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

"The First Noël"
(uncredited)
Sung by a choir briefly after the opening credits

User Reviews

A classic cartoon

One of a group of excellent old cartoons on a DVD called "A Collection of Christmas Classics" that we bought for our four year old grandson who watches it at any time of the year.

A collection of old classics that runs over four hours and is not only enjoyable and safe viewing for the kids but also provides a look at some animation from the thirties and forties with the now ancient sounding music to go along with them. Great family entertainment.

I'm glad I found the title here since I knew they were older cartoons but I was really interested in the actual time period and the DVD box does not provide any additional info.