WELCOME TO THE K. GORDON MURRAY "SANTA CLAUS" BLOG SITE!

"Whether you are in a cave... or behind a million mountains, SANTA CLAUS sees you with his MASTER EYE!" It sounds like something straight out of your worst childhood nightmares. But in November of 1959, this bizarre holiday film premiered to select theaters across the United States and Mexico. The world, and more importantly, Santa Claus, has never been the same... thanks largely to the promotional guinness of a small-time distributor operating out of Coral Gables, Florida. K. Gordon Murray's successful ad campaign spawned a new film sub-genre, the CHILDREN'S MATINEE. From 1960... until the birth of VHS, independent distributors flooded the market with a cavalcade of curiosity pieces. Subjects ranging from live-action interpretations of Grimm's fairy tales... to holiday films containing Martians and Easter Bunnies. Even the major Hollywood studios wanted their piece of the action.


Ballyhoo Motion Pictures is proud to present to you this collection of articles, reviews, stills, and other media concerning the film that started it all... 50 years ago! Happy 50th Anniversary, "SANTA CLAUS"! I'm sure "far out in the heaven's, high above the North Pole", K. Gordon Murray has a 'showman's' smile on his face.


BALLYHOO MOTION PICTURES WOULD LIKE TO THANK ROB CRAIG FOR A PORTION OF THE INFORMATION FOUND IN THIS BLOG.



BALLYHOO MOTION PICTURES

PRESENTS

SANTA CLAUS 50TH ANNIVERSARY GIFT SET

BALLYHOO MOTION PICTURES is proud to present our official WONDER WORLD OF K. GORDON MURRAY documentary merchandise. This unique gift set is a great companion to the MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 VOLUME XVI DVD box set (featuring the famed SANTA CLAUS episode)! The GIFT SET includes one (1) 11x17 inch "SANTA CLAUS: 50th Anniversary Poster" printed on medium/glossy paper stock, three (3) 4x6 inch "SANTA CLAUS" postcards (three separate artworks), one (1) "SANTA CLAUS" button set (two 1.5 inch buttons) with packaging, one (1) collectable "YOUNG AMERICA HORROR CLUB" 2.25 inch button, one (1) "WONDER WORLD OF K. GORDON MURRAY" 2.25 inch button, and a SURPRISE "RETRO" GIFT! It could be anything! "Whether you are in a cave... or behind a millions mountains, SANTA CLAUS sees you with his MASTER EYE!" This Mexican production was originally released in 1959, but it gained its reputation as a cult classic throughout the 1960's... thanks to the promotional techniques of film distributor, K. Gordon Murray. Later, the film reached legendary status as a 'riffed' feature on Comedy Central's MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 television show. Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of this holiday classic with this unique GIFT SET... available exclusively from BALLYHOO MOTION PICTURES!!! To find out more about this film and K. Gordon Murray, visit the WONDER WORLD at: www.kgordonmurraymovie.com "THE WONDER WORLD OF K. GORDON MURRAY in COLORSCOPE" Official Movie Merchandise Copyright ©2009 Ballyhoo Motion Pictures All Rights Reserved.


TO PURCHASE YOUR EXCLUSIVE GIFT SET,

VISIT THE BALLYHOO MOTION PICTURE EBAY STORE AT:

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SECRET LABORATORY

One of the things which makes SANTA CLAUS a fantasy classic is the absolutely amazing, daring, bizarre production design. There are numerous wonderful, colorful, lurid, cheesy and surreal f/x and objects, an exceptional combination of baroque and ultra-modern, reflecting no doubt significant cultural changes in Mexico at the time.


For instance, Santa's "Fantastic Crystal Laboratory" is surely one of the most amazing things ever designed for children's cinema as well. (Disney surely stole many of the concepts for the scientific toy factory in his BABES IN TOYLAND musical, which was released the next year).


