Heat Miser
| Heat Miser | |
|---|---|
 Heat Miser | |
| First appearance | "The Year Without a Santa Claus" (1974) |
| Last appearance | "A Miser Brothers' Christmas" (2008) |
| Created by | Rankin Bass |
| Portrayed by |
George S. Irving (1974/2008) Harvey Fierstein (2006) |
Heat Miser is a character from the Rankin/Bass 1974 children's television special The Year Without a Santa Claus. He is an ogre or demon-like being who controls all warm weather all over the world. His nemesis is his half-brother Snow Miser. Mother Nature herself is their mother. As he sings in his memorable ragtime song, the "Heat Miser" song ("Whatever I touch, starts to melt in my clutch"), he can melt objects with a touch. Even flammable objects, such as a shovel's wooden handle, melt in his hand, rather than combust. Unlike Snow Miser, there is no evidence he can restore objects he melts as Snow Miser can with objects he turns to snow. His heat abilities include bolts, beams, balls of lava and spitting fire. He can also project intense heat from his hands or mouth to form objects of flame that can endure independently for a few seconds. While grumpy, hot-tempered and bitter over his belief that Santa Claus is unfair to him, giving Snow Miser free publicity while he gets none, and that Mother Nature likes Snow Miser better, he is not an evil being.
He lives in a volcano with tiny clones of himself called the Mini Misers. Heat Miser was voiced by character actor George S. Irving in the original special. In the 2006 NBC live-action remake, he is played by actor Harvey Fierstein. In this depiction, he wears a Hawaiian shirt, and the Mini Misers are replaced by women in bikinis. They also operate his over-sized slingshot to launch fireballs in his feud with Snow Miser.
A 2008 Warner Brothers/Cuppa Coffee Animation sequel to the stop-motion film that premiered on ABC Family, A Miser Brothers' Christmas had Heat Miser and Snow Miser set aside their differences to save Christmas when Santa is once again unable to make his run while fighting off their brother, North Wind. Heat Miser wears a suit with a flame pattern. George S. Irving reprises his role.
Song
Both the Heat Miser and the Snow Miser sing the same song commonly known as either the Snow Miser Song or the Heat Miser Song. Compared to its counterpart, "the Heat Miser Song" is slower-paced.
Heat Miser:
I'm Mr. Green Christmas,
I'm Mr. Sun.
I'm Mr. Heat Blister,
I'm Mr. Hundred And One.
They call me Heat Miser,
Whatever I touch
Starts to melt in my clutch.
I'm too much!
Mini Misers:
He's Mr. Green Christmas
He's Mr. Sun.
He's Mr. Heat Blister,
He's Mr. Hundred And One!
Heat Miser: They call me Heat Miser,
Whatever I touch
Starts to melt in my clutch.
Mini Misers:
He's too much.
Heat Miser:
(Spoken:Thank you.)
I never want to know a day that's under sixty degrees,
I'd rather have it eighty, ninety, one hundred degrees!
(Spoken:Oh some like it hot but I like it really hot!)
Mini Misers:
He's Mr. Green Christmas
He's Mr. Sun.
Heat Miser:
(Spoken:Sing it!)
Mini Misers:
He's Mr. Heat Blister,
He's Mr. Hundred And One!
Heat Miser:
They call me Heat Miser,
Whatever I touch
Starts to melt in my clutch!
I'm too much!
Heat Miser and Mini Misers: (Spoken) Too much!
See also