The Pink Panther in: A Pink Christmas

The Pink Panther in: A Pink Christmas is a holiday-themed special starring The Pink Panther. It first aired on ABC on December 7, 1978. A follow-up special, A Very Pink Christmas, was released in 2011.

Plot
The Pink Panther is homeless and wandering an early-20th century big city at Christmastime. Snow is on the ground and he is very cold and hungry. The cartoon follows his efforts to obtain food while overcoming crazy holiday mayhem in town. A chance discovery of a Santa outfit leads to a job in the department store as Santa, but when he takes a bite out of a little girl's gingerbread man, he is chased by the department store manager, from whom he narrowly escapes. Among several other attempts of finding food, he also attempts to earn money by shoveling the snowy stairs of a nearby house and to get himself arrested in order to get a meal in jail (a plot point borrowed from O. Henry's classic story "The Cop and the Anthem"), but his efforts are thwarted at every turn.

After witnessing a robbery attempt with a police officer nearby, Pink chases after the cop's dropped doughnut which is rolling down the street. There, a little dog who is also hungry takes the doughnut, but Pink pushes him away and takes it for himself. After seeing the look on the little dog's face and realizing that his actions are not in line with the spirit of Christmas, the Pink Panther is ashamed of himself, and shares the doughnut with the dog. Then the Pink Panther goes back to the city park and the dog follows him. Suddenly, a little tree just beside the bench they sit on (the same bench that the panther sat on at the start of the special) magically becomes covered with candles and ornaments, followed by a big table with an ample Christmas dinner magically dropping from the sky. Pink looks up to see that Santa has dropped the food, a reward for the panther's act of kindness toward the dog. He shares the dinner with the little dog and they both begin eating happily.

Credits

 * "Pink Panther in A Pink Christmas"
 * Teleplay by: John W. Dunn, Friz Freleng
 * Story Adapted from O'Henry's "The Cop and the Anthem"
 * Produced by: David H. DePatie, Friz Freleng
 * Directed by: Bill Perez
 * Music by: Doug Goodwin
 * Pink Panther Theme by: Henry Mancini
 * Conducted by: Eric Rogers
 * Songs Sung by: The Children of Saint Michaels Day School Choir · Studio City, California
 * Under the Direction of: Bob Grabeau and Joyce Goodwin
 * "Yule Tide Spirit"
 * Lyrics by: Johnny Bradford
 * Music by: Doug Goodwin
 * "Jolly Holiday"
 * "Wonderful Wintertime"
 * Lyrics & Music by: Doug Goodwin
 * Music Mixer: Eric Thomlinson
 * Graphic Designer: Paul Julian
 * Backgrounds: Paul Julian, Consuelo Julian
 * Animation: Warren Batchelder, Art Davis, Malcolm Draper, John Gibbs, Art Leonardi, Bob Matz, Tom Ray, Nelson Shin, Don Williams, Art Vitello
 * Film Editors Supervised by: Robert Gillis
 * Film Editors: David H. DePatie Jr., Richard Corwin, Richard Gannon
 * Music Editor: Joe Siracusa
 * In Charge of Production: Lee Gunther
 * Camera Supervised by: Raymond Lee
 * Cameramen: John Cunningham, Gary Gunther, Robert Mills, Steven Wilzbach
 * Sound by: Producer's Sound Service, Inc.
 * © Copyright MCMLXXVIII Mirisch-Geoffrey-D.F. · All Rights Reserved
 * United Artists · A Transamerica Company
 * DFE Films · A DePatie-Freleng Production

Production
Most of the animation staff utilized for the 1978 made-for-television All New Pink Panther Show worked on A Pink Christmas. The special also utilized several portions of the musical score that appeared on The All New Pink Panther Show as well.

Home Release
On November 6, 2007, the title special along with Olym-pinks and Pink at First Sight was released on the DVD collection The Pink Panther: A Pink Christmas from MGM Home Entertainment/20th Century Fox Home Entertainment.