An entirely expressionist view of cutting-edge scientific technology, this astonishing super-lab boasts many amazing new inventions, many, curiously, of a "covert surveillance" nature. The very creepy "Master Eye" was an early cinematic manifestation of the fear and paranoia of Cold War spying, chilling because it might have been true. The design itself is a steal from the Martians in George Pal's exciting WAR OF THE WORLDS. A TV dish antenna with a human ear grafted on is effective, but perverse, to say the least.


Most odd of all, however, is the absurd "Tele-Talker", a giant face screen with a phallic, light-up nose and gargantuan, talking, ruby-red lips, aptly illustrating every small child's oral fixation, bigger than life itself! Elsewhere, Santa's mechanical reindeer are extremely malefic, as they laugh in a most sinister (and irritating) way.


By ROB CRAIG

NEXT STOP... HELL!

SANTA'S EVIL INFERNO

By Rob Craig


SANTA CLAUS is also obsessed with evil, as well as, again, the title character. And Santa Claus' perspective on evil is ambiguous: the very first time we see him, he is laughing at a creche depicting the birth of Christ! What are we to make of this? Devotion, or mockery? Soon after, at the prompting of Tom Thumb (Cesareo Quezadas, reprising his role from the 1958 fantasy PULGARCITO, aka TOM THUMB), and Little Red Riding Hood (actually the first appearance of Maria Gracia, a year before her first starring vehicle, LITTLE RED RIDING HOOD), Santa picks up a Devil firecracker, and lights it. We blink our eyes, and we are in Hell! A literal terrifying Hell! The Catholic Hell! The most horrible place in the universe! One of the most amazing depictions of Hell, in fact, in all cinema. This scene is surely one of the most absurd, and potentially frightening visages of evil's domain ever to be foisted upon small children.


At this juncture, we can have no doubt that, title aside, the real star of this "All-time Children's Fantasy Classic" is, of course, Lucifer himself! And as depicted here, Lucifer is one of the most bizarre/literal depictions of evil as an actual, tangible presence ever mounted in cinema. One wonders, why weren't there Christian picketers outside this sacrilegious film, instead of LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST?" SANTA CLAUS' Hell is sinister, theatrical, grotesque, much too complex and grim for a child. It is, even in its more comical aspects, truly a Hell for children.


As we soon discover, the Devil not only preys on little girls: he also likes rude little boys! Pitch's subsequent mental torture of three young boys borders at times on pure harassment, and again, we feel that no human child in his right mind could resist such powerful spiritual temptation. SANTA CLAUS may have unwittingly taught little ones more about evil than any film in History; the devil's plan to use the human qualities of pride, greed, fear, ignorance and envy to mess up Santa Claus, that is, destroy civilization.


The ultra-simplistic morality of SANTA CLAUS, emphatic to the point of dogma, seems from another mindset entirely, like something you might even hear in church, conveyed with the force of a sledge-hammer.

TRAILER NARRATION

When K. Gordon Murray previewed "SANTA CLAUS" in Mexico City in the late summer of 1959, he knew almost instantly how to market it in the United States. It was after all, a foreign film, and imported films were not successful at that time. And this was a foreign CHILDREN'S film. But Murray had plan! Using the tactics he, and the exploiteers before him, employed to distribute 'ADULTS ONLY' films, K. Gordon Murray Productions launched an impressive ad campaign focused directly on kids. Not adults, not parents, just the children. They were the core audience Murray wanted to attend the film.


Below is the narration for the first theatrical trailer to hit the screens (debuting October, 1960). The first trailer was narrated by K. Gordon Murray himself.


"Whether you're in a cave, or behind a million mountains, Santa Claus sees you through his Master Eye, and invites you to his Magic Wonderland! See Santa Claus in his magic motion picture! Come past the doors of his towering castle, into a fantastic crystal laboratory, filled with weird and wonderful secrets; into his heavenly workshop, the most marvelous toy factory of all! Watch his battle with the mischievous demon who wants to get children into trouble! You'd better watch out! You're gonna shout about the picture that won the Golden Gate Family Film award! Everyone, everywhere, is waiting for the K. Gordon Murray presentation, SANTA CLAUS!"

