''The Happy Elf'' is a 2005
computer-animated Christmas television special
Christmas themes have long been an inspiration to artists and writers. A prominent aspect of Christian media, the topic first appeared in in literature and Christmas music. Filmmakers have picked up on this wealth of material, with both adaptatio ...
based on
Harry Connick, Jr.
Joseph Harry Fowler Connick Jr. (born September 11, 1967) is an American singer, pianist, composer, actor, and television host. He has sold over 28million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top60 List of best-selling music artists i ...
’s song
of the same name. The special is narrated by Connick and stars the voices of
Rob Paulsen,
Carol Kane
Carolyn Laurie Kane (born June 18, 1952) is an American actress. She became known in the 1970s and 1980s in films such as '' Hester Street'' (for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress), ''Dog Day Afternoon'', ''Annie ...
,
Lewis Black
Lewis Niles Black (born August 30, 1948) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. His comedy routines often escalate into angry rants about history, politics, religion, or any other cultural trends.
He hosted the Comedy Central series '' Lewi ...
,
Kevin Michael Richardson and
Mickey Rooney. The animation was provided by
Film Roman, an
IDT Entertainment
Starz Distribution (formerly IDT Entertainment and Starz Media) is the motion picture, animation, television, and home video operating unit of Starz Inc., a subsidiary of Lionsgate. Starz Distribution develops, produces, and acquires original ...
company, known for animating ''
The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...
''. ''The Happy Elf'' originally aired on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
on December 2, 2005.
Plot
Eubie the Elf (
Rob Paulsen) loves working in
Santa's workshop
Santa's Workshop is the legendary workshop where Santa Claus and his elves are said to live and make the toys and presents given out at Christmas. The exact "location" of Santa's workshop varies depending upon local culture. There are at lea ...
up at the
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...
, despite the other elves' complaints about being annoyed by his overly happy personality. One Christmas Eve morning, Eubie's boss, Norbert, assigns him to checking the naughty and nice lists. However, while checking the lists, Eubie discovers that every child in the town of Bluesville is naughty. So, he decides to go to Bluesville and spread Christmas cheer.
Bluesville is a dark miserable town at the bottom of a very deep valley, completely surrounded by tall dark cliffs. There, the townspeople feel the warmth of the sun only once a day. They never smile, they don't know how to tell a joke properly, most of them work at the What Factory, where all the world's
question mark
The question mark (also known as interrogation point, query, or eroteme in journalism) is a punctuation mark that indicates an interrogative clause or phrase in many languages.
History
In the fifth century, Syriac Bible manuscripts used que ...
s are made, and at the Bluesville school, recess only lasts one minute. Eubie tries to brighten everyone's spirits, but his overly good mood frightens them.
Eubie talks to the mayor about what is wrong with Bluesville and if there's anything about Bluesville that makes him feel proud. The mayor replies that Bluesville is the world's largest manufacturer of un-burnable coal, which children enjoy throwing at people and at each other. The mayor then makes a deal with Eubie. If he can find another use for the coal, he'll put a
Christmas tree up in the
town square
A town square (or square, plaza, public square, city square, urban square, or ''piazza'') is an open public space, commonly found in the heart of a traditional town but not necessarily a true geometric square, used for community gatherings. ...
.
Eubie's first plan on getting the kids to help him make Bluesville a happier place is having them gather on a busy street and start a pie fight, but that only makes all the people angry. To search for more help, Molly (
Mae Whitman
Mae Margaret Whitman (born June 9, 1988) is an American actress and singer. She began acting in commercials as a child, making her film debut at the age of six in the romantic drama '' When a Man Loves a Woman'' (1994). She achieved recognition as ...
), a naughty 10-year-old girl, takes Eubie to
downtown Bluesville, the most miserable part of Bluesville, for a meeting of a group called S.L.O.B. (Smile League Of Bluesville), which only has one member of its group. While there, Molly and Eubie meets up with Curtis (
Candi Milo
Candyce Anne Rose "Candi" Milo (born January 9, 1961) Timestamps: (00:27:12-00:27:45) Milo states that she is "firmly 51". (00:06:40-00:06:47) Milo states that she was born in Palm Springs. (00:16:23-00:16:25) She says her birthday is in Januar ...
), who is there because he brought along his
foreign
Foreign may refer to:
Government
* Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries
* Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries
** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government
** Foreign office and foreign minister
* United S ...
friend, Oreg, who doesn't speak English, but is happy to be there. Molly soon decides that Eubie's plans are hopeless, and tells him to just take all his big ideas home. At the mention of that, Eubie gets another idea, and is about to implement it when the lights in the room go off and Eubie is taken back to the North Pole.
