Hardrock Coco & Joe
"The Three Little Dwarfs"
That's what the original title of this little Christmas short was called. But we remembered them from the song. Hardrock, Coco & Joe.
Every Christmas morning this favorite was played on the Chicago children shows Bozo and Garfield Goose. It is still shown today, along with the other two favorites, 'Suzie Snowflake', and cool jazzy rendition of 'Frosty the Snowman'.
This was the trilogy of childhood memories.
Very little, if anything is really known as to where these films came from. When asked around about these little gems people would acknowledge they're existence but that was it - UNTIL NOW!!!.
Hardrock, Coco and Joe was done for Christmas of 1956 for the Hill & Range Company, which I guess was marketing the song involved. The actual animation was done by a company called Centaur Productions, which was run by a gentleman named Wah Ming Chang, who specialized in sculpture, stop-motion animation and odd props. I guess this is why Santa looks Asian in the short. He did a lot of the props on the original Star Trek TV show, for instance (he built the communicators that predated cell phones, as well as the Tribbles) and some of Elizabeth Taylor's most notable headdresses and jewels in the film 'Cleopatra'.
In animation, he did most of his work over the years in commercials and for George Pal's company — much of Tom Thumb, to name one thing — as well as a few things for Disney.
One Christmas I received a gift in the way of information about this holiday tune! Let be known that the 'Hardrock, Coco & Joe' tune was recorded by the Les Tucker Singers! Words & Music by Stuart Hamblen - Published by Hill and Range Songs Inc. BMI.
I was sent the following information by Anthony Martini who happens to own the 45' & was kind enough to offer me these scans to place on my site. Thanks a million Anthony!
The Three Little Dwarfs MP3 Audio song (plus the original Suzie Snowflake & Frosty The Snowman) as heard in the original videos can be downloaded by joining my free Yahoo 'Remember When' club (they're in the files section)!
To download the original 45' version sung by the Les Tucker Singers just click on the CD below!
Now for your viewing pleasure...
Hardrock Coco & Joe
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Suzie Snowflake
Frosty The Snowman
Hey Look! It's a Holiday Bonus Video!!
Peter Cottontail
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Copyright ©1998 Roger B. Domian