Jules Bass R.I.P.

 Jules Bass 1935-2022 

    Jules Bass was a complicated and private man, but he was also a very talented man. He was primarily known for his songwriting work with his partner Maury Laws. Maury usually wrote the music and Jules would write the lyrics, which would typically move the plot along, but this wasn't always the case. In the case of the classic song "One Star in the night," from their 1968 TV Special, The Little Drummer Boy, Jules wrote the music. Maury Laws recalled, "Jules would play this little song he wrote on the piano from time to time. When we got stuck on a song for The Little Drummer Boy, I suggested the song Jules would play on the piano and it fit perfectly." The music catalog of Rankin/Bass Productions is outstanding and Jules, along with Maury, had everything to do with that. In fact, Jules and Maury were both involved in the CD projects I worked on for Mad Monster Party and The Daydreamer. 

 

    In the mid-1970s, Rankin/Bass writer Romeo Muller decided to branch out on his own and wrote other animated television specials. Jules stepped in and became writer for specials like The First Christmas, The Little Drummer Boy, Book II, etc. He wrote these under the name Julian P. Gardner. Maury Laws recalled, "The P. Stood for Phoney, and Gardner was the first name of one of Arthur's sons." Often, Jules was given Director credit too, but this was mostly honorary. Arthur Rankin, Jr. was the only one of the duo who traveled to Japan, to oversee the animation production. In the case of the Animagic productions, the actual animators were the true Directors, as was the case with Tad Mochinaga for Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Jules often worked with the East Coast voice actors in New York, such as Allen Swift, Rhoda Mann, Bradley Bolke, etc. Arthur often worked with the big name actors like Fred Astaire, Boris Karloff, James Cagney, etc. As the studio got bigger, Jules took on many roles and his dream was to bring a musical to Broadway. Two musicals were in development. One was called HUCK (Based on Huck Finn) and another was written by Romeo Muller called A Month of Sundays. A month of Sundays featured veteran voice actor Allen Swift in the cast and it introduced a great Bass/Laws song called "Elbow Room," which was later used in the TV Special The Mouse on the Mayflower. When the off Broadway show closed after ten performances, it hit Jules very hard. Maury Laws said, "Jules was never the same after that. It really broke his spirit." 

 

     I always remember the story Maury told me about his appearance in the Rankin/Bass TV film, The Bermuda Depths. Maury played a small role as Magnus' father. When his lab gets overtaken by the sea, Maury had to scream. Maury said, "Jules didn't like my scream, so he ended up doing the scream."

 

      Jules and Arthur both went over the blue lines to my first book, The Enchanted World of Rankin/Bass: A Portfolio, and I remember Jules being very excited about it. I did conduct long interviews with Jules and I even taped one. He always preferred that Arthur speak for Rankin/Bass Productions publicly. Jules would often contact me for help with various projects over the years, and I always did the best I could. Arthur would always tell me, "Jules was very happy with the way you have promoted his books." Jules sent me signed copies of his Herb, The Vegetarian Dragon books. He released a novel called Headhunters, and many people don't know that was originally a TV script for an ABC FRIDAY NIGHT MOVIE, that never got made. After the book release, Nicole Kidman's company bought the movie rights and it was eventually made into a feature film called Monte Carlo starring Selena Gomez.

 

     I will definitely remember Jules for his inspiring work, that has meant so much to generations of people. His songs with Maury Laws, will live on forever! Every time Arthur called me, I would always ask about Jules. They saw each other for dinner regularly, and Arthur wanted to surprise Jules on Christmas eve 2012, with my 15th Anniversary edition of The Enchanted World of Rankin/Bass. I know there was a lot of love between them. Jules was living in France, when we released my first book, but he moved back to New York and had a home built in Garrison, not far from Arthur's home there, so that said a lot. Jules Bass R.I.P. #Julesbass #Rankinbassproductionsofficial #Lyricist #Author #Director #Writer