Twas the Night Before Christmas, is a 1974 Rankin-Bass
animatedAnimation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. It is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in a number of ways...
Christmas television special based on the famous 1823
poemPoetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
that opens with this line. The special originally aired on the CBS network on December 8, 1974.
Set in the fictional town of Junctionville, NY around the turn of the century (in a world where humans and intelligent humanoid mice apparently openly interact, at least on a professional basis),
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...
is offended by an
anonymousAnonymity is derived from the Greek word ανωνυμία, meaning "without a name" or "namelessness". In colloquial use, anonymous typically refers to a person, and often means that the personal identity, or personally identifiable information of that person is not known.More strictly, and in reference to...
letter printed in the town's newspaper (and signed "all of us") claiming that he doesn't exist.
Twas the Night Before Christmas, is a 1974 Rankin-Bass
animatedAnimation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. It is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in a number of ways...
Christmas television special based on the famous 1823
poemPoetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
that opens with this line. The special originally aired on the CBS network on December 8, 1974.
Plot
Set in the fictional town of Junctionville, NY around the turn of the century (in a world where humans and intelligent humanoid mice apparently openly interact, at least on a professional basis),
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...
is offended by an
anonymousAnonymity is derived from the Greek word ανωνυμία, meaning "without a name" or "namelessness". In colloquial use, anonymous typically refers to a person, and often means that the personal identity, or personally identifiable information of that person is not known.More strictly, and in reference to...
letter printed in the town's newspaper (and signed "all of us") claiming that he doesn't exist. In response, Santa returns the entire town's letters to him unopened. Upon reading the anonymous letter printed in the
newspaperA newspaper is a publication containing news, information, and advertising. General-interest newspapers often feature articles on political events, crime, business, art/entertainment, society and sports. Most traditional papers also feature an editorial page containing columns that express the...
, Father Mouse (voiced by
George GobelGeorge Leslie Gobel was an American comedian and actor, best known as the star of his own weekly NBC television show, The George Gobel Show, from 1954 to 1960 .-Radio:Gobel was born in Chicago, Illinois. He graduated from Chicago's Theodore Roosevelt High School in 1937...
) — a
mouseA mouse is a small mammal belonging to the order of rodents. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse . It is also a popular pet. The American white-footed mouse and the deer mouse also sometimes live in houses. In some places, certain kinds of field mice are also common...
assistant to the human clockmaker Joshua Trundle (voiced by
Joel GreyJoel Grey is an American stage and screen actor, singer, and dancer, best known for his role as the "Master of Ceremonies" in both the stage and film adaptation of the Kander & Ebb musical Cabaret...
, the credited narrator) — immediately suspects that his brainy son Albert is its author. Albert (voiced by
Tammy Grimes-Early life:Grimes was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, the daughter of Eola Willard , a naturalist and spiritualist, and Nicholas Luther Grimes, an innkeeper, country-club manager, and farmer. She attended high school at the then-all girls school, Beaver Country Day School, in Chestnut Hill,...
) confirms his suspicions, repeating the letter verbatim to him.
Father Mouse and the Trundle Family devise a plan to appease Santa by building a singing clock tower for him, built with a special recording to play a song to coax him not to bypass Junctionville on
Christmas EveChristmas Eve, December 24, is the night before Christmas Day, which celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ.-Western Churches:Many Roman Catholics and Anglicans traditionally celebrate a midnight Mass which begins sometime before midnight on Christmas Day; this ceremony, which is held in churches...
. Unfortunately, Albert enters the clock to explore it without permission, and inadvertently damages it seriously, thus rendering it inoperable and seriously damaging Trundle's professional reputation. Furthermore, the mayor (voiced by
John McGiverJohn Irwin McGiver was a relatively obscure American character actor who made more than a hundred appearances in television and motion pictures over a two-decade span from 1955 to 1975....
), publicly embarrassed at the clock tower's failure, refuses to give the clockmaker access to it for repairs.
Confessing his mistake, Albert volunteers to repair it himself and Father Mouse tells Joshua of the situation before waiting at his bed with worry on
Christmas EveChristmas Eve, December 24, is the night before Christmas Day, which celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ.-Western Churches:Many Roman Catholics and Anglicans traditionally celebrate a midnight Mass which begins sometime before midnight on Christmas Day; this ceremony, which is held in churches...
. Although Albert does not complete his task until about one minute after the Midnight deadline, the clock does play its song within earshot of Santa which convinces him to turn around and come to town after all.
The special aired on
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
from 1974-1987 and 1990-1993 before moving to its current home network,
ABC FamilyABC Family is an American cable television network currently owned by ABC Family Worldwide Inc., a division of The Walt Disney Company. ABC Family offers contemporary and inclusive programming, including series, movies, events, and enhanced ABC encore presentations...
in 1995 (Then the Family Channel).
Like many of Rankin-Bass' other animated TV specials, this special was animated in
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of 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...
by the animation studio Top Craft, many of whose staff later worked for
Studio Ghibliis a Japanese animation film studio, and previously was a subsidiary of Tokuma Shoten.The company's logo features the character Totoro from Hayao Miyazaki's film My Neighbor Totoro....
.
The special has been issued on
VHSVideo Home System, better known by its abbreviation VHS, was a video tape recording standard developed during the 1970s. It was released to the public during the latter half of the decade. During the late part of the 1970s and the early 1980s it formed one-half of the VHS vs Betamax war, which it...
, as well as on
DVDDVD, also known as Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc,is an optical disc storage media format, and was founded in 1995. Its main uses are video and data storage...
paired with the 1976 special
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. Jackie Vernon reprised his role as the voice of Frosty.-Plot:Lonely...
.
External links