Wednesday, November 16, 2022
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Here is a little preview of my article on Rankin/Bass' Santa Claus Is Comin' to town for RetroFan magazine in 2024!
Arthur selected Fred to Narrate the TV Special. Fred created sort of a sensation, when he appeared on the Academy Awards in 1970. Actually, Rankin/Bass' The Mad, Mad, Mad Comedians (Sponsored by Pepsi Co.) was the lead in to the Academy Awards, and it was the highest Rated Rankin/Bass TV Special of all-time, because of the lead in. Fred did a surprise dance routine on the Academy Awards of 1970.
When Asatire was asked about his puppet, Fred replied, "Well, Kluger is like all the characters in SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN' TO TOWN. He's an Animagic puppet, that's actually what they call them. He's carved and painted and dressed then placed on the set, and then a technician is in charge of each movement he makes, and each separate motion is photographed and then, it's sort of like an animated cartoon, you know, only these are actual figures, then they put together to make a movie out of it. The final effect is really very life-like and it is quite delightful."
When Astaire was asked about the legends the TV Special tackles of Santa Claus, through the genius of Romeo Muller's writing, Astaire explained, "Well first I'd like to say that the way the story of Santa Claus is handled here is what attracted me to the script, and lead to my doing the narration for it. The Explanations are imaginative without being too cute, you know, for instance, it tells how come Santa Claus is sometimes called Kris Kringle. Well a foundling, to explain this, there's a foundling wearing a pendant with the name Claus engraved on it, and it is adopted and raised by a family of toymakers named Kringle. The story treats other legends in the same logical way. Like how Santa came to give out presents only on Christmas eve, and how his reindeer learned to fly, and that sort of thing."
I am getting all sorts of bad reports on the 4K blu rays and dvd set...
Many fans are complaining to me of Mastering errors and of course, historical errors with the new 4k blu rays and dvd releases. I don't own them. After Universal's failed Blu Ray releases of The Little Drummer Boy (16 mm print with black fades right in the middle of scenes) and their Here Comes Peter Cottontail (They issued the syndicated, time compressed version and it is missing 8 minutes of the special), I gave up. I was willing to help with these and the Producer they hired, wanted me (we had several long discussions about how to do these right), but politics and budget took over. I guess I could say, "I told you so!" I would rather see them done right, so until that time, they do not have the Rankin/Bass Productions seal of approval. I really wish they did! I have the original 1964 color ending of Rankin/Bass' Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, with the elf throwing the packages out of the sleigh, with the credits on them. That would be a wonderful extra for fans! In fact, I have lots of great things that could be extras for all of the Rankin/Bass titles. I had a friendship with every key player at Rankin/Bass Productions, and could have shared this in commentary, as I did on The Daydreamer blu ray. The best documentaries to date are the ones we did for The year without a Santa Claus blu ray and for the Mad Monster Party blu ray and dvd. I will do more for Kino Lorber/Scorpion.
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