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Of: Pär Jonasson
Published:
Photo: DISNEY / BUENA VISTA
Kalle and the woodpecker celebrate Christmas.
Kalle Anka turns 60 on Christmas Eve
Disney Lasse Åberg enthusiast:
– Kalle Anka and her friends are synonymous with Christmas!
Perhaps our most beloved Christmas tradition, Kalle Anka and her friends, turns 60 and is still one of our most popular TV shows, although we can now watch cartoons every day of the year. Over the years, a lot has been removed and added, something that sometimes upsets emotions and sparks debate.
The original American program “From All of Us to All of You” premiered in 1958 and first aired on Swedish television on Christmas Eve 1960 under the name “Kalle Anka and her friends wish Merry Christmas”. Bengt Feldreich, who was the television host for Christmas 1958-1971, acted as the narrator and still does today. He is perhaps best known for his singing efforts when Benjamin Cricket sings “See the star in the blue?” in the final scene.
Changes over the years
Otherwise, a lot has changed on the show over the years. There are only four elements left from the original program, in addition to the intro, ending, and interludes with Mickey Mouse: In Santa’s Workshop, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Cinderella and Lady and Lufsen. Since 1983, the show has looked pretty much the same every year, except for the now-traditional glimpses of the new Disney movies. And even though watching cartoons no longer feels as exclusive as it did in 1960, more than three million Swedes still sit in front of televisions every Christmas Eve; last year, to be precise, 3,358,000 people, when it was the second most watched show of the year.
However, some small changes have also been made in recent years. Among other things, a scene of Mickey Mouse at the camp was cut, where Janne Långben pops popcorn by sticking a fork with an ear of corn in the outlet. Not a good idea in real life … Few were probably upset by this, but the strongest feelings were aroused when in 2012 they cut up the black doll and a dancing bearded man, considered a nidbild of a Jew, from In’s workshop Santa Some claimed the falsification of history and censorship, while many felt that they could continue to watch the wonderful Santa movie with greater awareness after the procedure.
“Choleric and shy at work”
One person who has always been associated with Disney characters is 80-year-old Lasse Åberg, whose huge collection of Disney merchandise can be seen in the Åberg museum in Bålsta. It’s easy to believe that Lasse’s absolute Disney favorite is Mickey Mouse, but that’s not the case, he says when Aftonbladet calls:
– Actually, Kalle Anka is what I like the most. Mickey was fun at first, but then he got so popular, they put him on a pedestal and he got really boring. The duck, on the other hand, is always very angry and shy at work, very understanding.
Photo: DISNEY / BUENA VISTA
Call the bathroom.
What relationship do you have with Kalle Anka and her friends on Christmas Eve?
– It’s a tradition, and after all the Christmas noise and Christmas lunch, it’s nice to sit in front of the TV and burp a bit. Because we saw with our children, but now they have their own families, and even our great-grandson has started to see Kalle … Although we still celebrate Christmas with them sometimes, this year it will only be my wife and I who will sit in the banks us since we are in quarantine.
Kalle Anka and her friends is still one of the most watched TV shows of the year, why do you think that?
– Simply because it is a tradition and for many it is synonymous with Christmas, like Karl-Bertil Jonsson’s Christmas Eve. Even my old Sällskapsresan movies, which are shown on TV4 every Christmas for at least ten years, have started to become a tradition. The first Sällskapsresan also turns 40 this year.
Threw the treasure
Do you think that the younger generations will also continue to see Kalle Anka in the future?
– Yes, the magazine is still alive and the children recognize the characters, even though they are instead looking for the movies on their little devices. But of course it is not the same as watching with the family on Christmas Eve, it is a ritual.
Do you remember the first time the show aired on Swedish television in 1960?
– I think I saw it, but I don’t have a hundred. I was 20 years old and I went to Konstfack, but I was still living at home, and we already had television in 1958. So I have a stronger memory of buying the first Kalle Anka magazine in 1948, which my mother threw away after a week … It was the mothers who made those newspapers so expensive today, ha ha.
What’s your favorite feature about Kalle Anka and her friends?
– I am very fond of that jungle woodpecker who does it for Kalle Anka, he is crazy and funny.
There are only four of the original films left, are there any films you are missing?
– No, not that I am thinking of right now, but I would like to see some of the early black and white Disney movies of the 1930s added. For example, Steamboat Willie or Plane Crazy with Mickey Mouse, or maybe a from Kalle’s early films.
In some of the films, for example in Santa’s workshop, some scenes have been cut, such as the black doll. what do you think about it?
-I’m not a friend of reconstructing history, so it will be like in the Soviet Union where suddenly they retouched people who ended up disagreeing with the party images. I think it is better to report the problem than to try to correct the story. It just reports what is not pk.
Did you know that…
– The original 1958 American show began with Tingeling conjuring up a miniature of Walt Disney on the mantelpiece, welcoming the audience and wishing Merry Christmas.
– Kalle Anka on Christmas Eve was threatened with closure in 1999 by the then newly appointed SVT program director? However, the show was saved by legendary television director Sam Nilsson, who passed away in early December. In 1979 there was a similar threat of closure.
– Cinderella’s voice is made by Alice Babs, the godmother by Sif Ruud and the voices of the mice by Tor Isedal? Other well-known voice actors include Anna-Lotta Larsson as Snövit, Beppe Wolgers as Baloo, and Jan Malmsjö as Lufsen.
– Hoola Bandoola Band, with among others Mikael Wiehe and Björn Afzelius, took its name from the battle cry of ants in a short film with Kalle Anka that was long since removed from the Christmas program.
– Bull Ferdinand was temporarily retired in 1982, but did this stir up such upsetting feelings that they were instead forced to show Ferdinand separately immediately after the regular show?
– Lasse Åberg was the host of Disney Time at SVT 1987, where Aracuan’s song from his Christmas favorite Kalle Anka in the jungle was a signature tune.
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