CAST AND CREW

SANTA CLAUS (1959)

Mexi-Scope/Color 97 minutes

Filmed at Churubusco-Azteca studios

Mexico City


CAST

Jose Elias Moreno.......................................................Santa Claus

Cesarero Quezadas...................................Pulgarcito/Tom Thumb

Jose Luis Aguirre, aka "Trosky".......... el Diablo/Pitch, The Devil

Armando Arriola, aka "Arriolita"..................el Mago Merlin/Merlin

Antonio Diaz Conde Hijo...................................el Nino Rico/Ricky

Angel D'Estefani.........................el Herrero Ilavon/The Blacksmith

Lupita Quezadas, aka "Lupita".....................la Nina Pobre/Lupita


WITH

Nora Veryan

Leopoldo Ortin Jr.

Manuel Calvo (as "Manolo Calvo")

Jose Carlos Mendez

Jesus Brook

Ruben Ramirez G.

Queta Lavat (as "Enriqueta Lavat"),

Guillermo Bravo Sosa

Graciela Lara

Rosa Maria Aguilar

Pablo Ferrel

Graciela Lara



CREW


Produced by Guillermo Calderon Stell

Directed by Rene Cardona

Story & Screenplay by Adolfo Torres Portillo and Rene Cardona

Cinematography by Raul Martinez Solares

Musical Direction by Antonio Diaz Conde

Songs by Marchetti, Miguel Macias F., and Armando Torres

"Ballet de las Munecas" and "Danza del Infierno"

Choreography by Ricardo Luna



OTHER CREDITS


Assistant Camera: Gabriel Castro

Camera Operator: Cirilo Rodriguez

Production Design: Francisco Marcos Chillet (as "Marcos Chillet")

Executive Producer: Rene Cardona Jr.

Assistant Director: Felipe Palmino

Toys: Sears Roebuck

Editor: Jorge Bustos

Assistant Editor: Jose Li-Ho

Special Effects: Gordillo Y Martinez

Costumes: Bertha Mendoza Lopez (as "B. Mendoza Lopez")

Make-Up: Concepcion Zamora

Sound: James L. Fields

Dialogue Recordist: Nicolas de La Rosa

Music Recordist: Galdino Samperio

Sound Editor: Reynaldo Portillo

Titles: M. Hector Osorio O.

Production Manager: Guillermo Alcayde

Assistant Production Manager: Federico Serrano

Hair Stylist: Fernando Zamarripa



US RELEASE (K. GORDON MURRAY)



SANTA CLAUS (1959)

ColorScope, 94 minutes

Distributed by K. Gordon Murray Productions

Presented by K. Gordon Murray

Produced by K. Gordon Murray

Directed by K. Gordon Murray (as "Ken Smith")

Narrated by K. Gordon Murray (as "Ken Smith")


STILL GALLERY







POSTER GALLERY






SANTA CLAUS TV SPOT

K. GORDON MURRAY Presents "SANTA CLAUS"- TV SPOT



"YOU BETTER WATCH OUT... YOU'LL WANT TO SHOUT!"

Join BALLYHOO MOTION PICTURES as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of this cult holiday classic! Produced in Mexico City by Guillermo Calderón (ROBOT vs. THE AZTEC MUMMY) and directed by Rene Cardona (WRESTLING WOMEN vs. THE AZTEC MUMMY).

To learn more about "SANTA CLAUS" and it's 50 year history, be sure to check out the ALL-NEW featurette, "SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE DEVIL"... found only on the MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 Volume XVI DVD box set... available December 1st, 2009 from SHOUT! FACTORY.

"THE WONDER WORLD OF K. GORDON MURRAY in COLORSCOPE"- The feature-length documentary film.... COMING 2010! Visit the WONDER WORLD!

