In 1897, cartoonist Rudolph Dirks created a Sunday feature for the Hearst newspapers: The Katzenjammer Kids , about a pair of incorrigible boys, Hans and Fritz Katzenjammer, who lived to torment their victims -- Mama, the Captain, and the Inspector. The strip proved to be very popular and was turned into a stage play in 1903. A number of legal battles between 1912 and 1914 resulted in Dirks leaving the Hearst fold and creating a "new" strip with the same characters for the Pulitzer newspapers. When it first appeared, the clones strip had no title, but in 1915 the new strip became Hans and Fritz, then the title changed to The Captain and the Kids when America entered World War I and anti-German sentiment was running high. The Katzenjammer Kids strip was continued by Harold Knerr (1914-1949), then by Doc Winner (1949-1956), followed by a series of artist -- Joe Musial, Mike Senich, Angelo Dess, and Hy Eisman -- until the sit finally printed its final strip in 2006; it still continues in reprinted, masking it the longest running comic strip still in syndication. Beginning in 1914, the two strips, The Katzenjammer Kids and The Captain and the Kids, competed with each other, until 1979 when The Captain and the Kids ended its six decade run.
Beginning in 1938, MGM began releasing a series of cartoons, under the helm of Fritz Freeling, about the rambunctious duo. A total of sixteen cartoons were released between 1938 and 1939. The Captain's Christmas was the thirteenth of these and was released on December 17, 1978.
The Captain decides to play Santa Claus, but he is waylaid and replaced by a false Santa who breaks all the toys slated for Hans and Fritz for Christmas. Now he has to find a way to replace them. Hans, Frits, Mama, and the Captain have very minor roles in this short cartoon, and, sadly for Dirks fans, the boys play no tricks here.
Enjoy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd28TetY-5g
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