Christmas eve 🎅

Update: there are many Priority mail packages I mailed on the 19th that are out for delivery today! That 2-3 day turn around must have really taken a hit this week!!! Maybe due to weather? Volume? Or maybe rural areas? Anyway, many arriving today! 🎅

It's Almost Christmas Eve!

Tonight on THE HISTORY CHANNEL

Rick talks RANKIN/BASS at 7pm and 11pm Central time zone

www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=927004967485

RANKIN/BASS' KING KONG and BOBBY BOND by MATTEL

Pictures from TOKYO

Yukiko sent me these pictures from Tokyo! Very cool!

With DISNEY's Excellent PINOCCHIO coming out on DVD next TUESDAY, I thought I would talk about THE NEW ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO again. When Arthur Rankin was asked at the MUSEUM OF TELEVISION & RADIO in New York, what his favorite animation was, he replied "Disney's Pinocchio." This is why he chose PINOCCHIO for their first Production in ANIMAGIC in 1960. What I love about it, is the fact that PINOCCHIO is animated as a REAL puppet! The RANKIN/BASS ANIMAGIC animators cut their teeth on this project, which led up to their AMAZING classic RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER. The series was very popular in CANADA and the US, due to the fact that some of it was Produced in CANADA as well and got their seal of approval. I offer two collector's DVDs of this series for $25 and you can PAYPAL Rickgoldsc@aol.com ENJOY!

The cast of THE FIRST CHRISTMAS (1975)

Collector's DVD shipped $15 PAYPAL Rickgoldsc@aol.com

THE WACKY WORLD OF MOTHER GOOSE soundtrack CD

I still have a few copies of the PERCEPTO RECORDS cd release of THE WACKY WORLD OF MOTHER GOOSE soundtrack in stereo, which is excellent! I wrote the liner notes to their CD releases of THE DAYDREAMER and MAD MONSTER PARTY and this is the 3rd in the RANKIN/BASS feature film soundtrack releases! Joseph E. Levine Produced these trio of films with RANKIN/BASS and all of the soundtracks are EXCELLENT! The cd is $20 shipped and you can paypal wonderfullife01@aol.com

Many fans have suggested a petition over the Holiday week!

NO "MERRY" FOR THIS CHRISTMAS ICON

Arthur Rankin, Jr., creator of such holiday TV classics as RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER, FROSTY THE SNOWMAN, THE YEAR WITHOUT A SANTA CLAUS, THUNDERCATS and THE HOBBIT is dealing with a BURGERMEISTER MEISTERBURGER in the form of WARNER BROS. It seems that WARNER BROS. had underpaid RANKIN/BASS in various ways, including 19 years of impermissible $200,000 annual deductions from the pool of revenues from which Rankin's profit participation is paid.

"It was an accounting mistake on WARNER BROS., part, a mistake that the company's accountants readily admit, right down to the penny," said Rankin. "However, WARNER BROS. is now claiming I caught their error too late. So instead of doing the right thing and fairly compensating RANKIN/BASS for helping generate years of viewer enjoyment, not to mention an awful lot of revenue,WARNER BROS.is hiding behind the statute of limitations."

The dispute dates back to the 1980's, when WARNER BROS. acquired from RANKIN/BASS, the rights to several of the RANKIN/BASS Christmas classics and other animated properties, including the enormously popular 1980's animated television series THUNDERCATS and SILVERHAWKS. The recent WARNER BROS. home video DVD box set releases of THUNDERCATS sold over a million DVDs and they are getting ready to release SILVERHAWKS. Mr. Rankin even graciously appeared on Set #2 of THUNDERCATS in a documentary and did the same for the WARNER BROS. Deluxe DVD release of THE YEAR WITHOUT A SANTA CLAUS (Which is also available in a new box set).

"This is obviously not the right thing to do to a creator of such wonderful programming and the rest of his staff," says Rick Goldschmidt RANKIN/BASS Historian/Biographer. "As in all RANKIN/BASS specials, writer Romeo Muller would reform the villains. This villain needs to be reformed."

"As far as I am concerned," continues Rankin, "There is no question as to what is right and what is wrong. If you take something by mistake, you put it back. You don't get to keep it. We put those kinds of ethics into our shows for children. Maybe the folks at WARNER BROS. should watch a few of them."

There were postings about this at www.forbes.com as well as www.cartoonbrew.com Word is spreading fast!

Hope everyone is having a nice Christmas Eve!