A Tribute To Arthur Rankin Jr

July 19, 1924 – January 30, 2014

I don’t need to make a defense of Rankin/Bass. Even today the folks that slam Filmation praises Rankin/Bass for their stop-motion puppet Christmas specials and for their action shows like Thundercats and Silverhawks. This is more of a report, then, than the tribute I’m doing for Filmation and recently for JewWario.

Over the weekend, Arthur Rankin Jr, co-founder of Rankin/Bass, passed away at 89 years old. The duo and their puppeteers and animators are known for their Christmas specials and action shows, but aren’t as well known for their Easter special, or for animated works based on The Jackson Five. Here’s a list of all the stuff they produced, from Wikipeidia.

Feature films

Stop-motion

• Willy McBean and his Magic Machine (1965)
• The Daydreamer (1966)
• Mad Monster Party (1967)
• Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July (1979, Mickey Rooney)

Traditional Animation

• The Wacky World of Mother Goose (1967)
• The Hobbit (1977) (TV movie)
• The Return of the King (1980) (TV movie)
• The Last Unicorn (1982)
• The Flight of Dragons (1982) (TV movie)
• The Wind in the Willows (1987) (TV movie)

Live-action (now this I’ve never heard of)

• King Kong Escapes (1968)
• Marco (1973)
• The Last Dinosaur (1977)
• The Bermuda Depths (1977) (TV-Movie)
• The Ivory Ape (1980)
• The Bushido Blade (1981)
• The Sins of Dorian Gray (1983)

Animated TV specials

• 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) [reviewed here]
• 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) [Saturday Night Showcase feature]
• The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974, Shirley Booth)
• The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow (1975, Angela Lansbury) [reviewed here]
• 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)
• The Leprechaun’s Christmas Gold (1981, Art Carney)
• Coneheads (1983)
• The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (1985)
• Santa, Baby! (2001, Patti LaBelle)

Episodes of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie

• Mad Mad Mad Monsters (1972)
• Willie Mays and the Say-Hey Kid (1972)
• Red Baron (1972)
• That Girl in Wonderland (1973)

Animated series

• The New Adventures of Pinocchio (1960)
• Tales of the Wizard of Oz (1961)
• The King Kong Show (1966–1969)
• The Smokey Bear Show (1969)
• The Tomfoolery Show (1970-1976)
• The Reluctant Dragon and Mr. Toad Show (1970)
• The Jackson 5ive (1971)
• The Osmonds (1972)
• Kid Power (1972)
• Festival of Family Classics (1972)
• ThunderCats (1985–1987)
• SilverHawks (1986)
• The Comic Strip (featuring TigerSharks, Street Frogs, Mini Monsters and Karate Kat) (1987)

I wish I had time to find Amazon Affiliate Links for all of those. Some fan might end up cutting down my credit card bill. 🙂

There are so many of those I never heard of, and might have to look into in the future. They’re also hard to find episodes of online to embed. I have to admit that they didn’t have a huge influence on my writing style, but it’s rare for me to come across a Rankin/Bass production that didn’t entertain me at some point in my life.

On behalf of children everywhere and when, thank you, sir, for bringing adventure and fun to our childhoods and magic to our Christmases.