Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (TV special)
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| Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Animated Musical |
| Running time | 48 mins |
| Director(s) | Jules Bass Arthur Rankin Jr. |
| Producer(s) | Jules Bass Arthur Rankin Jr. |
| Writer(s) | Romeo Muller |
| Starring | Fred Astaire Mickey Rooney Keenan Wynn Paul Frees Joan Gardner Robie Lester |
| Music by | Maury Laws |
| Country of origin |  United States Japan |
| Language(s) | English |
| Original run | December 14, 1970– |
| IMDb profile | |
Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town is a 1970 stop motion television movie, made by Rankin-Bass. The film is one of their well-known Christmas television specials which include Frosty the Snowman, and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. 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.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
At the start of the film, we are introduced to Special Delivery Kluger (Astaire), a mail carrier. His mailtruck breaks down, so he begins to tell the story of Santa Claus, in order to answer children's letters to Santa. It is here, that the story begins.
[edit] Baby Claus
The story begins in a gloomy small town called Sombertown, which is ruled by the mean and grochy Burgermeister Meisterburger (voice: Paul Frees) (usually referred to simply as "The Burgermeister"). A baby arrives on his doorstep, with nothing more than a name tag that reads: "Claus". The Burgermeister orders his right-hand man, Grimsby (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 sled and baby far away, where he is discovered by an elf family by the name of Kringle. They immediately adopt him, giving him the name “Kris”. The Kringle family used to make toys for the king, but since the Burgermeister's rise to power, they have no longer been able to do so.
[edit] A town with no toys
When Kris is old enough, he volunteers to deliver the toys to Sombertown, through the woods. Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Kris, Burgermeister has outlawed all toys in Sombertown after tripping on; being injured; one when walking out of cityhall and says anyone found with one will be arrested and thrown in the dungeon. Before he enters the town, he runs into a penguin who's lost trying to find his way to the South Pole. He befriends the penguin, and names him "Topper" and is taught the laugther ho ho ho. Kris arrives in the town, where he meets Miss Jessica (voice: Robie Lester), a local schoolteacher. Everyone is not amused to see Kris and the way he is dressed and are scared when he mentions Toys. Kris gives the children, whom are ordered to labor by washing their stockings, toys. At first, she is somewhat rude to Kris, but begins to like him after he gives her a China doll (Something she had wanted since childhood). Burgermeister, after nearly arresting the children when finding them playing with the toys Kris gave them, soon finds Kris (Burgermiester nearly turns good when Kris gives him a yo yo which he loves but Grimsly, his assistant, reminds him 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, Kris and Topper meet the Winter Warlock (voice: Keenan Wynn), an evil wizard who lives in the woods, and has vowed to capture the interloper. Before he is finished off, Kris offers him a toy train. This act of kindness melts the Warlock’s icy heart, and he too joins their group. Winter shows Kris how to see who is naughty and nice through magic through a snowball. Jessica finds Kriss and says the kids request more toys and the Burgermiester destroyed them all. Kriss Delivers more toys, much to the Burgermiester's chargin. After a few more attempts (first ordering the towns doors and windows locked, so kris went through a chimney, 2nd burgermiester and his men searched every home and found no toys as they were hidden in the stockings) at delivering presents to Sombertown, Burgermeister manages to capture Kris (he set a trap for him and the miesterburgers captured the others near their workshop), the Kringles, Topper, and the Winter Warlock (Who now goes only by "Winter"). Burgermiester meiesterburger sets all the kids toys on fire through a bonfire in front of the kids. Miss Jessica, who managed to evade capture and felt betrayed by the town after burgermiester rudly rebuffs her requests to set kris free, climbs up to Winter's jail cell, and manages to get some of his "magic feed corn", which will give reindeer the ability to fly. With the help of the reindeer, the group manages to escape from their holding cells, and escape into the woods.
[edit] Conclusion
After months of being an outlaw (he was public enemy number one on a wanted dead or alive the terrible toymaker poster as he escaped into the woods) , Kris (who has now grown his trademark beard) decides to go by the name of "Claus" (his birthname), and takes Jessica as his wife. In order to escape the Burgermeister, the group journeys to the North Pole, where they build a toy shop. As time goes on, the Burgermeister regime comes to an end as they died off and fell out of power and the good people of sombertown realized how silly the miesterburger laws were, and Kris (now Santa Claus), whose fame has gone worldwide (and toy requests increased accordingly), decides to cut his number of visits down to once a year, on December 24th.
As the film comes to an end, we rejoin S.D. Kluger, who remembers that he still must deliver all of the letters to Santa, which then begins a musical number of Santa Claus is Coming to Town, with several characters from the film.
[edit] Songs
- Overture (instrumental)
- The First Toymakers to the King (sung by the Kringles)
- No More Toymakers to the King (sung by Burgermeister Meisterburger and Grimsly)
- If You Sit On My Lap Today (sung by Kris)
- One Foot in Front of the Other (sung by Kris and Winter)
- My World is Beginning Today (sung by Jessica)
- Santa Claus is Comin' to Town (sung by Special Delivery Kluger)
[edit] Trivia
- Mad Magazine artist Paul Coker Jr. did the character design for this film.
- Mickey Rooney has since gone on to play Santa Claus 5 times after this TV Special.
- The painting of Santa Claus in his sleigh at the end appears again in the Rankin/Bass film, The Year Without a Santa Claus.
- In Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July, continuity with this special is established when Santa calls Mrs. Claus "Jessica" and they reminisce about the china doll he gave her when they first met years earlier.
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer makes a brief cameo following the introduction to the reindeer, but the narrator tells us that he doesn't play a role here, as his backstory is "another story", no doubt in reference to his own special.
- For many years, the special has been cut for network television to make room for more commercials. 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.) However, the DVD release is fully restored.
- When the special was initially broadcast, and for years thereafter, Kris's penguin sidekick was named "Waddles." In later years, for unknown reasons, the dialogue was looped and he was called "Topper."
