Christmas in July!

 

Here is my Christmas in July article!

https://www.remindmagazine.com/article/2403/rankin-bass-puppets-santa-rudolph/?fbclid=IwAR1VKXM8vjIPHzz4LBvzcka4vK2j3CU75e15l48cwxIG9VSOBR_MpCXyGgA

Weekend

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer publicity puppets

C. 2001 Miser Bros Press/Rick Goldschmidt Archives

I contacted Masaki Iizuka and he said, “Ichiro Komuro (known as Pinchan to Arthur) and Kyoto Kita created a separate puppet set at the request of Arthur Rankin Jr., that had to be flown to New York quickly for publicity photographs for the network. These photographs were used for regional TV Guide covers, articles, Burl Ives and Johnny Marks publicity shots, the Decca album cover, GE Ads, etc. They were never used for any of the actual animation, which was still in full production all the way up to shortly before the December 6, 1964 airing. These same puppets were leant to NBC and they put them on display in a case, at their Rockefeller Plaza studio, in New York. Eventually they were given back to Rankin/Bass Productions and Barbara eventually was gifted them.”

 

 

Here is the link to my latest Rankin/Bass Productions article!

https://www.remindmagazine.com/article/2403/rankin-bass-puppets-santa-rudolph/

 

The publicity photo only Animagic figures of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus (not screen used in the Animagic animation). More to come in my ReMind magazine article about them.

I will be making a presentation on Rankin/Bass' Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer November 30th, 2023!

 Who lives in Atlanta?  I will be reuniting with the Animagic Santa Claus and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to make a presentation, at the Center for Puppetry arts, on Rankin/Bass' Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer November 30th, and signing books!   More details to follow!

The Santa and Rudolph puppets, that were in the actual TV special, are in Japan! My son said he saw the you tube videos from Antiques Roadshow and restoring the puppets...let's just say they are not truthful to create a narrative. I have written about this several times in the last year and done many interviews.

It has been twenty years since the release of my Rudolph book! I wanted to re-clarify some things about the Rudolph and Santa Animagic figures!

 My book has been out for twenty years now!   All of my updates on Rudolph have either been in my other 5 Rankin/Bass hardcover books or in my articles in RetroFan magazine (Big Rudolph article last Christmas and a Mad Monster Party article in October 2021 with Rudolph update).   I assisted with both the auction of the Rudolph and Santa Animagic figures in November of 2020 and the display of the figures at the Center for Puppetry arts November 2021.   I have seen some clips from Antiques Roadshow and their Podcast which are very misleading.   They interviewed me for both, but failed to disclose that these figures are NOT the ones used in the actual animation of the TV Special.    They are the publicity used Animagic figures for photos and the NBC Display at the Rockefeller Plaza in NY.   Tad Mochinaga and his staff hung onto the puppets used in the actual animation and you can see pictures in both my book on The Making of Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town and The Daydreamer, and also Rankin/Bass' Frosty the Snowman 50th Anniversary scrapbook.   You can clearly see Santa's beard is shorter and decaying in the lines in the beard where Santa's mouth moved in the special, unlike the Santa beard on the one in the Center for Puppetry arts (Which is larger and rounder as in the publicity photos).   I made this discovery last Christmas and wrote about it and also did interviews about it, but apparently "Production used" or "Screen used" sounds better to some producers, so they mislead a bit.

Thursday fun!!

 

With Rudolph airing on CBS TV for the 57th year Monday night, Here are some more pictures from the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, GA Thanks to my friend Daniel Amrhein! I am glad I was able to help with my archives and that they injected some history with the display! #rankinbassproductions #Animagic #rudolphtherednosedreindeer www.miserbros.com

Friday

I will have photos of the exhibit at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, GA next Wednesday 🎅 They are still working on it. #rankinbassproductions #rudolphtherednosedreindeer

The exhibit I helped with at the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta, opens November 11th, 2021 (I will have some photos of it then)! I am doing an interview for the Iheart network soon! My 2nd Rankin/Bass exhibit at the Orland Park Public Library starts at the beginning of November 🎅 Looks like it will be another busy and fun Holiday season! Pick up the new issue of RetroFan magazine (#17) for an update on this dynamic duo! #rankinbassproductions #rudolphtherednosedreindeer

PBS' ANTIQUES ROADSHOW was Very Disappointing!

I am so sorry I told Rankin/Bass Productions fans to tune into PBS' ANTIQUES ROADSHOW tonight, because the piece that I saw, created a false narrative to what the Producers wanted you to believe.   I did multiple interviews for this show over the past year, so they can't say "We didn't know."  They even asked me to clarify on a few occasions, which I did.  In fact, they went out of their way to take the facts I relayed to them out of this segment.  At one point I got an email from someone that worked there, asking to order my book The Making of Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town and The Daydreamer directly from me, instead of our website?   They never ended up ordering?!

 

In the segment, they called them "Production puppets" and "Screen used puppets" and they are neither.  I explain in my RetroFan Magazine article in issue #17 out October 13th, 2021 and I explained to Antiques Roadshow, the screen used puppets, more correctly called Animagic figures, stayed in Japan and many remained in the collection of head animator Tad Mochinaga.   You can see these photos in my book on Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town and our Frosty the Snowman 50th Anniversary Scrapbook.   The Animagic figure of Santa in the TV Special had a smaller beard and lines in the beard that moved as his mouth did (Which you can clearly see in my book photos).  The publicity photo Santa has a much bigger and rounder beard, with no allowances for mouth movement.

