Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc. (formerly
Videocraft International, Ltd.), also known as
Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment, was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
production companyA production company provides the physical basis for works in the realms of the performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, and video.- Tasks and functions :...
, known for its seasonal television specials, particularly its work in stop-motion animation. The pre-1974 library is currently owned by
Classic MediaClassic Media, LLC, is an American production company and distributor of family programming. It was founded in 2000 by former Marvel Entertainment CEO Eric Ellenbogen and former Broadway Video executive John Engelman in hopes of acquiring mismanaged classic properties and giving exposure to...
,while the post-1974 library is currently owned by
Warner Bros. TelevisionWarner Bros. Television is the television production arm of Warner Bros. Entertainment, itself part of Time Warner. Alongside CBS Television Studios, it serves as a television production arm of The CW Television Network , though it also produces shows for other networks, such as Shameless on...
.
Rankin/Bass stop-motion features are recognizable by their visual style of doll-like characters with spheroid body parts, and ubiquitous powdery snow using an animation technique called "Animagic." Often, traditional cel animation scenes of falling snow would be projected over the action to create the effect of a snowfall.
Origins
The company was founded by
Arthur Rankin, Jr.Arthur Rankin, Jr. is an American-born, Bermudian director, producer and writer, mostly working in animation.The son of actor , in the early 1960s he founded the film production company Videocraft International with Jules Bass...
and
Jules BassJules Bass is an American director, producer, composer, and author.- Biography :Educated at New York University, he first worked at an advertising agency in New York until the early 1960s, when he founded the film production company Videocraft International with Arthur Rankin, Jr...
in the early 1960s as
Videocraft International.
The majority of Rankin/Bass' work, including all of their "
AnimagicThe AnimagiC is a German annual anime convention and one of the largest of its kind in the German-speaking world with currently about 12,000 visitors.-History:...
" stop-motion productions, were created in
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Throughout the 1960s, the Animagic productions were headed by Japanese stop-motion animator
Tadahito Mochinaga, also known as Tad Mochinaga, was a pioneer Japanese stop-motion animator. Having done many stop motion films/shorts in Japan, he is also best known as the animator for Rankin/Bass' "Animagic" specials/movies in the 1960s....
. Their traditionally cel-animated works were animated by
Toei AnimationToei Animation Co., Ltd. is a Japanese animation studio owned by Toei Co., Ltd. The studio was founded in 1948 as Japan Animated Films . In 1956, Toei purchased the studio and it was reincorporated under its current name...
, Crawley Films and
Mushi ProductionMushi Production , or Mushi Pro for short, is a Japanese animation studio headquartered in Nerima, Tokyo, Japan....
, and since the
1970sFile:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
, they were animated by the Japanese studio Top Craft, which was formed in 1972 as an offshoot of Toei Animation. Many Top Craft staffers, including the studio's founder Toru Hara (who was credited in some of Rankin/Bass' specials), would go on to join
Studio Ghibliis a Japanese animation and film studio founded in June 1985. The company's logo features the character Totoro from Hayao Miyazaki's film My Neighbor Totoro...
and work on
Hayao Miyazakiis a Japanese manga artist and prominent film director and animator of many popular anime feature films. Through a career that has spanned nearly fifty years, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of animated feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli,...
's feature films, including Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind and
My Neighbor Totoro, is a 1988 Japanese animated fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. The film follows the two young daughters of a professor and their interactions with friendly wood spirits in postwar rural Japan...
.
In addition to the 'name' talent that provided the narration for the specials, Rankin/Bass had its own company of voice actors. For the studio's early work, this group was based in Toronto, Ontario, where recording was supervised by veteran
CBCThe Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
announcer
Bernard CowanBernard Cowan was a Canadian actor, announcer and writer. He was born in Toronto, Ontario. He was occasionally credited under his nickname, Bunny Cowan, such as on the production Willy McBean and his Magic Machine....
. This group included actors such as
Paul SolesPaul Robert Soles is a Canadian actor and television personality.-Acting roles:He is best known as the voice of Hermie the misfit elf in Rankin/Bass' Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in 1964....
,
Larry D. MannLarry D. Mann is a Canadian actor. Prior to his acting career, he was a disk jockey on CHUM 1050 radio in Toronto in 1949. His best-known Canadian television exposure was in a Bell Canada series of commercials called "The Boss" in which he played the title role for ten years beginning in 1981...
, and
Paul KligmanPaul Kligman was a Canadian actor.Born in Romania, he emigrated to Canada where he spent his youth in Winnipeg and studied at the University of Manitoba. He moved to Toronto in 1950 and established his career there...
.
Later, the most notable voice was
Paul FreesPaul Frees was an American voice actor and character actor.-Biography:He was born Solomon Hersh Frees in Chicago...
, who provided the voices for, among many others, the three wise men (The Little Drummer Boy), Burgermeister Meisterburger (Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town), the traffic cop (Frosty The Snowman), Jack Frost (
Frosty's Winter WonderlandFrosty's Winter Wonderland is an animated Christmas television special produced in 1976 by Rankin-Bass. It is a sequel to the 1969 Frosty the Snowman special, also written by Romeo Muller, with narration provided by Andy Griffith...
), and even Santa Claus himself (Frosty The Snowman). Other Rankin/Bass voice actors have included
Andy GriffithAndy Samuel Griffith is an American actor, director, producer, Grammy Award-winning Southern-gospel singer, and writer. He gained prominence in the starring role in director Elia Kazan's epic film A Face in the Crowd before he became better known for his television roles, playing the lead...
,
Burl IvesBurl Icle Ivanhoe Ives was an American actor, writer and folk music singer. As an actor, Ives's work included comedies, dramas, and voice work in theater, television, and motion pictures. Music critic John Rockwell said, "Ives's voice .....
,
Casey KasemKemal Amin "Casey" Kasem is an American radio personality and voice actor who is best known for being the host of the nationally syndicated Top 40 countdown show American Top 40, and for voicing Shaggy in the popular Saturday morning cartoon franchise Scooby-Doo.Kasem, along with Don Bustany and...
,
Fred AstaireFred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...
,
Red SkeltonRichard Bernard "Red" Skelton was an American comedian who is best known as a top radio and television star from 1937 to 1971. Skelton's show business career began in his teens as a circus clown and went on to vaudeville, Broadway, films, radio, TV, night clubs and casinos, all while pursuing...
,
Danny KayeDanny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...
,
Boris KarloffWilliam Henry Pratt , better known by his stage name Boris Karloff, was an English actor.Karloff is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein , Bride of Frankenstein , and Son of Frankenstein...
,
Jimmy DuranteJames Francis "Jimmy" Durante was an American singer, pianist, comedian and actor. His distinctive clipped gravelly speech, comic language butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and large nose helped make him one of America's most familiar and popular personalities of the 1920s through the 1970s...
,
Danny ThomasDanny Thomas was an American nightclub comedian and television and film actor, best known for starring in the television sitcom Make Room for Daddy . He was also the founder of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital...
,
Ethel MermanEthel Merman was an American actress and singer. Known primarily for her powerful voice and roles in musical theatre, she has been called "the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage." Among the many standards introduced by Merman in Broadway musicals are "I Got Rhythm", "Everything's...
,
Vincent PriceVincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...
