Small One and Santa's Workshop

Part One of Disney's numerous Christmas movies and shorts, tonight I viewed two of the more rarely seen shorts.

Starting the night off is "Santa's Workshop" a Silly Symphony from 1932. This delightful short follows Santa Claus as he reads the Naughty and Nice list while his elves rush about to prepare for the long night ahead. The short has a rather quick pace and no real storyline like the Mickey Mouse shorts, we largely just get to see Santa's workshop. One of the more interesting bits is seeing how the toys are made, from dolls being scared so that their hair stands on end to be permed, to chess boards being painted on.

While the animation probably feels sub-par compared to what is being put out today, back in the 1930's this would have been rather well done. The backgrounds are wonderfully detailed, instead of small boxes we get piles of various toys. This short was eventually followed up with a sequel the following year, one of the few shorts to have that.


The Small One is one of those rare shorts that actually handles Christian themes from Disney, who often shied away from religion despite small inclusions scattered throughout their animated history. Small One is a rather moving tale of a young boy and the love he has for his pet donkey who is rather old and unable to pull his weight anymore on the farm. Not wanting to part with his faithful friend, he still sets out for the nearby town and insists that he will be the one to sell the donkey to ensure it finds a good home.

Through the long short, he encounters a variety of characters as he searches for the right person from the Tanner to a greedy merchant who runs the auction house. Eventually though, he finds just the right man to sell him to and even gives his loyal friend a new special purpose as the short closes.

Well animated, the Small One has a rather nice opening song during the credits as well as a more upbeat one later into the short. Despite the good animation, it doesn't quite have a Disney look to it but I have also had less exposure to it so far. Perhaps in time that one small thing will change, but until then this is still a wonderful short and is well worth hunting down to watch.