Animated television specials are among the most cherished holiday traditions of yuletide revelers young and old. Mention "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (1965), "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (1964) or "Frosty the Snowman" (1969) and people light up like Charlie Brown's tree (after the kids gave it a little love), Rudolph's nose, or the hot sun that melted poor Frosty.

You can thank "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol" -- the first animated Christmas special -- for that holiday gooeyness. It premiered 50 years ago this month.

"Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol" originally aired on December 18, 1962, on NBC at 7:30 p.m. For the first time since 1967, the special will air on a major network -- once again on NBC -- Saturday, December 22 at 8 p.m. ET.

While the major networks have aired the aforementioned holiday staples, including "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" (1966) every year since their airdates, "Magoo" hasn't aired outside of syndication for 44 years. Now that "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol" has hit he half-century mark, this often overlooked, underappreciated, somewhat obscure Christmas special is experiencing a renaissance of sorts.

CNN spoke to animator Darrell Van Citters, author of "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol: The Making of the First Animated Christmas Special," about how "Magoo" paved the way for Christmas specials yet to come.

"Because this was such a huge success," said Van Citters, "it inspired other people to follow in its footsteps, especially 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer,' which was the next one."

Van Citters couldn't pinpoint why "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol" fell by the wayside, but he did note that the character began to dwindle in the years following the Christmas special.

"'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' had a book attached to it," said Van Citters, "'Charlie Brown' had all of those books, all of those specials. These were constantly in the forefront of peoples' minds during the holidays. And 'Rudolph,' well, who doesn't know that song? Between all of these other specials getting all of this promotion, and Mr. Magoo kind of fading, it really got lost for a long time."

As far as adaptations of Charles Dickens' 1843 tale "A Christmas Carol" go, many have tried, many have failed, and -- arguably -- a handful have succeeded. Most people would count "Magoo" among the successful renditions.

"I think this is one of the stronger versions because it's quite loyal to the original," said Van Citters. "They are reciting lines from the book, and on an emotional level I think it's one of the strongest -- even over live-action -- because the songs really emphasize the emotional aspect of it. They know exactly where to go to tell their story."

That's right -- "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol' is a musical as well as an animated special.

"To take a classic story like that," said Van Citters, "and then to mix in Mr. Magoo, and then make it a musical, it's kind of a big leap. And he didn't just make it a musical; he went after the best Broadway songwriters of the time. It's one of the stronger, if not the strongest, musical interpretations of Dickens."

Composer July Styne and lyricist Bob Merrill, who were developing "Funny Girl" at the time, wrote the songs for "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol" while ensconced at the Beverly Hills Hotel in March and April of 1962.

The Styne-Merrill team created Broadway-caliber songs like "Alone in the World" and "Winter Was Warm," which gave "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol" an emotional quality which made it more theater than the cartoon it was.

Cleverly presented as a play-within-a-play, the special features the character of Mister Magoo starring in a Broadway production of "A Christmas Carol." That little technique solved the producers' dilemma regarding whether or not audiences would buy Quincy Magoo as Ebenezer Scrooge.

"Mister Magoo had kind of changed over the years," explained Van Citters. "He had started out as this crotchety old man and over the years he had become softer. [Producers] thought it would be kind of weird to put this character in a role with no explanation. Nowadays people do it routinely and you don't think twice about it, but at the time it was a big leap. Originally, Mr. Magoo was going to be in a small community theater production, but as the songs got bigger, they decided to make it a Broadway production with him as a well-known actor."

Although "Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol" was released on Blu-Ray/DVD as a special anniversary edition, Van Citters is the first to admit that the animation isn't what resonates with longtime fans of the special.

"The animation fills the bill, but there isn't anything in the way of nice motion or defining the characters through the way they move," said Van Citters. "It's all about simply hitting their marks to tell the story. It's a little rough around the edges, but it works, too. The songs are so good that you overlook stuff like that."

Van Citters pointed out that the important thing is that the special "has a lot of heart."

In fact, the instant the special ended on the night it premiered, producer Lee Orgel's phone rang. Walt Disney had phoned to tell Orgel how wonderful it was.