Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Even if you don’t know it, chances are you’ve seen a Rankin/Bass holiday special.
If you’re familiar with the Frosty the Snowman cartoon special or the stop-motion Rudolph feature that helped the red-nosed reindeer go down in history, then you know at least two Rankin/Bass productions. And there are plenty more.
Starting in the 1960s, Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass’ television company began producing Christmas specials based on popular songs. Throughout the ’60s and ’70s, the company made Christmas classics such as The Little Drummer Boy, Santa Claus is Comin’ To Town, The Year Without a Santa Claus, Jack Frost, Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey and more.
Each movie is unique, recasting the story of Christmas from a new angle, and so iconic that each is worthy of its own lasting impact.
The Year Without a Santa Claus tells about the year Santa was just too sick to deliver presents and how an entire town rediscovered the Christmas spirit. Its standout moments come in the form of the singing Heat Miser and Snow Miser, two outgoing and quick-tempered brothers who control the weather and who each have their own catchy musical interludes in the film.
Then there’s Jack Frost. Though not your typical holiday tale, this fairy tale set in the Christmas season tells the story of Jack Frost, a winter sprite who becomes human one year in order to pursue a woman he has fallen in love with. Though it is only fleetingly about Christmas, it does put a much-needed positive spin on those dreary winter days.
And of course there’s Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town, the story of how Kris Kringle was adopted by elves and raised to become Santa Claus despite the efforts of his nemesis, the toy-hating Bergermeister Meisterburger. This film features the song “One Foot in Front of the Other,” a classic that is impossible not to sing for days on end after hearing it.
Chances are high that at least one of the Rankin/Bass Christmas classics helped shaped your holiday season as a child and possibly even your parents’ Christmases, too. They teach lessons about the spirit of giving, persevering through bullying and finding friendship that have aged surprisingly well over the past 50 years. However, despite the timelessness of these stories, they are slowly fading from Christmas programming.
Originally a staple of ABC Family’s “25 Days of Christmas” programming block, the channel has opted for more CGI flicks or live-action Christmas movies about finding love before Santa slides down the chimney.
For those of us who grew up with Rankin/Bass specials every year, this is a sad change. Beloved characters like Hermey the Elf, Yukon Cornelius, the Winter Warlock, Topper the lost penguin and Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey — who seemed like family to us for a month every year — are disappearing.
Though some may prefer the newer rom-coms that are rolled out every December, there are those of us who still remember the simple joys of being allowed to stay up past bedtime to sing along to Frosty’s adventures or to dance along with Snow Miser. As finals approach and we become bogged down with stress, we need these signs of simpler times to help us relax and remember the spirit of the season.
