Mister Magoo’s Christmas Carol

The Making of the First Animated Christmas Special

by Darrell Van Citters

There are numerous animated holiday classics, which continue to entertain families every year, and there have even been books on the making of several of them, A Charlie Brown Christmas and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Unfortunately there has never been anything documenting the animated special that started it all, Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol. Until now.

Darrell Van Citters, the supervising director at Renegade Animation, has researched and written a book revealing the story behind this ground breaking animated special. All the surviving cast and crew members from the production were located and interviewed, as well as family members of crew now deceased, as the core of the research. He also worked closely with the estates of the producer, director, writer and songwriters in assembling this book. Ancillary personnel were interviewed and further information and photos were gathered from several archives.

There are dozens of photos, including extremely rare shots from the song recording session. A great deal of art from the film illustrating all phases of production has been scanned or acquired for use in the book. There are over 230 pieces of art, including rare early concept sketches and at least two dozen background paintings, all of which were thought to be lost.

The story of the making of Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol will reveal previously unknown information regarding the production as well as dispel a number of myths currently circulating on the internet.