On Christmas Eve, the Little King sneaks two tramps into the castle. The next morning, the three men are thrilled by the presents Santa left behind.On Christmas Eve, the Little King sneaks two tramps into the castle. The next morning, the three men are thrilled by the presents Santa left behind.On Christmas Eve, the Little King sneaks two tramps into the castle. The next morning, the three men are thrilled by the presents Santa left behind.
- Directors
- Writer
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThe tall tramp's NRA tattoo is a patriotic reference to Franklin D. Roosevelt's National Recovery Administration.
- Quotes
[first lines]
Santa Claus: Do you go to bed early? Do you eat your spinach? All right, run along. I'll bring you some toys.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Rifftrax Shorts: The Little King: Christmas Night (2021)
Featured review
Cast-off, "Public Domain" material proves to be an unexpected treasure and fine example of long defunct animation studio & top Comic Strip of by-gone days!.
FOLLOWING an outstanding beginning as a featured comic panel in THE NEW YORKER Magazine, THE LITTLE KING by Otto E. Soglow began an outstanding 40+ year run in the newspapers via syndication thru Heart's King Features Syndicate. The year was 1934 and the NEW YORKER Panel format was expanded to the comic strip form, or 'sequential art; as it is sometimes called.
MUCH like Carl Anderson's HENRY, mum, or rather 'mime' , was the word; for there was virtually no dialogue, no thought or speech balloons employed, and certainly never for the diminutive monarch.. The story and whatever gags that were inherent to it were brilliantly exposited without words.
ANOTHER hallmark that was always present was an unusually unique and highly stylized illustrative style. All characters were unusually curvy, tall, round, triangular, buxomly, etc. Uniform and clothing fashion in general is most stylish, if not too realistic. But, after all, it is all in a comic page and Mr. Soglow can make his world anyway he chooses.
IN the PALS (aka Christmas NIGHT) we have an entry in the series produced by Van Beuren Studios/RKO RADIO Pictures. This was the outfit that brought us TOM & JERRY (The original Human Duo, a sort of "Mutt & Jeff" team), CUBBY BEAR and the short-lived AMOS & ANDY Cartoons, with their two installments. They also later brought us the "Rainbow Parade" Color Cartoons with The Toonerville Trolley, Molly Moo Cow and a revived Felix the Cat.
WITH the release of this particular 7 minute cartoon short, the Van Beuren Crew displayed a keen sense of bringing us a succession of chuckles and guffaws (no real belly laughs); all the while making allowance for a seemingly tailor made score of incidental music and a coherent storyline to boot. Additionally, the team manages to keep the appearance of the characters, especially the King, his 4 ice skating sedan chair bearers and any other palace personnel, all in a strict conformity to the artistic style of the comic strip.
AS for our finding and having this film to view, it was discovered in one of those discount Toy Stores in a bin with many other cassettes of cartoons that have been copiously strung together; their only common cause being their status of being in Public Domain. This has proved an excellent source of finding some little, previously unknown titles and characters; which well deserves to be employed again and again.
CRITICIZING the cartoon short seems a little bit much of an effort; but we can give some short, thumb-nail sketch of a few impressions.
PALS or Christmas NIGHT, whichever title you prefer, is a straight forward rendering of just what the theatrical animated cartoon short's function was; namely, a sort of warm-up for what was to come on the day's playbill. It was to be pleasant, light and make the viewer feel good about being there in his local neighborhood picture palace; nothing more, nothing less.
WHEN we consider how it did just that; yet still was faithful to Soglow's character, we'd have to say that it has succeeded most readily. It is a great example of what the typical cartoon of the 1930's, early sound era was like.
NOW, Schultz, run out to the shoppin' mall and find it on a DVD or VHS cassette. It should only set you back about $3.98 or so.
POODLE SCHNITZ!!
MUCH like Carl Anderson's HENRY, mum, or rather 'mime' , was the word; for there was virtually no dialogue, no thought or speech balloons employed, and certainly never for the diminutive monarch.. The story and whatever gags that were inherent to it were brilliantly exposited without words.
ANOTHER hallmark that was always present was an unusually unique and highly stylized illustrative style. All characters were unusually curvy, tall, round, triangular, buxomly, etc. Uniform and clothing fashion in general is most stylish, if not too realistic. But, after all, it is all in a comic page and Mr. Soglow can make his world anyway he chooses.
IN the PALS (aka Christmas NIGHT) we have an entry in the series produced by Van Beuren Studios/RKO RADIO Pictures. This was the outfit that brought us TOM & JERRY (The original Human Duo, a sort of "Mutt & Jeff" team), CUBBY BEAR and the short-lived AMOS & ANDY Cartoons, with their two installments. They also later brought us the "Rainbow Parade" Color Cartoons with The Toonerville Trolley, Molly Moo Cow and a revived Felix the Cat.
WITH the release of this particular 7 minute cartoon short, the Van Beuren Crew displayed a keen sense of bringing us a succession of chuckles and guffaws (no real belly laughs); all the while making allowance for a seemingly tailor made score of incidental music and a coherent storyline to boot. Additionally, the team manages to keep the appearance of the characters, especially the King, his 4 ice skating sedan chair bearers and any other palace personnel, all in a strict conformity to the artistic style of the comic strip.
AS for our finding and having this film to view, it was discovered in one of those discount Toy Stores in a bin with many other cassettes of cartoons that have been copiously strung together; their only common cause being their status of being in Public Domain. This has proved an excellent source of finding some little, previously unknown titles and characters; which well deserves to be employed again and again.
CRITICIZING the cartoon short seems a little bit much of an effort; but we can give some short, thumb-nail sketch of a few impressions.
PALS or Christmas NIGHT, whichever title you prefer, is a straight forward rendering of just what the theatrical animated cartoon short's function was; namely, a sort of warm-up for what was to come on the day's playbill. It was to be pleasant, light and make the viewer feel good about being there in his local neighborhood picture palace; nothing more, nothing less.
WHEN we consider how it did just that; yet still was faithful to Soglow's character, we'd have to say that it has succeeded most readily. It is a great example of what the typical cartoon of the 1930's, early sound era was like.
NOW, Schultz, run out to the shoppin' mall and find it on a DVD or VHS cassette. It should only set you back about $3.98 or so.
POODLE SCHNITZ!!
helpful•51
- redryan64
- Nov 4, 2008
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Christmas Up North
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime7 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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