One of the most popular of the Rankin/Bass animated specials, The Year Without a Santa Claus, premiered Tuesday, December 10th on the ABC TV network, just days after another R/B special, Twas the Night Before Christmas,” made its debut on CBS the previous Sunday. Both specials touched on the belief in Santa Claus. In 1976, Twas the Night was released commercially as a soundtrack album by Disneyland Records (please read more about that in this previous Animation Spin).
Sadly, there was never an official, law-abiding soundtrack album produced for The Year Without a Santa Claus, despite its stellar voice cast and outstanding musical score. Several Rankin/Bass specials were either released on commercial records or as promotional discs for the entertainment industry, but others were never legally sold to consumers.
This changed a little tiny bit during the golden age of compact discs, when Rhino Records released its second volume of animation-related songs, 1997’s Nick at Nite: A Classic Christmas, Too. “The Snow Miser/Heat Miser Song” was now officially available, along with “The Brightest Christmas” from Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol (more about that precious gem in this two-part Spin). One of my motto’s is “never say never,” so as Year Without and other Rankin/Bass masterworks annually accrue status and profitability, perhaps we will see more soundtracks in our lifetimes. In the meantime, there are of course the video versions and rebroadcasts, as well as the fine albums described herein.
Pulitzer Prize-winning poet/author Phyllis McGinley’s original version was published in 1957 with illustrations by Kurt Werth, illustrator of Sid Fleishman’s McBroom Tells the Truth, which your author read to his fourth-grade class in 1967, along with the not-yet-legendary Roald Dahl book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (1964).
McGinley’s verse-style text was adapted for the Rankin/Bass special by William Keenan, one of the few alternate scenarists for Romeo Muller, who was likely working on many other projects. Keenan wrote for the R/B series Kid Power, Jackson 5ive, The Osmonds, and Festival of Family Classics, as well as other TV shows like Smurfs, Land of the Lost, Laverne and Shirley, and Fantasy Island.
Keenan crafted a Muller-worthy script that largely bookended McGinley’s gentle, thoughtful verse, and fleshed out with one of the best one-hour Rankin/Bass original storylines and characters in its history. In the book, Santa decides to stay home, and Ignatius Thistlewhite implores his classmates to give Santa the Christmas he always gave to kids.
The animated film added Jingle, Jangle, “Iggy’s” parents, plus Mother Nature, the Miser Brothers, Southtown, and poor little Vixen, as well as that magnificent score that includes a personal favorite of Maury Laws, I Believe in Santa Claus, sung to perfection by top New York singer and vocal arranger Ron Marshall.
THE YEAR WITHOUT A SANTA CLAUS
Read by Boris Karloff Plus Musical Holiday Selections
E.F. McDonald Incentive Company/Capitol Creative Products SL-6588 (Stereo 33 1/3 LP); 509996-48842-26 Compact Disc Reissue) Story segment currently available on streaming services.
Released in 1968; reissued in 2000. Spoken Word Producer: Ernest K. Dominy.
1968 Musical Selections: “The Christmas Waltz” (The Lettermen); “Old Toy Trains” (Glen Campbell); Don’t Forget to Feed the Reindeer” (Peggy Lee); “The Little Drummer Boy” (Al Martino); “I Sing Noel” (Sandler & Young); “Jingle Bells” (Roger Wagner Chorale).
2020 Musical Selections: “Here Comes Santa Claus,” “Up on the Housetop” (Alvin and the Chipmunks); “Don’t Forget to Feed the Reindeer” (Peggy Lee); “The Man with All the Toys” (The Beach Boys); “Mister Santa” (Amy Grant).
Six years before the film version and nine years after the book was published, Capitol Creative Products produced a recorded performance of McGinley’s book by none other than Boris Karloff. In the late fifties and sixties, he was a prolific narrator of spoken word records for such labels as Cricket (Pickwick), Mercury, and especially Caedmon.
Every bit as delightful as his Grinch narration, his reading of Year Without a Santa Claus is accompanied by “needle drop” cues from various libraries, almost as if the host of TV’s Thriller was in an early Hanna-Barbera cartoon, or an episode of Father Knows Best. Thanks to the infinitely knowledgeable Don Yowp, you can listen for some of these cues as you enjoy the recording: [https://open.spotify.com/album/0EBbK2srq2B6fYfhgpeUp6?si=rHC0Gi5VTnan0LTlkdHfVA]:
5:34 – C-1 Domestic Children by Bill Loose
6:35 – GR-253 Toyland Parade by Phil Green
8:41– GR-257 Bedtime Story by Green
9:27 – EM-107D Light Movement by Green
The 1968 album was produced for the customers of the E.F. McDonald Company Incentive, an Ohio-based global marketing organization that specialized in the kind of retail incentives still used today, like bonus bucks and purchase points. Remember Plaid Stamps? The company made several holiday albums of original and reissued material.
Since Karloff’s track would not fill an entire LP, a few selections from the Capitol label were added. These were changed for the CD, except for the “Don’t Forget to Feed the Reindeer” sung by Peggy Lee. The 2010 disc cover by veteran illustrator John Manders ties in with the 2014 reprint of the McGinley book.
THE YEAR WITHOUT A SANTA CLAUS
And Other Stories for Christmas
Read by Carol Channing
Caedmon Records TC-6588 (Stereo 33 1/3 LP).
Released in 1969; reissued ca. 1974.
Stories: “The Year Without a Santa Claus,” and “How Mrs. Santa Claus Saved Christmas” by Phyllis McGinley; “A Visit from St. Nicholas” by Clement Clark Moore; and “The Gingerbread Man’ (Traditional).
