Santa and the Three Bears

[wacky_packy8878]

Okay, who here hasn't seen this PD gem? I have, and I got 3 different versions of it! Here is the site I put up about it a few years ago.

http://www.geocities.com/music_beans2000/st3b.html

BTW, whatever happened to Tony Benedict?

[cbrubaker]

Wow. My version is different from this one. The title card is different, for one thing.

[wacky_packy8878]

That is from the LaserLight release, which has the live action parts of it. Read the DVD reviews for more.

[Sogturtle]

BTW, whatever happened to Tony Benedict?

Wacky_packy8878~

Tony Benedict went to DePatie-Freleng during the Seventies where he worked as storyman. In the late '70's he turned up briefly at Hanna-Barbera on their usual limited animation crap:p. Friz had him back in 1978 where he functioned as a connecting sequence director on the DePatie-Freleng/Warner Bros. primetime specials "Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales" and "Daffy Duck's Easter Special", additionally he is credited as a co-writer on those two specials as well:).

His work in the Eighties was completely forgettable consisting of more limited-animation crapola at Ruby-Spears, Disney TV, and HB. :rolleyes:

After all the wasted efforts of the Eighties it was no surprise to see him wanting to seemingly turn the clock back (a couple of decades) by contributing to the 1993 revived Pink Panther TV show... Wellllll it was nice idea anyway!:)

[cbrubaker]

Wacky_packy8878~

Tony Benedict went to DePatie-Freleng during the Seventies where he worked as storyman. In the late '70's he turned up briefly at Hanna-Barbera on their usual limited animation crap:p. Friz had him back in 1978 where he functioned as a connecting sequence director on the DePatie-Freleng/Warner Bros. primetime specials "Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales" and "Daffy Duck's Easter Special".
Tony went and left DFE THREE times, then!

He was also there in the (near) beginning writing "Inspector" and "Super 6" cartoons (plus one "Pink Panther").

P.S., besides Benedict writing and the great John Byner voicing Ant and Aardvark again, was there any other DFE vetern (Art Leonardi comes to mind) on the 1993 series?

[Sogturtle]

Tony went and left DFE THREE times, then!

He was also there in the (near) beginning writing "Inspector" and "Super 6" cartoons (plus one "Pink Panther").

P.S., besides Benedict writing and the great John Byner voicing Ant and Aardvark again, was there any other DFE vetern (Art Leonardi comes to mind) on the 1993 series?

Yes Charles, Tony Benedict was at DFE near their beginning in 1966 (I deliberately left it out a while ago as not relevant to the topic at hand).

Annnnnd I should add that Benedict ALSO served as co-writer on the two DFE/WB specials I named above (okay, okay I'll go add it to the original post;) ).

On the 1993 Panther series, if MEMORY serves me right, there were only a couple of (ahem) vintage names present. I don't have my list of credits for that at hand though.

[Studio Toledo]

Wacky_packy8878~

Tony Benedict went to DePatie-Freleng during the Seventies where he worked as storyman. In the late '70's he turned up briefly at Hanna-Barbera on their usual limited animation crap:p. Friz had him back in 1978 where he functioned as a connecting sequence director on the DePatie-Freleng/Warner Bros. primetime specials "Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales" and "Daffy Duck's Easter Special", additionally he is credited as a co-writer on those two specials as well:).

His work in the Eighties was completely forgettable consisting of more limited-animation crapola at Ruby-Spears, Disney TV, and HB. :rolleyes:

After all the wasted efforts of the Eighties it was no surprise to see him wanting to seemingly turn the clock back (a couple of decades) by contributing to the 1993 revived Pink Panther TV show... Wellllll it was nice idea anyway!:)


Geez, the things you never knew before! Still,this was a nice attempt for him at that point in time.

[JDWeil]

I had seen Santa and the Three Bears on the broadcast channels but the title cards had also included David L. Wolper and Warner Bros.-Seven Arts as well.

[Sogturtle]

I had seen Santa and the Three Bears on the broadcast channels but the title cards had also included David L. Wolper and Warner Bros.-Seven Arts as well.

JD and all~

"Santa And The Three Bears" is an intriguing piece on several levels... The fact it was originally released as a theatrical feature is among them, and that although Tony Benedict Productions copyrighted it, Warner Bros-Seven Arts distributed it!!! :eek:

Next up is that the version that was reviewed looks to have been longer than the mixed animation/live action version that circulates today... What and how much was cut out??

Then there is the issue of it all being animated by only three animators... Which then raises the point of HOW LONG did these three animators have to labor to complete it... Six months?!? Two years?!?! With only three animators working on it it had to have taken a good, long time, but then why is one of the three also listed as "Supervising Animator"???

Buuuuut also verrrrry high up is also this unusual nugget... Several of the key personnel were employed at Warner Bros-Seven Arts evidently even as this made in the very late 1960's. Amongst the credited ones, animator Volus Jones, layout artist Lin Larson, and Benedict himself was credited for writing one 1968 Warner toon. We also find background artist Walt Peregoy who'd worked on the Format-Warner Daffy toons, and lastly DF's Doug Goodwin showing up as songwriter. Strangely Volus Jones' name disappears off the Warner shorts credits in 1968, but Lin Larsen's had vanished in '67 which MIGHT imply that production had begun in 1967...

