RANKIN/BASS' The OSMONDS Saturday Morning cartoon series ABC-TV

If you grew up in the early 1970's, I am sure you remember THE OSMONDS on Saturday Morning TV with their dog FUJI (Voiced by PAUL FREES). Donny Osmond is a super, nice guy and helped me with the OSMONDS section of THE ENCHANTED WORLD OF RANKIN/BASS: A PORTFOLIO. I was hopeing to incorporate THE OSMONDS into the ANDY WILLIAMS RANKIN/BASS project I started. It would definitely be GROOVY!

FLASHBACK! This was in the CHICAGO READER Christmas Eve 2004

This article was written by RICHARD KNIGHT (Dick O' Day). Richard first hosted a segment of WILD CHICAGO for WTTW-TV Ch. 11 in Chicago with me in 2003. This actually led the way to me being on CBS MORNING NEWS this year. HARVEY MOSHMAN, former Producer of the wildly popular WILD CHICAGO, is now senior Producer at CBS in Chicago.

THE MAD, MAD, MAD COMEDIANS (1970) The Highest Rated RANKIN/BASS TV Special!

A Couple of Misfits!

My friend PASTOR sent along a few COOL coloring books of FROSTY THE SNOWMAN today! The covers are cool because they have that GREAT OWSLEY/FONTANELLI art! The insides have some of the style guide art BUT also have some not-so-great art too. SIMON & SCHUSTER issued these for the Holidays of 2006! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

The first RANKIN/BASS 'ANIMAGIC' series!

The very first RANKIN/BASS 'ANIMAGIC' Production was THE NEW ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO (1960). What a GREAT show and CANADIAN fans are especially fond of it! The voice actors were all CANADIAN and the series continued to air in Syndication there longer than it did in the states. I get many requests for episode copies from the GREAT WHITE NORTH! I love the early design of the show by TONY PETERS and the lettering that was used in the titles. It was Produced when RANKIN/BASS were known as VIDEOCRAFT INTERNATIONAL. JULES BASS put together his first Soundtrack LP for FTP RECORDS in the New York area.

A couple of pictures with our friend Raminder from the NUDE HIPPO: YOUR CHICAGO SHOW!

....and FROSTY too!

Looking forward to a Happy and Prosperous 2007! The FROSTY image was inked by my friend PATRICK OWSLEY and penciled by my friend MIKE FONTANELLI.

GIN BLOSSOMS 12-29 DURTY NELLIE'S Palatine, IL

Another GREAT GIN BLOSSOMS show and this time I not only brought my son JOSH BUT my daughter SARA and her friend NIKA (Who are now die-hard GIN BLOSSOMS fans!) ROBIN was so very kind to them! He even dedicated the song "The End Of The World" (From their new CD MAJOR LODGE VICTORY) to SARA & NIKA! It was GREAT seeing ROBIN, SCOTTY, JESSE, BILL and SCOTT and the whole crew! GREAT guys and a GREAT time was had by all!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Here is how FATHER TIME looks today! He is in the www.thedeeparchives.com collection with DAVID SCHEVE. David just helped with an ART CLOKEY 'GUMBY' exhibit at the CENTER FOR PUPPETRY ARTS a short while ago www.puppet.org I have these actual photographs up on EBAY under seller ANIMAGIC1. Hope you have a GREAT NEW YEAR! Enjoy!

The BEST RANKIN/BASS DVD released in 2006!

I usually have nothing nice to say about CLASSIC MEDIA/SONY WONDER DVD releases for the obvious reasons...missing the RANKIN/BASS name on the front cover, no RANKIN/BASS extras, etc. I really like this DVD release for many reasons. The cover design is very nice and I like the white case used. The art is almost as nice as the art my friend PATRICK OWSLEY did for the DVD releases on TENNESSEE TUXEDO & HIS FRIENDS and GO GO GOPHERS! It looks like they did use info from my first book (uncredited) on the back cover BUT at least it is correct and mentions ARTHUR RANKIN and JULES BASS. The art on the disc is well designed too. This is the very first RANKIN/BASS TV Special which appeared on NBC's GENERAL ELECTRIC COLOR FANTASY HOUR in February, 1964. Another thing I like about the DVD is the price! You can find it for $9.99 or less. Always check www.amazon.com for RANKIN/BASS DVDs. If you don't have it yet, pick it up!

Our NUDE HIPPO: Your Chicago Show segment is now on-line...

Our NUDE HIPPO segment is now on-line at YOU TUBE. The ending may be too disturbing for small children and involves some RUDOLPH toys. Check it out at www.youtube.com/nudehippo

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2007!

As the NEW YEAR Rings in and the old year moves out... I want to THANK everyone again for the successful year we had! All the GREAT RANKIN/BASS fans and friends made it possible! I apologize for the lack of updates at www.rankinbass.com BUT stay tuned here and you will see plenty of updates. There are alot of exciting things coming in 2007 from the world of RANKIN/BASS! Stay tuned!

THE ENCHANTED WORLD OF DANNY KAYE!

