As I grew up, I spent many a night watching animated specials. I always looked forward to the Christmas season (for many reasons wink-wink) for the shows on TV like Rudolph, Frosty, The Little Drummer Boy and such.
Well, Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass were the creators of them, as well as 1977’s The Hobbit.
Arthur Rankin passed away January 30th of this year, and I just heard about it. Thank you for a million memories.
Animated TV specials by Rankin/Bass
- Return to Oz (1964) (produced as Videocraft)
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964, Burl Ives) (produced as Videocraft)
- The Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy Show (1965)
- The Ballad of Smokey the Bear (1966; James Cagney)
- The Cricket on the Hearth (1967, Danny Thomas & Roddy MacDowall)
- Mouse on the Mayflower (1968, Tennessee Ernie Ford)
- The Little Drummer Boy (1968, Greer Garson)
- Frosty the Snowman (1969, Jimmy Durante)
- The Mad, Mad, Mad Comedians (1970)
- Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town (1970, Fred Astaire)
- Here Comes Peter Cottontail (1971, Danny Kaye)
- The Enchanted World of Danny Kaye: The Emperor’s New Clothes (1972) (produced as a division of Tomorrow Entertainment)
- Puss in Boots (1972 TV special)[6]
- ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas (1974, Joel Grey & George Gobel)
- The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974, Shirley Booth)
- The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow (1975, Angela Lansbury)
- The First Easter Rabbit (1976, Burl Ives)
- Frosty’s Winter Wonderland (1976, Andy Griffith)
- Rudolph’s Shiny New Year (1976, Red Skelton)
- The Little Drummer Boy, Book II (1976, Greer Garson)
- The Easter Bunny Is Comin’ to Town (1977, Fred Astaire)
- Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey (1977, Roger Miller)
- The Stingiest Man in Town (1978, Tom Bosley)
- Jack Frost (1979, Buddy Hackett)
- Pinocchio’s Christmas (1980)