,
Bob McFaddenRobert "Bob" McFadden was a singer and voiceover actor best known for his many contributions to animated cartoons. His best known characters were Milton the Monster, Cool McCool, and the ThunderCats' Snarf...
,
Robie LesterRobie Lester was an American Grammy-nominated voice actress and singer.-Early years:Lester was born in Detroit, Michigan and raised in northern Ontario, Canada. After a few years in Detroit, she joined the US Army Air Corps before attending UCLA with a major in music...
,
Linda GaryLinda Gary was an American voice actor and voice-over artist, who has worked on multiple animated projects.-Personal life:Linda Gary Dewoskin was born in California on November 4, 1944....
,
Mickey RooneyMickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...
,
Morey AmsterdamMorey Amsterdam was an American television actor and comedian, best known for the role of Buddy Sorrell on The Dick Van Dyke Show in the early 1960s.-Early life:...
,
Marlo ThomasMargaret Julia “Marlo” Thomas is an American actress, producer, and social activist known for her starring role on the TV series That Girl . She also serves as National Outreach Director for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital...
,
Greer GarsonGreer Garson, CBE was a British-born actress who was very popular during World War II, being listed by the Motion Picture Herald as one of America's top ten box office draws in 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, and 1946. As one of MGM's major stars of the 1940s, Garson received seven Academy Award...
,
Angela LansburyAngela Brigid Lansbury CBE is an English actress and singer in theatre, television and motion pictures, whose career has spanned eight decades and earned her more performance Tony Awards than any other individual , with five wins...
,
June ForayJune Foray is an American voice actress, best known as the voice of many animated characters...
,
Don MessickDonald Earl "Don" Messick was an American voice actor best known for his work for Hanna-Barbera. Perhaps his most well-known voice creations include Scooby-Doo, Papa Smurf, and Dr. Benton Quest....
, Jackie Vernon,
Allen SwiftIra Stadlen , known professionally as Allen Swift, was an American voice actor, known for playing characters including Simon Bar Sinister and Riff-Raff on the Underdog cartoon show...
,
Robert MorseRobert Morse is an American actor and singer. Morse is best known for his appearances in musicals and plays on Broadway. He has also acted in movies and television shows. His best known role is that of J. Pierrepont Finch in the 1961 Broadway musical, and 1967 film How to Succeed in Business...
and
Shelley WintersShelley Winters was an American actress who appeared in dozens of films, as well as on stage and television; her career spanned over 50 years until her death in 2006...
. Outside of the holiday specials,
Larry KenneyLarry Kenney is an American radio personality and voice actor.In 1963, Kenney began his radio career at the age of 15 as a disc jockey at WIRL in Peoria. After WIRL, he worked at WOWO, Ft...
had been with Rankin/Bass for years, doing characters on
ThunderCatsThunderCats is an American animated television series that was produced by Rankin/Bass Productions debuting in 1984, based on the characters created by Tobin "Ted" Wolf. The series follows the adventures of a group of cat-like humanoid aliens...
(notably as Lion-O) and
SilverHawksSilverHawks is an American animated television series developed by Rankin/Bass and distributed by Lorimar-Telepictures in 1986. The animation was provided by Japanese studio Pacific Animation Corporation. In total, 65 episodes were made...
.
Maury LawsMaury Laws is an American television and film composer.In his teens, Laws performed in local country, jazz and dance bands as a singer and guitarist in his home state of North Carolina...
has served as musical director for almost all of the animated films.
Romeo MullerRomeo Muller, Jr. was an American screenwriter and actor most remembered for his screenplays such as for the 1964 TV special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.-Early years:...
was another consistent contributor, serving as screenwriter for many of Rankin/Bass's best-known productions including Rudolph, The Little Drummer Boy, and Frosty the Snowman.
Output
One of Videocraft's first projects was an independently produced series based on the character
PinocchioThe Adventures of Pinocchio is a novel for children by Italian author Carlo Collodi, written in Florence. The first half was originally a serial between 1881 and 1883, and then later completed as a book for children in February 1883. It is about the mischievous adventures of Pinocchio , an...
. It was done using "Animagic", a
stop motionStop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
animation process using figurines (a process already pioneered by
George PalGeorge Pal , born György Pál Marczincsak, was a Hungarian-born American animator and film producer, principally associated with the science fiction genre...
's "Puppetoons" and
Art ClokeyArthur "Art" Clokey was a pioneer in the popularization of stop motion clay animation, beginning in 1955 with a film experiment called Gumbasia, influenced by his professor, Slavko Vorkapich, at the University of Southern California.After the Gumbasia project, Art Clokey and his wife Ruth came up...
's
GumbyGumby is a green clay humanoid character created and modeled by Art Clokey, who also created Davey and Goliath. Gumby has been the subject of a 233-episode series of American television as well as a feature-length film and other media...
and
Davey and GoliathDavey and Goliath is a 1960s stop-motion animated children's Christian television series. The programs, produced by the Lutheran Church in America , were produced by Art Clokey after the success of his Gumby series.Each 15-minute episode features the adventures of Davey Hansen and his "talking"...
). This was followed by another independently produced series using more traditional cel animation and based on already established characters,
Tales of the Wizard of OzTales of the Wizard of Oz is a 1961 animated television series, produced by Crawley Films for Videocrafts . This is the second animated series produced by the studio, and the first by Rankin/Bass to feature traditional animation.The series features stories derived from characters created in L...
in 1961.
Rudolph
One of the mainstays of the business was holiday themed animated specials for airing on American television. In 1964, the company produced a special for
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
and sponsor (and later owner of NBC)
General ElectricGeneral Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
. It was a stop-motion animated adaptation of the
Johnny MarksJohnny Marks was an American songwriter. Although he was Jewish, he specialized in Christmas songs and wrote many standards, including "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" , "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" , "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" , and "A Holly...
song
Rudolph the Red-Nosed ReindeerRudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a Christmas television special produced in stop motion animation by Rankin/Bass. It first aired Sunday, December 6, 1964, on the NBC television network in the USA, and was sponsored by General Electric under the umbrella title of The General Electric Fantasy Hour...
(which had been made into a
Max FleischerMax Fleischer was an American animator. He was a pioneer in the development of the animated cartoon and served as the head of Fleischer Studios...
traditional animated short almost two decades before). This features
Billie Mae RichardsBillie Mae Richards was a Canadian voice actress, who also appeared onstage and on television.-Career:...
as the voice of the title character. With narrator
Burl IvesBurl Icle Ivanhoe Ives was an American actor, writer and folk music singer. As an actor, Ives's work included comedies, dramas, and voice work in theater, television, and motion pictures. Music critic John Rockwell said, "Ives's voice .....
in the role of Sam the Snowman, along with an original orchestral score composed by Marks himself, Rudolph became one of the most popular and longest-running
ChristmasChristmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
specials in television history: it remained with
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
until around 1972, and currently runs annually on
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
. The special contained seven original songs; however, General Electric had one additional song, "Fame And Fortune", added in 1965.
The success of Rudolph led to numerous other Christmas specials. the first of which was The Cricket on the Hearth (introduced in a live-action prologue by
Danny ThomasDanny Thomas was an American nightclub comedian and television and film actor, best known for starring in the television sitcom Make Room for Daddy . He was also the founder of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital...
