Essentially the title of the special is click bait because technically there was no Year without a Santa Claus in the special, that might be spoiler though. Personally, I think this is one of Rankin-Bass' best Christmas specials. I called "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" their best, this one is probably at least their 2nd best. (Angering the Rudolph fans again)
I could have waited for an anniversary to post this, so if you reading this in 2024, uh the special is now 50, if you aren't then it's either under 50 or over 50. "The Year Without A Santa Claus" first aired on ABC on December 10, 1974.
Shirley Booth is here to play the voice of Mrs. Claus, and "Hazel" makes a really good Mrs. Claus. I have to mention this first since in this special she's the narrator and the one who essentially gets things done, while Santa waits until the 5th inning to get into motion. This was Booth's final TV role ever. That's kind of sad, but she really did a great role with the character. Actually, it does feel like she's playing Hazel as Mrs. Claus.
Mickey Rooney is back playing Santa Claus for Rankin Bass, he was also Santa in "Comin' to Town". I'm glad he came back to play the role.
I guess I should get to the special (yes you should) so the role of Santa in this special is a little different. It starts with him getting a cold (can you say that?) and the doctor (I'm glad the North Pole has medical care) is grumpy (he works at the North Pole) tells Santa that nobody cares about Santa anymore anyway and tells him he should give up. (North Pole Medical care sucks)
Your Insurance doesn't cover eating so many cookies/ Copyright Warner Bros.
Santa decides that's a good idea and decides to tell everyone that he's taking a holiday. Mrs. Claus ( who has no other name in this special) at first wonders if she could play the role of Santa Claus. The song is a good showing of her character and Booth brings some fun bits of humor to the role. Deciding that doesn't work when two lead elves named Jingle and Jangle (get used to them) notice that she's not Santa. (Though if kids are supposed to be a sleep then she should have no problems but I guess we are supposed to get Santa out if his funk.
My Three Sons will be back after this/ Copyright Warner Bros.
Going with Santa for a second, it's interesting to see Santa in a more human role, he's tired and sick and he's also feeling down that he's not appreciated. It's not a way you normally see Santa in a movie or special, he's usually commanding, jolly, so to him humanized is a nice touch.
Mrs. Claus gets an idea, an evil idea (wrong special) oh, uh an interesting idea to send the elves out with Vixen Santa's youngest reindeer. (Where's my Vixen special, you cowards!) In hindsight, Mrs.. Claus' plan seems well executed to the number like yes I know this is a special written by humans and stuff but I mean it's written in away where Mrs. Claus seems to have calculated everything to work out. Like with Jingle and Jangle gone, she starts doing an act of pretending nothing is out of normal, to make Santa suspicious. Then, she gives up info quickly and he mentions the one thing this special is remembered for more than anything . (Sadly, when it's fun all around)
Two beings one called Snow Miser who controls cold weather and Heat Miser who controls warm weather. Our characters do evade them at first, but they are part of the special. I'll do more about them soon, but back to the plot. So the elves are just going anywhere they are going to Southtown a small southern town in the United States' south. (Isn't that a bit redundant?) It's also a very warm town too, that's part the plot.
Back to Mrs. Claus informing Santa, he gets worried about Vixen (forget those elves) because she's "just a baby" and might not do well in the warm conditions. So Santa decides he must go there and get them all back. (Mrs. Claus then placed her fingers together and went "excellent, all according to plan")
Here's a weird thing (oh now there's something weird) so the kids in the town heard the news of Santa's vacation because it was in newspapers and stuff, but the elves who the kids think are just guys dressed up like elves and Vixen is disguised as a dog, thanks to a pair of socks on her ears, (good thing people in this town are stupid and can't tell the difference between hooves and paws) are talking to them and they find out the kids don't believe in Santa. (These kids don't believe the newspapers) What do they think? The newspapers just are in the elaborate Santa game too?
We were told Santa is a hoax/ Copyright Warner Bros.
One kid, the only one who gets a name, Ignatius Thistlewhite, (what the heck?) or Iggy (Glad he let us use a nickname) is the most vocal about not believing in Santa, but will get back to him later, because something is happening. Vixen has been taken by animal control to the dog pound. (Glad the people of this town are idiots) The elves run after the van and then they a) apparently didn't have money (Mrs. Claus is a cheapskate) b) try to tell the animal control guy it's not a dog, but he doesn't believe them (He should be fired, since those are socks and she has hooves) c) Tells them to see the mayor to help them.... what?
