Santa's Workshop (film)

Santa's Workshop is a Disney short film directed by Wilfred Jackson, first released on December 10, 1932 in the Silly Symphonies series. The film features Santa Claus and his elves preparing for Christmas in Santa's workshop. A sequel, The Night Before Christmas, partially based on the 1823 poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas", was made the year after, portraying Santa leaving the toys in a house with nine children.

In Sweden and Norway, Santa's Workshop is part of the Christmas television special From All of Us to All of You, traditionally shown on Christmas Eve. At the initiative of Disney, scenes depicting various ethnic stereotypes such as a pickaninny doll and a Jewish doll have been cut out of the film, which has given rise to a lot of public criticism in Sweden and in Denmark.

Santa's Workshop is the first "Silly Symphonies" titled cartoon to develop with RCA's Photophone synchronization early-in-film sound system.

The short features the first of the Marches Militaires by Franz Schubert.

Plot summary
Some elves are cleaning Santa's Sleigh and reindeer while singing, preparing for the sleigh ride on Christmas Eve. In his workshop, Santa Claus reads through each letter sent from every boy and girl asking for toys. Santa's little helpers hurry to finish the toys, which come to life and march into Santa’s bag, so he can embark on his journey around the globe.

Voice cast

 * Santa Claus: Walter Geiger
 * Deep-voice gnome: Jesse Delos Jewkes
 * Santa's secretary: Pinto Colvig
 * Santa's second helper: Walt Disney

Home media
The short was featured on early VHS releases of A Walt Disney Christmas, which featured the uncut scene with the blackface doll.

The short was released on DVD on December 19, 2006, on Walt Disney Treasures: More Silly Symphonies, Volume Two in the "From the Vault" section, because of the blackface doll.

The short was remastered in HD and released on Disney+ on November 12, 2019, with the blackface doll scene removed. It was originally claimed by Disney+ that the short was presented as originally released, but this claim has since been removed from the streaming service.