Harvey the Hippo

As mentioned in some of the donkey blogs, I love a good Christmas helper animal. What is that you may ask? Well, it's any creature who isn't a reindeer who helps Santa or Christmas in some way. Actually, I will correct myself, I do like some of the lesser known helper reindeer like twinkle toes, there are a few that are not including in the usual Santa eight plus Rudolph line up. Most of these creatures pop up in old novelty records from the 60's through the 80's and remind me of my childhood listening to them on a little record player. It's rare to find anyone making these kind of songs anymore.
  If you go back through the older entries on this blog, it's obvious that donkeys are at the top of my helper list, but just below that is Harvey the Hippo.
  Harvey the Hippo was recorded by Long John Silver and The Silver Elves in 1959. I tried to find some info on the band, but like most of these one off novelty records, there was very little out there. One of the commenters on the YouTube site did say the song was recorded by their father Jack Silverman, but I could find nothing to back this up. I'm not discrediting this person, I just don't have any information to back this.
  The song is about a hippo who helps Santa one very snowy day. Old Harvey plows out the stable and reindeer runway so they can take off and deliver toys in time for Christmas. I like the idea that Santa has no snowplow at the North Pole, instead he has a hippoplowtamus! To many it adds to the magic of the Santa myth along with so many other characters found in songs and books.