“There’s an added dimension to Rankin/Bass specials that you can’t describe,” said Rick Goldschmidt, official Historian/Biographer for Rankin/Bass, and author of the book, The Enchanted World of Rankin/Bass. “They call it [the Studio’s stop-motion animation] “Animagic,” and that’s a good term because there’s magic in the specials.”
Many remember Rankin/Bass’ more popular titles, and this has been a big year for many of them, such as Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer which celebrated its 60th, and Frosty the Snowman, which celebrated 55 years.
Additionally, the Studio has given us other favorites such as Santa Claus is Coming to Town (1970) and 1974’s The Year Without a Santa Claus, which celebrates its 50th this year.
As this Holiday Season has been filled with many milestones for Rankin/Bass’ popular offerings, it seemed like an opportune time to look back at some of their lesser-known Christmas specials.
For the last two years – both here on Cartoon Research and originally here – there has been a spotlight on several Christmas specials that time has, sadly, left by the wayside, and they deserve to be re-discovered.
This year’s retrospective focuses on the Studio whose name is now synonymous with Christmas specials, Rankin/Bass:
The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow (1975)
This is a decidedly different special for Rankin/Bass, known for its more fanciful specials like Rudolph and Frosty.
The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow tells the story of a young, orphaned shepherd boy named Lukas who is brought to live with Sister Theresa in an abbey after he is struck by lightning and blinded.
The sisters nurse Lukas back to health, but he learns he must go to an orphanage when he recovers. The young boy would love for it to snow, as Christmas is approaching, and he has never seen it snow.
Lukas takes part in the abbey’s Nativity play as an angel, where he befriends a young girl named Louisa. At the end of the special, after the climax in which Lukas rescues his pet sheep from a wolf in the woods, it starts to snow. Louisa describes it to Lukas, and his sight is restored through a miracle.
It is told in the Studio’s stop-motion “Animagic” style, which adds to this special’s warmth and features the equally warm and iconic voice of Angela Lansbury as Sister Theresa and the narrator.
Directed by Authur Rankin and Jules Bass, The First Christmas features a well-crafted story by Julian P. Gardner, several memorable songs by Maury Laws and Jules Bass, and the inclusion of Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas.”
Originally airing on NBC on December 19, 1975, this special was rarely re-broadcast, which is a shame, as its spiritually grounded story has heartwarming charm to spare.
Pinocchio’s Christmas (1980)
Rankin/Bass’ take on this familiar character, created by author Carlo Collodi, has the title character embarking on a series of adventures, like Disney’s classic take on the fable. Still, this time, there is a Christmas spin to it all.
The Studio had delved into this world before with their 1960 Animagic series, The New Adventures of Pinocchio, which had a different style and set of stories.
In the special, Geppetto sells his boots to buy Pinocchio a book for his first Christmas, who, in turn, sells the book to purchase a gift for Geppetto after the Fox and the Cat trick him. The little wooden boy must then join a Christmas marionette show to make money to buy Geppetto a gift.
Along the way on this journey to Christmas, Pinocchio finds himself in the “Forest of Enchantment,” meets up with a fairy and a cricket (no, not the ones we are familiar with), is sold to a Duke, and eventually gets back home to Geppetto thanks to a ride in Santa’s sleigh.
The special features the voices of George S. Irving (who was also the Heat Miser in The Year Without a Santa Claus), comedian Alan King as the puppeteer Maestro Fire-eater, and veteran voice actors Bob McFadden as the Cricket and Allen Swift as the Fox, among others.
Pinocchio’s Christmas was written by Romeo Muller, the talent behind crafting the scripts for Rudolph, Frosty, and many of the Studio’s classics. As he did with those specials, he crafts a compelling adventure peppered with memorable characters that Pinocchio encounters.
Much like the Studio’s other hour-long specials, Pinocchio’s Christmas takes on the feel of a “mini-movie,” and with great design by Paul Coker, Jr., and nice detail in the sets, this is a seldom-seen Rankin/Bass Christmas adventure worth checking out.
Here’s a clip:
The Leprechaun’s Christmas Gold (1981)
Rankin/Bass brings Irish folklore to life in this Animagic special, where writer Romeo Muller blends the fantasy of the Emerald Isle with a Christmas story.
Art Carney provides the voice of Blarney Kilakarney, a leprechaun and the narrator for the special, which tells the tale of a cabin boy who is ordered to row to an island and retrieve a tree to use on the ship for Christmas Eve. Once on the isle, Doyle finds himself befriending leprechauns and protecting them and their gold from Old Mag, the banshee, whose tree she was imprisoned in, was cut down by Doyle.
The special then incorporates everything from Saint Patrick to the popular 1940s Dennis Day song, “Christmas in Killarney,” as it tells its entertaining tale. In an article earlier this year for Remind magazine, Goldschmidt wrote: “I believe when Romeo Muller started writing this one, it was intended to be for the St. Patrick’s Day holiday but met resistance somewhere along the line, and was changed for the ABC Christmas lineup.”
This helps make The Leprechaun’s Christmas Gold the perfect viewing for this time of year or to hold on to until March 17th.
And so as we head closer to Christmas, here are three additional offerings to add to the magic, or “Animagic,” that Rankin/Bass adds to the season.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!
Michael Lyons is a freelance writer, specializing in film, television, and pop culture. He is the author of the book, Drawn to Greatness: Disney’s Animation Renaissance, which chronicles the amazing growth at the Disney animation studio in the 1990s. In addition to Animation Scoop and Cartoon Research, he has contributed to Remind Magazine, Cinefantastique, Animation World Network and Disney Magazine. He also writes a blog, Screen Saver: A Retro Review of TV Shows and Movies of Yesteryear and his interviews with a number of animation legends have been featured in several volumes of the books, Walt’s People. You can visit Michael’s web site Words From Lyons at: 
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