), in 1967, followed by a
ThanksgivingThanksgiving Day is a holiday celebrated primarily in the United States and Canada. Thanksgiving is celebrated each year on the second Monday of October in Canada and on the fourth Thursday of November in the United States. In Canada, Thanksgiving falls on the same day as Columbus Day in the...
special,
The Mouse on the MayflowerThe Mouse on the Mayflower is a 1968 animated Thanksgiving television special created by Rankin/Bass. It debuted on NBC on November 23, 1968. The special is about a mouse named Willum, who is discovered on the Mayflower. Tennessee Ernie Ford voices Willum and narrates.-External links:* at IMDb...
(told by
Tennessee Ernie FordErnest Jennings Ford , better known as Tennessee Ernie Ford, was an American recording artist and television host who enjoyed success in the country and Western, pop, and gospel musical genres...
), in 1968. Often mistakenly referred to as Videocraft's foray into the Halloween genre, the theatrical feature film Mad Monster Party was released in the Spring of 1967. Featuring one of the last performances of
Boris KarloffWilliam Henry Pratt , better known by his stage name Boris Karloff, was an English actor.Karloff is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein , Bride of Frankenstein , and Son of Frankenstein...
, no reference is made to the October holiday. The film features affectionate send ups of classic movie monsters, which some viewers confuse for traditional Halloween characters.
Other holiday specials
Videocraft also continued to produce programs themed for the Christmas holidays. Many of their specials, like Rudolph, were based on popular Christmas songs. In 1968,
Greer GarsonGreer Garson, CBE was a British-born actress who was very popular during World War II, being listed by the Motion Picture Herald as one of America's top ten box office draws in 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, and 1946. As one of MGM's major stars of the 1940s, Garson received seven Academy Award...
's dramatic narration carried through The Little Drummer Boy, set against the birth of the baby
JesusJesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
. Also in 1968, Videocraft, which had carried Rankin and Bass's production credits as part of its closing logo until then (see "The company origins" section above), changed its name to Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc., and adopted a new logo, although they retained a Videocraft byline in the new closing logo credit until 1971.
The following year (1969),
Jimmy DuranteJames Francis "Jimmy" Durante was an American singer, pianist, comedian and actor. His distinctive clipped gravelly speech, comic language butchery, jazz-influenced songs, and large nose helped make him one of America's most familiar and popular personalities of the 1920s through the 1970s...
sang and told the story of
Frosty the SnowmanFrosty the Snowman is an American animated television special based on the popular song of the same title. The program, which first aired on December 7, 1969 on CBS , was produced for television by Rankin/Bass and featured the voices of comedians Jimmy Durante as narrator and Jackie Vernon as the...
, with Jackie Vernon voicing the title character of a snowman magically brought to life.
1970 brought another famous Christmas special,
Santa Claus Is Comin' To TownSanta Claus is Comin' to Town is a 1970 stop motion television special, made by Rankin-Bass with models carved from wood . The film stars actor Fred Astaire as S.D. Kluger, the narrator, and Mickey Rooney as Kris Kringle/Santa Claus...
. Rankin/Bass was able to enlist
Fred AstaireFred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...
as narrator S.D. (Special Delivery) Kruger, a mailman answering the many questions about
Santa ClausSanta Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
(and in turn, telling his origin). The story revolved around a young
Kris KringleSanta Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
(voiced by
Mickey RooneyMickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...
) and the Burgermeister Meisterburger (voiced by
Paul FreesPaul Frees was an American voice actor and character actor.-Biography:He was born Solomon Hersh Frees in Chicago...
). Kringle later marries the town's schoolteacher, Miss Jessica (voiced by
Robie LesterRobie Lester was an American Grammy-nominated voice actress and singer.-Early years:Lester was born in Detroit, Michigan and raised in northern Ontario, Canada. After a few years in Detroit, she joined the US Army Air Corps before attending UCLA with a major in music...
).
In 1971, Rankin/Bass produced the
EasterEaster is the central feast in the Christian liturgical year. According to the Canonical gospels, Jesus rose from the dead on the third day after his crucifixion. His resurrection is celebrated on Easter Day or Easter Sunday...
special
Here Comes Peter CottontailHere Comes Peter Cottontail is a 1971 Easter television special made by Rankin-Bass, based on a 1957 novel by Priscilla and Otto Friedrich entitled The Easter Bunny That Overslept. The title of the special is from the Easter song "Here Comes Peter Cottontail", which is also heard in the special....
, with the voices of narrator
Danny KayeDanny Kaye was a celebrated American actor, singer, dancer, and comedian...
,
Vincent PriceVincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...
, and
Casey KasemKemal Amin "Casey" Kasem is an American radio personality and voice actor who is best known for being the host of the nationally syndicated Top 40 countdown show American Top 40, and for voicing Shaggy in the popular Saturday morning cartoon franchise Scooby-Doo.Kasem, along with Don Bustany and...
(as the title character). It was based not on the title song, but on a 1957 novel by Priscilla and Otto Friedrich titled The Easter Bunny That Overslept. In 1977,
Fred AstaireFred Astaire was an American film and Broadway stage dancer, choreographer, singer and actor. His stage and subsequent film career spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical films. He was named the fifth Greatest Male Star of All Time by the American Film Institute...
returned as mailman narrator Kruger in The Easter Bunny Is Comin' to Town, telling the tale of the
Easter BunnyThe Easter Bunny or Easter Rabbit is a character depicted as a rabbit bringing Easter eggs, who sometimes is depicted with clothes...
's origins.
In 1974, Rankin/Bass produced still another popular Christmas special,
The Year Without a Santa ClausThe Year Without a Santa Claus is a 1974 Rankin/Bass stop motion animated television special. It usually airs during the Christmas season on United States television. The story is based on Phyllis McGinley's 1956 book of the same name, illustrated by Kurt Werth.-Summary:The show is set in the...
, which featured
Shirley BoothShirley Booth was an American actress.Primarily a theatre actress, Booth's Broadway career began in 1925. Her most significant success was as Lola Delaney, in the drama Come Back, Little Sheba, for which she received a Tony Award in 1950...
(voicing narrator Mrs. Claus),
Mickey RooneyMickey Rooney is an American film actor and entertainer whose film, television, and stage appearances span nearly his entire lifetime. He has won multiple awards, including an Honorary Academy Award, a Golden Globe and an Emmy Award...
(returning as the voice of Santa Claus, which he had performed previously in Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town, of which this special is a semi-sequel), and supporting characters
Snow MiserSnow Miser is a character from the Rankin/Bass-produced 1974 stop-motion animated Christmas special The Year Without a Santa Claus. Snow Miser was voiced by actor/comedian Dick Shawn....
and
Heat MiserHeat Miser is a character from the Rankin/Bass 1974 children's television special The Year Without a Santa Claus. A vaguely demonic ogre-like being, Heat Miser is a blustery, quick-tempered hothead who is ultimately harmless...
. The Miser Brothers are unusual fictional characters in the annals of television; several of their fans have devoted entire websites to them. It was
remadeThe Year Without a Santa Claus is a 90-minute 2006 live-action remake of the Rankin-Bass classic The Year Without a Santa Claus which premiered on NBC December 11, 2006...
as a poorly-received
live actionIn filmmaking, video production, and other media, the term live action refers to cinematography, videography not produced using animation...
