It's such a generic title that it had already been used 11 years before the film came out, for a special from Hanna-Barbara, the kings of TV animation at the time. Not content with making a huge chunk of the networks' Saturday morning schedules, the two animators decided to move into holiday specials in 1972, making The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn't, and the original A Christmas Story (not the original Christmas story).
While Thanksgiving, which I reviewed last month, took its formula from Rankin-Bass, Christmas did something different, namely (I think) serve as a potential pilot for the continuing wacky adventures of its two lead animals and their various friends and enemies.
The animals in question are Gumdrop, a mouse voiced by Daws Butler using is Elroy Jetson voice, and Goober, a basset voiced by Paul Winchell using his Tigger voice. The two live together with little Timmy, who looked to be around 5 or so, and his parents, in a nice house in a small town sometime during the early years of the 20th century.
The plot kicks off when Gumdrop realizes that Timmy's letter to Santa somehow landed on the floor under a table rather than in the mail to the North Pole. Since it's already closing in on midnight on Christmas Eve, the two decide the best course of action is to just give the letter to Santa personally.
If that seems like a rather thin premise to hang a half-hour special on, the writers seemed to agree with you, because there are a lot of songs in this thing, none of which really advance the plot (many of which were recycled five years later for A Flintstone Christmas. The opening number also bears more than a slight resemblance to the opening number in Thanksgiving). There's also an extended scene with some menacing cats threaten to make Gumdrop their Christmas dinner, another sequence in which the dog and mouse are trapped in a runaway old-fashioned mail truck, and a sequence that completely rips off the Twilight Bark segment from One Hundred and One Dalmatians (which was only 11 years old itself at this point).
Unfortunately, both of the lead characters are also rather light on characterization. They both love Timmy, they both want to do the right thing, and that's about it. Gumdrop is a bit more gung-ho and braver, but really, these are two bland animals.
Apparently, Hanna and Barbara agreed, because if there were plans for future specials, or even a series, with those two, they were dropped after this premiered. Indeed, less than a year later, the name Goober was recycled for the title character of Goober and the Ghost Chasers, yet another one of Hanna-Barbara's official rip-offs of their own Scooby-Doo. This Goober looked nothing like Christmas Story Goober, and while Winchell voiced him, this time he seemed to be ripping off Butler's Snagglepuss voice.
Had A Christmas Story been better, the 1983 movie might have been named something else. If you must watch only one Christmas Story this year, it should definitely not be this cartoon.
Next time: Twas the final entry of A MarkInTexas Made-For-TV Christmas for 2020
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