Twas the Night Before Christmas (TV special)

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Twas the Night Before Christmas, the 1974 Rankin-Bass animated Christmas television special based on the famous 1823 poem that opens with this line.

In this television special, set in the town of Junctionville in a world where humans and intelligent humanoid mice apparently openly interact at least on a professional basis, Santa Claus is offended by an anonymous letter printed in the town's newspaper claiming that he doesn't exist. In response, Santa returns the entire town's letters (the letter was signed "all of us") to him unopened. Upon reading the anonymous letter printed in the newspaper, Father Mouse (voiced by George Gobel) — a mouse assistant to the human clockmaker Joshua Trundle (voiced by Joel Grey, the credited narrator) — immediately suspects that his brainy son Albert is its author. Albert (voiced by Tammy Grimes) confirms his suspicions, repeating the letter verbatim to him.

Father Mouse and the Trundle Family devise a plan to appease Santa by building a singing clock tower for him, built with a special recording to play a song to coax him into visiting Junctionville on Christmas Eve. Unfortunately, Albert enters the clock to explore it without permission, and inadvertently damages it seriously, thus rendering it inoperable and seriously damaging Trundle's professional reputation. Furthermore, the mayor, publicly embarrassed at the clock tower's failure, refuses to give the clockmaker access to it for repairs.

Confessing his mistake, Albert volunteers to repair it himself and Father Mouse tells Joshua of the situation before waiting at his bed with worry on Christmas Eve. Although Albert does not complete his task until about one minute after the Midnight deadline, the clock does play its song within earshot of Santa which convinces him to visit the town after all.

The special aired for decades on CBS before moving to its current home network, ABC Family.

Like many of Rankin-Bass' other animated TV specials, this special was animated in Japan by the animation studio Top Craft, many of whose staff later worked for Studio Ghibli. Yet, since it was not broadcast in Japan, it is not usually considered anime in the Western definition of the word.

[edit] Notes

  • Although the opening credits mention "told and sung by Joel Grey", it is really narrated by George Gobel as there is more emphasis on the point of view of Father Mouse, with Moore's poem read by Grey a secondary plot.
  • In recent years, one of the first songs, "Give Your Heart a Try", has been consistently edited out of broadcasts, possibly out of fear of potential viewer disapproval of the word "gay" (albeit used in its original form meaning "happy") at the beginning of the lyrics[citation needed].

[edit] External links

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Rankin/Bass TV specials
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer • Return to Oz • The Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy Show • The Ballad of Smokey the Bear • The Cricket on the Hearth • The Mouse on the Mayflower • Little Drummer Boy • Frosty the Snowman • Mad Monster Party? • The Mad, Mad, Mad Comedians • Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town • Here Comes Peter Cottontail • The Enchanted World of Danny Kaye: The Emperor's New Clothes • Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters • Willie Mays and the Say-Hey Kid • 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea • Red Baron • That Girl in Wonderland • 'Twas the Night Before Christmas • The Year Without a Santa Claus • The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow • The First Easter Rabbit • Frosty's Winter Wonderland • Rudolph's Shiny New Year • The Little Drummer Boy, Book II • The Easter Bunny is Comin' To Town • The Hobbit • Nestor, The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey • The Stingiest Man in Town • Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July • Jack Frost • The Return of the King • Pinocchio's Christmas • The Leprechaun's Christmas Gold •The Coneheads • Wind in the Willows • The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus • The Flight of Dragons • Santa Baby!
The 25 Days of Christmas