 

The Animagic figures that appeared on Antiques Roadshow and were so badly appraised right from the start, were the Publicity only figures.   They were used for Publicity photos in New York and then they were put on display at NBC-TV in the Rockefeller Plaza for a short number of years.

 

While this host talked about his personal connection to the Animagic figures, I heard from the seller before Antiques Roadshow.   Then I appeared with the figures, after my friend Kevin Kriess bought them at many conventions and on television (2006-2009).  I helped coordinate the restoral with my friends Mark Caballero and Seamus and Robin Walsh at Screen-Novelties prior.  Kevin sold them to another friend of mine, Peter Lutrario.   I worked on the catalog for the 2020 auction,

through Profiles In History and I also worked on the exhibit at the Center For Puppetry Arts for this Holiday season.  This is the 20th Anniversary for my book The Making of the Rankin/Bass Holiday Classic:  Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

    It was really disappointing to see this sort of fluff piece, after giving PBS, Antiques Roadshow and Detours so much of my time and the history of the figures!   I would never do an interview for them again... and again, I am sorry I promoted it originally!

The Rankin/Bass Animagic figures of Santa Claus and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, that were auctioned off twice, are not the "Screen Used" figures in the classic TV Special

C. 2006 Miser Bros Press/Rick Goldschmidt Archives

 I know this may surprise some people and I certainly didn't want to interfere with an auction, but the two Animagic figures that were recently auctioned again, are not the actual "Screen used" figures.  For a long time I thought they were and so did Kevin Kriess, who bought them in 2005 and then we toured with them through 2008.  The Animagic figures were actually in my home and I examined them many times.   Over the years, I discussed them with Arthur Rankin, Jr., Barbara Adams (The Rankin/Bass Secretary who took them home), Masaki Iizuka, etc.  The two figures that survived in the United States, were used for two functions, A. for publicity photos B. for the display at the Rockefeller Center at NBC from the Mid-sixties until the early seventies, when Arthur gave them to Barbara.

I always noticed that the beard on Santa in the publicity photos was much rounder and larger, than the one in the special and the ball on the hat was different too.  Rudolph also had a slightly different look to him as well.  Many fans noticed that the vest on Sam in the publicity photos and on the Decca records sleeves was different too.  They even used the figures in the original General Electric 1964 Print ads (They later used Artist rendered versions of the characters in the 1965-67 ads).

In recent years I started making connections with Tad Mochinaga's (The director of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and head Animagic technician) family.  They actually bought books of mine on AMAZON and asked me to be a part of a documentary on Tad.  I had already connected with Kyota Kita (Who actually made the figures) along with Pinchan (The other Animagic puppet creator).  Tad's family still has many of the Rudolph figures, which I covered in my last two books:  The making of Santa Claus is Comin' to Town and the Daydreamer (Miser Bros Press) and The 50th Anniversary Frosty the Snowman Scrapbook (Miser Bros Press) www.miserbros.com

Barbara Adams watching Kyota Kita make an Animagic figure above and Pinchan in the ornament, in my book The Making of Santa Claus is Comin' to town and the Daydreamer.

Many photos from the Tad Mochinaga collection featured in my book The 50th Anniversary Frosty the Snowman scrapbook

When you examine the photos in my books of Santa and see the damage in the beard and the lines extending down from the side of the mouth in the beard, you can clearly see it is the one used in the special.  I actually didn't realize this, until I watched it again over the weekend.   The beard is also smaller and less round, as Tad's is.

Me with the puppets at WIZARD WORLD CHICAGO 2006.

Now the question is, does the US pair become any less valuable?   I don't think so.   They were created by Kyota Kita and Pinchan for Rankin/Bass Productions to promote the special.  They were restored by SCREEN-NOVELTIES in Hollywood in 2006, and I coordinated that with Kevin and my friends Mark, Seamus and Robin.   Robin recently corrected me on my interviews.  She said she used mohair to construct the part of Santa's mustache that was missing and an LED bulb for Rudolph's missing bulb.

C. 1997 Miser Bros Press/Rick Goldschmidt Archives

  As the Rankin/Bass Historian/Biographer, I just believe in setting the facts straight.  For a long time, after we toured with the Animagic figures in 2006-2008, many journalists have been saying only two puppets survived and the rest melted in an attic.  That isn't quite true unless you change that to: Two Rudolph puppets survived in the United States and the rest of the cast from Rockefeller Center display, melted in an attic.  Most of the Rankin/Bass Animagic figures stayed in Japan and survived.   I talk about this in all of my books.   Our 20th Anniversary edition of the Enchanted World of Rankin/Bass:  A Portfolio (Miser Bros Press) is greatly expanded and pictures many of the surviving puppets we recently discovered.

C. 1997 Miser Bros Press/Rick Goldschmidt Archives

C. 2014 Miser Bros Press/Rick Goldschmidt Archives

Romeo Muller wrote the story of the TV Special and created all of the other characters including Hermey the Dentist elf, Yukon Cornelius, Sam the Snowman, King Moonracer, etc.  Antony Peters designed all of the characters in the TV Special as well.  Read all about them in my books!  If you would like to interview me for Christmas, email Rickgoldsc@aol.com