Much time has passed since the death of Alexander Salkind. While we here at KQ5 do not take that simple statement lightly, we acknowledge it nonetheless, because, from the moment we first went live in 1998, our stated goal has always been to bring to light EVERYTHING about the lives and times of Alexander and Ilya Salkind, both good and bad. We will never achieve that goal without the continued help and support of those who have made that saga possible. For, in the end, the Salkind story is fraught with adventure, good intentions, cinematic celebrations ..... and ultimately deep, utter tragedy.
The problem remains simply that even now, no one, at least to my knowledge, has dared to ask why, especially at a time when so many others chose to take the Original Team Salkind to task for having made so many big-budget epics the way they did, has there never been any one real source of information about them? Truth be told, there has. Of course, other than us, there's Jim Bowers' CapedWonder.com; and there's Scott Michael Bosco, too --- but still, as the undisputed Salkind standard-bearers, my colleagues and I don't make much noise about why we're so obsessed with this unusual moviemaking dynasty.
But why this family? Why now?
Because, as I have previously mentioned here, once Christopher Columbus: The Discovery was released, and the subsequent backlash --- financial, box-office, and finally legal --- tore into Alexander's heart to the extent whereby he soon swore that he would never make movies again ..... well, quite frankly, that sort of saddened a lot of us. A film legacy of even 52 years' duration need not have gone down in flames the way that it did; so, one might suggest, then, that these remarks are, essentially, a case of yours truly casting myself as Alexander, playing that most heartbreaking of all games: "What might have been."
Still, for all of that, I continue to wonder, after having spent nearly three decades running these particular webpages, what Alexander might have thought about the Internet. How would he have used it to his advantage? Would he have embraced the idea of digital cinema at a time when computer-generated imagery is more the norm as opposed to the mere blip? No, not even these are easy questions.
That I continue asking these questions as your Elf without Jingles speaks volumes, but even so, there are still a few things I cannot hope to get off my chest without arousing some sort of controversy; besides, we who are Salkind webmasters believe that you, our loyal visitors, are entitled to, and are fully deserving of, the ABSOLUTE TRUTH about Alexander Salkind and his life, his films and his legacy. That's the kind of attitude with which we launched this website in 1998; and, as ever, I hope that, as your humble webmaster here at KringleQuest.com, Fifth Edition, we have in truth succeeded in our stated ambitions.
Yet there remain certain other ambitions which we didn't accomplish on our own, the most significant of these being a Complete Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Album, with the full Henry Mancini score, including previously unreleased material. We set out over many months, long after we'd undergone all the changes and so forth, to make that happen .... but for various reasons, we never were able to get that one off the ground. Happily, that has since changed, thanks to the folks at Quartet Records; details of that delightful milestone are revealed elsewhere in these pages.
In closing, just a few last reminders: KringleQuest.com, Fifth Edition is more than the Unofficial Online Home of Santa Claus: The Movie™, because Claus-related news and information continues to surface, all but guaranteeing that this website must continue looking beyond the simple little Christmas epic to which we will, no doubt, continue to pay heartfelt tribute. And so, as we always do, we look to YOU, our faithful visitors, for your support, information, anecdotes and other good Christmas stuff.
Please join us. Merry Christmas!