Fleischer Studios (1936)

The orphans were all animated based on a template of one of them, whose toy soldier falls through the sock. The short was directed by Dave Fleischer, it starred Jack Mercer as the voice of Grampy; it was Grampy’s only appearance in which Betty Boop did not appear.

Along with many of the other Color Classics, Christmas Comes But Once a Year is today in the public domain. On various video copies of the film, it is released with Hector’s Hectic Life, and a few other productions by Famous Studios, including Snow Foolin‘. Certain prints also contain Jack Frost, a 1934 cartoon produced by Ub Iwerks and released through Celebrity Productions.

The film’s title song would be slightly rewritten the following year for the New Years-themed Popeye the Sailor cartoon “Let’s Celebrake” where it was sung by Popeye and Bluto at the beginning.