Christmas Television Specials

The following video provides a brief history of the animated Christmas television specials produced by the company known as Rankin/Bass. Get the workbook here

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In this video:

Children across the country are delighted by the animated Christmas specials broadcast each year. Who made these timeless classics? When did they become a part of the American Christmas tradition?

In the 1960s, a small animation company was founded by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass. This company was originally known as Videocraft International Ltd., but would later become famously known as Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment.

In 1964, this company produced an animated special for NBC. It was an hour-long adaptation of the story Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, based on a children’s story from 1939. The special was an amazing success and has become one of the most popular and longest-running yearly Christmas television events. It has been broadcast at least once a year since 1964!

With the success of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Rankin/Bass began producing other Christmas-related specials. Many of their shows used a popular Christmas song as a starting point and developed a story around the title. Examples of other Rankin/Bass Christmas stories that utilized song titles include The Little Drummer Boy and Santa Claus is Coming to Town.

Another prominent feature of the Rankin/Bass productions was using popular actors and singers to voice their animated characters. For example, in The Year Without a Santa Claus, the voices of Mr. & Mrs. Claus were provided by Mickey Rooney and Shirley Booth, both popular actors at the time. Burl Ives, Fred Astaire, Jimmy Durante, Ethel Mermen, Buddy Hackett, Angela Lansbury, and many others famous actors also provided voices for other Rankin/Bass productions.

Probably the most distinctive feature associated with the Rankin/Bass productions was the animation style. Most of their specials were not traditionally animated. Instead, they used a process known as “Animagic”. This was a technique of stop-motion animation which used small clay figurines, rather than hand-drawn images. This provided a unique, 3-D look to their productions. One of the few exceptions to this was their 1969 effort, a traditionally animated adaptation of Frosty the Snowman. This special has become a yearly tradition as well.

As time progressed, and Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment became more successful, they broadened their horizons into other holiday specials. From Here Comes Peter Cottontail (Easter) to Rudolph’s Shiny New Year (New Year’s Day), there were many Rankin/Bass productions over the years.

However, it is the Christmas specials which made the company as legendary as it is. While the company no longer exists, there is no doubt that the Rankin/Bass legacy will continue to live on each Christmas for years to come.