Hello & welcome back to the Santa Spectacle, here on A Look at Disney. Today, we are heading back to the era of 1962 as we look at one of the earliest live action appearances of Santa in a Disney production and as I said, some appearances from the man with sack of toys is minimal and that is the case here. As this almost seems like a stretch to review in a Santa Claus retrospective as he only has one appearance. It's been awhile since I've done something theme park related and it hasn't been since my first year anniversary, that I've looked at something with Walt at Disneyland. With that out of the way, let's begin. Here is what, we will be looking at, Host, Signs of The Time, Santa, and My Final Thoughts.
Host
Walt Disney
This was a special Christmas or rather holiday episode of the anthology series of Disneyland of the same name and by this point, Walt had perfected his Uncle Walt persona for the public audience and while that may not be the real man that worked behind the scenes, on TV, he was so warm and inviting and just made you feel perfectly invited to his land during the holidays as he took you through the different holidays. As I said, this special showcased other holidays such as showing the Easter parade at Disneyland.
I will admit that, when it went away from Christmas and focused on other holidays, it started to drag and got a little boring but bringing Walt back in minimized that boredom.
Signs of The Time
Perhaps, the two biggest signs of the time were that this special showed the opening of the Matterhorn and the Monorail. Amusingly enough, the special showed Richard Nixon riding the monorail. And oh, there was also the christening of the submarine fleet.
Santa Claus
As I said at the start, Santa's role is minimal as he really only appears at the beginning and being that is a TV special, you don't get a good feel for this Santa as no offense to Paul Maxey here as Santa but he seems to be playing him as the typical type of Santa that you see at theme parks during this time of year but it works and the interaction between him and Walt is well, it might be cliche to say, magical.
My Final Thoughts
Unless you are a hardcore Disney fan, there is no need to track this down but it is nice to see an early Christmas special from the company that I love. As I said, it does drag, when it veers away from Christmas or Walt leaves the special for too long but when it stays focused on the main holiday, this is a special treat that is a nice to kick off the holiday season. Join me next time as we jump ahead 23 years as we take a look at...
One Magic Christmas
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