Ah, back in the day, there were those toy trains and matching tracks, competing with Mattel's Hot Wheels line and its competitors. Don't know who Hess commissioned to make their toy trucks every year, but those are still rolling along, even though Hess has given way to Speedway.
Here's a simple little Tyco ad for their trains from 1973. Narrated by Casey Kasem (Super Friends, American Top 40, The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas, etc.):
I had this one up before, but it was deleted many moons ago when it was taken off YouTube. Now, it's back.
In 1975, Hanna-Barbera adapted Franz Gruber's Christmas hymn, "Silent Night", into a half hour special, Silent Night, Holy Night. Produced in Australia.
Lynn Johnston's For Better or Worse celebrates the holiday season in 1992's "A Christmas Angel". Sometimes, the perfect Christmas tree needs a little trimming to fit the dimensions of the house......
Sniffles may be better known for a series of comics stories with a human girl, Mary Jane. However, he made his debut on the big screen in 1938, one of the first creations of Chuck Jones.
While "Bedtime For Sniffles" predated The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas by several years, the basic concept is the same. Sniffles is waiting to meet Santa Claus, but will he make it to midnight?
Dr. Seuss' The Cat in The Hat returned to television, and animated form, with a new PBS series that launched in 2010, and ended production in 2018.
Actor-singer-comedian Martin Short, currently starring in Only Murders in The Building and a series of Wells Fargo ads, both with Steve Martin, has the title role as The Cat, whose aides, Thing 1 & Thing 2, are along for the ride, and, contrary to the original story, 1st adapted by Chuck Jones in 1971, the goldfish is now one of The Cat's pets, too, and changes colors on whim.
Sally and her new friend, Nick, an African American, are The Cat's students. Nick was created for this show for the sake of cultural diversity.
From Season 2, which stretched over 3 years (2012-5), here's the Christmas show.
While DC has launched a new Creature Commandos comic book, featuring revamped versions of the original team, it has little to do with James Gunn's new animated series on Max, which recently launched.
The only link between the two is Amanda Waller (Viola Davis, "The Suicide Squad", ex-How to Get Away With Murder), who is assigning Rick Flag, Sr. (Frank Grillo) the task of leading this new version of the Commandos in the present day.
Max & DC made the series opener available for free screening on YouTube, but we know better than to use it, so we'll sub in a trailer. Mind the language.
Bob Clampett had left Warner Bros., and while the staff at Termite Terrace didn't miss a beat in his absence, Clampett finally had a chance to make a childhood idea come to life.
Time For Beany was a 15 minute nightly puppet show Clampett produced for Paramount that served as a precursor to Beany & Cecil's 1st animated series 13 years later. Clampett came up with the idea of Cecil, the "sea sick serpent", as a youth. Beany was just a typical young boy eager for adventure. Daws Butler was the original voice of Beany, using the same voice he'd later use for Augie Doggie, Elroy Jetson, and Lambsy (It's The Wolf) in later years. Stan Freberg voiced Cecil. However, the two actors left the show after a while, with Jim MacGeorge brought in to fill some of the void.
This item is from the 1st year, with Butler & Freberg.
