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The Country Mouse and the City Mouse: A Christmas Tale

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The Country Mouse and the City Mouse: A Christmas Tale
GenreAnimation
Drama
Family
Based onThe Town Mouse and the Country Mouse
by Aesop
Teleplay byMaxine Fisher
Directed byMichael Sporn
StarringJohn Lithgow
Crystal Gayle
Theme music composerDavid Evans
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducerMichael Sporn
Running time25 min.
Production companiesRandom House[1]
HBO[2]
Budget$265,000[3]
Original release
NetworkHBO
ReleaseDecember 8, 1993 (1993-12-08)
Related
The Country Mouse and the City Mouse Adventures

The Country Mouse and the City Mouse: A Christmas Tale is an animated TV special produced and directed by Michael Sporn and written by Maxine Fisher, adapted by Tish Rabe. Produced by Michael Sporn Animation, Random House and HBO,[4] it aired on December 8, 1993 as part as the HBO Storybook Musicals series.[5] As the title implies, the story is an adaptation of the Aesop fable, where it was set around Christmastime. The special's two main characters, Emily and Alexander, were voiced respectively by Crystal Gayle and John Lithgow.

In 1994, Random House Children's Media published a children's book titled The Country Mouse and the City Mouse: Christmas Is Where the Heart Is, which was based on the animated special. The book was written by Maxine Fisher and illustrated by Jerry Smath.

The main characters would later appear in the second iteration of Cinar's animated series, The Country Mouse and the City Mouse Adventures, which also aired on HBO.

Synopsis

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At the Johnson's farm in the country, a female mouse named Emily, whose existence is known to the two children named Patty and her little brother, Kevin living there, decides to go into the city to visit her cousin Alexander for Christmas. However, the chef the restaurant Alexander lives in has set a variety of anti-mice precautions, thus scaring the two cousins out of the restaurant. The two mice return to the country house to celebrate Christmas together.

References

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  1. ^ Ithaca College Quarterly, 2003/No.1
  2. ^ "Country Mouse Credits". Michael Sporn Animation. Archived from the original on March 24, 2006. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
  3. ^ Michael Sporn: An Interview - Deneroff.com
  4. ^ "Pay TV Programming" (PDF). Broadcasting & Cable. Cahners Business Information. July 26, 1993. p. 74. Retrieved September 4, 2020 – via American Radio History.
  5. ^ Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. pp. 77–78. ISBN 9781476672939.
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