A song a day keeps the coronavirus blues away:
46 years ago on 12/22/74 the classic animated special from Lutheran Television “The City That Forgot About Christmas” first aired in syndication.
This quiet little film, animated on a lower budget, is one of the most beautiful animated specials in capturing the true meaning of Christmas.
With a wonderful cast it tells the story of a boy, Benji, who’s grandfather (Sebastian Cabot) is able to let him know how important it is to remember the significance of the Christ child, and not the other things that detract from it just being a holiday. Charles Nelson Reilly, Louis Nye, Casey Kasem, Robie Lester, and Joan Gardner also lend their voices to this beautifully made film that stays with one for life.
Most of all it has a gorgeous song title song which is sung by Sebastian Cabot with a chorus titled “You Can’t Stop Christmas” which captures everything the special is trying to tell. Maybe one day the film will be remastered. Even though it won’t ever look incredible, it would be nice that a modern transfer would bring more attention to this little known, but timeless film. The special was actually from a series of Benji and Waldo, his dog, specials, sponsored by the Lutheran Church, as they had done with “Davey And Goliath”. The first special was “Christmas Is” in 1973, then “Easter Is” in 1974. “The City That Forgot About Christmas” was the third special, and the first with real animation, the first two being more like narrated artwork, with some limited animation. There would be one more special “Freedom Is” in 1976 for the Bicentennial.
The special was given in the New York area first, of all things, on UHF station Channel 67 WSNL Patchogue at 11am on Saturday 12/21/74, with no listing in the TV Guide other than the title “City That Forgot About Christmas”, the station later becoming the home, with its sister station Channel 68, for old TV shows and movies (like “Mr. Ed”, “Green Acres”, and films like “Scrooge” from 1935, “The Gold Rush” and “The Flying Deuces”), and later WHT (Wometco Home Theater). It aired more officially on Sunday 12/22/74 on WABC Channel 7 at 2pm. It would air during the 70s but disappeared by the end of the decade. It would get releases on VHS and DVD.“The City That Forgot About Christmas” is a truly special film.“You can’t stop Christmas you’ll find there is no way.
You can’t stop Christmas that’s what the children say.God became like one of us, a baby soft and warm.
You can’t stop Christmas, the day that Christ was born.
14:34 “Chip Chip Away”