MERRY CHRISTMAS!
It's time for the DVD Weekly Podcast holiday show! What did you vote for your most watched holiday special? And what will the boys pick for their three favorite holiday programs? Find out in the newest edition of the DVD Weekly Podcast.
And while we are at it, check out this blog from Rick Goldschmidt. We admit, we borrowed the photo from this extremely informative blog on the world of Rankin Bass:
Happy Holidays!
DVD Weekly Podcast
4 comments:
Yes, what the hell was that?!
The short-short version: It's "Clown of the Jungle", a 1947 Donald Duck cartoon, as a part of the Disney christmas special.
The long version is this:
In 1951, Disney made a christmas special. It consists of a number of scenes from Disney movies and a few cartoons, with specially made short bits of Jiminy Cricket and others doing various christmasy things.
In 1959, they began showing it in Sweden. Since then it's become tradition for everyone to watch it every year on christmas eve at 3 PM.
However, throughout the years a few of the cartoons have changed a bit. In 1971, Clown of the Jungle was added and has been there ever since. The mad song is sung by the aracuan bird (who first appeared in the Three Caballeros movie). There's not a single person in Sweden who doesn't know exactly what that is as soon as they hear it, and so many lines from this show is quoted everywhere all the time.
There's the scene from Robin Hood where they steal the gold from the bedroom, the Bella Notte song from Lady and the Tramp, the mice making a dress for Cinderella, and Ballou singing Bear Necesseties from the Jungle Book, and so on.
The last ten years or so, they've added clips from whatever new movie Disney is putting out in the cinemas or on DVD at the end, probably to ease the cost of the show.
This show has always been one of the top 5 most watched TV shows of the year, mostly even in the top three with an average of 50% of the countrys population watching. But when the rights for the show started becoming too expensive for the channel, they wanted to stop airing it. Result: massive public outcry.
This show is so deeply rooted in the Swedish soul, that when they tried to change the cartoon about Ferdinand the Bull (which has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas either) in 1982, so many angry people rang in during the show to complain, that they aired Ferdinand right after the show!
Some links for this stuff:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Walt_Disney_Christmas_Show
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aracuan_Bird
Clown of the Jungle cartoon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0rBeoOiV1c
..and further proof how deeply ingrained this cartoon is in the Swedish hearts, here is Swedish acapella group The Real Group performing the soundtrack of the entire Clown Of The Jungle cartoon live on stage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tSsgihO_oU
Most Americans are completely unaware of how popular Donald Duck is in Europe. I didn't find out about it until a few years ago when I was reading a trade paperback of the Life of Uncle Scrooge.
One of my best friends lives in Louisville, Kentucky and I told him that he didn't know it, but there was an international celebrity living near him. He had, of course, *never* heard of Don Rosa, who is considered the heir to the great duck artist, Carl Barks and is revered overseas and is completely unknown here in his home country.
In fact, since his comics are translated into so many other languages, Rosa can't even read his own work.
Donald Duck magazines are some of the best-selling periodicals over in Europe, while most American children have never read one.
Incredibly interesting stuff guys! I had no idea. Thanks so much for letting all of us know about his. I will be sure to pass along the info in our next show!
Thanks again!
Don Schockow
DVD Weekly Podcast
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