Behind the scenes of a classic:: Rankin - Bass, WHO?
by: The Christmas Place
Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc. (formerly Videocraft International, Ltd.) is an American production company,
known for its seasonal television specials.
The company was founded by Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass in the early-1960s as Videocraft International.
One of Rankin/Bass's first projects was an independently produced series based on the character Pinocchio.
It was done using "Animagic", a stop motion animation process using figurines (a process already pioneered
by George Pal's "Puppetoons" and Art Clokey's Gumby and Davey and Goliath). This was followed by another
independently produced series using more traditional cel animation and based on already established characters,
Tales of the Wizard of Oz in 1961.
In 1964, the company produced a special for NBC and sponsor (and later owner of NBC) General Electric.
It was a stop-motion animated adaptation of the Johnny Marks song Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
(which had been made into a Max Fleischer traditional animated short almost two decades before).
With narrator Burl Ives in the role of Sam the Snowman, along with an original orchestral score
composed by Marks himself, Rudolph became one of the most popular and longest-running Christmas
specials in television history: it remained with NBC until around 1972, and currently runs annually
on CBS. The special contained seven original songs, however GE had one additional song, "Fame And Fortune"
added in 1965.
Rankin/Bass also continued to produce programs themed for the Christmas holidays. Many of their specials,
like Rudolph, were based on popular Christmas songs. In 1968, Greer Garson's dramatic narration carried
through The Little Drummer Boy, set against the birth of the baby Jesus.
The following year (1969), Jimmy Durante sung and told the story of Frosty The Snowman, with Jackie
Vernon voicing the title character of a snowman magically brought to life.
1970 brought the last of the "classic four" Rankin/Bass Christmas specials with Santa Claus Is Comin'
To Town. Rankin/Bass was able to enlist Fred Astaire as narrator S.D. (Special Delivery) Kruger, a mailman
answering the many questions about Santa Claus (and in turn, telling his origin). The story revolved around
a young Kris Kringle (voiced by Mickey Rooney) and the Burghermeister MeisterBurgher (voiced by Paul Frees).
Kringle later marries the town's schoolteacher, Miss Jessica (voiced by Robie Lester).
Throughout the 1970s, Rankin/Bass, in addition to its Saturday-morning output (which included
animated adventures of The Jackson 5ive and The Osmonds), created animated sequels to its classic
specials, including the teaming of Rudolph and Frosty in 1979. One of the most popular Rankin/Bass
specials is The Year Without a Santa Claus, which featured supporting characters Snow Miser and
Heat Miser. The Miser Brothers are unusual fictional characters in the annals of television;
several of their fans have devoted entire websites to them, and even Snow Miser's song was paid
tribute in a scene from Batman and Robin (1997).
Among Rankin/Bass's original specials was 1975's The First Christmas: The Story of the First
Christmas Snow. Though only a half-hour long (as opposed to the standard hour time slot), it
was critically acclaimed, telling the story of a blind shepherd boy who longs to experience Christmas.
Many of these specials are still shown on American TV stations in present day around Easter and Christmas, and some have been released to video and DVD. Rankin/Bass
top-motion features are recognizable by their visual style of doll-like characters with
spheroid body parts, and ubiquitous powdery snow. Often, traditional cel animation scenes
of falling snow would be projected over top of the action to create the effect of a snowfall.
© 2006 The Christmas Place
This article was originaly entitled "Rankin - Bass, Who?"
and appeared in the
December 02, 2006 issue of The Christmas Place Newsletter.
ChristmasFlick.com has exclusive permission to use this article.
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