Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny
| Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny | |
|---|---|
Original theatrical release poster
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| Directed by |
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| Produced by | Barry Mahon |
| Written by | R. Winer |
| Starring | Jay Clark |
| Narrated by | Dorothy Brown Green |
| Music by |
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| Cinematography |
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| Edited by |
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| Distributed by | R & S Film Enterprises Inc. |
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Release date
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1972 |
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Running time
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96 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny is a 1972 American musical fantasy film written, composed, shot, edited, and directed by R. Winer to frame Barry Mahon's Childhood Productions films for a Christmas release. The threadbare plot concerns Santa Claus's attempts to free his sleigh from the sands of a Florida beach, assisted by local children.
Different prints of the film feature one of two films-within-the-film (that takes up a majority of the film itself). They are Barry Mahon's previously filmed 1970 adaptations of Hans Christian Andersen's Thumbelina or Benjamin Tabart's Jack and the Beanstalk.
Poor acting and production values have garnered Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny a cult following.
In Santa's workshop in the North Pole, Santa's elves sing about Christmas nearing and Santa's absence. Meanwhile, on a beach in Florida, Santa's sleigh has become mired in the sand, and his reindeer have flown away to escape the heat, leaving him stuck. Santa sings a song bemoaning his troubles, then falls asleep.
Several local children hear Santa calling them telepathically and run to him. Santa awakes and explains his predicament. One boy asks why Santa does not fly back to the North Pole on a plane; he explains that he cannot abandon his sleigh and needs their help pulling it out of the sand. The kids bring him several animals, including a pig, a sheep, a donkey, a horse, and a gorilla.
Meanwhile, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn watch and comment on the action from a distance.
When all the children's attempts fail, Santa encourages them not to give up hope, and tells them a story about a girl who visits the theme park Pirates World and hears the story of "Thumbelina" as an example. A previously produced film of Thumbelina plays, complete with its original credit sequence, and runs longer than its frame story (alternate prints of the film use another Mahon adaptation, Jack and the Beanstalk, as Santa's story).
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