KID KLASSICS: 'SNOW' USE - I JUST GOTTA TALK ABOUT The SNOWMAN (& HIS DOG)...

Copyright relevant owner

I didn't see The SNOWMAN when it was first broadcast on CHANNEL 4 on Boxing Day in 1982.  It wasn't until I caught the latter half of it the following year (or even the one after that), that I bought the video of the classic cartoon-short about a Snowman who comes to life (as they all do, apparently), and which was based on the 1978 picture-book by RAYMOND BRIGGS.

I'd always assumed that DAVID BOWIE's introduction (first used in the 1983 broadcast) was the only one, so I was surprised to discover later that it wasn't.  The cartoon has now had three intros: the Raymond Briggs original, the Bowie one, one by Briggs' version of Santa (voiced by the late MEL SMITH), and (on DVD) none at all (but with all three intros as separate options).

Most folks probably think ALED JONES was the singer of HOWARD BLAKE's haunting composition WALKING In The AIR, as it was his cover which reached number five in the U.K. charts in 1985.  However, it's actually chorister PETER AUTY's soprano tones on the animated feature, although his name was missing from the credits and not added 'til the 20th anniversary version.

The Snowman and the young lad who built him (JAMES) made cameo appearances in the 1991 animated version of Briggs' FATHER CHRISTMAS, thereby suggesting that James's adventure with his snow pal wasn't a one-off.  This is borne out in the 2012 sequel, The SNOWMAN And The SNOWDOG, where a new boy finds an old box under the floorboards of James's old home, containing a hat, scarf, withered tangerine - and a photograph of James and the Snowman together, obviously taken on an occasion subsequent to the first one.

The sequel is also delightful, though not too different from its predecessor.  However, there are a few things I have some reservations about, so I'll address them here.  Coming thirty years after the original, viewers are within their rights in assuming that perhaps something close to 'real time' has elapsed in the intervening years, as the isolated house in the country is now part of a new estate.  Although surely a housing development would've simply bulldozed the house, rather than gone to the bother of building around (and next to) it.

Also, what happened to James, the original boy?  Would he really have abandoned the Snowman's accoutrements and photo of the two of them together?  I'd have preferred to see him as the new boy's father, passing on a magical secret to his son rather than his fate simply being ignored.  (We at least know he survived into adulthood and bore an uncanny resemblance to David Bowie.)  I suppose, though, that one can always interpret events as James's son and widow moving back to his boyhood home after having left some years before.  Perhaps the adult James only expired after the plans to move back were finalised, or perhaps (on a happier note) he's simply away on business at the time.

One thing I did like was the fact that, when the Snowman is given a fresh tangerine for a new nose, his shrunken, dried out one is utilised for the Snowdog.  "Waste not, want not!" as the old saying goes.  Also, a young girl is seen playing with what is clearly an item of Snowman 'merchandise', while the boy himself has a poster of Briggs' earlier creation from 1977, FUNGUS The BOGEYMAN, on his bedroom wall.  (And see if you can spot the 1966 TV BATMOBILE toy's brief and surprising appearance.)

As for the sequel's song, LIGHT The NIGHT by ANDY BURROWS (which is nowhere in the same league as the original), the makers (LUPUS) should've used either an instrumental version of Walking In The Air, or a new arrangement with perhaps a male-voice choir to distinguish it from Auty's.  (After all, it is the Snowman's 'signature' theme, in the same way that JAMES BOND and SUPERMAN have one also.)  Burrow's song is disappointingly underwhelming (though, for all I know, may be technically and musically perfect), and fails to resonate to anywhere near the same degree as Blake's original 1982 classic composition.

For all those interested, a DVD box-set of The Snowman & The Snowman and The Snowdog is available from most HMV stores and other outlets.  Or you can catch up with them on TV over Christmas if you're too much of a skinflint.  Well worth watching!  One thing I'd really like to know is this, though: what gives the Snowman his individual personality?  Is it the garden he's built in, or the person who builds him?  Or is it perhaps the accessories he wears?  If James is still alive and he were to build a Snowman, would it be a different one (personality-wise) to the one he built as a kid, or the same one?  Anybody got any thoughts on the matter?

"MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!"

KLASSIC CHRISTMAS KOMIC KOVERS - TERRIFIC #38...

Image copyright MARVEL COMICS

This story had previously been reprinted in a couple of issues of SMASH! (in two parts), also around Christmas, and whenever I look at the cover and b&w pages within, I'm back in my home town as it was in 1967, and not the vastly changed place it is today.  That's the thing about comics from yesteryear - they return us to the time in which we first read them, and which, if we're honest, we wish we could revisit far more often than we do.  Am I right, or am I right?

MY VERY 'FIRST' CHRISTMAS BEANO...

Images copyright D.C. THOMSON & Co., Ltd

As an adult, that is.  Chances are that I had at least one Christmas issue when I was a kid, but this is the earliest one I own, the very ish I bought back in 1978 when I was a mere 20 years of age.  It's possible I bought it in Southsea when I was down there to be best man at a (now former) friend's wedding, but it's equally possible I bought it within a day or two of returning home.  I'll be posting a few other pages from the comic over the next few days, but in the meantime, here's the 'world's wildest boy', DENNIS The MENACE!  Enjoy.

KID KLASSICS: SUNNY SUMMER SPECIALS OF YESTERYEAR...

Images copyright relevant and respective owners

It's the depths of winter once again, so let's cheer ourselves up by stepping back into sunnier climes with a look at some of the great Summer Specials from a long-vanished era.  Ready?

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One of the things that every blogger has to concern themselves with is just what to write about for each new post, in the hope that at least someone will be interested in reading the result.  One can never really tell with any certainty just what will float a reader's boat so it's a bit of a gamble whenever a blog host takes the plunge with yet another entry for his members' perusal and hopeful appreciation.  Will a catchy title arouse their curiosity?  Will a dramatic opening illustration grab their attention?  Sometimes I'm surprised as to just what attracts a significant number of hits - and sometimes I'm disappointed in equal measure as to what seems to escape under the radar.

So, "what's the recipe for today, Jim?" - and will it be enough to lure you into my blog's web for a few enjoyable minutes of reading pleasure?  Let's look at the subject of Summer Specials - or Holiday Specials as they were also sometimes called.  Asides from three new Ultimate Beano Summer Specials which graced the shelves of WHS a while back, the particular breed known as the Summer Special seems to be extinct.  Hardly surprising given the dying interest in comics in general, but no less disappointing for that inarguable fact.

Those of a certain age will recall the glory days, when - for a mere 2'6d (usually) - 96 pages of fun and adventure could be had to pore over again and again.  There was just something about those extra thick publications that seemed to beckon to us from the newsagents' counters - enticing us to spend the halfcrown that a kindly and indulgent grandparent or uncle had given to us only a day or two before.  We were mainly unaware that, inevitably, these bumper packages contained an allocation of reprinted strips from comics or annuals of an earlier era - and what did it matter anyway?  They were definitely new to us.

So come with me now on a short journey, and let us return to an age when Holiday Specials were a welcome distraction as we sheltered under the leafy shade of an overhanging branch from the heat of the sweltering Summer sun.  A bottle of pop in one hand, an oversized paper periodical in the other, the future remained an undiscovered country - in which, sadly, all too soon we would find ourselves residing while wondering how we got there. 

    

And below is one of my all-time favourite Specials - the TV CENTURY 21 Summer Extra for 1965.  Took me years to track down this replacement, but I got it for a very reasonable price.