In his bid to get Bluesville off the naughty list, Eubie violated several rules in one day. As punishment, Santa had Eubie turn in his magic hat, which, at the North Pole, meant his Christmas happiness and powers were taken away. When Gilda (
Carol Kane
Carolyn Laurie Kane (born June 18, 1952) is an American actress. She became known in the 1970s and 1980s in films such as '' Hester Street'' (for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress), ''Dog Day Afternoon'', ''Annie ...
) hears this, she motivates Eubie to go back to Bluesville to finish his job and gives him her hat to restore his powers and happiness. He then returns to Bluesville and explains his plan to the children. That night, they give the mayor of Bluesville a bottle of anti-snore medicine in his sleep, while Eubie spends the night polishing all the cliffs surrounding Bluesville with a jar of super-duper un-burnable coal polish. While he is doing this, Derek notices Gilda doesn't have her hat on, he soon figures out what is going on and, trying to follow the North Pole rules, he notifies one of the higher-ups.
After polishing the cliffs, Eubie is taken back to the North Pole again where he and Gilda are put on punishment and are sentenced to clean up the toy factory, with both their hats taken away. Derek, now alone at the Christmas party, is sad and mad with himself for betraying his friends, and confesses to what he did to Eubie and Gilda. They forgive him, but it only makes him feel worse about himself, considering what he did to them. While wondering what he can do to make it up to them, they have him do the one thing Eubie intended to do to finish making Bluesville a happier place.
When the sun shines over Bluesville again, it reflects off the polished coal, lighting up the town and making everyone happy. At the What Factory, the machine now makes different colored
exclamation point
The exclamation mark, , or exclamation point (American English), is a punctuation mark usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or to show emphasis. The exclamation mark often marks the end of a sentence, f ...
s of all shapes and sizes, delighting the workers. At the school, when recess starts, the bell has an elf's shoe placed over it, which means the kids can play longer. Molly comes out of the school where Derek meets her. He tells her to find the mayor and give her the jar of coal polish Eubie used to polish the cliffs, and a piece of coal that was squeezed into a diamond and to tell her that Eubie was sorry he couldn't be there. Molly happily goes to find the mayor, but stays for a while to allow Curtis to tell a joke that's actually funny, thanks to the joke book Derek gave him. Molly finds the mayor and shows him the items, which meant that there was indeed another use for the coal. He then puts up a Christmas tree in the town square and everybody celebrates, thanks to Eubie.
That Christmas, Santa decides to make Eubie, Gilda, and Derek his sleigh crew that year for bringing joy to Bluesville, which has soon changed its name to Joyville.
Cast
*
Rob Paulsen as Eubie
*
Harry Connick Jr. as Lil' Farley
*
Carol Kane
Carolyn Laurie Kane (born June 18, 1952) is an American actress. She became known in the 1970s and 1980s in films such as '' Hester Street'' (for which she received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress), ''Dog Day Afternoon'', ''Annie ...
as Gilda
*
Mickey Rooney as Santa Claus
*
Kevin Michael Richardson as Derek, Tucker, Mayor, Toady
*
Mae Whitman
Mae Margaret Whitman (born June 9, 1988) is an American actress and singer. She began acting in commercials as a child, making her film debut at the age of six in the romantic drama '' When a Man Loves a Woman'' (1994). She achieved recognition as ...
as Molly
*
Lewis Black
Lewis Niles Black (born August 30, 1948) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. His comedy routines often escalate into angry rants about history, politics, religion, or any other cultural trends.
He hosted the Comedy Central series '' Lewi ...
as Norbert
*
Candi Milo
Candyce Anne Rose "Candi" Milo (born January 9, 1961) Timestamps: (00:27:12-00:27:45) Milo states that she is "firmly 51". (00:06:40-00:06:47) Milo states that she was born in Palm Springs. (00:16:23-00:16:25) She says her birthday is in Januar ...
as Curtis
* Rory Thost and
Liliana Mumy
Liliana Berry Davis Mumy (; born April 16, 1994) is an American actress. Between 2002 and 2006, she appeared as Jessica Baker in the two ''Cheaper by the Dozen'' movies and as Lucy Miller in the second and third films of ''The Santa Clause'' tr ...
as Brother and Sister
Soundtrack
Some DVDs come with a free soundtrack
# "
The Happy Elf" - 03:43 -
vocal track, sung by
Harry Connick, Jr.
