Danny & Marlo Thomas & Roddy McDowall in Cricket on the Hearth (1967)

When we think of Dickens and Christmas, we naturally think of A Christmas Carol. In truth, Dickens wrote five Christmas stories, including the one that this holiday special was based on. Though this animated story produced by holiday heavyweights Rankin & Bass bears little resemblance to the original novela, it has some charming musical numbers and a sweet story to warm your heart. Bertha (Marlo Thomas), the daughter of toy maker Caleb (Danny Thomas) is in love with handsome Edward. When Edward is lost at sea, Bertha suffers a case of hysterical blindness and the family falls on hard times. Will the luck of their cricket, Crocket (Roddy McDowall) see them through? Also in the cast is veteran character actor Hans Conried, Abby Lane and the Norman Luboff Choir.

This special is available on DVD, and can also be seen on YouTube. Part one is above, uploaded by starwarsmarveldc.

Obscurity factor: 8 (available on DVD & YouTube, largely forgotten)

Elaine Stritch & Hans Conried on Pantomime Quiz (1947)

Obscurity factor: 8

Charades swept the nation as a party game in post war America. Was television - the slave to all trends - to be far behind? Subsequently retitled Stump the Stars, this series brought together television and film personalities in two teams of four to play Charades with clues sent in by viewers, who won a gift package from the sponsor if their clue was chosen.

Above is part 2 of an early episode featuring Elaine Stritch and Hans Conried uploaded to YouTube by dentelTV1. I've set it to start at Elaine's spot. Though the series started in 1947, this dates to sometime in probably the early 50's. There are other episodes to see on YouTube and it can be found in classic game show complation DVDs.

Obscurity factor: 8 (dimly remembered, on DVD in compilations, available on YouTube)

Ken Berry & Sandy Duncan in The Cat From Outer Space 1978

The 1970's was an interesting era for Disney films. They had a string of successful live action films, culminating in The Black Hole (1979), while the number of their animated productions fell into decline. One of these lesser known live action productions was The Cat from Outer Space (1978). Experiencing mechanical problems, a UFO lands in a field and attempts to contact the mother ship for assistance. They cannot provide it, so the lone alien must find a way to fix the problem himself. The hatch opens and out comes Jake, a seemingly ordinary household tabby cat with telekinetic and telepathic powers (when he's wearing his blingy light up collar). Of course he must jump through many (figurative) hoops to fix his ship and rejoin his fleet before they depart the solar system. He's aided by Ken Berry, Sandy Duncan and McLean Stevenson. As with all of these 70's Disney films, it's choc full of great character actors - Sorrell Booke (Boss Hogg to Dukes of Hazard fans), Hans Conried and Roddy McDowell, to name a few. Jake the cat is voiced by Ronnie Schell, who you may remember from his many appearances on 70's sit-coms. It's silly, diverting fare that is especially enjoyable for cat lovers. I saw it when it was first released (I was 9), and remember enjoying it quite a bit.

There's an extremely poor quality version of it on YouTube, uploaded by mcog2006, and as with most Disney films, it's available on DVD. Unlike its brethren from that era (The Apple Dumpling Gang and to a lesser extent, Candleshoe) It's rarely screened on TV, however.

Obscurity factor: 6 (largely forgotten, available on DVD and YouTube)

Butch Patrick in The Phantom Tollbooth 1970

We all remember Butch Patrick as the little werewolf child of Herman and Lilly Munster. What few know is that Mr. Patrick had been having, and has continued to have a rather prolific career. In 1970 he starred as Milo in the Chuck Jones animated film of Norman Juster's children's classic The Phantom Tollbooth. Bored, Milo has sort of given up on life at the tender age of about 9. One day, an enormous package appears in his room, and magically unwraps itself to reveal a tollbooth and toy car. With nothing else to do, Milo decides to drive through the toll booth. He comes out on the other side as an animated version of himself, and on a road to Expectations. As he proceeds through this new land he learns lessons about navigating the ins and outs of life and interactions with others and regains his curiosity and desire to rejoin life. The film is beautifully illustrated by the Chuck Jones team, with marvelously witty characters and voiced by such animation luminaries as Mel Blanc. The style of illustration differs greatly from the book, however, so fans of the book are usually disappointed by the film. If you're coming to it fresh, though, it's fun to watch. Also listen for Hans Conried (The 10,000 Fingers of Dr. T.) as King Azaz and The Mathmagician.

This was the last animated film to come out of MGM and it was delayed in release due to the internal problems going on there at the time. The film was actually completed in 1969. It's not available on DVD yet, but a digitally remastered release is in the works. It was released on VHS in the early 90's, and copies are still floating around. In the mean time, you can watch the entire film on YouTube as uploaded by lesinistre. The first installment is above.

Obscurity factor: 8 (not on DVD, available on VHS and YouTube)