Merry Christmas, one and all! This year we're celebrating the Holidays with a Max Fleischer Color Classic from 1936: Christmas Comes But Once a Year. This cartoon marks the first and only color appearance of Grampy, a wild inventor that co-starred with Betty Boop in several classic cartoons. At this time, the Max Fleisher studios was trying to make Disney-type cartoons along with their roster of Popeye and Betty Boop cartoons. This cartoon is kind of a weird bridge between the two styles: The first couple of minutes tries to create a scene full of sincerity and pathos, but it comes off as cloying, maudlin and a little annoying. However, once Grampy enters the cartoon, the picture takes off, because this is what the Fleischers were great at: innovention.
Grampy appeared in ten Betty Boop cartoons and was always a welcome addition to the films. If you have a desire to see more I suggest you check out Grampy's Indoor Outing and The Impractical Joker, two of his better films.
This cartoon also showcases the three-dimensional sets that the Fleischers liked to use with their characters. You can see them at the beginning and the end. Enjoy!
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