TV movie shown on
NBCThe National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
in 2006 starring
Delta BurkeDelta Ramona Leah Burke is an American television and film actress. Her television work includes a leading role as Suzanne Sugarbaker in the CBS sitcom Designing Women...
and
John GoodmanJohn Stephen Goodman is an American film, television, and stage actor. He is best known for his role as Dan Conner on the television series Roseanne for which he won a Best Actor Golden Globe Award in 1993, and for appearances in the films of the Coen brothers, with prominent roles in Raising...
as Mrs. Claus and Santa.
Throughout the 1970s, Rankin/Bass continued to produce animated sequels to its classic specials, including the teaming of Rudolph and Frosty in 1979's
Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in JulyRudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July is a feature-length 1979 Rankin-Bass crossover sequel filmed in stop-motion animation in the style of their 1964 Christmas special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. It was 97 minutes long. Although designed as a theatrical release , it made its U.S...
, with the voice of
Ethel MermanEthel Merman was an American actress and singer. Known primarily for her powerful voice and roles in musical theatre, she has been called "the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage." Among the many standards introduced by Merman in Broadway musicals are "I Got Rhythm", "Everything's...
as the ringmistress of a seaside circus, and Rooney again returning as Santa. The special features cameos by characters from several other Rankin-Bass holiday specials, including Big Ben from
Rudolph's Shiny New YearRudolph's Shiny New Year is the 1976 stop-motion animated sequel to the 1964 television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, produced by Rankin/Bass.-Plot:...
and
Jack FrostJack Frost was an animated television special, directed by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, Jr. and written by Romeo Muller; it premiered on NBC on December 13, 1979. This stop motion animated special tells the tale of Jack Frost, the winter sprite, and his adventures as a human...
. Jack appeared in his own special later that year;
Jack FrostJack Frost was an animated television special, directed by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, Jr. and written by Romeo Muller; it premiered on NBC on December 13, 1979. This stop motion animated special tells the tale of Jack Frost, the winter sprite, and his adventures as a human...
, narrated by
Buddy HackettBuddy Hackett was an American comedian and actor.-Early life:Hackett was born in Brooklyn, New York, New York, the son of a Jewish upholsterer. He grew up on 54th and 14th Ave in Borough Park, Brooklyn, across from Public School 103...
, tells the story of the
winter spriteJack Frost is a sprite-like character with roots in Viking lore. There, he is known as Jokul Frosti . In Britain and United States, Jack is a variant of Old Man Winter and is held responsible for frosty weather, for nipping the nose and toes in such weather, coloring the foliage in autumn, and...
's love for a mortal woman menaced by the evil
CossackCossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...
King, Kubla Kraus (Paul Frees, in addition to Kubla, voiced Jack Frost's overlord, Father Winter himself).
Among Rankin/Bass's original specials was 1975's
The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas SnowThe First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow is a Christmas television special produced in stop motion animation by Rankin-Bass in 1975. It runs a half-hour as opposed to Rankin/Bass' standard hour format...
, featuring the voice of
Angela LansburyAngela Brigid Lansbury CBE is an English actress and singer in theatre, television and motion pictures, whose career has spanned eight decades and earned her more performance Tony Awards than any other individual , with five wins...
as the narrating and singing nun, and the Irving Berlin Christmas classic White Christmas. Though only a half-hour long (as opposed to the standard hour time slot), it was critically acclaimed, telling the story of a blind shepherd boy who longs to experience Christmas.
Their final stop-motion style Christmas story was
The Life and Adventures of Santa ClausThe Life & Adventures of Santa Claus is a 1985 Christmas television special produced in stop motion animation by Rankin/Bass. It is based on The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, a 1902 children's book by L...
, taken from the
L. Frank BaumLyman Frank Baum was an American author of children's books, best known for writing The Wonderful Wizard of Oz...
story
of the same nameThe Life and Adventures of Santa Claus is a 1902 children's book, written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by Mary Cowles Clark.-Infancy, Youth, Motivation:...
and released in 1985. In this story, the Great Ak summons a council of the Immortals to bestow upon a dying Claus the Mantle of Immortality. To make his case, the Great Ak tells Claus's life story, from his discovery as a foundling in the magical forest and his raising by Immortals, through his education by the Great Ak in the harsh realities of the human world and his acceptance of his destiny to struggle to bring joy to children. This special has recently been released as part of the Warner Brothers Archive Collection on a double-feature disc that also contains
Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas DonkeyNestor, The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey is a Christmas television special produced in stop motion animation by Rankin-Bass. It was first aired in 1977, and its plot is similar to an earlier Rankin-Bass special, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.- Plot :...
.
Many of these specials are still shown seasonally on American television, and some have been released to video and DVD.
The specials The Gift of Winter (1974) and
Witch's Night OutWitch's Night Out is an animated television Halloween special that premiered on NBC October 27, 1978, but was shot in a Toronto studio. It was the sequel to the 1974 special The Gift of Winter with the vocal talents from Dan Aykroyd and Vlari Bromfield...
(1978), sometimes mistakenly attributed to Rankin/Bass, were actually produced by John Leach and Jean Rankin for the
Canadian Broadcasting CorporationThe Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
.
Non-holiday output
Throughout the decade of the 1960s, Videocraft produced other
stop motionStop motion is an animation technique to make a physically manipulated object appear to move on its own. The object is moved in small increments between individually photographed frames, creating the illusion of movement when the series of frames is played as a continuous sequence...
and
traditional animationTraditional animation, is an animation technique where each frame is drawn by hand...
specials and films, some of which were non-holiday stories. For example, 1965 saw production of Rankin/Bass's first theatrical film,
Willy McBean and his Magic MachineWilly McBean and his Magic Machine is a Rankin/Bass full-length stop-motion puppet animation film released in theaters. It was also the first stop-motion animated feature film in USA...
, the first of four films produced in association with Joseph E. Levine's
Embassy PicturesEmbassy Pictures Corporation was an independent studio and distributor responsible for such films as The Graduate, The Lion in Winter, This Is Spinal Tap and Escape from New York.-Founding:The company was founded in 1942 by producer Joseph E...
. 1966 brought to life The Ballad of Smokey the Bear (narrated by
James CagneyJames Francis Cagney, Jr. was an American actor, first on stage, then in film, where he had his greatest impact. Although he won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances, he is best remembered for playing "tough guys." In 1999, the American Film Institute ranked him eighth...
), the story of the famous forest fire-fighting animal seen in numerous public service announcements.
In 1971, Rankin/Bass produced the opening for
Chiller TheatreChiller Theatre was a Saturday night show on Channel 11 WPIX in New York City that showed classic horror movies.-1960s:Chiller Theater actually began on WPIX during 1961 and in 1963 included Zacherley as the on-air host. However, by 1965, Zacherley left the show and a new opening was created using...
.
In 1972 and 1973, Rankin/Bass produced four animated TV-movies for
The ABC Saturday Superstar MovieThe ABC Saturday Superstar Movie — renamed The New Saturday Superstar Movie in its second season — is a series of one-hour animated TV-movies , broadcast on the ABC television network on Saturday mornings from September 9, 1972, to November 17, 1973.Intended as a "Movie of the Week" for kids, this...
: The Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters, Willie Mays and the Say-Hey Kid, The Red Baron, and That Girl in Wonderland.
