Santa and
the Three Bears
(1970, U.S.) color live-action/animated 76/63/45 minutes
With: Ken Engels (the Ranger), Lenard Keith, Kathy Lemmon, Roxanne Poole (the children)
Voices: Hal Smith (Santa Claus), Jean Vander Pyl, Annette Ferra, Bobby Riha (the 3 Bears)
***
In this affable low-budget, hour-long musical holiday cartoon from Florida, with live-action wraparounds, a real, live forest ranger tells his bored grand-kids the story of Santa and the Three Bears, which is then unreeled in so-so animation with a bunch of songs to pad out the minimal story.
SANTA AND THE THREE BEARS was first released in theatres (where it did well, due to the perfectly generic title), and then found a home on TV, and ended up on USA Network, where it ran for years as their token holiday special.
The not-uninteresting film can now can be found on video and DVD in at least two different formats: the complete theatrical feature, and a 45-minute version with the live segments snipped out.
There was also a soundtrack album released of the not-bad score. On the back of the album were cut-out figures of Santa and the bears.
***
Hal Smith, who was the voice of Mr. Ranger in SANTA AND THE THREE BEARS, played Mayberry's town drunk Otis Campbell on the beloved CBS TV series "The Andy Griffth Show".
Smith also did a lot of voice-overs for movie and TV cartoons, and he was the host/performer of a Los Angeles kids TV show (also
syndicated nationally) during the late 1960's: "The Pancake Man".
"The Pancake Man" was seen locally on KHJ-TV (now KCAL-TV), Channel 9 in Hollywood, and on WPIX-TV, Channel 11 in New York City, during the 1966 TV season. As the Pancake Man, Smith entertained and informed his visitors about "The International House Of Pancakes", weekday mornings during the 1966 TV season.
Smith passed away a few years ago, but his work still boasts many fans, and his work will never be forgotten.
***
Video/DVD availability: VHS, DVD (various)
Please note this unusual, hand-painted poster for SANTA AND THE THREE BEARS. It is a poster for K. Gordon Murray's SANTA CLAUS, 1970 re-issue, with additional graphics painted on in poster paint for the 1970 R&S Film release.
Two points of note:
1/ This crude hybrid poster suggests that the Florida Kiddie Matinee industry was a very close-knit group, with Murray and others sharing promotional and other materials (if not outright stealing them!).
2/ As we have seen at least THREE of these hand-painted posters, each identical, we cannot dismiss this oddity as the product of some enterprising theatre owner who decided to make up his own poster. This looks like local ad agency shenanigans at their most primitive!
Great discoveries like this remind us what a fascinating and bizarre place the Kiddie Matinee universe was!
Ellman Enterprises / Key Industries / Tony Benedict Productions
Cinepix Film Properties / R&S Film Enterprises
Cinematography: Ted C. Bemiller, Gene Borghi
Music: Doug Goodwin, Joe Leahy
Produced by Tony Benedict, Barry Mahon, James Kernodle
Directed by Barry Mahon (live-action)
Directed by Tony Benedict (animation)
About Hal Smith
by Kevin S. Butler
(poster courtesy of www.moviegoods.com)