(Mike Maharrey, Money Metals News Service) It’s the Friday before Christmas, and as my gift to you, I’m going to wreck one of your childhood holiday memories.
Yes. I am a grownup. But I still love Christmas specials. Snoopy decorating his doghouse. The Grinch folding up the Christmas tree like an umbrella and stuffing it up the chimney. Frosty the snowman melting in a greenhouse.
What’s not to love?
But my favorite Christmas special is Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
It’s been my favorite since I was a little kid.
I think we’ve lost a little bit of the Christmas special magic with DVDs and on-demand streaming. We can watch it whenever we want.
It was different when I was growing up. We actually had to wait for the specials to come on TV.
I remember scouring the TV guide printed in our local newspaper (That’s a blast from the past.) beginning in the first week of December, eagerly waiting to see Rudolph in the lineup.
When the show finally came on, Mom always made an event out of it. She would make me a special Christmas treat – perhaps hot chocolate with marshmallows or apple cider with a cinnamon stick. Sometimes, she even baked fresh Christmas cookies.
Here’s a little confession: when I was really little, the abominable snow monster horrified me.
In retrospect, I wonder why.
Remember when he tipped over? The bottom of his feet looked just like the bottom of my footie pajamas. You might be thinking, geez, how did he not notice that? How did he not realize that the abominable was a total fake?
Well, give me a break. I was, like, 5 years old.
But other than my irrational fear of the pajama-footed snow monster, I loved the show as a little kid.
And I still do.
As a little boy, I always thought Yukon Cornelius was pretty cool. It was mainly because he got to carry guns.
You might recall Yukon wandered around the great white north in search of silver and gold. But that’s not the whole story. In fact, that’s not what he was doing at all.
A lot of people don’t realize this because the version of Rudolph most of us watched on TV as kids cut an important part out.
You’ll recall that when Yukon meets Rudolph and the elf Hermey, he dramatically introduces himself.
“The name’s Yukon Cornelius, the greatest prospector in the north! And you know, it’s rich with gold! Gold! Gold and silver! Silver and gold! Wahooo!”
He punctuates his greeting by tossing his pickaxe in the air, licking it, and declaring, “Nothin’.”
Yukon repeats this pickaxe toss and lick behavior throughout the show.
On a side note, it’s kind of weird, isn’t it?
And maybe just a little gross.
Or is it just me?
The oddity of this behavior never occurred to me when I was little. Of course, this is the kid who didn’t notice the snow monster was wearing footed pajamas.
And on another side note — how did Yukon’s tongue not freeze to the metal? He was licking it in the frozen Arctic, after all. We all know from Flick’s experience in A Christmas Story that putting your tongue on frozen steel requires a visit from the fire department for tongue removal.
Anyway, given what we’ve seen of Yukon so far, it’s clear he was hoping to discover riches in the form of gold and/or silver, right? That’s certainly the impression we get. And who wouldn’t want to find gold and silver? History is packed full of men and women who risked everything in search of silver and gold.
Here’s the plot twist.
Yukon was not looking for gold or silver!
You were duped into thinking that by common sense and network TV editing.
Those of you who watched a full-length movie on network TV know it was almost always edited to make room for commercials. This was the case with Rudolph. CBS deleted an important scene that explains exactly what Yukon was looking for.
Rick Goldschmidt wrote a book on Rudolph and calls this “the most significant deleted scene.” An article in the Huffington Post explains what happened.
“It comes right after Rudolph guides Santa through the air to the Island of Misfit Toys. Rudolph’s parents, Donner and Mrs. Donner, Rudolph’s girlfriend, Clarice, and Cornelius are featured, while Donner says, ‘That’s my buck!’ finally confirming Rudolph’s dad is no longer ashamed, as Goldschmidt points out. But more illuminating is that the scene finally gives an answer as to why Cornelius kept licking his pickax throughout the special. In this deleted scene, Cornelius throws his ax in the air, lets it strike the ground, and then, after licking it as he has been wont to do, declares, ‘Peppermint! What I’ve been searching for all my life! I’ve struck it rich. I’ve got me a peppermint mine … Wahoooo!’”
You can watch the deleted scene HERE.
If you’re just a bit older than I am, you may actually remember the deleted scene. It last aired on TV in 1964. It’s also on the DVD. So, if you’ve watched the show with your kids, you probably already know this little secret.
Anyway, I get the whole peppermint and Christmas motif – candy canes and all that. But I don’t really like peppermint. I’m partial to chocolate.
And let’s be honest, Yukon was a little misguided. He would have been a lot better off finding silver and gold!
Of course, you don’t have to prospect in the Arctic to get gold and silver. You can get all you need right here at Money Metals Exchange. And you won’t risk freezing your tongue on a pickaxe!
From all of us here at Money Metals, have a wonderful holiday season!
Mike Maharrey is a journalist and market analyst for MoneyMetals.com with over a decade of experience in precious metals. He holds a BS in accounting from the University of Kentucky and a BA in journalism from the University of South Florida.
