Around Christmas time or the holiday season in general, we tend to cling to traditions that were passed down through the generations probably because they help to preserve and recreate the magic of the past. One of those traditions started in the 60s, which may be your generation or your parents’ generation, but now is being passed on to your kids’ generation. That tradition is gathering around the television watching Christmas specials with the Christmas tree a glow, lights out and sipping on hot chocolate or egg nog. These seasonal television specials are a wonderful way to spend time with your family, sharing quality time and passing on a childhood memory to your children.
Since the mid-1960s, Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass created these timeless classics. It started out with Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer, which aired in 1964 on NBC. The sponsor was General Electric (G.E.). This doll like classic was narrated by singer Burl Ives, featured in the film as “Sam The Snowman.” The series has several original songs such as “Silver and Gold,” “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas,” and “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer.” This mini special is the longest running television special airing every year for 45 years now.
The amazing success of Rudolph led to many other specials produced by the Animagic studio such as Santa Claus is Coming to Town in 1970, narrated by Fred Astaire, and Mikey Rooney’s voice was that of Kris Kringle. This special, like Rudolph, utilized the stop-motion production. That process can be seen with the robotic or choppy like movement of the characters. Some other great specials produced by this studio using this same process were The Little Drummer Boy, The Year Without A Santa Claus, Nestor the Long Eared Christmas Donkey, and The Leprechaun’s Christmas Gold.
Rankin and Bass also used traditional cartoon animation to create a few timeless classics, one of their most popular being Frosty The Snowman in 1969. Narrated by comedian Jimmy Durante, this classic has run every year since its creation, elapsing 40 years. We all love watching this terrible magician, tread hell or high water to return that magic hat to his possession. In the end, he does manage to retrieve the hat and temporarily kill Frosty, but Santa comes and saves the day.
Though stop-motion animation is what got Rankin/Bass famous, the traditional animation made a huge impact for them as well producing classics like Cricket on the Hearth, ’Twas the Night Before Christmas, and The Stingiest Man in Town (their version of A Christmas Carol).
Today, adults and children alike revere these classics close to their hearts. When many people pick on adults for watching kids’ stuff on television, nobody will pick fun of you for watching these. What’s even more magical is how they bring out memories of Christmas past for the viewers, as well as making the older generations feel like children again. Honestly, ask anyone and they will tell you the same thing, “It’s not Christmas until I see Rudolph and Frosty on TV.”
When I was younger these shows used to play two or three times a year, but within the last four to five years you will find they play these specials one time, and usually right after Thanksgiving. If you miss them you better go to the store to buy the DVD, because it won’t be shown again in the year. If you want to see these shows, best advice I can say is to look at your local TV Guide the week of and the week after Thanksgiving and mark them down on the calendar. They are seldom played close to Christmas. With DVDs out now, it’s more profitable for the studios to have you buy them than to play them on television.
For those who do watch these specials, they will tell you the same thing. Watching them on DVD is great, but not the same because one of the things that makes them so special are the holiday commercials, something that definitely is not on the DVDs. So share a piece of your childhood memories with your children. Sit down in front of the TV, get out the hot chocolate, snuggle into your PJs, and watch the magic that Rankin and Bass can only make. Watching the smiles on your children’s faces will be a new memory for you to remember for years to come.
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