Christmas Comes But Once a Year (1936)

At an orphanage, the children are sad because they received broken toys as gifts. Professor Grampy sees the children while passing by in his sled and has an idea on how to give them a merry Christmas.

Director:

Dave Fleischer

Stars:

Jack Mercer, Mae Questel

Cast

Uncredited cast:
Jack Mercer	...	Grampy (voice) (uncredited)
Mae Questel	...	Orphans (voice) (uncredited)

Storyline

The children at the orphanage are thrilled to wake up and find plenty of new toys on Christmas morning. Unfortunately, all of them break or fall apart within a few seconds. Prof. Grampy, the inventor, passes by in his motorized sled and hears the wailing of the disappointed orphans, which brings him to the door to investigate. When he learns what is wrong, he puts on his thinking cap and quickly comes up with a plan to make everything all right. He sneaks into the kitchen through the window, takes out every pot, pan, plate, spoon, etc., and builds better toys than the kids could have dreamed of.

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Plot Keywords:

orphanage | sled | christmas | grampy | thinking cap | 

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Genres:

Animation | Short

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 December 1936 (USA)

Also Known As:

Weihnachten gibt's nur einmal im Jahr

Company Credits

Production Co:

Fleischer Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

9 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This short was Professor Grampy's only film without Betty Boop. It is also the character's only film in color.

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Connections

Featured in Christmas at Pee Wee's Playhouse (1988)

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Soundtracks

"Over at Grampy's House"
(uncredited)
Music by Bob Rothberg and Sammy Timberg
Played when Grampy enters the house and raids the cupboards for the dishes

User Reviews

Neat cartoon!

I just happened on a DVD that contained a number of classic cartoons in a local convenience store and I feel like I stumbled onto a gold mine. I was amazed at the technique of Christmas Comes Just Once a Year and I'll See You Somewhere in Dreamland where it looked to me like the characters were animated over a backdrop of photographic backgrounds in the dream sequence. There were other great cartoons on the video, but these two really stuck out in my mind. I am just a spectator and I don't pretend to know anything about animation but anybody that has even a remote interest in animation should at least find these cartoons interesting. Now and again I come across Max and Dave Fleisher(sp?) cartoons and I snatch them up like candy.