Arthur Rankin, Jr. & Danny Kaye look over Danny's ANIMAGIC figure for THE ENCHANTED WORLD OF DANNY KAYE: The Emperor's New Clothes. This 1972 ANIMAGIC/Live-Action/Cel Animated special came out on DVD about 4 years ago BUT most RANKIN/BASS fans aren't even aware of it. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND it because as a BONUS there is an original 8 minute documentary on the MAKING of the special with ARTHUR RANKIN, JULES BASS, MAURY LAWS & DANNY KAYE! It also features JACK DAVIS artwork that shows the other stories they were going to do with the series THE ENCHANTED WORLD OF DANNY KAYE. The DVD was not handled properly once again by CLASSIC MEDIA, because they just called it THE EMPEROR'S NEW CLOTHES and instead of putting DANNY's image on the cover (Which everybody knows from HERE COMES PETER COTTONTAIL), they put a picture of the KING? This was done out of fear of a lawsuit from the KAYE estate. Seek this DVD out...you won't be sorry.

Have a HAP HAP HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I did a radio show very early this AM in Denver, Colorado with RICK CRANDALL just as they were getting hit with another blizzard (3 inches of snow per hour)! Then I got hit with my bad chronic Asthma. Oh well.... The show was alot of fun and we talked about RUDOLPH & SANTA, www.timeandspacetoys.com, the CENTER FOR PUPPETRY ARTS, etc. My New Year's resolution is to get going on the 3rd printing of my book THE ENCHANTED WORLD OF RANKIN/BASS and write the updates and layout the cover for PAUL COKER, JR.. We are going to need decent printing time to have it out in plenty of time for the holidays of 2007!

RANKIN/BASS' THE EDGAR BERGEN & CHARLIE McCARTHY SHOW pilot!

This article was reprinted in THE BARKER MAGAZINE (A magazine for VERTRILOQUISTS) from my first book THE ENCHANTED WORLD OF RANKIN/BASS: A Portfolio. Click article to enlarge.

Are you sure?

YES....I am sure. ARTHUR RANKIN and I had a discussion recently about my booklet in the MAD MONSTER PARTY DVD (Anchor Bay). JULES BASS picked the DVD up in the Fall of 2006 at BARNES & NOBLE and felt that the booklet had some errors. The DVD was originally issued in 2002 and luckily the 2005 Re-issue contains the same 24 page booklet. One question was if FRANK FRAZETTA really had anything to do with the films' poster art and ad art. YES...he definitely did! ARTHUR & JULES do not remember him. They know that the art was similar to JACK DAVIS' art in design and style BUT weren't sure who actually executed it. JACK did the character designs and an alternate poster design for the film. When I researched THE ENCHANTED WORLD OF RANKIN/BASS: A PORTFOLIO, I called Frank and talked with his wife Ellie, who confirmed he did the art. Later, ARNIE FENNER released a book called LEGACY (I HIGHLY RECOMMEND it!), which unearthed this color piece and confirmed that his two black and white preliminary drawings were used as the final poster and design art for the film. Arnie and I also talked about the origin of the art. I believe that it was JOSEPH E. LEVINE that chose and paid for the art and not RANKIN/BASS. FRAZETTA was doing many "Jack Davis style" posters during this era and both did work for MAD MAGAZINE. Once JACK hit on his parade style one-sheet poster for IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD, It started a trend in cartoon posters for the next decade that DAVIS and FRAZETTA split between them. In fact, Jack's first RANKIN/BASS work was the parade style poster for WILLY McBEAN & HIS MAGIC MACHINE (1965)! JULES is definitely correct about one error with the MMP DVD. On the back cover of the DVD, it states FORREST J. ACKERMAN (FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND) assisted with the screeplay. He did not. ANCHOR BAY got this information from a movie database loaded with errors. I pointed out, that no research I did confirms his involvement in my booklet. In fact, I talked with LEN KOROBKIN (Writer of the screenplay) at length about it and he never worked with him. HARVEY KURTZMAN (Founder of MAD MAGAZINE) was brought into the project after LEN wrote the screenplay and added in some of his Kutzmanisms at the very end, such as the VEEBLEFETZERS that Felix had Mr. Cronkite buy for his Pharmacy. There you have it.

RANKIN/BASS' CRICKET ON THE HEARTH DVD...

I finally received a seperate DVD copy of the RANKIN/BASS' TV Special CRICKET ON THE HEARTH tonight. Get this! CLASSIC MEDIA/SONY WONDER didn't even bother to credit ARTHUR RANKIN, JR. and JULES BASS on the back cover either???? In fact, there is no mention of RANKIN/BASS on the entire DVD? AND to make matters worse, they included those videos of MARIAH CAREY and DESTINY'S CHILD as BONUS Extras on this disc? This is VERY hard to believe BUT it is TRUE!!! RANKIN/BASS filmed a wonderful introduction and ending with DANNY THOMAS that is LIVE-ACTION. The special is worth getting even though it was NOT properly issued. What a shame.

RANKIN/BASS' RUDOLPH'S SHINY NEW YEAR returns to the ABC NETWORK tonight!

I heard the bells on Christmas day!

What would you think of a RANKIN/BASS LAND? Complete with a RANKIN/BASS museum? It is an idea we have been kicking around.... We had a nice, relaxing CHRISTMAS DAY today with Family and friends. This season was quite busy and I would like to THANK everyone for everything! I enjoyed the RADIO and TV Shows and the many wonderful articles that were written about what we do. It is hard for me to enjoy the holidays with everything that is going on BUT I do enjoy being busy. Also, THANK YOU for all the many orders we received! Hope SANTA was good to you this year! Keep an eye on the blog for many updates and information that you will not find anyplace else. ENJOY!

ARTHUR RANKIN, JR., MASAKI IIZUKA & JULES BASS! The guys who made it all happen at RANKIN/BASS!