Creator of so many beloved stop-motion animation with his business partner, Jules Bass, starting with Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer in 1964. Still aired every year, the works of Rankin/Bass are treasured today as Christmas classics loved by all generations. He was 89 years old.

http://variety.com/2014/tv/people-news/rudolph-animator-arthur-rankin-jr-dead-at-89-1201080680/

Edited February 2, 201411 yr by alphanguy74

One of the most memorable of all sequences from a Rankin/Bass special, "the Year Without A Santa Claus". I remember watching the premiere of this special, Christmas 1974.

Edited February 2, 201411 yr by alphanguy74

The end production logo is also so memeroable for all who watched these shows:

Edited February 2, 201411 yr by alphanguy74

Wow, God bless him, his work will endure and I firmly believe that his specials will continue to give me the "warm and fuzzies" until my very last Christmas.

I generally hate it when people say this, but I assumed that he had passed long ago.

Edited February 2, 201411 yr by SFK

Very unique and timeless animation styles, and the music in them also holds up well.

I don't like the message of Rudolph, but visually and musically it's always with me.

Very unique and timeless animation styles, and the music in them also holds up well.

I don't like the message of Rudolph, but visually and musically it's always with me.

Rudolph is a double edged sword for me. I literally SOB all the way through it, even after seeing is for the last 40 years. the whole island of Misfit Toys sequence gets me every time. I hate the hypocrisy of Rudolph's father, being ashamed of him until Santa needs him then all of a sudden he's PROUD. It's like he's not worthy of love until he saves everyone else's ass. This special had one of the most beautiful songs of all the specials, composed by Johnny Marks:

My second favorite must be this one from The Year Without a Santa Claus. Mickey Rooney ain't much of a singer, but a perfect example of emotional delivery that can rip your heart right out.

The opening titles of The Little Drummer Boy with the Vienna Boys Choir singing, "and Miss Greer Garson as our narrator", love that.

There were several other littler knows specials as well... some were kind of traumatic, to tell you the truth... The most notorious of these is "Nestor, The Long Eared Christmas Donkey".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTD0XHRLCOs

I watched it at it's premiere, too, and cried for about 5 hours afterward. My mother never let me watch it again.

Edited February 2, 201411 yr by alphanguy74

dm

Edited February 2, 201411 yr by DRW50

The Land of Misfit Toys is my favorite part of that special (along with Silver and Gold). The idea of rejects finding their own family. Of course they weren't happy and they had to conform, as the entire message of the special is that conformity is key and if people abuse you, then it's OK, because someday you will prove your value to your abusers. Still, at least everyone kept their quirks and their quirks found a use, which is better than nothing.

It's a wonder that special didn't make me hate Santa.

Anyway, I love this song:

And this is always stuck in my head, for some reason.

That's really a beautiful song. Very interesting animation, nothing like I would have expected in these specials. And some of the shots of her looking at her reflection in the fountain remind me a little of anime. I guess this is cut out of more recent airings? That's a shame.

DRW50, did you now that in it's original broadcast, The island of misfit toys were never mentioned again,. There were so many complaints about it, that a new scene was shot and included in the 1965 broadcast, and every broadcast ever since, where Santa goes tot he island of misfit toys and picks them up, to take them to children's homes. This made the show too long, so for the 1965 broadcast and all others since, a scene where Yukon Cornelius finally find his peppermint mine was excised to make room for it.

That's really a beautiful song. Very interesting animation, nothing like I would have expected in these specials. And some of the shots of her looking at her reflection in the fountain remind me a little of anime. I guess this is cut out of more recent airings? That's a shame.

Yes, to make way for more comemrcials, this is the first thing they cut out. But it's a beautiful sequence. However, CBS has aired them unedited several times in the last few years, in a 90 minute time slot, giving you an idea of the difference in the amount of commerciall breaks now, compared to 1970. Since this special was 1970, it was a bit of a nod to psychadelic stylings. ABC family cuts out the scene where Burgermeister sets all the toys on fire, because they feel it's too traumatic. Of all things, I don't find THAT scene worthy of editing.

Edited February 2, 201411 yr by alphanguy74