Santa and the Three Bears is a 1970 animated featurette

Featurette

Featurette is a term used in the American film industry to designate a film whose length is approximately three quarters of a reel, or about 20–44 minutes in running time - thus midway between a short subject and a feature film; thus it is a "small feature"...

, which aired on television regularly during the holiday season. It was later released on video in 1992 by Kids Klassics and distributed by GoodTimes Home Video in the VHS

VHS

The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....

 format.

The VHS release is incorrectly labeled as being a "Full Length Animated Color Feature" as it is only 45 minutes long, making the reissue a featurette length instead. Originally a 76-minute film when it was created in 1970

1970 in film

The year 1970 in film involved some significant events.-Events:* January 9 - Larry Fine, the second member of The Three Stooges, suffers a massive stroke, therefore ending his career....

, a live-action portion has been edited out of the 1992 release, dropping the runtime to 45 minutes. The film was pitched to TV networks at first, who rejected it as it lacked a villain, but was then shown in theatres instead.

Plot summary

Two young bears, Nikomi and Chinook, know nothing of Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

 until the local park ranger tells them about the legend, and they become curious to meet Santa Claus

Santa Claus

Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...

. Their mother, Nana, is preparing for Winter hibernation and cynically tells her children that there is no Santa, but they are determined to believe. Mother finds it impossible to begin their sleep, since the young cubs wish to stay awake until Santa arrives.

Voice cast

• Hal Smith
  Hal Smith (actor)
  Harold John "Hal" Smith was an American character actor and voice actor. Smith is best known as Otis Campbell, the town drunk on The Andy Griffith Show, and was the voice of many characters on various animated cartoon shorts...
  
   as Grandfather/Santa/Mr. Ranger
• Jean Vander Pyl
  Jean Vander Pyl
  Jean Vander Pyl was an American actress on radio, television and movies. Although her career spanned many decades, she is best remembered as the voice of Wilma Flintstone from the Hanna-Barbera cartoon The Flintstones...
  
   (credited as Jean van der Pyl) as Nana
• Christina Ferra-Gilmore (credited as Annette Ferra) as Nikomi
• Bobby Riha as Chinook
• Joyce Taylor
• Ken Engels
• Beth Goldfarb as Beth
• Brian Hobbs as Brian
• Lenard Keith
• Kathy Lemmon
• Roxanne Poole
• Michael Rodriguez

Release

• This film appeared on a Christmas compilation video called The Biggest Ever Christmas Video along with Huxley Pig
  Huxley Pig
  Huxley Pig was a stop-motion animated children's television series from 1989 and 1990.Based on the picture books by Rodney Peppe, the series was produced by FilmFair for Central TV .-General Theme:...
  
  , Nellie the Elephant
  Nellie the Elephant (TV series)
  Nellie the Elephant was a short-lived cartoon series created by Terry Ward on behalf of Film Fair in the United Kingdom that ran between 1989 and 1990. The series featured Lulu as the voice of Nellie with Tony Robinson as narrator...
  
  , The Care Bears
  The Care Bears (TV series)
  The Care Bears is an animated television series based on the Care Bears franchise, which aired between 1985 and 1988 in syndication; on the ABC network in the United States; and on Global in Canada. The 1985 episodes were produced by DIC Entertainment; the ABC/Global episodes were made by...
  
  , Mr Men, SuperTed
  SuperTed
  SuperTed is a Welsh teddy bear who has magical super powers. He along with his friend Spotty try to do good. SuperTed was a series of stories created by Mike Young who eventually created a television series based on those stories.-Creation:...
  
  , Paddington Bear
  Paddington Bear
  Paddington Bear is a fictional character in children's literature. He appeared on 13 October 1958 and was subsequently featured in several books, most recently in 2008, written by Michael Bond and first illustrated by Peggy Fortnum....
  
  , Babar
  Babar (TV series)
  Babar is an animated television series produced in Canada by Nelvana Limited and The Clifford Ross Company. It premiered in 1989 on CBC and HBO, subsequently was rerun on HBO Family and Qubo. The series is based on Jean de Brunhoff's original Babar books, and was Nelvana's first international...
  
  and three other Christmas films. The art director / production designer is artist Walt Peregoy
  Walter Peregoy
  Walter Peregoy is an American artist who was a color stylist and background artist in animated cartoons. Among the studios he worked at were Walt Disney Productions 1951-1964, 1974–1983, Format Films and Hanna-Barbera . He has received little publicity over his career, but has been acclaimed for...
  
  .
• This film is currently in Public Domain and currently available on DVD and on Netflix's Instant Stream service