Joseph Harry Fowler Connick Jr. (born September 11, 1967) is an American singer, pianist, composer, actor, and television host. He has sold over 28million albums worldwide. Connick is ranked among the top60 List of best-selling music artists i ...
# "Smile on Christmas Day" - 01:00 - vocal track, sung by
Rob Paulsen
# "Bluesville" - 01:34 - vocal track, sung by
Kevin Michael Richardson
# "Lil' Farley's 'Happy Elf'" - 00:22
# "Old Santa Claus" - 02:25
# "Eubie and Friends Pole Adventure" - 00:43
# "Gingerbread House Test" - 00:46
# "Eubie's Toy Car Test" - 00:36
# "Coffee Shop Theme" - 00:56
# "Department of Naughty and Nice" - 01:18
# "Norbert's Orders" - 00:33
# "Eubie's Naughty & Nice Tally" - 02:15
# "Eubie Lands in Bluesville" - 00:59
# "Bluesville Street Theme" - 01:31
# "Molly and Friends Coal Toss" - 02:09
# "Down Town Theme" - 01:05
# "S.L.O.B. Meeting" - 01:27
# "'Try'" - 01:33
# "Molly and Gang's Christmas Mission" - 02:40
# "Santa's Elves Wrap Party" - 00:38
# "Santa Getting Ready for Xmas" - 00:26
# "Mayor Gives the Town a Tree" - 01:03
# "'Bluesville' Reprise" - 01:21
# "Lil' Farley's 'Happy Elf' Reprise" - 01:05
# "'Happy Elf' Wrap" - 00:19
The official reference recording for the live theatrical show was recorded in Scranton, PA in partnership with the Scranton Cultural Center at the Masonic Temple in 2013.
Stage adaptation
The holiday special has been adapted into a full-length stage musical. Andrew Fishman has reworked the book, with music and lyrics by Connick who has added five new songs for the musical, for example "That Magic Hat". The show premiered at
Coterie Theatre
Coterie may refer to:
* A clique
* The Coterie, a British society
* Coterie (band), an Australian-New Zealand band
* a family group of black-tailed and Mexican prairie dog
The Mexican prairie dog (''Cynomys mexicanus'') is a diurnal burrowing ...
at
Crown Center
Crown Center is a shopping center and neighborhood located near Downtown Kansas City, Missouri between Gillham Road and Main Street to the east and west, and between OK/E 22nd St and E 27th St to the north and south. The shopping center is ...
in
Kansas City, Missouri on November 13, 2007 to generally good reviews. It is received a fully produced workshop at the Adventure Theatre, at the Robert E. Parilla Performing Arts Center at
Montgomery College
Montgomery College (MC) is a public community college in Montgomery County, Maryland. Founded officially in 1946 as Montgomery Junior College, its name comes from the county in which it is located. The earliest start date that can be contribute ...
,
Rockville, Maryland, from November 12, 2010 through November 28, with a cast that features
Michael Rupert
Michael John Rupert (born October 23, 1951, Denver, Colorado) is an American actor, singer, director and composer. In 1968 he made his Broadway debut in '' The Happy Time'' as Bibi Bonnard for which he received a Tony Award nomination and the ...
.
In 2012 The Happy Elf was reworked by Connick and on December 1, 2012 premiered in a version prepared for publication in Bethlehem, PA at the Charles Brown Ice House under the direction of Michael Melcher, Executive Director.
The Scranton Cultural Center at the Masonic Temple in Scranton, Pennsylvania produced and premiered the final illustrative staging of the musical on December 19, 2014 for a two-week run prior to its publication.
[http://www.thehappyelf.org ]
References
http://articles.mcall.com/2012-11-30/entertainment/mc-harry-connick-pennsylvania-youth-theater-bethle-20121129_1_happy-elf-harry-connick-cool-idea
External links
*
*
* http://articles.mcall.com/2012-11-30/entertainment/mc-harry-connick-pennsylvania-youth-theater-bethle-20121129_1_happy-elf-harry-connick-cool-idea
* http://www.scrantonculturalcenter.org/happyelf/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Happy Elf, The
Harry Connick Jr.
2005 television films
2005 films
2005 television specials
2000s American television specials
2000s animated television specials
Christmas television specials
American children's animated musical films
Santa Claus in film
Films based on songs
Santa Claus in television
American computer-animated films
Film Roman films
NBC television specials
American Christmas television specials
Television shows set in the Arctic
Elves in popular culture
2000s American films