By Jonathan Klotz | Published
Ask people of a certain generation to name famous Christmas movies. Most of them mention the 1964 stop-motion classic Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer or Santa Claus is coming to town. Still, while These were made famous by airing annually (and yes, before streaming we waited to see a show once a year), there is another stop-motion Christmas special that isn’t as famous but is still a classic. A claymation Christmas partyanother stop-motion TV special full of musical numbers, most notably “The California Raisins,” which first aired in 1987 and became a favorite of a younger generation.
A claymation musical
Created by talented animator Will Vinton, A claymation Christmas party begins with the dinosaur hosts Rex and Herb and the introduction of the running joke in which the two argue about how to pronounce “wassailing.” They then introduce various musical numbers, including anthropomorphic bells playing “Carol of the Bells,” a pair of walruses skating to “Angels We Have Heard On High,” and then the two crowd favorites “We Three Kings” performing the classic Song mix with R&B Camels, then “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” performed by the California Raisins.
The outlandish stop-motion performances are offset by “O Christmas Tree,” in which the camera flows into various ornaments to show celebrations around the world, and “Joy to the World,” which is not stop-motion but one is a series of beautiful, moving paintings. Every sequence is someone’s favorite, and the banter between Rex and Herb that accompanies each segment pays off in the end. However, it is clear that A claymation Christmas party is greater than the sum of its parts.
From marketing campaign to Christmas classic
The California Raisins were a marketing stunt for Sun-Maid and exploded into pop culture with a cover of “I Heard it Through the Grape-Vine,” but there was something about them that resonated with people and became Raisins merchandise, albums etc. led several television specials. Will Vinton, the creator of the Raisins, later also created the M&Ms mascots The Noid and The pajamasamong dozens of others. Released a year after the Raisins’ debut A claymation Christmas party earned Vinton one of his many Primetime Emmy Awards for animation, a category he dominated over the following decade.
The big attraction A claymation Christmas party were the California Raisins, and even though they were designed by an advertising agency for mass appeal, they fit right in with the other stop-motion creatures. Their segment was always my favorite as a kid, but now I can’t pick a favorite because each of them has something great about them, even “Joy to the World,” which was my least favorite as a kid because that’s not it the case was Have some claymation.
A claymation Christmas party was released on DVD back in 2003 and is the most recent release of the TV special in a physical format to date. As for streaming, the special no longer exists, and even YouTube uploads are regularly deleted. It’s a shame that the special, one of the best examples of ’80s stop motion, has been lost in the media like so many Muppets projects because it deserves to be seen every Christmas.