Back to Iggy, so he's wondering home (wondering?) and runs into a man who looks like Santa Claus but not wearing his normal Santa outfit so it's like a Clark Kent thing going on here. He says his name is Claus (like Clows) and Iggy is like sure alright nothing odd about that. Oh yeah Santa is still sick so, he sneezes and Iggy's mom goes Mom mode and pops her head out of the window to see if Iggy is dying and he points to Santa and she invites him in to help the poor sick man.
Anyway, the discussion ends up on talking about Santa Claus, because Santa (Claus) is wondering if Iggy believes in you know who, after asking if Iggy had seen the elves and drops the whole they were going after their dog thing. (Silly, Iggy that man could be the mob and...help help) Iggy tells Claus that he doesn't think Santa is real, Santa feels justified. Iggy's father is asked if he believes in Santa and he starts to sing.(Dad not again, everytime I ask you something you sing a really long answer) Yes he once doubted believing in Santa then Santa paid him a personal visit and made him feel guilty (what?) and yes he believes. I think the special kind of missteps, it's saying that the belief only happens because Papa Thistlewhite saw Santa personally and now believes he exists. Iggy starts to tear up and now believes in Santa. (that was quick) I will say that song does get to me, so it wins. Claus is like my work is done here and goes to get Vixen and they see him fly away on Donner.
We belive in Santa in this family/ Copyright Warner Bros.
The mayor told the elves and Iggy that if they can make it snow in Southtown that would prove they are Santa's elves and he'll grant Vixen a pardon. (He must have sagging poll numbers) The mayor sings a fun song about it snowing in the southern town for the first time in like 100 years, it's fun song. Now Santa actually already got Vixen out, the animal control guy is surprised that the reindeer is a reindeer. Santa is already back home and nursing Vixen to health, figuring his wife has the elves handled and stuff. I do like how they have Santa understand his wife and they have a relationship where he's like she'll be fine she knows what she's doing.
This will help my reelection if you dance with me/Copyright Warner Bros.
Iggy, the elves, and Mrs. Claus now are together and they going to meet Snow Miser. There's a weird detail that the special mentions once, like it was accidently left in a draft or something where the Miser Brothers are step brothers, but then nothing is brought up about that, it just seems random. This is the part the special is most known for, the Miser Brother songs. The have the same melodies just different words. They chew the scenery and the run time! They kind of bring a charm , for Rankin-Bass specials they aren't really villains they are more just really hammy antagonists if that. Mrs. Claus takes the lead again, as the elves and Iggy are just kind of there to fill in space or something, that's fine.
Snow Miser says he can't make it snow in the south because that's Heat Miser's zone and he doesn't want to allow that. So they go him and he says he wants to make it one warm day in the North Pole (uhh) but Snow Miser is like no, and they argue on the video phone (nice). Mrs. C is like that's it screw you both and talks to their mother, Mother Nature. That's right.(Mrs. C does Boss Move) Mother Nature hurries the plot along and makes sure that her sons compromise.
What an interesting family/ Copyright Warner Bros.
It snows in the south and Santa gets a holiday. Oh we have like 10 more minutes left. oh. Uhhh we still have to fix Santa's problem don't we? Alright. So children start sending gifts to Santa and stuff, but then one girl (I guess) writes Santa she misses him and that she'll have Blue Christmas without him , using the song, and this touches Santa's heart so much he decides he's going to do his thing.
Hey Santa, Hey Iggy/ Copyright WarnerBros.
This again, is one of my favorite Christmas specials and one of my favorite Rankin Bass specials. I like the role of Mrs. Claus here and the role of Santa being more human than you see him in other pieces of media. I think an older viewer could maybe even sympathize with him. What would happen if Santa gets burned out? The songs aren't as strong as they were in "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" though I think the Miser Brothers' song were fun and "I believe in Santa Claus" is another really strong song. I do like "Anyone Can Play Santa" since Booth does a great job singing it.
The doctor at the start shows how many people feel about any thing but Christmas that it' s not worth it and sometimes it takes a little negativity to spread, but you can also use positivity to make things spread wide. I think it's their 2nd best special after Santa Claus is coming to town.
I'm glad it was good enough to have repeated every year more than once, sadly it's not on network TV but it has been on consistent cable for a couple decades.
No comments:
Post a Comment