The roots of rankin bass stop motion christmas?
Check out this ultra old school russian stop motion animation christmas short from 1913 from the Khanzhonkov Company. This makes me wonder if this started the whole Rankin Bass slew of christmas specials in some way since this has got to be one of the first ever. It also has some pretty weird imagery in it as well. Santa, dancing frogs, skiing insects make this almost dreamlike short quite bizzare! It is very remnisent of something perhaps that the Brothers Quay would have made. It’s actually pretty amazing considering the year it was made…