One of the wondrous things about
the Internet is its ability to conjure up the ghosts of the past, and in this
case the animated ghosts of Christmas Past. We can connect with long-forgotten
memories that upon retrospect we see contributed to our psyches. One such
example is the CBS production of J.T.
(1969), which I write about elsewhere on Aeolus 13 Umbra (click on link for
article and film). In J.T.’s case, while I had
forgotten the title, I remembered the story and doggedly searched for the film
on the Internet. Sometimes, however, we encounter our forgotten past in moments
of pure serendipity, as in the case of two brief animated films by American
animator R.O. Blechman. These shorts are thirty and sixty seconds long each and first aired on CBS in 1966 during the holiday season (see films below).

Discovering these animated
shorts brought back a rush of pleasant, and sometimes not-so-pleasant,
Christmas memories. While some may decry the commercialization of Christmas —
and to a large degree I agree — commercialization can bring little moments of
beauty and art to a big audience. If in all the social static and rush that
comes with mass marketing in the holiday season we still get these simple
human expressions of compassion and kindness during the harshest time of the year, when want is felt more keenly by those in need, it may not be so bad after all. CBS would do themselves and all of us well to include these
little masterpieces every year with their holiday programming.
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