PRODUCED BY BALLYHOO MOTION PICTURES

FILM REVIEW: Tony Kay


"SANTA CLAUS" FILM REVIEW by Tony Kay

(from Brian Moran's SANTO STREET magazine)

Director Rene Cardona's SANTA CLAUS remains the devil's most famous Mexican film vehicle. The infamous K. Gordon Murray imported this unique children's opus for holiday releases and it made the Florida entrepreneur a mint over the years. Love it or hate it, you'll never forget it!


SANTA CLAUS has taken some major lumps from many scribes of late. Indeed, the movie's cheap visual effects, hysterically literal English-language narration and lapses in logic could well be viewed as liabilities by conventional standards. This is not a conventional movie, however. Like any fairy tale worth its salt, its chintziness and childish absurdity exist in a fascinating marriage with some truly dark, imaginative images.


Adults may wonder why the emissary of Satan confines himself to messing around with the heads of a few little kids (instead of, say, creating plagues or starting a nuclear war). Pitch's narrow focus probably seems a lot more logical (and immediate) to a child's disproportionate sense of importance; after all, what's more important to a five-year old, world salvation or a nifty toy under the tree?


From the outset, Cardona sets Christmas story cliches on their ear with a sleighful of eyepoppingly colorful (and weird) ele- ments. Santa's headquarters floats on a cloud above the North Pole like something out of an old FLASH GORODN serial.


The strangeness extends to the interiors of Santa's pad, with high-tech gear (computers, high-tech surveillance equipment, etc.) perched alongside magical butterflies and opium-like plants. Some of the most creative touches appear to be budgetarily imposed; rather than incur the expense and logistic agony of using real reindeer, for example, Cardona converts Santa's eight deer team into life-sized, wind-up toys! The bright color scheme (mostly cotton-candy red and fluffy white) and unrealistic, but wildly creative visuals add to SANTA CLAUS' distinctive feel.


The presence of a devil as the principal heavy in a kid's film lends a bizarre dimension to the proceedings. With his horns, red face and tights, Pitch fits most classic visual perceptions of a demon, but his ineptitude and mewling neuroses make him more comical than menacing. His introduction during a dark, loping dance with a circle of likeclad hellions is as close as he gets to being really scary.


SANTA CLAUS ultimately works on two levels. Taken at face value, the movie offers grown-ups some unintended chuckles. The decidedly indelicate (to put it mildly) touch of "English Director" Ken Smith ranges from the thuddingly literal (If a character picks up a rock, you can be sure that the eternally chipper narrator will chirp, "Look! He's picking up a rock!") to the lofty realm of what-the-hell-speak. When Santa states," I will use the powder that will make you dream that you are awake. Awaken while you're dreaming," to one restless child before slipping the tyke sleeping powder, it's hard not to wonder if Kris Kringle hasn't been dipping into his own stash of wacky dust.


Beneath the naively goofy exterior, however, lies a hotbed of complex paradox. Pitch may be a troublemaker, but at least he makes no pretenses about his nature. Santa, on the other hand, employs kids - not elves - in his workshop (does Child Protective Services know about this\ ), spies on the children of the earth with voyeuristic fervor, pushes narcotics on the small fry and favors a pervert's chuckle over a hearty," Ho Ho Ho!" If Saint Nick wasn't toting the toys, the choice between the forces of "darkness" and "light" might not seem so clear cut...


SPECIAL THANKS TO SANTO STREET AND TONY KAY

REVIEW: ROB CRAIG

"SANTA CLAUS" FILM REVIEW

By Rob Craig, KiddieMatinee.com


SANTA CLAUS is an extraordinary film, likely the most perverse, absurd, complex and subversive movie ever made expressly for children. There are simply too many bizarre happenings going on to be safely absorbed by any self-respecting '1960's tot. One wonders whether history will paint K. Gordon Murray as a devil or a saviour. One might think of him as no worse than Disney, bringing to cinematic life time-worn, cliche fairy tales and hoary cultural myths. But where Disney shined them up like an apple, Murray beat them to death with extreme prejudice.


