UMe ANIMATES THE CLASSICS

Holiday classics from Bing Crosby, Ella Fitzgerald, Chuck Berry and Frank Sinatra have been given new life via animated videos. UMe partnered with the estates of the legendary artists and Fantoons Animation Studios to create hand-drawn and hand-painted videos—the first-ever official clips for the Christmas classics.

Crosby brings joy to a down-in-the-dumps town with his trusty Bing-o-Matic™ in “Winter Wonderland” and croons over a multigenerational military family’s holiday gatherings in “White Christmas.” Guitar-clad Berry helps Santa with his Christmas rounds in vintage comic-book style in “Run Rudolph Run.” Fitzgerald and Frosty delight in a winter-wonderland storybook setting in “Frosty the Snowman.” And Sinatra delivers mid-century-style glitz and grace as only he can in the holiday classics “The Christmas Waltz” and “Mistletoe and Holly.”

"UMe is incredibly honored and excited to partner with these legendary artists and estates to celebrate their iconic holiday songs and give them official videos," says Bruce Resnikoff, President and CEO of UMe, the global catalog company of UMG. "Last year was the first time we created holiday videos, and we had such a tremendous response that we’ve gone all in again this year. Our content team and Fantoons have really outdone themselves. These songs are some of the most popular year to year and we hope these videos brighten up fans' holidays as well as attract new audiences across the digital platforms they inhabit."

Check out a playlist of more UMG Christmas classics, from Burl Ives, Brenda Lee, The Jackson 5, Nat King Cole and more, here.

Legend has it that "White Christmas" was the theme for the HITS holiday party back in the day (and apparently for non-holiday parties as well). It was a different time.