Vancouver animator dusts off the holiday cartoon classics you've never heard of

Before people gathered in front of the television to watch such holiday classics as How the Grinch Stole Chistmas and Frosty the Snowman, they would watch Chirstmas cartoons in movie theatres.

CapilanoUniversity animation instructorMichael van den Bosis working to bring these old, unfamiliarcartoons back into the limelight.

"Before Rudolph and Charlie Brown on television, there were cartoons made in Hollywood in the 1930s, 40s and 50s," saidvan denBos.

Van den Bossaid these early cartoons, created by Hollywood giants like MGM and Warner Bros., were seminal in the creation oflater holiday specials that are now more prominent.

As the use of televisions became widespread in the late50s, the production companies sold the old cartoons to television networks, who began broadcasting them seasonally.

"Theyreally helped set the seasonal stage for the television Christmas cartoon,"saidvan denBos.

He said the first made-for-television Christmas special wasn't A Charlie Brown ChristmasorThe Grinchbut rather Mr Magoo's Christmas Carol, originally broadcast in 1962.

"That's the one that really kicked things off."

Prior to 1962, said van denBos, Christmas audiences would have been more familiar with such tales as the 1947 cartoon Santa's Surprise. That colourful short, released by the now defunct Famous Studios, follows the story of Little Audrey as she and her friends help Santa save Christmas.

And then there is the little known storyAlias St. Nick. The cartoon, released by MGM Studios in 1935, tells the story of a mischievouscat who dresses up as Santa on Christmas Eve to trick a family of mice.

And who can forget Ski for Two, the 1944 Woody Woodpecker cartoon which follows Woody's journey to a ski lodge inthe Swiss Alps.

"These stories hit a beautiful message. They're timeless stories,"saidvan denBos.

With files from The Early Edition