Perhaps this is a plus, forcing society to examine and reevaluate the fairy tales and holiday icons it feeds to its children. But the consistently sinister quality in almost all of Murray's product, an enervating sense of spiritual malaise and malevolent occult manipulation, haunts all of his films to this day, and at the time of their original heyday, led one theatre-chain owner to reportedly dub the Florida producer, "Disney from Hell."


One paranoid theory suggests that Murray was in fact engaged in a deliberate effort to corrupt the youth of America, by the overt and covert insertion of occult reference into children's cinema. Though the methods would be largely subliminal, the effects would be eventually evident, and it is curious to note how interest in the occult skyrocketed in the mid-to-late 1960's, just when Murray's reign as shadow-Disney was waning.


One must not forget, when one counters that relatively few children probably went to any given Murray movie, that virtually every child saw (numerous times most likely) the TV spots for the films, which were plastered all over TV-creation in Murray's saturation advertising campaigns.


Aside from invoking an intense sense of paranoia, the child viewer is hit with myriad references to a creepy connection between technology and the occult (a theme that oddly pops up in much postwar kiddie-cinema.) And it is obvious that both the Mexican film-makers and Murray are trying to expand the S. Claus myth to where he is, essentially, a cross between God, Jesus and the elder gods of Greek mythology.


Regardless, SANTA CLAUS, Murray's first import and mass-marketing genius-stroke, was his crowning achievement, and let loose the floodgates of inferior, infernal product for kiddies for decades to come. Murray was the first (before Disney followed) to rent out films on a strictly "weekends-only" matinee policy, as even the Disney films were shown both at night and day at neighborhood theatres. And, like the snake-oil salesman of yore, Murray and his latest absurdity would be in (and out) of town in three days, long before word-of-mouth could get around as to how awful and diabolical the movie was, or even worse, how traumatic. At any rate, Murray's U.S. release of SANTA CLAUS was a huge hit in it's first release in October 1960, and in it's subsequent rerelease every three years thereafter, well into the stoned mid- 1970's.


As diabolical as SANTA CLAUS is, this movie would have been even weirder if Murray hadn't snipped out the coolest shot from the original Mexican version: A long line of hooded, chained lost souls walking towards the gates of Hell, wailing and gnashing of teeth... SANTA CLAUS was a huge success in its first release in 1960, and in major rereleases in 1964, 1967, 1970 and 1974. By the time I saw this infernal classic on the big screen, in 1974, the print was so red it looked like the inferno itself, and so choppy it sounded like it had been turned back into a foreign film. In short, it was incoherent, but it still ran through the projector, which was apparently Murray's criterion for releasing a film. When the SC prints finally deteriorated so badly that they couldn't be shown intact, the crafty Murray would snip out passable segments and splice them into one of his creepy featurettes, like SANTA CLAUS AND HIS HELPERS, or into one of his cost-saving "anthologies" (MOTHER GOOSE' BIRTHDAY PARTY, THE BROTHERS GRIMM STORYBOOK FAIR, SANTA'S FANTASY FAIR), which were just receptacles for odd reels of several "fairy tale" movies that had completely fallen apart. This assessment of Murray's cost-saving strategy is given credence by the fact that no two prints of these featurettes/anthologies are exactly the same.


SPECIAL THANKS TO ROB CRAIG

KEVIN MURPHY AND SANTA CLAUS

While interviewing Kevin Murphy (Mystery Science Theater 3000/TOM SERVO) for the documentary short, "SANTA CLAUS CONQUERS THE DEVIL", producer/director DANIEL GRIFFITH asked what his first impressions of the film, "SANTA CLAUS", were. This is one of the many comments he offered.

FOR SATELLITE NEWS VISITORS: WITHIN THIS CLIP IS THE ANSWER TO ONE OF THE CONTEST QUESTIONS.

QUESTION: In what way does Kevin Murphy (not 'TOM SERVO) 'personally' describe the wondrous colors use in K. Gordon Murray's "SANTA CLAUS"?







FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 HOLIDAY CONTEST, VISIT THE SATELLITE NEWS WEBSITE!

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