Santa's Workshop (film)

Santa's Workshop
Directed byWilfred Jackson
Produced byWalt Disney
StarringAllan Watson-Santa Claus
Pinto Colvig-Santa’s Secretary
Walt Disney-Elf
Frank Geiger
Music byFrank Churchill[1][2]
Animation byMarvin Woodward
Les Clark
Art Babbitt
Norm Ferguson
Ben Sharpsteen
Tom Palmer
Joe D'Igalo
Harry Reeves
Hamilton Luske
Louie Schmitt
Dick Williams
Paul Fennell
Chuck Couch
Fred Moore
Jack King
Ed Love
Jack Kinney
Jack Cutting
Nick George
Clyde Geronimi
George Drake
Eddie Donnelly[3]
Color processTechnicolor
Production
company
Distributed byUnited Artists
Release date
  • December 10, 1932 (1932-12-10) (United States)
Running time
7 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Santa's Workshop is a Disney short film directed by Wilfred Jackson, first released on December 10, 1932[4] in the Silly Symphonies series. The film features Santa Claus and his elves preparing for Christmas in Santa's workshop. A sequel, The Night Before Christmas, partially based on the 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas", was made the year after, portraying Santa leaving the toys in a house with nine children.[5]

In Sweden and Norway, Santa's Workshop is part of the Christmas television special From All of Us to All of You, traditionally shown on Christmas Eve. At the initiative of Disney, scenes depicting various ethnic stereotypes such as a pickaninny doll and a Jewish doll[6] have been cut out of the film, which has given rise to a lot of public criticism in Sweden and in Denmark.[7][8][6][9]

Santa's Workshop is the first "Silly Symphonies" titled cartoon to develop with RCA's Photophone synchronization early-in-film sound system.

The short features the first of the Marches Militaires by Franz Schubert.

Plot summary

Some elves are cleaning Santa's Sleigh and reindeer while singing, preparing for the sleigh ride on Christmas Eve. In his workshop, Santa Claus reads through each letter sent from every boy and girl asking for toys. Santa's little helpers hurry to finish the toys, which come to life and march into Santa’s bag, so he can embark on his journey around the globe.

Voice cast

Home media

The short was featured on early VHS releases of A Walt Disney Christmas, which featured the uncut scene with the blackface doll.

The short was released on DVD on December 19, 2006, on Walt Disney Treasures: More Silly Symphonies, Volume Two[10] in the "From the Vault" section, because of the blackface doll.[11]

The short was remastered in HD and released on Disney+ on November 12, 2019, with the blackface doll scene removed. It was originally claimed by Disney+ that the short was presented as originally released, but this claim has since been removed from the streaming service.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Santa's Workshop (1932) – Crew". Swedish Film Database. Swedish Film Institute. Retrieved January 7, 2013.
  2. ^ "Walt Disney julfavoriter". d-zine.se (in Swedish). Retrieved January 7, 2013.
  3. ^ "Disney's "Santa Workshop" (1932) |".
  4. ^ "Santa's Workshop (1932) – Release dates". Swedish Film Database. Swedish Film Institute. Retrieved January 7, 2013.
  5. ^ Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. pp. 273–274. ISBN 9781476672939.
  6. ^ a b "Tanskan televisio aikoo taistella Disney-elokuvan sensurointia vastaan". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). December 20, 2012. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
  7. ^ Edman, Nils (December 14, 2012). "Därför klippte Disney bort den svarta dockan" (in Swedish). Sveriges Television. Retrieved January 7, 2013.
  8. ^ Stahl, Jeremy (December 21, 2012). "For Christmas in Sweden, No More Racist Donald Duck Cartoons". Slate Magazine. Retrieved December 25, 2022.
  9. ^ "Debattinlägg: Redaktionen väljer att inte gå vidare i Kalle Anka-debatt". SVT Nyheter (in Swedish). December 14, 2012. Retrieved December 27, 2021.
  10. ^ a b Merritt, Russell; Kaufman, J. B. (2016). Walt Disney's Silly Symphonies: A Companion to the Classic Cartoon Series (2nd ed.). Glendale, CA: Disney Editions. pp. 152–153. ISBN 978-1-4847-5132-9.
  11. ^ Figueiredo, Rodney. "Walt Disney Treasures: More Silly Symphonies". Animated Views. Retrieved July 14, 2019.


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