Better Watch Out!" with Richard (Pandemonium) Adams as Santa!

In 1995 we have Mark (The Genie From Down Under) Mitchell as Santa in "The Munster's Scary Little Christmas."

Masterful cartoon voice over artist Sam (National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation) McMurray as Herman Munster has to give it a shot too.

 

The 1996 film "Jingle All The Way" featured a host of Santas including Jim Belushi......

........And Paul (The Big Show) Wight!
 

2007 brought us "Black Santa's Revenge."

 

Ken (Dawn Of The Dead) Foree had the title role in this one!
 

In the 2011 feature "A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas," Richard (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas) Riehle is Santa Claus!

 

In 2014, Oliver (Fargo) Platt has the role of the Hobo Santa................

.......In "A Merry Friggin' Christmas."
 

I'm sure there are hundreds more, but that's going to have to do for now! What a krazy red and white world!

MERRIE MELODIES / "Gift Wrapped" - 1951

I actually found a Christmas cartoon in my Looney Tunes Golden collection, so here we go with another classic WB story written by Warren Foster and directed by Friz Freleng.

What a nice memory of times past (I was 3 in 1951) when things were nice and simple, but had so much more damn meaning than the totally screwed up place we have now...

It's Christmas Eve and Sylvester is beside himself in joy, expecting some terrific gift and all, he's been such a good kitty you know!

But, he finds his gift, joyfully unwraps it, and it's a lousy rubber mouse!

So, he goes over to Granny's large package to get a peek inside...

Sylvester is soooo sly and sneaky by changing names on the packages that he thinks he'll actually get away with it.

Granny opens her present, wait a minute, what the, this must be for Sylvester!

After Sylvester has already gulped Tweety down once, Granny demands that he makes up with the little boidie with a kiss under some mistletoe. So, Granny has to pound Tweety out of Sylvester yet again.

So, Granny hangs Tweety's cage on the ceiling so that Sylvester can't get to him! The wily cat has an answer for everything, but when Tweety tells Sylvester that the big present under the tree is for him...

He runs over to the tree, quickly unwraps the box and gets a big surprise!

And Granny then has to pound the dog to get Sylvester out!!

Sylvester cuts a hole in the ceiling and lowers a hook down to pull the cage up to him. Well, you get the picture.

This time Sylvester lets Tweety shoot him in the face with his little pop gun!

Tweety's riding on the toy train so Sylvester figures out a way to get the little bird back into his stomach.

But the dog gulps down Sylvester and Granny has double duty until she gets things straightened out a bit...

Granny has it all under control now. She has them all sing a Christmas carol along with her as she plays the organ.

Well, that's one way to solve a problem!.. Tune in again on Wednesday when the Dungeon Dudes are back with another post, just for you!.. Oh, and that guy over there!

LOVE THAT BOB - "Grandpa's Christmas Visit" (1955)

 

Here's a festive and fun holiday Saturday Night Special for you from 1955, an episode from "The Bob Cummings Show," or "Love That Bob," whatever you want to call it, called

"Grandpa's Christmas Visit."

If you're not familiar with this sitcom, it's about a fashion photographer called Bob Collins, who was played by yet another Dungeon Hero, Bob Cummings. That's Rosemary (13 Ghosts) DeCamp as his sister Margaret, and her son Chuck as played by Dwayne (Dobie Gillis) Hickman.

To show off his multi-dimensional talents, Bob Cummings also plays the role of Grandpa!

Being a modest man, Bob only takes credit for the role of Bob Collins, and Grandpa Collins is credited at the end as being played by "The Pride of Jopin, Missouri," which is where Bob Cummings was actually born!

 

Pretty cool split screen special effects for a TV show done in 1955!

The art of photography has come a long way in 65 years. Thank goodness we don't have to use flash powder anymore!

 

SMILE!!

 It's pretty funny when they show you the photo that Grandpa took!

Bob and Margaret are both pretty hung over from a Christmas party, and they think poor Grandpa must be sleeping in, but he's really outside shooting hoops!

In fact, Grandpa feels so good, he wants to take Chuck's new bike for a spin!

Bob's main squeeze at the moment is this gorgeous model named Mary Beth Hall who was played by Gloria (Roadracers) Marshall, and that's Bob's secretary Schultzy played by Ann B. Davis who was also Alice on "The Brady Bunch."

Bob tells Grandpa to come to his studio and check out his new equipment.............

.....................And of course Grandpa gets all the wrong ideas!

Bob decides to try and get Grandpa hooked up with Mrs. Taylor down the street, someone more his own age, and he calls her and impersonates Grandpa on the phone, and indeed, she'd love to come down and play checkers!

Bob and Mary Beth have a dinner date and Mary Beth is starving since she has been on a diet trying to get her 25 inch waist down to 23 inches, and while waiting on Bob, she peeks inside the refrigerator! 

 

That turkey leg was just too appealing.

Grandpa returns with a box of chocolate covered cherries because he still thinks he has a date with Mary Beth.

At this point Mary Beth doesn't care who she's going out with, as long as she gets something to eat!

 

So Grandpa and Mary Beth end up going out to dinner, and Bob gets stuck staying home and playing checkers with Mrs. Taylor who has just suggested they play a series of eight out of fifteen matches! Bob graciously agrees, and that's where this great story ends!