Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (TV special)
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| Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town | |
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| Approx. run time | 48 mins |
| Genre | Animated Musical |
| Written by | Romeo Muller |
| Directed by | Jules Bass Arthur Rankin Jr. |
| Produced by | Jules Bass Arthur Rankin Jr. |
| Starring | Fred Astaire Mickey Rooney Keenan Wynn Paul Frees Joan Gardner (voice specialist) Robie Lester |
| Music by | Maury Laws |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Release date | December 14, 1970 |
| Followed by | The Year Without a Santa Claus |
Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town is a 1970 stop motion television special, made by Rankin-Bass with models carved from wood (as with most Rankin-Bass specials). The film stars actor Fred Astaire as S.D. Kluger, the narrator, and Mickey Rooney as Kris Kringle/Santa Claus (a role which he would frequently play later on). The film tells the story of how Santa Claus and several Claus-related Christmas traditions came to be. It is based on the Christmas hit of the same name, which was introduced on radio by Eddie Cantor in 1934.
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[edit] Plot
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This plot summary may be too long or overly detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (December 2008) |
At the start of the film, a brief newsreel (narrated by Paul Frees) is shown, depicting kids worldwide awaiting Santa Claus. Then, Special Delivery "S.D." Kluger (Astaire) is introduced. His mail truck breaks down, so he begins to tell the story of Santa Claus, in order to answer children's letters to Santa.
[edit] Baby Claus
The story begins in a gloomy small town called Sombertown, which is ruled by the mean and grouchy Burgermeister Meisterburger (voice: Paul Frees). A baby arrives on his doorstep, with nothing more than a name tag that reads: "Claus" and a note asking for the Burgermeister to take care of the child. The Burgermeister orders his right-hand man, Grimsley (also voiced by Frees) to take the baby to the "Orphan Asylum" as he does not want it. On the way to the building, however, a gust of wind blows both sled and baby far away, to the mountains of the Whispering Winds. There, the animals living in that region hid him from the Winter Warlock (voice: Keenan Wynn), a powerful and malevolent wizard who dislikes anyone trespassing on his land. The animals bring the baby to the other side of the mountain, where he is discovered by an elf family by the name of Kringle, led by their wise matriarch, Tante Kringle. They immediately adopt him, giving him the name “Kris”. A few short years later, the boy Kris expresses to Tante the hope that he can one day restore the Kringle family to its former prominence as "The First Toymakers to the King;" however, as Tante explains, since the Burgermeister's rise to power and the fact that the Kringles can't pass through the mountains without inciting the wrath of the Winter Warlock, they have been unable to do so.
[edit] A town with no toys
When Kris is old enough, he volunteers to deliver the toys to Sombertown. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Kris, the Burgermeister has outlawed all toys in his jurisdiction, having comically tripped on and being injured by one while walking out of City Hall. In revenge, he declares that anyone found possessing a toy will be arrested and thrown in the dungeon. Meanwhile, before Kris makes it into the town, he befriends a penguin who has lost his way while trying to make it to the South Pole and gives the little penguin the name "Topper". However, he has a close encounter with the Warlock, warning to leave, otherwise he is doomed. Kringle and Topper run away. Once Kris enters the town, he meets Miss Jessica (voice: Robie Lester), a local schoolteacher. At first, Jess is a bit rude to Kris, but suddenly finds herself liking him when he offers her the one thing she'd always wanted for Christmas: a China doll. But not everyone is amused to see Kris. In fact, they're even frightened off by his very mentioning the word "toy". Indeed, the children of the town have been forced into hard labor, mostly washing their stockings. Kris, however, decides to do something about that and begins handing out toys to the wee ones. Just then, the Burgermeister arrives on the scene. At first, he almost arrests the children when he discovers them playing with the toys that Kris gave them, even almost turning good when Kris gives him a yo-yo which he loves. Ever-loyal Grimsley quickly reminds the Burgermeister, however, that he is breaking his own law, so he snaps out of it, and after a short confrontation, chases him out of town.
[edit] Magic from the Winter Warlock
In the woods outside of town, the Winter Warlock's magic trees capture Kris and Topper under the orders of the Winter Warlock and hold onto the two with their branches. Kris tries to get out of trouble by offering the warlock one of his toys and manages to convince him that he is not trying to trick the Winter Warlock. Kris gives him a toy choo-choo train, and the kind act melts the Winter Warlock's evil, icy heart. The warlock tells Kris that he wants to be a changed person, but it seems so difficult to do. However, Kris starts singing the song "One Foot in Front of the Other." Kris's musical number is later joined in by the Winter Warlock, who is convinced that it really isn't hard to change yourself. He and Kris become good friends, but when they look into the Winter Warlock's magical Crystal Snowball and see that Jessica is searching for Kris in the woods. She wants to tell him that the Burgermeister destroyed all of the toys Kris previously delivered to Sombertown's children and that the children now request new toys. Kris doesn't want to disappoint the children, so he decides to whip up a new batch of Kringle toys to bring them. Welcomed by Winter (which is what the Winter Warlock now prefers to be called), the Kringles move into the mountains with so many toys to deliver. However, the Burgermeister gets word that Kris is going to deliver more toys to the children, he orders that all of the residents of Sombertown must lock their windows and doors to keep Kris out, so Kris simply uses the chimney instead. Still, if the Burgermeister discovers any toys in the house at all he'll confiscate them and imprison entire households that have them. So Kris tells the children to hang their stockings by the fireplace and he'll put their gifts inside them. At first, the Burgermeister fails to notice the toys stuffed in the children's stockings, but when he finds out that there actually were toys in town, he sets up a trap for Kris. The trap manages to lure in Kris and those on his side and the Burgermeisters jail all of them, excluding Jessica, who manages to escape capture. The Burgermeister then forces the town's children to watch as he burns all their remaining toys, to assure that they will never play again. Jessica pleads with the Burgermeister, but is rebuffed, upon which she sings her song, "My World Is Beginning Today". Then she visits the Burgermeister's dungeon and tries to break her friends free with the help of Winter's powers, but sadly, the warlock lost them (even the ability to do card tricks as he says). He shows Jessica some of his last bits of magic, his magic feed corn that is capable of making reindeer fly. Jessica gives some of Kris's reindeer friends some of the feed corn, and with the help of the flying deer, the Kringles, Kris and Winter manage to escape from the dungeon.
