Actually it is seven children (Lil Audrey, a black child, an Asian, a Hawaiian girl, an Hispanic girl, a Dutch boy and a Russian boy) who sneak into Santa's sleigh and follow him to the North Pole to surprise him by cleaning his home and doing his dishes while he sleeps.
Yes, the black child is very Sambo-ish and the Asian child is sinisterly slit-eyed (notice how he sees Santa; by looking over his own shoulder into a mirror), but in the end the comedy relief is all on the Dutch boy; noisy shoes, breaking dishes, caught in the washing machine.
In some ways, this is a charming predecessor to Star Trek, with its international lineup (as well as possessing a previous enemy to America, the Asian child, and a product of the upcoming cold war, the Russian).
There is a surprise here in this unlikely 1947 cartoon, for Santa as well as for the rest of us as to when people started opening their eyes.
And it began with the kids, apparently.
Yes, the black child is very Sambo-ish and the Asian child is sinisterly slit-eyed (notice how he sees Santa; by looking over his own shoulder into a mirror), but in the end the comedy relief is all on the Dutch boy; noisy shoes, breaking dishes, caught in the washing machine.
In some ways, this is a charming predecessor to Star Trek, with its international lineup (as well as possessing a previous enemy to America, the Asian child, and a product of the upcoming cold war, the Russian).
There is a surprise here in this unlikely 1947 cartoon, for Santa as well as for the rest of us as to when people started opening their eyes.
And it began with the kids, apparently.