About Christmas TV History

Monday, July 9, 2012

Christmas Visit (1959)

Santa Claus flies over Moscow in his star-studded rocket ship.
Merry Christmas in July!  This whole month we're celebrating our favorite science fiction Christmas entertainments.   What's your favorite SCI-FI Christmas story?  One of my favorites is a cartoon with outstanding imagery--The Christmas Visit from 1959.  It is animation made in Russia during the Cold War.  Though dubbed into English with Cyrillic credits, this public domain cartoon is well worth finding.  It is also known under the title Santa Claus Visits Antarctica.

What the--? These are the opening titles to Christmas Visit.
A little boy named Kolya lives in Moscow and misses his father at Christmas time. His father works as a weatherman in Antarctica. Kolya wishes he could bring his father a Christmas tree and decides to make the journey to the South Pole to bring his father a tree. 

Excited for Christmas, little Kolya is rockin' around his Christmas tree.

At the start of his quest, Kolya receives help from Santa Claus, who loans him his star studded jet plane to serve as his transportation to the farthest corner of the planet.  The little boy and his Christmas tree fly across the night sky in the rocket ship, getting caught in a sandstorm over Africa where he crash lands.

Kolya is flying a Christmas tree to his father at the South Pole.

Though Kolya has a deadline to return Santa’s rocket, the boy continues his journey to deliver the tree, making friends with animals that assist his travels such as a lion, monkeys, a whale and penguins. Kolya awakens at home, discovering his journey was just a dream--only to learn that his father did in fact receive a Christmas tree delivered by plane.


As he travels the globe, Kolya's journey is assisted by various animal friends.
What I love about this cartoon is that there's no reindeer-driven sleigh.  Instead Santa uses a fantastic ‘50s-era rocket ship!  Certainly, this Russian Santa Claus has beaten the West in the race for superior high-tech transportation. 

Santa Claus lands his plane on the streets of Moscow to give Kolya a chance to get behind the controls.

Have you seen this cartoon before?  Tell me what you think.  Check it out:



2 comments:

  1. Haven't seen this, but it looks spectacular! Great find and a great post, Joanna!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! Heads up--a giveaway is next! It includes this cartoon.

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