In 1977, Rankin/Bass produced an animated version of
J. R. R. TolkienJohn Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
's The Hobbit. It was followed in 1980 by an animated version of
The Return of the KingThe Return of the King, also known as The Return of the King: A Story of the Hobbits, is a 1980 animated television special created by Rankin/Bass and Topcraft. The film is an adaptation of the third volume in The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R...
, the final volume of Tolkien's
The Lord of the RingsThe Lord of the Rings is a high fantasy epic written by English philologist and University of Oxford professor J. R. R. Tolkien. The story began as a sequel to Tolkien's earlier, less complex children's fantasy novel The Hobbit , but eventually developed into a much larger work. It was written in...
. (The animation rights to the first two volumes were held by
Saul ZaentzSaul Zaentz is an American film producer and former record company executive. He has won the Academy Award for Best Picture three times and in 1996 was awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award....
, producer of
Ralph BakshiRalph Bakshi is an Israeli-American director of animated and live-action films. In the 1970s, he established an alternative to mainstream animation through independent and adult-oriented productions. Between 1972 and 1992, he directed nine theatrically released feature films, five of which he wrote...
's animated adaptation
The Lord of the RingsJ.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is a 1978 American fantasy film directed by Ralph Bakshi. It contains both animation and live action footage which is rotoscoped to give it a more consistent look throughout the length of the movie. It is an adaptation of the first half of the high fantasy...
.) Other books adapted include
The Last UnicornThe Last Unicorn is a fantasy novel written by Peter S. Beagle and published in 1968. It has sold more than five million copies worldwide since its original publication, and has been translated into at least twenty languages....
by
Peter S. BeaglePeter Soyer Beagle is an American fantasist and author of novels, nonfiction, and screenplays. His most notable works include the novels The Last Unicorn, A Fine and Private Place and Tamsin, and the award-winning story "Two Hearts".-Career:Beagle won early recognition from The Scholastic Art &...
(one of their few ventures for cinema rather than television) and
Peter DickinsonPeter Malcolm de Brissac Dickinson OBE is an English author and poet who has written a wide variety of books, notably children's books and detective stories, over a long and distinguished career.-Life and work:...
's
The Flight of DragonsThe Flight of Dragons is a 1982 animated movie produced by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, Jr. and loosely combining the speculative natural history book of the same name by Peter Dickinson with the novel The Dragon and the George by Gordon R. Dickson. The film centres upon a quest undertaken to...
the plot though is mainly from Gordon Dickson's
The Dragon and the GeorgeThe Dragon and the George is a 1976 fantasy novel by Gordon R. Dickson, the first in his "Dragon Knight" series. A shorter form of the story was previously published as the short story, "St...
.
In addition to their prime time specials, Rankin/Bass produced several regular
cartoon seriesA cartoon series is a set of regularly presented animated television programs with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same characters and a basic theme...
, including
The King Kong ShowThe King Kong Show is an American/Japanese children's animated television series produced in 1966 by Videocraft of the USA, and Japan's Toei Animation and is the first anime series produced in Japan for an American company...
, The Jackson 5ive (co-produced with Motown Productions), and
The OsmondsThe Osmonds are an American family music group with a long and varied career—a career that took them from singing barbershop music as children, to achieving success as teen-music idols, to producing a hit television show, and to continued success as solo and group performers...
. Perhaps the best-remembered of these was
ThunderCatsThunderCats is an American animated television series that was produced by Rankin/Bass Productions debuting in 1984, based on the characters created by Tobin "Ted" Wolf. The series follows the adventures of a group of cat-like humanoid aliens...
(1985), a cartoon and related line of toys about battling cat-like people in a post-apocalyptic future. It was followed by two similar cartoons about animal-like people,
SilverhawksSilverHawks is an American animated television series developed by Rankin/Bass and distributed by Lorimar-Telepictures in 1986. The animation was provided by Japanese studio Pacific Animation Corporation. In total, 65 episodes were made...
(1986), and
TigersharksTigerSharks is an American animated children's television series developed by Rankin/Bass and distributed by Lorimar-Telepictures in 1987. The series involved a team of heroes that could transform into sharks and other marine animals and resembled the series ThunderCats and SilverHawks, also...
(as part of the series
The Comic StripThe Comic Strip was an American animated series which featured four rotating cartoon segments. The 30-minute series ran in first-run syndication during the 1987-1988 season and was also seen on RPN-9 in the Philippines....
in 1987) which never enjoyed the same commercial success.
Rankin/Bass also attempted live-action productions, such as 1967's sequel
King Kong EscapesKing Kong Escapes, released in Japan as , is a 1967 Kaiju film. A Japanese/American co-production from Toho and Rankin/Bass . Directed by Ishiro Honda and featuring special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya, the film starred both American actors alongside Japanese actors...
(a co-production with
Tohois a Japanese film, theater production, and distribution company. It is headquartered in Yūrakuchō, Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group...
), 1976's
The Last DinosaurThe Last Dinosaur is a Japanese/American tokusatsu co-production, co-directed by Alexander Grasshoff and Shusei Kotani, billed as Tom Kotani, and co-produced by Japan's Tsuburaya Productions, and American interests for Rankin/Bass Productions...
, 1978's
The Bermuda DepthsThe Bermuda Depths is a Japanese / American co-production 1978 fantasy film originally broadcast as a made-for-TV movie written by Arthur Rankin Jr. of Rankin/Bass fame. Special effects and creature elements were handled by Tsuburaya Productions, most famous for the Ultraman franchise.It is...
and 1983's The Sins of Dorian Gray. (With the exception of King Kong Escapes, all were made for television.)
Rankin/Bass today
After its last output in 1987, Rankin/Bass had officially been shut down, with no new holiday or non-holiday specials or theatrical films.
In the meantime, Arthur Rankin Jr. split his time between New York City, where the company still has its offices, and his summer retreat in Bermuda. He went out to form Rankin Productions to produce a few cartoons, such as the remake of
Krazy KatKrazy Kat is an American comic strip created by cartoonist George Herriman, published daily in newspapers between 1913 and 1944. It first appeared in the New York Evening Journal, whose owner, William Randolph Hearst, was a major booster for the strip throughout its run...
. It was later absorbed in 1990. Jules Bass commuted between New York and Paris. Bass became a vegetarian; a decade later, he wrote Herb, the Vegetarian Dragon, the first children's book character developed specifically to explore moral issues related to vegetarianism. The original story along with a follow-up cookbook became bestsellers for independent publishing house
Barefoot BooksBarefoot Books is an independent children's book publisher based in Bath, UK and Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.The company began as a home business in 1992. It is now an international business, with offices in the United States and in the UK...
.
In
1999The year 1999 in film involved several noteworthy events and has been called "The Year That Changed Movies". Several significant feature films, including Stanley Kubrick's final film Eyes Wide Shut, Pedro Almodóvar's first Oscar-winning film All About My Mother, science fiction The Matrix, Deep...
, Rankin/Bass joined forces with James G. Robinson's
Morgan Creek ProductionsMorgan Creek Productions is an American film studio that has released box-office hits like Young Guns, Dead Ringers, Major League, True Romance, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The King and I, The Crush, and Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, and others. The studio was co-founded in 1987 by James G...
and Nest Entertainment, creators of the animated trilogy
The Swan PrincessThe Swan Princess is a 1994 American animated film based on the ballet "Swan Lake". Starring the voice talents of Jack Palance, John Cleese, Steven Wright, and Sandy Duncan, the film is directed by a former Disney animation director, Richard Rich, with a music score by Lex de Azevedo...