Tony winning and Oscar-nominated entertainment legend and frequent Merv guest Carol Channing was, like Boris Karloff, a welcome presence on Caedmon Records. As distinctive as it would be for her to simply perform the texts in her much-imitated voice, she does each character as a separate voice.
For her popular recordings of the A.A. Milne books, she assumed an amusing British identity for Pooh, very different from Sterling Holloway or Maurice Evans. When I asked her about this particular approach, she explained, “Well, that’s the whole comedy.”
Channing also reads another of Phyllis McGinley’s Christmas books, 1963’s How Mrs. Claus Save Christmas. This story is about a Christmas without Santa, and like Angela Lansbury’s delightful TV musical Mrs. Santa Claus, she does the famous ride. In this case, she adds a decidedly different touch to the selection of the presents for the children receiving them.
Caedmon reissued this album several years later with a new cartoon-like illustration, perhaps as an indirect tie-in to the TV special. It was common for record companies to reissue or re-promote their archival titles by “leveraging” the appearance of a new, high-profile version that relates to their product.
Arnold is Too Much
The highlight of the 1997 film Batman and Robin was hearing and glimpsing the actual “Snow Miser Song,” appropriately a Mr. Freeze fave.
Just a few folks who made the film such a holiday treasure. (Top row from left): Shirley Booth (Mrs. Claus); Mickey Rooney (Santa Claus); Bradley Bolke (Jangle, Police Officer, Dogcatcher); Middle row: Bob McFadden (Jingle, Elf Doctor); Dick Shawn (Snow Miser); George S. Irving (Heat Miser); Rhoda Mann (Mother Nature, seen here with Howdy Doody); Ron Marshall (Mr. Thistlewhite, Mayor); Bottom row: Maury Laws (Composer, Musical Director), Jules Bass (Lyricist, Producer, Director), Arthur Rankin, Jr. (Producer, Director).
GREG EHRBAR is a freelance writer/producer for television, advertising, books, theme parks and stage. Greg has worked on content for such studios as Disney, Warner and Universal, with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. His numerous books include Mouse Tracks: The Story of Walt Disney Records (with Tim Hollis). Visit 
Apropos to nothing, I remember the first time “Year Without” was going to air, a few days earlier ABC’s annual broadcast of “SC is Comin’ to Town” featured a coming attractions tag at the end that I don’t believe was ever repeated. Over scenes from the new show, Mickey Rooney in his “old man Santa” voice announced, “Now that you’ve seen how I came to town, now see how I almost DIDN’T come,” or words to that effect. It made the two stories into something of a two-volume set.
My foremost memory of “The Year Without a Santa Claus” is of the sibling rivalry between Snow Miser and Heat Miser, and their catchy song. So I was surprised to discover from Carol Channing’s charming recitation of the original story that the Miser brothers, as well as other characters, were created specifically for the TV special. I wonder how Phyllis McGinley felt about what Rankin/Bass did with her creation. Did she object to all the changes, as P. L. Travers did with Disney’s “Mary Poppins”, or did she just shrug it off and take the money?
Now I’m wishing that Carol Channing had recorded an album of Christmas songs. What a Christmas “Carol” that would have been!
Talk about an instant hit! I recall that the very next day kids were singing the Snow Miser/Heat Miser songs at school. The R/B Christmas specials generally caught on in a big way, adding to the store of popular Christmas songs. In those days practically everyone celebrated Christmas, which is much less the case today.
It was also part of an exciting build-up to the holidays. Nearly every week night in December there would be at least one or two Christmas specials on, including many variety shows featuring popular entertainers of the time. I always delighted in seeing my favorite performers wearing overcoats, mittens, and scarves, singing about having a merry little Christmas or chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Those were the days for family television!
“The Year Without a Santa Claus” was a sequel of sorts to “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” and the advertising leading up to the broadcast implied this. Mickey Rooney once again was called upon to provide the voice of Santa Claus, which firmly ties this special in with its predecessor. And instead of Robie Lester providing the voice of Mrs. Santa, this time around it was Shirley Booth who only a handful of years earlier had been entertaining us in our living rooms in her role as “the gal who’s everybody’s pal” Hazel. She provides a comfort and warmth to her vocal characterization, a warmth which this time around is partly lacking from Santa Claus himself, due to the bah-humbug mode in which we find him as the impetus for this story. It could be argued that Santa changes his mind too quickly at the end, but if you look closely, there are subtle hints and clues dropped throughout by Rooney and the writers that suggest Mr. Claus’ calling is so strong that he couldn’t possibly abandon it for reals–beyond toying with the idea for a spell.
There is one plot point which gets ignored the moment it occurs. In the bargain between the Miser Brothers, it is decided that snow will fall in Southtown in exchange for a heat wave at the North Pole. This latter is never shown. When next we visit the North Pole, all is snow and ice as ever. Either the Heat Miser changed his mind and didn’t exact his price after all, or the wintry winds of the polar regions were too great for him to disrupt. Of course, it’s possible it all happened quickly while we weren’t looking, but considering the negotiation that went into the bargain, that seems unlikely. It probably was not convenient to the climax of the story to include the reciprocal of the bargain. Still and all, I feel that the Heat Miser got the short end of the stick!
Thanks, Greg, as always for a great post!
By the way, I enjoyed your guest appearance on Greg’s podcast about Hanna-Barbera Records. The two of you should cover Rankin/Bass next!
Thank you, Paul! I love that idea! I would definitely be up for it!
Mother Nature’s scene in the special, with its ominous thunderclaps, alludes to a memorable series of margarine commercials that aired in the mid-1970s. “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature!” Topical pop cultural references are rare in Rankin/Bass specials; it’s not the sort of thing that Romeo Muller would have done.