These Toys Will Self-Destruct In Five Seconds.

On this Christmas Day, I present my thoughts about the short "Christmas Comes But Once A Year."

I remember seeing this on Channel 8 in New Haven back when I lived in Newburgh, New York. Would you believe I mistook it for a Disney cartoon, and didn't find out it was by Fleisher until many years later?

Anyway, I guess I missed out on the happy ending. I only got to the part where Grampy looked in the window, and saw the orphans crying over their toys, each of which had fallen apart. I asked my big sister if it happened because the kids were on the naughty list, and she confirmed my suspicions. So I spent many years believing they were unjustly punished, since none of them looked like troublemakers.

After reading about it online, however, I realized that sis and I were both wrong. The true reason was that the toys were ancient, and bound to self-destruct sooner or later. Still, I never saw that short again. Who here thinks I should give it another shot?

Me, for one. Reasons? 1) This is Fleischer Studios, before the big break-up between Max and Dave, when they were their own studio, with a piggy-back contract with Paramount. 2) This one has Grampy in it. There are no sad, downer-ending cartoons with Grampy. His magic hat thinks up ideas that save the day. Always. 3) Yes, orphans get the short shrift at first; it's a thematic device. Children in misery inspire The Hero to be, well, heroic. Things get better, really. 4) It's a Christmas cartoon. Even the Grinch came out plus in a Christmas cartoon, so there's zero chance anyone's going to be minus in Christmas Comes But Once A Year. 5) This one's in the public domain, and exists in several prints on various compendiums of PD cartoons. In fact, I'm sure it's viewable on YouTube or DailyMotion or Vimeo ... somewhere online.

Oh, and reason six: you'll never see a coffee pot put to better use.