THE WORST WE CAN FIND - Christmas Advent Calendar: Day 8 - A VERY MERRY RIFF-MAS with Bridget and Mary Jo

A return to RiffTrax for Day 8 of The Worst We Can Find Christmas Advent Calendar and the first of two riffs done by the team of Bridget Nelson and Mary Jo Pehl!

A Very Merry Riff-mas (with Bridget and Mary Jo)  (1971)

Program: RiffTrax

Air-Date: December 20, 2019

Plot: Bridget and Mary Jo riff three Christmas stories:

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus (1974) follows the familiar story of eight-year-old Virginia O’Hanlon writing a letter to The Sun, a newspaper in New York (and not the sun, a ball of hot plasma at the center of our solar system, as it has no mailing address), about the existence of Santa. The half-hour-long animated special namely follows Virginia as she asks multiple people if they believe Santa is real, then the creation of the editorial written by Francis Church for the newspaper that became world-famous. The editorial is read to Virginia’s school classmates and they are happy.  Oh, and Jimmy Osmond sings, so you've got to watch for that, surely.

Frosty the Snowman (1950) is a short animated movie from UPA featuring a jazzy version of the song, as we see children bring Frosty to life, following him around town, and then seeing him off as he skips town having stolen a top hat and broom. The thief.

Christmas on Grandfather’s Farm 1890’s (1958) is the final film in the special and features a family preparing for Christmas at the farm on Christmas Eve, and then exchanging gifts and sitting down to Christmas dinner the next day. Well, there's only so much excitement offered in 1890.

Bridget and Mary Jo then wrap things up by exchanging presents, although Mary Jo’s present to Bridget is cooler and more tangible than Bridget’s gift to Mary Jo.

Video-cassette cover for the Yes Virginia special and the RiffTrax collection featuring it. 

Thoughts:  Yes, Virginia was directed by Bill Melendez, an animator that had worked his way up through many of the major animation studios and probably best known for his work guiding the various Charlie Brown specials since the very first, A Charlie Brown Christmas in 1965. The animation gives that away, as many of the children take on the Peanuts style at times. In connection, it is interesting to note that the Charlie Brown specials rarely showed adults, and – as in the case here – although the men tend to look fine, the women tend to look at if drawn by youngsters, which is just odd. And although it was nice to see a mixed group of kids represented in the story, the Lee Fong material plays straight into Asian stereotypes still acceptable of the time.  The 1970s were progressive, but we still had a long way to go.

And, yes, Virginia, that is Jimmy Osmond of the Osmond Brothers, a very popular act of the era (although Jimmy usually was pushed out as a solo performer in much the same manner as Donny Osmond before him). Jim Backus (Angels’ Revenge) narrates, while Jack Lemmon’s daughter Courtney, is the voice of Virginia. Virginia’s story for the most part is fictional, but really, what is there to tell than of this girl writing to the paper and an – albeit it beautiful – editorial in reply?  Then again, that didn’t stop there being another animated version of the story in 2009 and a full-length 1991 television movie starring Charles Bronson (as a death-dealing Santa, now who doesn’t believe! Okay, actually as Francis Church), which is actually quite good and worth searching out. So is this 1974 version, even if Bridget and Mary Jo appear to not be fans.

TV Guide ad and "Close Up" for the Yes Virginia special ( thanks to dougsplotation for the image). Virginia looks like the Red-Headed Girl Charlie Brown has a crush on; the teacher looks ... just odd.

The Frosty the Snowman short was directed by Robert Cannon, and just as with the previous special mentioned here, the art-style is clearly that of the director, in this case who had worked at UPA to create animated shorts for characters such as Mr. Magoo (voiced by Jim Backus) and Gerald McBoing-Boing. He also was a key animator in the greatest Merrie Melodies cartoon for Warner, The Dover Boys at Pimento University (1942). The Frosty cartoon had a regular Christmas airing on WGN since the 1950s.

Follow the bouncing ball and sing along!

The final short is Christmas on Grandfather’s Farm 1890’s, which is also known as An Old Fashioned American Christmas, and Christmas at Bradford Farm. The Coronet film was for classroom use (obviously for Algebra classes; okay, that’s a lie) and was filmed at the Octagon House in Watertown, WI, which is the hold of the Watertown History Society. The exterior of the house was actually that of the Paul Hibbard home in Watertown, however. In case you were curious, none of the actors were related, but rather part of the local community theater, as you could probably gather from the semi-professional acting of some of them, even if Dave forgets his cue at the Christmas tree.

Follow the bouncing ball and ... oh, no, there's nothing to bounce here.  Sorry.

Favorite Riff: (after Virginia asks a policeman if there is a Santa Claus)

Mary Jo:  Bridget, what did you do when your kids asked you the same question over and over again?

Bridget:  Oh, I just turn up the TV.

The Riffing: Boy, Bridget and Mary Jo didn’t seem to like that Yes, Virginia special from the get-go, did they?  Well, they’re there to have some fun, so it was bound to be that way, but it really isn’t that bad. Perhaps I feel somewhat defensive as this was a traditional Christmas special growing up? I wouldn’t fight you on that. There’s so many other things to fight over, anyway, like when was the last time you washed the dishes?

As always, it’s fun when the RiffTrax gang get a mixture of things to riff, especially shorts and television ads (such as in the Star Wars Holiday Special mentioned a few days ago here). The riffing especially picks up in the final short, which is more of a traditional educational short that the MST3K, RiffTrax, and The Mads all excel at.

But what really makes this RiffTrax collection special is listening to Bridget and Mary Jo talking for the duration. Unlike most of the other riffers in any of the other shows, the two women write their material with a layer of obviously being two old friends sitting in a room and having fun (and you’ll see more of that in the days ahead when I review one more of their features). There’s a cozy feeling to it that reminds one of sitting on the couch will friends and cutting in to discuss related topics (such as wanting an Easy Bake Oven as a kid) that aren’t so much jokes as comments. Heck, most of their commentary during the Frosty short is them singing along with the song and we don’t mind at all. A sweet change of pace that feels right for the season.