, for the first and only
animated adaptationThe King and I is a 1999 animated film adaptation of the stage musical The King and I, which in turn is adapted from the Anna Leonowens story. The film was produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Morgan Creek Productions, and released theatrically by Warner Bros. Family Entertainment on March 19, 1999...
of
Rodgers and HammersteinRichard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were a well-known American songwriting duo, usually referred to as Rodgers and Hammerstein. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s during what is considered the golden age of the medium...
's musical
The King and IThe King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...
, based on a treatment conceived by Rankin. Distributed by Warner Bros. (whose part in Rankin/Bass history is explained below in "Library and rights"), the film flopped at the U.S. box office and many U.S. film critics took it to task for its depictions of "offensive ethnic stereotyping."
In 2001, the Fox network aired Rankin/Bass's first new, original Christmas special in sixteen years, Santa Baby! (like many past specials, based on a
popular Christmas song"Santa Baby" is a 1953 Christmas song written by Joan Javits and Philip Springer. Although Tony Springer is listed as co-writer, he was a legal fiction created for purposes of membership in the performing rights organization BMI.The song is a tongue-in-cheek look at a Christmas list sung by a...
), featuring voices by
Eartha KittEartha Mae Kitt was an American singer, actress, and cabaret star. She was perhaps best known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 hit recordings of "C'est Si Bon" and the enduring Christmas novelty smash "Santa Baby." Orson Welles once called her the "most exciting woman in the...
and
Gregory HinesGregory Oliver Hines was an American actor, singer, dancer and choreographer.-Early years:Born in New York City, Hines and his older brother Maurice started dancing at an early age, studying with choreographer Henry LeTang...
and featuring primarily African-American characters, a change from its previous specials. Unlike previous Rankin/Bass holiday specials, which made no use of
Hanna-BarberaHanna-Barbera Productions, Inc. was an American animation studio that dominated North American television animation during the second half of the 20th century...
sound effects, Santa, Baby! made total use of them. Shortly after, the Rankin/Bass partnership was dissolved & its library was sold to
Classic MediaClassic Media, LLC, is an American production company and distributor of family programming. It was founded in 2000 by former Marvel Entertainment CEO Eric Ellenbogen and former Broadway Video executive John Engelman in hopes of acquiring mismanaged classic properties and giving exposure to...
.
Many of Rankin/Bass' films are shown on
ABC FamilyABC Family, stylized as abc family, is an American television network, owned by ABC Family Worldwide Inc., a subsidiary of the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company...
during their December "25 Days of Christmas" broadcast, though several are heavily edited with scenes shortened and entire songs removed. Both Rankin and Bass are involved in the new
ThunderCats (2011 TV series)ThunderCats is an American animated television series executive produced by Sam Register, and produced by Ethan Spaulding and Michael Jelenic and is a reboot of the original series by Tobin "Ted" Wolf. It is produced by Warner Bros. Animation with animation provided by the Japanese Studio 4°C.The...
series on Cartoon Network.
Library and rights
The Rankin/Bass library is now in the hands of other companies. General Electric's Tomorrow Entertainment acquired the original Videocraft International in 1971. The pre-1974 library (including the "classic four" Christmas specials) remained under the ownership of GE. In 1988,
Lorne MichaelsLorne Michaels, CM is a Canadian-American television producer, writer, and comedian best known for creating and producing Saturday Night Live and producing the various film and TV projects that spun off from it.-Early life:...
' production company
Broadway VideoBroadway Video is a media production and distribution company located within the Brill Building on Broadway, New York, United States. Founded in 1979 as a production house tasked with post-production work on Saturday Night Live, Broadway Video has since become one of the largest independent...
acquired the rights to the pre-1974 Rankin/Bass television material from GE. In 1995, Broadway Video's children's division became Golden Books Family Entertainment, and in turn became
Classic MediaClassic Media, LLC, is an American production company and distributor of family programming. It was founded in 2000 by former Marvel Entertainment CEO Eric Ellenbogen and former Broadway Video executive John Engelman in hopes of acquiring mismanaged classic properties and giving exposure to...
.
The Rankin/Bass theatrical feature film library (with the exception of Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July and The Last Unicorn) is now owned by French production company
StudioCanalStudioCanal is a French-based production and distribution company that owns the third-largest film library in the world...
.
In 1978,
Telepictures CorporationTelepictures is an American production company, currently operating as a label of Warner Bros. Television, with Hilary Estey McLoughlin currently serving as President...
acquired all of the post-1974 Rankin/Bass library. All Rankin/Bass material from 1974-1989 (except The Last Unicorn) are now owned by
Warner Bros.Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
(through the studio's 1989 acquisition of
Lorimar-TelepicturesLorimar-Telepictures was a production and television syndication firm established in 1986 with the merger of Lorimar and Telepictures until both TV divisions became separate in 1988...
) and managed by its
animation divisionWarner Bros. Animation is the animation division of Warner Bros., a subsidiary of Time Warner. The studio is closely associated with the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies characters, among others. The studio is the successor to Warner Bros...
. In 2008,
Jack FrostJack Frost was an animated television special, directed by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, Jr. and written by Romeo Muller; it premiered on NBC on December 13, 1979. This stop motion animated special tells the tale of Jack Frost, the winter sprite, and his adventures as a human...
(1979) was officially released on
DVDA DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
by
Warner Home VideoWarner Home Video is the home video unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., itself part of Time Warner. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video . The company launched in the United States with twenty films on VHS and Betamax videocassettes in late 1979...
(after several years of being in the
public domainWorks are in the public domain if the intellectual property rights have expired, if the intellectual property rights are forfeited, or if they are not covered by intellectual property rights at all...
).
The Last Unicorn is owned by ITV Global Entertainment Ltd., with Lionsgate handling video distribution under ITV's license.
Television rights to The Jackson 5ive are owned by
CBS Television DistributionCBS Television Distribution is a global television distribution company, formed from the merger of CBS Corporation's two domestic television distribution arms CBS Paramount Domestic Television and King World Productions, including its home entertainment arm CBS Home Entertainment...
due to being the successor to Worldvision Enterprises. Classic Media does have ancillary rights, however.
Television rights to most of the Rankin/Bass library are held in the United States by
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
and
ABC FamilyABC Family, stylized as abc family, is an American television network, owned by ABC Family Worldwide Inc., a subsidiary of the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company...
, with the exceptions of the original Rudolph and Frosty specials, which are held by
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
.
Feature films
- Willy McBean and his Magic Machine
Willy McBean and his Magic Machine is a Rankin/Bass full-length stop-motion puppet animation film released in theaters. It was also the first stop-motion animated feature film in USA...
(1965)
- The Daydreamer (1966)
- The Wacky World of Mother Goose
The Wacky World of Mother Goose is a Animated feature film made by Rankin/Bass, written by Romeo Muller and directed by Jules Bass based on Charles Perrault's stories and nursery rhymes. It was Rankin/Bass is traditional Animated film. It features Humpty Dumpty, the old lady who lives in a shoe,...