Then adding to the oddness, we find that it was "Produced in association with Key Industries LTD, Vancouver, B.C., Marvin Judd, President". What in the world was "Key Industries LTD" and what was their interest and connection in producing this mixed animation/live action Christmas film??:confused: Certainly this would mean that they would have helped Benedict foot the bill for this, but why?

Then of course we also find it was "Filmed in cooperation with the United States Forest Service through the assistance of the Hon. Ed Reinecke, Lt. Governor of California". What in the world?!?!:confused::eek:

And then of course one final key question... Why in the world was Warner Bros-Seven Arts distributing it?!?! (But then again, why did they distribute "The Door" only the year before?:)... With that in mind I've always felt compelled to count it as another Warner Bros. cartoon. For better or for worse.)

[TServo2049]

Sorry to bump an extremely long thread, but I found this on Tony Benedict's website, and it could help explain some (but not all) of the unanswered questions:

http://homepage.mac.com/tonytoons/iMovieTheater108.html

This seems to be excerpted from Tony Benedict's personal print of said film. Apparently, this is Santa and the Three Bears BEFORE Barry Mahon, R&S Film Enterprises and Key Industries got their hands on it and added the live-action stuff. It's called "A Yellowstone Christmas" and it begins with a legend for "Tony Benedict Productions, Inc." This version ends with the standard credits we know, with the Warner Bros.-Seven Arts mention.

From what I've been able to figure out, Benedict made the cartoon, and attempted to sell it to television (through W-7, I assume). According to a news clipping on Tony's website, all three networks rejected it because it lacked a villain, it was too cutesy, or somesuch. I think that somewhere down the line, Benedict and WB-7A sold the rights to kiddie matinee producer R&S Film Enterprises (of the notorious "Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny"), who added in the live segments and released it theatrically. (Benedict says he was "forced" to pursue the theatrical route...meaning it was originally intended as a prime-time special.)

Notice that there is a final live action sequence after the cartoon's end credits...and that the live ending has its OWN set of credits! In fact, if the theatrical version wasn't a Warner release, then the distributor seems to have forgotten to delete the W-7 logo! (A news clipping from the L.A. area for the theatrical release says "Distributed by Ellman Enterprises," who was, from what I can figure, some obscure el-cheapo indie distributor...)

Also, it's public domain status can most likely be chalked up to negligence on the part of R&S or whoever ended up with the film's rights (or the fact that when they went out of business, there was no longer a legitimate copyright holder)...

And what's this about mention of Wolper? I didn't see any mention of Wolper...

[Studio Toledo]

Sorry to bump an extremely long thread, but I found this on Tony Benedict's website, and it could help explain some (but not all) of the unanswered questions:

http://homepage.mac.com/tonytoons/iMovieTheater108.html

This seems to be excerpted from Tony Benedict's personal print of said film. Apparently, this is Santa and the Three Bears BEFORE Barry Mahon, R&S Film Enterprises and Key Industries got their hands on it and added the live-action stuff. It's called "A Yellowstone Christmas" and it begins with a legend for "Tony Benedict Productions, Inc." This version ends with the standard credits we know, with the Warner Bros.-Seven Arts mention.

From what I've been able to figure out, Benedict made the cartoon, and attempted to sell it to television (through W-7, I assume). According to a news clipping on Tony's website, all three networks rejected it because it lacked a villain, it was too cutesy, or somesuch. I think that somewhere down the line, Benedict and WB-7A sold the rights to kiddie matinee producer R&S Film Enterprises (of the notorious "Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny"), who added in the live segments and released it theatrically. (Benedict says he was "forced" to pursue the theatrical route...meaning it was originally intended as a prime-time special.)

Notice that there is a final live action sequence after the cartoon's end credits...and that the live ending has its OWN set of credits! In fact, if the theatrical version wasn't a Warner release, then the distributor seems to have forgotten to delete the W-7 logo! (A news clipping from the L.A. area for the theatrical release says "Distributed by Ellman Enterprises," who was, from what I can figure, some obscure el-cheapo indie distributor...)

Also, it's public domain status can most likely be chalked up to negligence on the part of R&S or whoever ended up with the film's rights (or the fact that when they went out of business, there was no longer a legitimate copyright holder)...

And what's this about mention of Wolper? I didn't see any mention of Wolper...
So many questions to explore! At least we now know this much about it than before (and if only Tony Benedict would ever put out his own edition of "A Yellowstone Christmas" on DVD, I'd buy that in a heartbeat).

[Ray Pointer]

If it were not for the Warner Bros./7 Arts tag, this would be taken as a Hanna-Barbera production since it looks and sounds very much like the H-B product of the late 1970s right down to casting Hal Smith and Jean Vanderpyl. It should come as no surprise since Tony Bennedict was a mainstay at H-B during their formative years. It's too bad the direction was dull. It's basically a boring Christmas Special.

[AnthroCoon]

Just the other day I bumped into this online, as in there was a site which offered
the entire movie for viewing (well, the entire SHORT version). I was led to it after a search for any cartoon involving music by, say it all together folks, Doug Goodwin!
Namely:
http://cinema.lycos.com/movies/santa_and_the_three_bears

45 minutes.