 |
| Fred Astaire as Narrator SD Kluger |
Like most kids growing up in the seventies, I have a HUGE sentimental attachment to those Christmas Specials that aired every Holiday Season back then, and back in the days before VCRs, DVDs and Tivo, the only way you could see these gems is waiting patiently all year for the shows to be aired once more! Around late November, you’d already be scanning the TV schedules in the newspaper praying to see your specials listed, and believe you me, when they DID, it was a heralded EVENT you planned your entire EVENING around! Shows like How The Grinch Stole Christmas and the awesome A Charlie Brown Christmas were all MUST SEE Christmas traditions, and the ones our family loved the most were the specials put out by the mighty Rankin/Bass Studios!
Probably the first Christmas Shows I saw were the Rankin/Bass’ Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer and Frosty The Snowman specials, but soon enough, I was watching them all, and the one that I loved more than any other Christmas Special was the wonderfully told “Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town”, the story of just how the Jolly Man in Red came to be! Somehow, even as a child, this story seemed more…epic than the others!
 |
| Kris and his Penguin sidekick Topper |
As a kid, I delighted in the adventures of Kris Kringle and his zany pet penguin friend Topper as they trekked across the north to give out toys and do battle with the evil Winter Warlock, and the songs I loved were the poppy and peppy “Put One Foot In Front Of The Other” and “First Toymaker To The King”…these were such great songs, I’d sometimes find myself humming them throughout the year, just DYING til they showed it again so I could hear it!
 |
| "First Toymakers To The King" |
As I got older, I mostly outgrew the other Christmas specials like Frosty and Rudolph, and though I still loved them, I found I watched them for nostalgia more than anything else; “Santa Claus Is Coming To Town”, on the other hand (as well as the equally somber “A Charlie Brown Christmas”) were specials that seemed to just get BETTER with each yearly view!
 |
| Kris meets Miss Jessica |
One thing I noticed watching it as a grown-up was how WELL the story was written! They took all the traditions and beliefs surrounding Santa and managed to turn it into a great tale that gave “reasons” for certain things like “Why does Santa come down the Chimney?” “Why does he make toys?” “Why does he live at the North Pole?” and the ever popular “Why do we call him Santa Claus if his name is Kris Kringle?” Watching the young Kris Kringle grow up into a boy, young man and ultimately the portly Santa Claus we know and love was just the most interesting and absorbing story to watch! And ya just GOTTA love Mickey Rooney’s animated voice- he just BECOMES Kris!
 |
| A Young Kris being taught by the Kringles. |
And MAN, one OTHER thing I began noticing watching the show as an adult was that Miss Jessica was just about the prettiest little lady (marionette?) you’d ever laid eyes on! O Yeah! Funny, as a little kid, I really didn’t care for the scenes Jessica was in and I REALLY had a hard time sitting through her song, but watching the special as an adult, it tickles me to see just how stylishly “sixties” looking she was, with lush false eyelashes, a prim but groovy dress, and a hairdo that just channeled a Jeannie Shrimpton or Bobbie Gentry look! I remember watching it when I was older, and thinking, “Whoa, Miss Jessica is HOT! How come I never noticed THAT before?”
And it’s funny to think about how much I didn’t like her song back then. Now, “My World Is Starting Today” (sung by the awesome
Robie Lester) is just about my FAVORITE Christmas Special song, bar none! The wonderful Petula Clark-ish 60’s flavor instantly takes me back to the sounds of my childhood, and it’s sweet lyrics as Jessica realizes she loves Kris just gives me goosebumps, and I now recognize it as one of the show’s peak points!
 |
| Jessica: "My World Is Beginning Today" |
Another song that I admittedly dozed off on as a kid was the “Wedding Song” sung by Fred Astaire to commemorate Kris and Jessica’s union…back then it seemed like such a looooong song to a hyperactive kid like me! Watching the show NOW, I think that climactic scene has so much meaning, and when Fred Astaire begins singing, it really moves me, it’s so beautiful!
“What better way to tell you
How much you mean to me
Than a token of affection
Placed beneath a Christmas Tree
The custom started long ago
When first the wise men three
Gave gifts of love
To a newborn baby”
 |
| Wedding Song |
Like I said, I hold these Christmas Specials near and dear to my heart, and make a point to watch all of them each year, even the later ones like “The Year without Santa Claus” and “Rudolph’s Shiny New Year”, but Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town is one that I still make special time to watch, preferably right on Christmas Eve, to take me right back to the wonderful Christmases of my youth!
PS: If you’re a hardcore Rankin Bass fan like I am, you NEED to own this awesome book called “The Enchanted World of Rankin/Bass”! Written by Rick Goldschmidt, (possibly the foremost authority on all things RB) this book is just chock full of the most interesting facts, fun and trivia on Rudolph and the gang you’d ever want to hear! Check out the Rankin/Bass Website here.
Addendum: Around 2004 or so, they finally got around to properly re-releasing all the classic Rankin/Bass specials on DVD, and to commemorate the event, they released these wonderful collectible FIGURINES to tie in with the Shows! As I recall, they had figures for the Rudolph show and others, but the ones you know I was dying to get were Kris and Jessica from “Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town”! Lovely attention to details- Note little things like the squirrels with their gift walnuts, Topper's real scarf and Jessica's toy china doll! Not in the picture are Santa's Bag of Toys, Jessica's glasses and Winter's Watchdog Trees, which were also included. Awesome!
 |
| Santa Claus in Comin' To Town Figurines: Kris, Jessica and Topper |