(1967)
- Mad Monster Party (1967)
- King Kong Escapes
King Kong Escapes, released in Japan as , is a 1967 Kaiju film. A Japanese/American co-production from Toho and Rankin/Bass . Directed by Ishiro Honda and featuring special effects by Eiji Tsuburaya, the film starred both American actors alongside Japanese actors...
(1968)
- Marco (1973)
- The Last Dinosaur
The Last Dinosaur is a Japanese/American tokusatsu co-production, co-directed by Alexander Grasshoff and Shusei Kotani, billed as Tom Kotani, and co-produced by Japan's Tsuburaya Productions, and American interests for Rankin/Bass Productions...
(1977)
- The Bermuda Depths
The Bermuda Depths is a Japanese / American co-production 1978 fantasy film originally broadcast as a made-for-TV movie written by Arthur Rankin Jr. of Rankin/Bass fame. Special effects and creature elements were handled by Tsuburaya Productions, most famous for the Ultraman franchise.It is...
(1977)
- The Hobbit (1977)
- Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July
Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July is a feature-length 1979 Rankin-Bass crossover sequel filmed in stop-motion animation in the style of their 1964 Christmas special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. It was 97 minutes long. Although designed as a theatrical release , it made its U.S...
(1979, Mickey Rooney)
- The Bushido Blade (1979)
- The Return of the King
The Return of the King, also known as The Return of the King: A Story of the Hobbits, is a 1980 animated television special created by Rankin/Bass and Topcraft. The film is an adaptation of the third volume in The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R...
(1980)
- The Ivory Ape (1980)
- The Last Unicorn
The Last Unicorn is a 1982 fantasy film produced by Rankin/Bass for ITC Entertainment and animated by Topcraft. The film is based on the novel of the same name written by Peter S. Beagle, who also wrote the film's screenplay...
(1982)
- The Flight of Dragons
The Flight of Dragons is a 1982 animated movie produced by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, Jr. and loosely combining the speculative natural history book of the same name by Peter Dickinson with the novel The Dragon and the George by Gordon R. Dickson. The film centres upon a quest undertaken to...
(1982)
- The Sins of Dorian Gray (1983)
- The Wind in the Willows
The Wind in the Willows is a 1987 American animated film directed by Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass. It is an adaptation of The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. Set in a pastoral version of England, the film focuses on four anthropomorphised animal characters and contains themes of...
(1987)
Animated TV specials
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964, Burl Ives) (produced as Videocraft)
- Return to Oz (1964)
- The Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy Show (1965)
- The Ballad of Smokey the Bear (1966)
- The Cricket on the Hearth (1967, Danny Thomas)
- The Mouse on the Mayflower
The Mouse on the Mayflower is a 1968 animated Thanksgiving television special created by Rankin/Bass. It debuted on NBC on November 23, 1968. The special is about a mouse named Willum, who is discovered on the Mayflower. Tennessee Ernie Ford voices Willum and narrates.-External links:* at IMDb...
(1968, Tennessee Ernie Ford)
- The Little Drummer Boy (1968, Greer Garson)
- Frosty the Snowman (1969, Jimmy Durante)
- The Mad, Mad, Mad Comedians
The Mad, Mad, Mad Comedians is an animated half-hour ABC television special produced by Rankin/Bass Animation, best known for their stop-motion Christmas special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The show aired on April 7, 1970 before the airing of that year's Oscars...
(1970)
- Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
Santa Claus is Comin' to Town is a 1970 stop motion television special, made by Rankin-Bass with models carved from wood . The film stars actor Fred Astaire as S.D. Kluger, the narrator, and Mickey Rooney as Kris Kringle/Santa Claus...
(1970, Fred Astaire)
- Here Comes Peter Cottontail
Here Comes Peter Cottontail is a 1971 Easter television special made by Rankin-Bass, based on a 1957 novel by Priscilla and Otto Friedrich entitled The Easter Bunny That Overslept. The title of the special is from the Easter song "Here Comes Peter Cottontail", which is also heard in the special....
(1971, Danny Kaye)
- The Enchanted World of Danny Kaye: The Emperor's New Clothes (1972)
- Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters (1972)
- Willie Mays and the Say-Hey Kid (1972)
- 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1972)
- Red Baron (1972)
- That Girl in Wonderland (1974)
- 'Twas the Night Before Christmas
’Twas the Night Before Christmas is a 1974 Rankin-Bass animated Christmas television special based on the famous 1823 poem that opens with this line...
(1974, Joel Grey & George Gobel)
- The Year Without a Santa Claus
The Year Without a Santa Claus is a 1974 Rankin/Bass stop motion animated television special. It usually airs during the Christmas season on United States television. The story is based on Phyllis McGinley's 1956 book of the same name, illustrated by Kurt Werth.-Summary:The show is set in the...
(1974, Shirley Booth)
- The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow
The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow is a Christmas television special produced in stop motion animation by Rankin-Bass in 1975. It runs a half-hour as opposed to Rankin/Bass' standard hour format...
(1975, Angela Lansbury)
- The First Easter Rabbit
The First Easter Rabbit is a 1976 animated Easter special, seen on NBC and later CBS. Created by Rankin/Bass, it tells the story of the Easter Bunny's origin and is loosely based on The Velveteen Rabbit, a children's book by Margery Williams.-Plot:...
(1976, Burl Ives)
- Frosty's Winter Wonderland
Frosty's Winter Wonderland is an animated Christmas television special produced in 1976 by Rankin-Bass. It is a sequel to the 1969 Frosty the Snowman special, also written by Romeo Muller, with narration provided by Andy Griffith...
(1976, Andy Griffith)
- Rudolph's Shiny New Year
Rudolph's Shiny New Year is the 1976 stop-motion animated sequel to the 1964 television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, produced by Rankin/Bass.-Plot:...
(1976, Red Skelton)
- The Little Drummer Boy, Book II
The Little Drummer Boy is a 1968 Christmas television special produced by Rankin/Bass, based on the famous Christmas song of that name. It was followed by a sequel in 1976.-1968 television special:...
(1976, Greer Garson)
- The Easter Bunny is Comin' To Town
The Easter Bunny is Comin' To Town is a 1977 Easter special by Rankin/Bass seen on ABC. It is a semi-sequel to Rankin-Bass's earlier Santa Claus is Comin' To Town. In the special, S.D...
(1977, Fred Astaire)
- Nestor, The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey
Nestor, The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey is a Christmas television special produced in stop motion animation by Rankin-Bass. It was first aired in 1977, and its plot is similar to an earlier Rankin-Bass special, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.- Plot :...
(1977, Roger Miller)
- The Stingiest Man in Town
The Stingiest Man in Town is a Christmas special created by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass, which featured traditional animation rather than the Animagic most often used by the company...
(1978, Tom Bosley) - Animated by Top Craft, this special was also broadcast in JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
in 1978 under the title Machi Ichiban no Kechinbo (The Number One Miser of the City), directed by Katsuhisa Yamadais a Japanese animator. He is most noted for directing such memorable anime series as Genesis Climber Mospeada, Gatchaman, Mazinger Z, Devil Hunter Yohko and Record of Lodoss War.-External links:...
. Because of this, some sources consider The Stingiest Man in Town to be animeis the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
(by the American definition of the word which refers exclusively to Japanese animation).
