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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, Santa Claus is 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.

Rankin/Bass also produced non-holiday Animated Shows. Best known is probably Thundercats; its other series included King Kong, The Jackson 5ive and The Osmonds. The popularity of Thundercats resulted in two follow-up series, Silverhawks and Tigersharks (the third appearing along with three other shows as The Comic Strip.

Its most ambitious projects were animated adaptations of JRR Tolkien's books, with The Hobbit and Return of the King. (Not to be confused with Ralph Bakshi's ill-fated attempt, which bridged the series.)

Along with The Last Unicorn and The Flight of Dragons, these films were the first major 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.

Shows Produced or Distributed by Rankin/Bass

TV Specials (with Narrator)

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
Cricket on the Hearth (1967)
The Mouse on the Mayflower (1968) Tennessee Ernie Ford
The Little Drummer Boy (1968) Greer Garson as Our Storyteller
Frosty the Snowman (1969) Jimmy Durante
The Mad, Mad, Mad Comedians (1970)
Santa Claus is 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)
'Twas the Night Before Christmas (1974) George Gobel as Father Mouse
The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974) Shirley Booth as Mrs. Claus
The Story of the First Christmas Snow (1975) Angela Lansbury as Sister Theresa
The First Easter Rabbit (1976) Burl Ives as the older Stuffy the Rabbit
Frosty's Winter Wonderland (1976) Andy Griffith
Rudolph's Shiny New Year (1976) Red Skelton as Father Time
The Little Drummer Boy, Book II (1976) Greer Garson as Our Storyteller
The Easter Bunny is Comin' To Town (1977) Fred Astaire as S.D. Kluger
Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey (1977) Roger Miller as Speiltoe, Santa's Donkey
The Stingiest Man in Town (1978) Tom Bosley as B.A.H. Humbug
Jack Frost (1979) Buddy Hackett as "Pardon-Me" Pete the Groundhog
Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (1979) Red Buttons as Milton
Pinocchio's Christmas (1980)
The Leprechaun's Christmas Gold (1981) Art Carney as Blarney Kilarney
The Coneheads (1983)
Wind in The Willows (1985)
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (1985)
Santa, Baby! (2001)

TV Series

The New Adventures of Pinocchio (1960)
Tales of The Wizard of Oz (1961)
The King Kong Show (1966)
The Smokey Bear Show (1969)
The Tomfoolery Show (1970)
The Reluctant Dragon and Mr. Toad Show (1970)
The Jackson 5ive Show (1971)
The Osmonds (1972)
Kid Power (1972)
Festival of Family Classics (1972)
Thundercats (1985)
Silverhawks (1986)
The Comic Strip (1987)
- TigerSharks
- The Mini-Monsters
- Karate Kat
- Street Frogs

Films

Return to Oz (TV; no relation to Disney's 1985 live-action film) (1964)
Willy McBean and his Magic Machine (1965)
The Daydreamer (1966)
Wacky World of Mother Goose (1966)
Mad Monster Party (1967)
King Kong Escapes (1968)
The Red Baron (TV) (1972)
Willie Mays and the Say-Hey Kid (TV) (1972)
Mad, Mad, Mad Monsters (TV) (1972)
That Girl in Wonderland (TV) (1974)
Marco (Live Action) (1973)
The Last Dinosaur (Live Action) (1976)
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 (TV) (1980)
The Ivory Ape (Live Action) (1980)
The Last Unicorn (1982)
The Sins of Dorian Gray (Live Action) (1983)
The Flight of Dragons (TV) (1986)

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 [[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 Is 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.
+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]]'', ''[[Santa Claus is 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 ive]]'' 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]]''.
+Rankin/Bass also produced non-holiday [[Animated Shows]]. Best known is probably ''[[Thundercats]]''; its other series included ''King Kong'', ''[[The Jackson 5ive]]'' and ''The Osmonds''. The popularity of ''Thundercats'' resulted in two follow-up series, ''[[Silverhawks]]'' and ''Tigersharks'' (the third appearing along with three other shows as ''[[The Comic Strip]]''.
-Its most ambitious projects were animated adaptations of [[JRR Tolkien (Creator)|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.)
+Its most ambitious projects were animated adaptations of [[J. R. 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 (Film)|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]].
+Along with ''[[The Last Unicorn (animation)|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.
@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
 ''TV Specials'' (with Narrator)
-* ''[[Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Animation)|Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer]]'' (1964) Burl Ives as Sam the Snowman
+* ''[[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
@@ Line 26: / Line 26: @@
 * ''[[Frosty the Snowman]]'' (1969) Jimmy Durante
 * ''The Mad, Mad, Mad Comedians'' (1970)
-* ''[[Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (Animation)|Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town]]'' (1970) [[Fred Astaire]] as S.D. ("Special Delivery") Kluger
+* ''[[Santa Claus is 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)
@@ Line 56: / Line 56: @@
 * ''The Tomfoolery Show'' (1970)
 * ''The Reluctant Dragon and Mr. Toad Show'' (1970)
-* ''[[The Jackson 5 ive|The Jackson 5ive Show]]'' (1971)
+* ''[[The Jackson 5ive|The Jackson 5ive Show]]'' (1971)
 * ''The Osmonds'' (1972)
 * ''Kid Power'' (1972)
 * ''Festival of Family Classics'' (1972)
-* ''[[Thundercats (Animation)|Thundercats]]'' (1985)
+* ''[[Thundercats]]'' (1985)
-* ''[[Silverhawks (Animation)|Silverhawks]]'' (1986)
+* ''[[Silverhawks]]'' (1986)
 * ''[[The Comic Strip]]'' (1987)
 ** ''TigerSharks''
@@ Line 74: / Line 74: @@
 * ''The Daydreamer'' (1966)
 * ''Wacky World of Mother Goose'' (1966)
-* ''[[Mad Monster Party (Animation)|Mad Monster Party]]'' (1967)
+* ''[[Mad Monster Party]]'' (1967)
 * ''King Kong Escapes'' (1968)
 * ''The Red Baron'' (TV) (1972)
@@ Line 82: / Line 82: @@
 * ''Marco'' (Live Action) (1973)
 * ''The Last Dinosaur'' (Live Action) (1976)
-* ''[[The Hobbit (Animation)|The Hobbit]]'' (TV) (1977)
+* ''[[The Hobbit (animation)|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 (Animation)|The Return of the King]]'' (TV) (1980)
+* ''[[The Return of the King (animation)|The Return of the King]]'' (TV) (1980)
 * ''The Ivory Ape'' (Live Action) (1980)
-* ''[[The Last Unicorn (Film)|The Last Unicorn]]'' (1982)
+* ''[[The Last Unicorn (animation)|The Last Unicorn]]'' (1982)
 * ''The Sins of Dorian Gray'' (Live Action) (1983)
 * ''[[The Flight of Dragons]]'' (TV) (1986)