Casper's First Christmas
From Hey Kids Comics
Casper's First Christmas is a 30-minute Christmas Television special] and crossover produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions that featured Casper the Friendly Ghost and his friend Hairy Scary from the show Casper and the Angels with guest stars Yogi Bear, Boo Boo, Huckleberry Hound, Snagglepuss, Quick Draw McGraw, and Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy. It aired on NBC on December 18, 1979.
The theme song (Comin Up Christmas Time) sung by the cast was later heard a year later in the TV movie Yogi's First Christmas, which contradicts the events of this special in which Yogi and Boo Boo (who, being bears are supposed to be hibernating in the winter) can be seen celebrating Christmas with the other cast members. This is also the first time that this production pairs together the characters made from their owners, Hanna-Barbera and Harvey Entertainment.
Like many animated series created by Hanna-Barbera in the 1970s, the show contained an inferior laugh track created by the studio.
Plot[edit | edit source]
Casper and his friend Hairy Scary are in a house about to be demolished on Christmas Eve and go out to look for a new place to move to after Christmas. Then Yogi and his friends get lost and arrive at Casper and Hairy's house and clean and decorate it to celebrate Christmas. Then Casper befriends Yogi and company only for Hairy to try to ruin the fun for Casper and his new friends. Then Hairy has a change of heart and celebrates Christmas with Casper and his new friends and ending with Santa Claus saving the house and turning it into Hairy's Haunting Lodge.
Voices[edit | edit source]
- Julie McWhirter - Casper the Friendly Ghost
- Daws Butler - Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Augie Doggie, Quick Draw McGraw, Snagglepuss
- Don Messick - Boo Boo
- Hal Smith - Santa Claus
- John Stephenson - Doggie Daddy, Hairy Scary
Production credits[edit | edit source]
- Executive Producers: William Hanna and Joseph Barbera
- Producer: Alex Lovy
- Associate Producer: Doug Paterson
- Director: Carl Urbano
- Story: Bob Ogle
- Story Direction: Don Sheppard
- Executive in Charge of Development: Margaret Loesch
- Recording Director: Alex Lovy
- Voices: Daws Butler, Paul DeKorte, Don Messick, Hal Smith, Ida Sue McCune, Julie McWhirter, John Stephenson, Michael Redman
- Musical Sequences Directed by: Tex Avery, Chuck Couch, Tom Yakutis
- Musical Director: Hoyt Curtin
- Musical Supervisor: Paul DeKorte
- Character Design: Don Morgan
- Sound Directors: Richard Olson, Bill Getty
- Layout Director: Steve Lumley
- Layout: Joe Shearer, Shane Porteus, Deane Taylor
- Animation Director: Geoffrey Collins
- Animators: Peter Gardiner, Gerry Grabner, Greg Ingram, Paul Maron, Henry Neville, Susan Beak, Gairden Cooke, Dick Dunn, Peter Eastment, Don Ezard, Nicholas Harding, Chris Hague, Pamela Lofts, Paul McAdam, John Martin, Ray Nowland, Vivien Ray, Andrew Szermenyei, Jean Tych, Kaye Watts
- Assistant Animation Supervisor: Martin Chatfield
- Assistant Animators: Jac Appel, Fernando Bernia, Astrid Brennan, Rodney D'Silva, John Eyley, Ian Harrowell, Paul Baker, Mark Benvenuti, Jo-Anne Beresford, Marc Erasmus, Eva Hellscher, John Hull, Denise Kirkham, Jane LeRossignol, Helen McAdam, Kevin Peaty, Cliff Secto, Geoff White, Lucie Laarakkers, Steve Lyons, Marie Orr, Philip Peppers, Stella Wakil, Milan Zahorsky
- Supervising Director: Chris Cuddington
- Animation Checking: Jan Cregan, Ellen Bailey, Liz Lane, Frances Mould, Renee Robinson
- Backgrounds: Richard Zaloudek, Sue Speer, Jerry Liew, Ken Wright, Milan Zahorsky Snr., Zdenka Ebner, Judy Nicholson
- Production Co-ordinator: Judy Cross
- Production Control: Vicki Joyce
- Xerox: Jack Pietruska
- Paint: Narelle Derrick
- Paint Check: Liz Goodwin
- Camera: Mark D'Arcy-Irvine, Virginia Browne, Carole Conen, Shaun Bell
- Editing: Robert Ciaglla
- Supervising Film Editor: Larry C. Cowan
- Dubbing Supervisor: Pat Foley
- Music Editors: Terry Moore, Joe Sandusky
- Effects Editors: Julia Bagdonas, Sue Brown, Catherine MacKenzie
- Show Editor: Gil Iverson
- Negative Consultant: William E. DeBoer
- Post Production Supervisor: Joed Eaton
Home media[edit | edit source]
Turner Home Entertainment released Casper's First Christmas on VHS on September 26, 1995.[1]
On July 31, 2012, Warner Bros. released Hanna-Barbera Christmas Classics Collection on DVD in region 1 via their Warner Archive Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and only in the US. This collection features a trilogy of Christmas specials: Casper's First Christmas, The Town That Santa Forgot and A Christmas Story.
References[edit | edit source]
External links[edit | edit source]
- Casper's First Christmas at Internet Movie Database
- Casper's First Christmas @ The Big Cartoon DataBase
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||