The secrets behind some of our favorite Christmas movie classics

Estimated reading time: 6-7 minutes

ATLANTA – Watching Christmas movies is a whole tradition unto itself. Whether it’s an animated classic from yesteryear or a more modern take on holiday cheer, every family has its staples.

Learn some of the fascinating stories behind the stories, so you can watch your old favorites with fresh eyes. (And impress everyone with your newfound trivia.)

‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ should have been a flop

“A Charlie Brown Christmas” is currently a comfortable holiday, but some people involved in the production thought it was about to bomb with audiences. In the year The 1965 film was created as a Coca-Cola-funded TV special, but was put together in a few weeks to meet broadcast demands.

Several aspects of the film, such as the light animation and the unique jazz score by pianist Vince Guaraldi, were a little strange for the time. “I think we ruined Charlie Brown,” says director Bill Melendez.

Lo and behold, all those worries were for naught. “A Charlie Brown Christmas” was an instant hit, and all the things the producers worried about were making it so weird that it made it so popular.

Classic songs were recycled, rewritten and renamed for ‘White Christmas’.

In the year Most notable is the fact that Vera-Ellen, who played Judy Haynes, did not perform her own song. (Her dancing, however, was a different story.) Singer Trudeau Stevens provided the voice of Judy.

All the songs in “White Christmas” were written by Irving Berlin, the famous songwriter who wrote hundreds of songs, including “God Bless America.” “White Christmas” is one of his most famous songs and was first performed in the 1942 movie “Holiday Inn”.

The song “Snow” featuring “White Christmas” on their way to Vermont was originally called “Free” and was written for the musical “Call Me Mommy.” Berlin had a completely different set of lyrics that changed to fit the festive mood of the film.

A whole new language is used in ‘How the Grinch Stole Christmas’

“Seussian Latin?” The term describes a powerful collection of words by author Theodore Geisel, better known as Dr. Seuss. In the year For the 1966 animated classic “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” the filmmakers wanted a unique musical feel for Christmas, but didn’t want to include elements that seemed out of step with Seuss’s fantastical world.

Thus, Weevil’s Christmas carols were written in a Seussian style. Viewers wrote in asking for translations after the special aired. Alas, “fahu force, dahu dores” means nothing. The tree with “Bingle Balls and Who Fufufu?” Just use your imagination.

Hundreds appeared in Jack Skellington’s ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’.

Stop motion animation is an art form made with amazing craftsmanship and a lot of patience. In the year The animators behind 1993’s “The Nightmare Before Christmas” used nearly 400 different props to bring Jack Skellington to life. In a behind-the-scenes look at the film, special animators revealed that each voice and facial expression Jack creates requires a separate head that pops out of the character’s puppet body. With such painstaking work, it’s no wonder the film took three years to make!

A woman was the voice of ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’, but was not recognized at first.

Rudolph may have been a cute baby reindeer in the 1964 TV special, but he was brought to life by Canadian voice actor Billie Mae Richards. Much of the audio for this stop-motion classic was Canadian because it was cheaper to record audio specifically for Canada. However, in the film’s opening credits, Richards is referred to as Billy Richards.

That was no accident – she was considered that way on purpose to obscure her gender. She once said that her own grandchildren wouldn’t believe her when they told her she did Rudolph’s voice – but she could prove it by doing the voice on the spot.

Michael Caine performed a perfect balancing act during ‘A Muppet Christmas Carol’

By all accounts, Michael Caine had a great time as a loner in 1992’s “The Muppet Christmas Carol.” However, being a giant among toys comes with a few problems. The bottom of the set was made of a series of holes to make room for the Muppet dolls. That meant Caine and his friends had to walk on boards above the toys. (The floor may be people.)

The set designers also used forced perspective to keep everything in balance – a common technique used in many theme parks as well. They also added a nice nod to Kane: one of the signs on the road reads “Micklewhite”, which is Kane’s real name.

Soap was used to make ‘ice’ in ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’

Not all movie magic is high tech. In the year In the 1940s, when “It’s a Wonderful Life” was made, film crews commonly used colored cornflakes as snow. Although they were almost impossible to melt, they were also a little… tricky. The film’s director, Frank Capra, decided to try something quieter and settled on a custom mix for the winter scenes: ivory soap flakes, crushed ice and fomite, a compound used in fire extinguishers. According to the “It’s a Wonderful Life” museum, you can watch the scene with Clarence and George in the river if you pay close attention to some talking soaps floating by.

‘Shopping Malls’ includes an operatic easter egg

In the year Develop your ears while watching the 1983 comedy “Shopping Malls.” The classical music heard in the opening scene and throughout the film is from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s opera “The Marriage of Figaro”. Christmas movies and classical music go together like milk and cookies (“Ode to Joy” and “Die Hard” anyone?), but Elmer Bernstein, who scored the film, was especially good at adding this special element.

“The Marriage of Figaro” is a tale of maddened misunderstandings, in which a servant tries to get the best of his wealthy employer — much like “Trading Places'” Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy exact revenge on two sleazy executives.

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