Classic Cinema: The Great Rupert (1950)

Written By Jason S. Lockard

My Name is Jason Lockard and I love Classic Cinema…. I have a large collection of holiday movies that I watch every year at Christmas time it’s become a family tradition in our house and this month I’m going to share one of my favorites with you the readers! So sit back and read about this holiday gem starring a music and comedy legend!

Jimmy Durante was an American singer and movie icon, pianist, comedian and actor, whose distinctive large nose made him one of America’s most familiar and popular personalities as well as the butt of frequent jokes about his self-referenced: "Schnozzola"

Durante dropped out of school in the eighth grade to become a full-time ragtime pianist, he first played with his cousin, who was also "Jimmy Durante," it was a family act, but he was too professional for his cousin and he went on to find his own star to hang on to, he continued working the city circuit and earning the nickname "Ragtime Jimmy,"! By 1934, he had a major record hit, his own novelty composition Inka Dinka Doo and it became his theme song for practically the rest of his life. 

In 1933 Durante debuted on radio and was a mainstay until he made the jump to television on November 1, 1950, though he still made frequent guests appearances on Tallulah Bankhead’s, NBC comedy-variety show, The Big Show radio program. 

On August 4, 1955, tragedy hit The Jimmy Durante Show as the famous Brazilian singer Carmen Miranda fell to her knees while dancing with Durante, he exclaimed "stop da music!". Jimmy helped Miranda up to her feet as she laughed "I’m all out of breath!". "Dat’s OK, honey, I’ll take yer lines" Durante replied. Miranda laughed again and quickly pulled herself together, finishing the show. However, the next morning, August 5, Carmen died at home from heart failure.

This month we bring you a film in which the great Jimmy Durante stars. The 1950 The Holiday Classic A Christmas Wish also known as The Great Rupert produced by George Pal, who produced such sci-fi classics as War of the Worlds and The Time Machine. It was directed by Irving Pichel and was based on a story, written by Ted Allan, which has also been published as a children’s book under the title "Willie the Squowse".

A Christmas Wish is a heartwarming holiday classic about a Vaudevillian family The Flying Amendolas (led by Durante) who is down on their luck at Christmas time. Shortly before Christmas, they move into a ground floor apartment where Rupert the squirrel lives in the attic rafters. Even though penniless, love blossoms like a rose between The Amendola’s daughter Rosalinda (Terry Moore of Mighty Joe Young) and landlord’s son Peter Dingle (Tom Drake of Meet Me in St. Louis). Just when it seems that the holiday will come and go without so much as a Christmas tree. Rupert comes through not only saving Christmas, but changing their lives forever! How does he do it you’ll have to watch the film to find out!

Rupert the Squirrel (created using George Pal’s Academy Award winning animation technique) will charm young and old alike. Pal’s stop-motion animation used in creating the illusion of a dancing squirrel was so realistic that many inquired where he located a trained squirrel. Jimmy Durante shines when he sings Jingle Bells and (Isn‘t it a shame that) Christmas comes but once a year! Making this a true classic! Listen for a funny quip from Durante when a fire breaks out in the apartment “Don‘t forget the radio… I‘ll miss The Jimmy Durante Show!”

In Durante’s later years he made an appearance in the 1963 star studded comedy It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World in which his Smiler Grogan character tells a concerned crowd of $350,000 "buried under a big W" and then dies early in the film, literally "kicking the bucket") and television appearances through the early 1970s. He narrated the Rankin-Bass animated Christmas special Frosty the Snowman (1969), re-run for many years since. Then in 1972 Durante suffered a stroke and was confined to a wheelchair in the last years of his life. He died of pneumonia in Santa Monica, California on January 29, 1980, aged 86, and was interred at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City. 

Jimmy Durante left a legacy of laughter on DVD and CD that will last forever! His character also lives on in Tom and Jerry Cartoons, in Hanna-Barbera’s Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy cartoons, Looney Tunes, In the Hanna-Barbera cartoon Fred and Barney Meet the Thing, The Simpsons, In the movie Greedy, Family Guy, Powerpuff Girls and many more! I don’t think we will ever get our fill of The ‘Schnozz’!

So in conclusion this holiday season instead of watching the endless holiday films on TV that don’t live up to the hype, watch The Great Rupert and treat yourself and the whole family to a funny, heartwarming holiday classic! Until Next Month this is Jason wishing you a very Merry Christmas!