The City That Forgot About Christmas

This was the third of four animated TV specials produced by Lutheran Television in the 1970s starring the duo of Benji and his faithful sheepdog Waldo. As stated before, these specials were notorious due to its limited animation style and poor writing, but this one is sort of an improvement thanks to a good premise and some witty dialogue.

This special basically tells the story of Matthew, a lonely carpenter who comes to set up shop in a city that is run by a greedy, mean-spirited mayor, who is constantly tagged along by his three annoying aides. Apparently, the city has forgotten the true meaning of Christmas and Matthew tries to spread it to the townsfolk, much to the disdain of the mayor, who thinks Matthew is trouble and wants him gone.

Again, the production company was able to secure big-name voice talent for these specials. This one contains voices by Sebastian Cabot, Casey Kasem, Charles Nelson Reilly, and Louis Nye. It's just too bad these specials have fallen into obscurity due to the technical limitations.

🎄Probably the last Christmas cartoon I watched that I was still young enough to watch Christmas cartoons. Takes me back to that last moment that Christmas was something special for childhood🎄

This is a film by the Lutheran Church, so its purpose is to present Christmas from a Christian perspective. The animation is rather low cost (they repeat motions and images, mouths do not synchronize with the words...), but my family has always enjoyed the humor in the well written story--so we watch this show most every year. My boys especially like the simple minded men who follow the mayor about. These three often repeat the same phrases with the third giving a humorous twist. The songs are also simple, but nicely done, clear and memorable: "you can't stop Christmas no matter how you try" and "chip, chip, chip away." Other than the odd animation (which probably matters most to adults anyway), this is an excellent show for children.

I saw this around Christmas 2007. I know it's dated, but I found it to be an entertaining story and a great choice for younger viewers. It begins with a boy depressed over the coming Christmas. All he's seen is the season making everyone around grumpy. His grandfather then tells a story of a similar situation. The story he tells is of a gloomy city that has forgotten Christmas and where nearly everyone is nasty towards one another. One day a man named Matthew, a carpenter, arrives in town. Matthew shares with the children what makes him different and what makes Christmas very special, the birth of Jesus Christ. Soon everyone in the city begins planning a big Christmas celebration, the first in many years. But the Mayor and his henchmen plan to stop the celebration.

"The City that Forgot Christmas" is a 1974 animated TV short. It's one of a series made by Lutheran Television with a young boy, Benji, and his big sheepdog, Waldo. In this film, Benji and siblings get reprimanded by parents about being careful with Christmas ornaments. So, they decide that they don't want Christmas anymore. Well, when they go see what grandpa is working on, Matthew tells them a tale about a city that forgot about Christmas.

The town had forgotten about Christmas and the mayor and his cronies are all nay-sayers and an unhappy and a nasty lot. Then a carpenter comes to the town one day - it's Matthew, and he starts helping people, fixing things, and telling the kids about Christmas. So, the town turns around, and then Benji and other kids decide they want Christmas after all.

This short has some prominent personalities of the day doing voices. They include Sebastian Cabot, Louis Nye and Casey Kasem.