Christmas Eve Double Feature - 'Twas the Night Before Christmas & The Year Without a Santa Claus

Rudolph and Frosty are the most famous characters to come out of the Rankin-Bass holiday specials, but they're far from the only ones. We celebrate Christmas Eve with two of my favorites from the company, a retelling of the classic poem and a unique story about how Santa decided he wanted to take a holiday season off. Are they worthy of gracing your home during the holidays? Let's head to the town of Junctionville just in time for the mail to arrive and find out...

'Twas the Night Before Christmas
Rankin-Bass, 1974
Voices of George Gobel, Joel Gray, Tammy Grimes, and John McGiver
Directed by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass
Music by Maury Laws; Lyrics by Jules Bass

The Story: Everyone in Junctionville - mouse and human - is stunned when Santa sends back their letters unopened. Turns out a brainy little mouse named Albert (Grimes) sent him a letter claiming he's fake and signed it "all of us," which Santa took to mean the whole town. Clock maker Joshua Trumble (Gray) tells the verbose mayor (McGiver) that he'll make a clock that, when chiming midnight, will play a song that will convince Santa that the townspeople still love him. Curious Albert went exploring in the clock...and damaged it so badly, it breaks down in front of the whole town. Now no one will hire Trumble, and the family is starving. Feeling guilty, Albert goes to the clock to make amends and assure everyone that Santa will arrive on schedule.

The Animation: This is one of Rankin-Bass' specials done in regular 2D animation...and if the rounded, wide-eyed character designs look familiar to humor lovers, they were done by Paul Coker Jr. He's best-known today for his artwork for MAD Magazine, including creating its cover character Alfred J. Newman. Santa looks very different here than he does in other Rankin-Bass shorts, more like the elf mentioned in the poem, and frankly a little odd. Everything else looks better; the mice are rather cute, even Albert, with his giant glasses.

The Song and Dance: Brief but charming, with a couple of nice songs and some decent animation for the time. Grimes and Gobel do especially well as the mouse who may be brilliant, but doesn't understand faith, and his sensible but loving father. McBrayer has some funny moments as the head of the town who can never manage to finish his wordy speeches in the way he intended.

Favorite Number: Father Mouse admonishes his intellectual son to "Give Your Heart a Try" in a charming sequence that has them imagining themselves as fantasy characters or in other holidays. Gray gets the sweet "Even a Miracle Needs a Hand" as he assures his family that Christmas will go on as usual, whether Santa comes or not.

What I Don't Like: They could have given Gray more to do. The opening credits claim he's the narrator, and while he does get to introduce "Even a Miracle Needs a Hand," it's the mice who are the really important characters and do the actual narrating.

Did they need to recite the entire original Clement C. Moore poem in the end? It kind of feels like filler and takes up more than a quarter of the special.

The Big Finale: Short and sweet, this is one of the more interesting of the regular animated Rankin-Bass specials. Would make great background on the actual night before Christmas.

Home Media: Currently DVD-only, but it on a deluxe "remastered" edition from Warner Bros.

DVD

The Year Without a Santa Claus
Rankin-Bass, 1974
Voices of Mickey Rooney, Shirley Booth, George S. Irving, and Dick Shawn
Directed by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr.
Music by Maury Laws; Lyrics by Jules Bass

The Story: Santa (Rooney) is not feeling is best. He's tired and achy and wonders if it's still worth going out for Christmas. Mrs. Claus (Booth), hoping to convince him that there's goodwill in the heart of everyone at this time of year, sends two elves down to Earth to find a little Christmas cheer. Thanks to the battling Miser brothers who control the weather, they end up in Southtown, where the citizens haven't seen snow in a hundred years. The adults - including a cop - are offended by their clothes and odd ways, and the kids claim they don't believe in Santa. Santa goes after them and encounters little Ignatius (Colin Duffy) and his parents. Iggy doesn't believe in Santa at first, until his father tells him that he still does.

When their reindeer Vixen is mistaken for a dog and ends up in the pound, the elves and Iggy tell the town mayor (Ron Marshall) their story. He won't release her until they can make it snow in super-hot Southtown...and they can't make it snow until they get the Heat Miser (Irving) and Snow Miser (Shawn) to compromise for a few minutes. Even after that, it takes a heartfelt act by all the children of the world to prove to Santa that he's really, truly needed.

The Animation: We switch to stop-motion animation for this one...but even this shows Coker's hand, with rounder, wide-eyed figures, larger noses, and more exaggerated features than earlier Rankin-Bass shorts. The best work by far is in the Miser Brothers' numbers, as we see just how different from - and similar to - each other the weather-based pair are.

The Song and Dance: My personal favorite Rankin-Bass special. This is definitely one of the more unique holiday programs in the annals of television...and you won't see anyone like the Miser Brothers in any other show. Booth is adorable as Mrs. Claus, especially when she's dealing with the Misers and their refusal to give in to each other. The elves get some hilarious lines - they're a riot when they're trying to blend in while down in Southtown - and Mother Nature's brief appearance is hysterical.

Favorite Number: Mrs. Claus' first idea after Santa claims he's too sick to go out is to dress as her husband, and she reveals her obvious glee at the idea in "Anyone Can Be Santa." Santa and Iggy's father explain about the importance of faith and believing in Santa and the Christmas spirit in "I Believe In Santa Claus." A touching "Blue Christmas" towards the end, performed by one of the children who is missing him badly, is sweet enough to convince Santa to change his mind.

Of course, the most famous songs from this one are the Miser Brothers' numbers. They're done as old-fashioned cane-and-hat vaudeville turns, with mini-versions of each brother dancing along as they sing about their respective temperatures and why they love what they do. It's funny, it's well-done, and the song is so good, it got a hit recording by neo-swing group Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

Trivia: There was a live-action, feature-length TV remake in 2006 with Michael McKean as Snow Miser and Harvey Firnstein as Heat Miser, and an animated sequel, A Miser Brothers Christmas, in 2008.

What I Don't Like: Considering how much she got into that "Anyone Can Be Santa" song, I'm surprised they didn't pursue Mrs. Claus' attempts to dress as her husband further. Those two elves are not the most reliable judges of character.

I wish the tone had been more consistent. They sort of oddly switch gears about mid-way through, from convincing Santa to not take his holiday, to getting the kids to let him take one.

The Big Finale: One of the more unusual Rankin-Bass specials is worth the look if you love the cast or stories about Santa.

Home Media: Another Warner Bros-owned Rankin-Bass special with a remastered deluxe edition.

DVD