Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town

It’s the 100th episode of the Advent Calendar House! Join us as we put one foot in front of the other back to 1970 to revisit a Rankin/Bass Christmas classic that dares to answer children’s questions about Santa Claus while illegally opening his mail.

Full show notes with links at https://adventcalendar.house/episodes/santa-claus-is-comin-to-town.

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🎙 Guests:

• Michael DiGiovanni (@theatomicgeeks) from the Classic Film Jerks and Pop Culture Retrofit podcasts.

• Erin Evans (@mserinevans).

• Michael May (@michaelmaycomix) from MichaelMay.online and AfterLUNCH.

• Brandon Medley (@brandmed, Instagram: @blessedarethegeek).

• Joey O. (@imgonnadj24) from Y-Not Radio.

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💬 Topics & Tangents:

• Both IMDb and Wikipedia had the premiere date wrong because of a typo in an old book. Rich Goldschmidt’s The Making of Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town and The Daydreamer gets it right.

• Former pro-wrestler Special Delivery Jones.

• Burgermeister Meisterburger is a dead ringer for Mauser from Police Academy 2 and 3.

• Context clues place this special in Sweden.

• Hey, IMDb, I highly doubt the Greg Thomas voicing young Kris Kringle grew up to play the saxophone in Parliament Funkadelic.

• For a while, Topper was renamed Waddles.

• Kris’s weird face he makes after being caught by the Winter Warlock’s angry trees.

• Save the Earth from Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster.

• Weddings on Christmas Day used to be popular.

• The first known recording of the song Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town, and our favorite versions.

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📼 Retro Commercial Break:

• Folgers Coffee: Peter Comes Home for Christmas, 1982.

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Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town © 1970 Rankin/Bass Productions.

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Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.