[edit] Conclusion
After having spent months of being on the run as an outlaw (we see how his being named Public Enemy #1 leads him to be highlighted on a poster reading: "Wanted, dead or alive—the Terrible Toymaker!"), Kris returns to the woods, where he begins to grow his trademark beard as a disguise. But Tante, realizing the Kringle name is now dangerous, suggests that he return to his birth name of "Claus." Taking the matriarch's advice, he then asks Jessica to share the Claus name with him—as his wife. (In a last gesture, Winter manages to produce "just a little magic" to light the trees.) After witnessing Kris and Jess solemnly take their vows, the group migrates to the North Pole, where they eventually build Santa's Castle and Workshop. As time continues to pass, though, the Burgermeister regime ends, as their forebears begin dying off and falling out of power, at which point the Sombertowners realize how ludicrous the Meisterburger laws really are. Kris' legend, meanwhile, goes worldwide, and, having now fully styled himself as Santa Claus, our hero soon accepts his apparent inability to keep up with all those toy requests .... leading him to make his fateful decision to cut his number of visits down to once a year, on December 24.
[edit] Epilogue
The film ends as S.D. Kluger reflects on what Santa's real meaning is all about. Just then, though, S.D. remembers that he still has a load of letters to deliver to Santa. Then, joined by Topper, Winter and a parade of children, S.D. begins to sing Santa Claus Is Coming to Town. The film's closing scene has Kris and Jess in silhouette, as he puts his old hat back on his head. Then, Santa steps out of his Palace, revealing himself in full splendor.
[edit] Creation
Santa Claus Is Coming to Town was created using stop motion animation. All of the creatures and people were made out of wood and plastic and animated one frame at a time.
[edit] Home video releases
Beginning in 1989, the special has been released numerous times on VHS and DVD. VHS release dates include 1989, 1993, 1998, and 2001. DVD dates include 9/6/05 including a CD single of Mariah Carey performing the title song, and most recently, 9/4/07. The special is available as an individual title, or as part of a box set including other famous Rankin-Bass Christmas titles.
[edit] Soundtrack
Released by Rhino on October 1, 2002, the entire audio portion of Santa Claus is Coming to Town is available on CD along with the entire audio portion of Frosty the Snowman, the Rankin-Bass special produced in 1969. This edition contains the full dialogue and song audio of both specials.
The tracklisting is as follows:
- Medley: Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town...Be Prepared To Pay 25:18
- Medley: Put One Foot In Front Of The Other...Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town (finale) 24:55
- Frosty The Snowman Theme & Narration (Beginning) 13:45
- Frosty The Snowman Theme & Narration (Conclusion) 11:48
- Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town (Soundtrack Version) 1:50
- Frosty The Snowman (Soundtrack Version) 1:04
[edit] Cuts for television
- For many years, the special has been cut for network television to make room for more commercials. "First Toymaker To The King" and "No More Toymakers To The King" as well as the wedding scene are often truncated, Jessica's song "My World Is Beginning Today" is nearly always cut, and "If You Sit On My Lap Today" is sometimes dropped as well. (ABC and its sister cable network, ABC Family currently run this special annually.) Also cut from most airings is the scene with the Burgermeister setting fire to the pile of toys as it seems unsettling to smaller children. However, the DVD release is fully restored.
[edit] Sequel
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- Seven years later, Rankin/Bass made a sequel holiday special called The Easter Bunny is Comin' To Town, in which Fred Astaire reprised his role as S.D. Kluger, this time having been hired as a train engineer, complete with a jolly train engine named Chugs. Similarities to Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town include: the newsreel opening (this time in color with a new announcer), Gadzooks (Winter Warlock), the life of the Easter Bunny (voiced by Skip Hinnant), origins of Easter traditions, a gloomy town named "Town" (Sombertown), villainess Duchess Lily Longtooth (Burgermeister Meisterburger).
[edit] Trivia
When the reindeer take off and the children start to rattle off their names, one child says "...and don't forget," referring to Rudolph. The narrator says "that's another story," referring to the Rankin-Bass special based on the character.
[edit] External links
- Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town at the Internet Movie Database
- ABC Feature Page for Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town
- Archived ABC Feature Page for Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town