- Jack Frost
Jack Frost was an animated television special, directed by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin, Jr. and written by Romeo Muller; it premiered on NBC on December 13, 1979. This stop motion animated special tells the tale of Jack Frost, the winter sprite, and his adventures as a human...
(1979, Buddy Hackett)
- Pinocchio's Christmas
Pinocchio's Christmas is a Rankin/Bass Christmas television special. It was released on DVD as part of a box set of specials entitled "Classic Christmas Favorites" on October 7, 2008. It airs annually during the Christmas season on ABC Family.-Synopsis:...
(1980)
- The Leprechaun's Christmas Gold (1981, Art Carney)
- The Coneheads (1983)
- The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus is a 1985 Christmas television special produced in stop motion animation by Rankin/Bass. It is based on The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, a 1902 children's book by L...
(1985)
- Santa, Baby! (2001, Patti LaBelle)
Animated series
- The New Adventures of Pinocchio (1960)
- Tales of the Wizard of Oz
Tales of the Wizard of Oz is a 1961 animated television series, produced by Crawley Films for Videocrafts . This is the second animated series produced by the studio, and the first by Rankin/Bass to feature traditional animation.The series features stories derived from characters created in L...
(1961)
- The King Kong Show
The King Kong Show is an American/Japanese children's animated television series produced in 1966 by Videocraft of the USA, and Japan's Toei Animation and is the first anime series produced in Japan for an American company...
(1966–1969)
- The Smokey Bear Show (1969)
- Tomfoolery
This article is about the cartoon series. For the revue musical based on the words and music of Tom Lehrer, see Tom FooleryThe Tomfoolery Show is an American cartoon comedy television series made and first broadcast in 1970, based on the works of Edward Lear. The animation was done at the Halas and...
(1970)
- The Reluctant Dragon and Mr. Toad Show (1970)
- The Jackson 5ive
The Jackson 5ive was a Saturday morning cartoon series produced by Rankin/Bass and Motown Productions on ABC from September 11, 1971 until 14 October 1972; a fictionalized portrayal of the careers of Motown recording group The Jackson 5...
(1971)
- The Osmonds (1972)
- Kid Power (1972)
- Festival of Family Classics
The Festival Of Family Classics originally aired between 1972 and 1976. It was re-aired 1 November 2005 on the Boomerang and 16 June 2011 Teletoon Retro network....
(1972)
- ThunderCats
ThunderCats is an American animated television series that was produced by Rankin/Bass Productions debuting in 1984, based on the characters created by Tobin "Ted" Wolf. The series follows the adventures of a group of cat-like humanoid aliens...
(1985–1987)
- SilverHawks
SilverHawks is an American animated television series developed by Rankin/Bass and distributed by Lorimar-Telepictures in 1986. The animation was provided by Japanese studio Pacific Animation Corporation. In total, 65 episodes were made...
(1986)
- The Comic Strip
The Comic Strip was an American animated series which featured four rotating cartoon segments. The 30-minute series ran in first-run syndication during the 1987-1988 season and was also seen on RPN-9 in the Philippines....
(featuring TigerSharksTigerSharks is an American animated children's television series developed by Rankin/Bass and distributed by Lorimar-Telepictures in 1987. The series involved a team of heroes that could transform into sharks and other marine animals and resembled the series ThunderCats and SilverHawks, also...
, Street Frogs, Mini Monsters and Karate KatKarate Kat is an animated children's television series. It was developed by Rankin/Bass and distributed by Lorimar-Telepictures in 1987. The show is about Karate Kat, a brown cat who's somehow skilled in Martial arts and uses it against crime. He is usually seen wearing a blue suit with a red tie...
) (1987)
Sequels to Rankin-Bass specials not made by Rankin-Bass
Several sequels were made to Rankin-Bass specials not really made by Rankin-Bass itself. Most of the non-Rankin/Bass sequels were made by both of Rankin-Bass's current rights holders
Classic MediaClassic Media, LLC, is an American production company and distributor of family programming. It was founded in 2000 by former Marvel Entertainment CEO Eric Ellenbogen and former Broadway Video executive John Engelman in hopes of acquiring mismanaged classic properties and giving exposure to...
(pre-1974) and
Warner Bros.Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
(post-1974)
- Frosty Returns
Frosty Returns is an animated Christmas television special featuring the character Frosty the Snowman. It first aired on December 1, 1992. The special is not a direct sequel to the original 1969 special, and the two were produced by different companies Frosty Returns is an animated Christmas...
(1992): Pseudo-sequel to Frosty the SnowmanFrosty the Snowman is an American animated television special based on the popular song of the same title. The program, which first aired on December 7, 1969 on CBS , was produced for television by Rankin/Bass and featured the voices of comedians Jimmy Durante as narrator and Jackie Vernon as the...
. Made by Bill Melendez and Broadway Video.
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys (2001): Sequel to Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a Christmas television special produced in stop motion animation by Rankin/Bass. It first aired Sunday, December 6, 1964, on the NBC television network in the USA, and was sponsored by General Electric under the umbrella title of The General Electric Fantasy Hour...
. Made by Tundra Entertainment.
- Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie
Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie is a 2005 computer animated film, a sequel to the 1970 Rankin/Bass TV special, Here Comes Peter Cottontail. It was released by Classic Media. It made its television debut on 14 April, 2006 on Cartoon Network...
(2005): Sequel to Here Comes Peter CottontailHere Comes Peter Cottontail is a 1971 Easter television special made by Rankin-Bass, based on a 1957 novel by Priscilla and Otto Friedrich entitled The Easter Bunny That Overslept. The title of the special is from the Easter song "Here Comes Peter Cottontail", which is also heard in the special....
. Made by Classic MediaClassic Media, LLC, is an American production company and distributor of family programming. It was founded in 2000 by former Marvel Entertainment CEO Eric Ellenbogen and former Broadway Video executive John Engelman in hopes of acquiring mismanaged classic properties and giving exposure to...
.
- The Legend of Frosty the Snowman
The Legend of Frosty the Snowman is a 2004 animated film produced by Classic Media . This movie has also been bundled with the original 1969 Rankin/Bass special and the CBS sequel. The special airs annually on Cartoon Network in the US...
(2005): Sequel to Frosty the SnowmanFrosty the Snowman is an American animated television special based on the popular song of the same title. The program, which first aired on December 7, 1969 on CBS , was produced for television by Rankin/Bass and featured the voices of comedians Jimmy Durante as narrator and Jackie Vernon as the...
. Made by Classic MediaClassic Media, LLC, is an American production company and distributor of family programming. It was founded in 2000 by former Marvel Entertainment CEO Eric Ellenbogen and former Broadway Video executive John Engelman in hopes of acquiring mismanaged classic properties and giving exposure to...
.
- A Miser Brothers' Christmas
A Miser Brothers' Christmas is a stop motion spin-off special based on the characters from 1974 Rankin-Bass special The Year Without a Santa Claus. Produced by Warner Bros...
(2008): Sequel to The Year Without a Santa ClausThe Year Without a Santa Claus is a 1974 Rankin/Bass stop motion animated television special. It usually airs during the Christmas season on United States television. The story is based on Phyllis McGinley's 1956 book of the same name, illustrated by Kurt Werth.-Summary:The show is set in the...
Made by Warner Brothers and Cuppa Coffee.
External links