Mr. Magoo Comes Home For Christmas
Fifty years after it first aired, TV's first animated special returns to NBC.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Before How the Grinch Stole Christmas, A Charlie Brown Christmas, and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, there was Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol.
Our recent Soundcheck Smackdown debate posed the question, "Which medium has produced the better holiday music: film or television?" Our guests, Rafer Guzman and Kristen Meinzer -- of The Takeaway's Movie Date podcast -- squared off on the musical merits of movies like White Christmas and TV specials like A Charlie Brown Christmas.
The debate sparked a great question from our listener Elliot: "Why does everyone forget Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol?" Elliot asked, in a voicemail. "I loved it as a kid. I remember some of the music even now," He added: "I never hear about it anymore."
First airing on Dec. 18, 1962 on NBC, Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol was the very first made-for-TV animated special and predated time-honored favorites like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and the Peanuts classic fueled by Vince Guaraldi's piano trio.
However, the pioneering Magoo hasn't had a similar kind of staying power.
"I think they took it off the air because it's politically incorrect to poke fun at people who are [visually] impaired," Elliot said. "But that doesn't take away from the sophistication and the greatness of the music and animation."
Darrell Van Citters, author of Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol: The Making of the First Animated Christmas Special, cites a different reason for the special's disappearance.
"The other programs had more ancillary material to help push them," Van Citters explains. "Rudolph had the classic song that comes back every year, Peanuts was in front of everybody all year round, How the Grinch Stole Christmas had a book that started the whole thing. This one didn't have anything quite like that."
However, Magoo did have great songs by a pair of Broadway veterans, composer Jule Styne and lyricist Bob Merrill. They crafted songs like "Alone In The World," "We're Despicable" and "The Lord's Bright Blessing" for the show while juggling another, more well-known project, Funny Girl.
Just like the Charles Dickens classic from which it was adapted, the story of Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol has a happy ending. To mark the 50th anniversary of its first broadcast, the special is getting a new DVD release and NBC will air the program this Sat., Dec. 22 at 8 p.m. ET.
Something tells us that our listener Elliot will be tuning in.
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Comments [3]
Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol is one of my favorite holiday memories. Even though I have not seen it in many years I can still hum or sing the tunes. Does anybody remember that it was "Braught to you by Timex"? Another bit of trivia: I belive that you can see a clip of Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol in one of the the scenes of the Bill Murray version "Scrooged". Mr. Murray is watching television before one of the ghosts visits him.
I am THRILLED that you featured the anniversary of Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol, my favorite holiday special of all time! I grew up watching it every year, and even now, most of my friends of a certain age can join me in singing almost all of the score verbatim, and know what 'Razzleberry dressing' is! It was beautifully done,and gave me a taste for Dickens and really good music. Funniest true story ever; as a professional singer, I have long searched for sheet music for some of these songs, in hopes of performing them. In the early 80's, I went into the famous Colony Music in NYC, which boasted one of the best music collections in the country. I was soon approached by one of the expert customer service reps who used to roam the floor back then,who asked if he could assist me. I inquired if he knew whether it was possible to obtain sheet music from Mr. Magoo's Chrismas Carol. He nodded gravely, and began flipping through his enormous card catalogue. Minutes ticked by in silence as he searched and searched and sighed. Finally, after what seemed an eternity, he turned back to me, shook his head, looked me in the eye and said, "I am very sorry, Miss; we don't carry anything by Magoo." I bit my lip and thanked him, waiting until I hit the sidewalk to let my laughter overcome me. And, I never have found any sheet music. Perhaps, now... Anyway, great show, terrific subject, I am ever your fan. Sincerely, April L. Lindevald
RUMOR HAS IT...that "People" was written for the Magoo special NOT for Funny Girl. Knowing they had a hit, Styne and Merrill switched it.
There is a similar story (not a rumor but attested to by Daniel Keyes in his autobiography) that Annie's signature hit, "Tomorrow", was written for the musical "Flowers for Algernon".
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