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[[File:RankinBassProductions.jpg|frame]]
 
If you had a childhood (in an English-speaking country, at least), you know '''Rankin/Bass Productions'''. Founded by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass as Videocraft International, the company is responsible for a series of (usually) [[Stop Motion]] puppet animated (called "Animagic") holiday specials that are virtual fixtures of seasonal television programming. Works such as ''[[Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Animation)|Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer]]'', ''[[Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (Animation)|Santa Claus Isis Comin' to Town]]'', ''[[Frosty the Snowman]]'' and ''[[Here Comes Peter Cottontail]]'' have been airing almost continuously since the early 1960s, when they were first produced. Many subsequent holiday specials produced by other companies will contain salutes to these shows.
 
The general formula of these holiday specials was to take one or more classic holiday songs and to build a script (usually by staff writer Romeo Muller) around the music, featuring a celebrity narrator as an [[Ink Suit Actor]] in the story and interspersing it with original songs with music by Maury Laws and lyrics by co-producer Jules Bass. Very likely a majority of the characters will be voiced by [[Paul Frees (Creator)|Paul Frees]].
 
Rankin/Bass also produced non-holiday [[Animated Shows]]. Best known is probably ''[[Thundercats (Animation)|Thundercats]]''; its other series included ''King Kong'', ''[[The Jackson 5 ive5ive]]'' and ''The Osmonds''. The popularity of ''Thundercats'' resulted in two follow-up series, ''[[Silverhawks (Animation)|Silverhawks]]'' and ''Tigersharks'' (the third appearing along with three other shows as ''[[The Comic Strip]]''.
 
Its most ambitious projects were animated adaptations of [[JRRJ. TolkienR. (Creator)R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]]'s books, with ''[[The Hobbit]]'' and ''[[Lord of the Rings|Return of the King]]''. (Not to be confused with [[Ralph Bakshi]]'s [[So Bad It's Good|ill-fated]] [[Lord of the Rings|attempt]], which bridged the series.)
 
Along with ''[[The Last Unicorn (Filmanimation)|The Last Unicorn]]'' and ''[[The Flight of Dragons]]'', these films were the first major [[Animesque|U.S.-Japanese]] animation production crossovers. Many of the animators of ''The Hobbit'' went on to work for [[Studio Ghibli]].
 
Now dormant, the company still exists. In 2001, it released its latest holiday project, ''Santa, Baby!'', which featured a mostly black cast. Nonetheless, Rankin/Bass will forever be remembered for virtually defining the concept of specialized holiday programming.
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''TV Specials'' (with Narrator)
 
* ''[[Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Animation)|Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer]]'' (1964) Burl Ives as Sam the Snowman
* ''The Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy Show'' (1965)
* ''The Ballad of Smokey the Bear'' (1966) Jimmy Cagney
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* ''[[Frosty the Snowman]]'' (1969) Jimmy Durante
* ''The Mad, Mad, Mad Comedians'' (1970)
* ''[[Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (Animation)|Santa Claus Isis Comin' to Town]]'' (1970) [[Fred Astaire]] as S.D. ("Special Delivery") Kluger
* ''[[Here Comes Peter Cottontail]]'' (1971) [[Danny Kaye]] as Seymour S. Sassafras
* ''The Enchanted World of Danny Kaye'' (1972)
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* ''The Tomfoolery Show'' (1970)
* ''The Reluctant Dragon and Mr. Toad Show'' (1970)
* ''[[The Jackson 5 ive5ive|The Jackson 5ive Show]]'' (1971)
* ''The Osmonds'' (1972)
* ''Kid Power'' (1972)
* ''Festival of Family Classics'' (1972)
* ''[[Thundercats (Animation)|Thundercats]]'' (1985)
* ''[[Silverhawks (Animation)|Silverhawks]]'' (1986)
* ''[[The Comic Strip]]'' (1987)
** ''TigerSharks''
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* ''The Daydreamer'' (1966)
* ''Wacky World of Mother Goose'' (1966)
* ''[[Mad Monster Party (Animation)|Mad Monster Party]]'' (1967)
* ''King Kong Escapes'' (1968)
* ''The Red Baron'' (TV) (1972)
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* ''Marco'' (Live Action) (1973)
* ''The Last Dinosaur'' (Live Action) (1976)
* ''[[The Hobbit (Animationanimation)|The Hobbit]]'' (TV) (1977)
* ''The Bermuda Depths'' (Live Action) (1977) -- In which Burl Ives is eaten by a Giant Turtle
* ''The Bushido Blade'' (Live Action) (1979)
* ''[[The Return of the King (Animationanimation)|The Return of the King]]'' (TV) (1980)
* ''The Ivory Ape'' (Live Action) (1980)
* ''[[The Last Unicorn (Filmanimation)|The Last Unicorn]]'' (1982)
* ''The Sins of Dorian Gray'' (Live Action) (1983)
* ''[[The Flight of Dragons]]'' (TV) (1986)
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