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The company was founded by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass in the early 1960s as Videocraft International. One of R/B's first projects was an independently produced series based on the character Pinocchio. It was done using stop motion animation using figurines (a process already pioneered by George Pal's "Puppetoons" and Art Clokey's Gumby). This was followed by another independently produced series based on already established characters, Tales of the Wizard of Oz in 1961.
But it was in 1964 that the corporation really took off with a special produced for NBC and sponsor General Electric. It was a stop-motion animated adaptation of the Johnny Marks song Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (it had been previously made as a Max Fleischer traditional animated short almost two decades before). Propelled by the talent of narrator Burl Ives and an original orchestral score by Marks himself, Rudolph became one of the most popular and longest-running Christmas specials in television history. The film established R/B as the prime production company for holiday specials.
Throughout the decade of the 1960s, R/B produced other stop motion and traditional animation specials and films, some of which were non-holiday stories. For example, 19651965 was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1965 calendar). Events January-February January 4 United States President Lyndon Johnson proclaims his " Great Society" during his State of the Union address. January 14 Prime Ministers of N produced R/B's first theatrical film, Willy McBean and his Magic Machine , the first of four films produced in association with Joseph E. Levine's Embassy PicturesEmbassy Pictures Corporation (aka Embassy Film Associates was an independent studio and distributor responsible for such films as The Graduate and The Lion in Winter''. The company was founded in the late 1940s by producer Joseph E. Levine initially to di. 1966Events January January 1 In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bedel Bokassa ousts president David Dacko and takes over the Central African Republic. January 2 Strike of public transportation workers in New York City ends January 13 January 3 First Acid Test at the Fil brought to life The Ballad of Smokey the Bear (narrated by James CagneyJames Francis Cagney, Jr. July 17, 1899 March 30, 1986) was an American film actor. Born in Yonkers, New York, Cagney graduated from Stuyvesant High School in New York City in 1918. He worked in vaudeville and on Broadway, marrying the dancer Frances Will), the story of the famous forest fire-fighting animal seen in numerous public service announcements.
This was followed by two ThanksgivingThanksgiving is a holiday celebrated in much of North America, generally observed as an expression of gratitude, usually to God. The most common view of its origin is that it was to give thanks to God for the bounty of the autumn harvest. In the United St specials, Cricket on the Hearth (narrated by Danny ThomasDanny Thomas ( January 6, 1914 February 6, 1991) was an American television and film actor of Lebanese descent. Thomas was born in Deerfield, Michigan under the name Muzyad Yakhoob. He first performed under his birth name, and then Amos Jacobs, before set, and The Mouse on the Mayflower (told by Tennessee Ernie FordErnest Jennings Ford ( February 13, 1919 October 17, 1991), better known by the stage name Tennessee Ernie Ford was a pioneering U. recording artist and television host who enjoyed success in the country & western, pop, and gospel musical genres. Born Feb). R/B also tacked HalloweenHalloween is a holiday celebrated on the night of October 31, usually by children dressing in costumes and going door-to-door collecting candy. It is celebrated in much of the Western world, though most commonly in the United States, Ireland and Canada. with the cult favorite Mad Monster Party? , featuring one of the last performances of Boris Karloff.
In 1971, R/B did its own Easter special, Here Comes Peter Cottontail , with the voices of narrator Danny Kaye, Vincent Price, and Casey Kasem (as the title character). It was based not on the title song, but on a 1957 novel by Priscilla and Otto Friedrich entitled The Rabbit That Overslept .
But R/B never forgot the Christmas holidays. Many of their specials, like Rudolph, were based on popular Christmas songs. In 1968, Greer Garson's dramatic narration carried through The Little Drummer Boy , set against the birth of the baby Jesus.
The following year ( 1969), Jimmy Durante sung and told the story of Frosty The Snowman, with Jackie Vernon voicing the title character of a snowman magically brought to life.
1970 brought the last of the "classic four" R/B Christmas specials with Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town . R/B was able to enlist the talents of Fred Astaire as narrator S.D. Kruger, a mailman answering the many questions about Santa Claus (and in turn, telling his origin).Throughout the 1970s, R/B, in addition to its Saturday-morning output (which included animated adventures of The Jackson 5 and The Osmonds), created animated sequels to its classic specials, including a historic teaming of Rudolph and Frosty in 1979. One of the most popular R/B sequels is The Year Without a Santa Claus , which featured supporting characters Snow Miser and Heat Miser .
Among R/B's original specials was 1975's The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow . Though only a half-hour long (as opposed to the standard hour time slot), it was critically acclaimed, telling the story of a blind shephard boy who longs to experience Christmas.
Many of these classic specials are still shown on American TV stations in the present day ( 2004) around Easter and Christmas, and some have even been released to video and DVD. Rankin-Bass stop-motion features are recognizable by their visual style of doll-like characters with spheroid body parts, and ubiquitous powdery snow.