''Silent Night, Holy Night'' is a 1976 Australian animated

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of ent ...

produced by

Hanna-Barbera Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Inc. ( ) was an American animation studio and production company which was active from 1957 to 2001. It was founded on July 7, 1957, by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera following the decision of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to c ...

and written by

Gene Thompson Eugene Earl Thompson (June 7, 1917 – August 24, 2006), nicknamed "Junior", was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Cincinnati Reds and New York Giants. Born in Latham, Illinois, Thompson made his profe ...

Plot

During a choir practice two days before Christmas, village organist Franz Gruber is worried to hear unusual sounds from the church organ and suspects the

bellows A bellows or pair of bellows is a device constructed to furnish a strong blast of air. The simplest type consists of a flexible bag comprising a pair of rigid boards with handles joined by flexible leather sides enclosing an approximately airtigh ...

. One of Gruber's sons discovers

mice A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...

in the pipes of the

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

and the mice have chewed up parts of the organ. Without the organ the church choir cannot perform the rehearsed

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

piece because the music was written to be performed with an organ. Accompanied by both his sons, Gruber travels to

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

, hoping to buy spare parts and then mend the organ when returning to the village. The party is caught in a snow storm and the spare part is lost on the way home but pastor

Joseph Mohr Josephus Franciscus Mohr, sometimes spelled Josef (11 December 1792 – 4 December 1848) was an Austrian Roman Catholic priest and writer, who wrote the words to the Christmas carol "Silent Night." Early life and education Mohr was born in S ...

is simply thankful they are unharmed. Pastor Mohr (with a little help from the

bell-ringer A bell-ringer is a person who rings a Bell (instrument), bell, usually a church bell, by means of a rope or other mechanism. Despite some automation of bells for random swinging, there are still many active bell-ringers in the world, particularl ...

Otto) writes the lyrics for a song and the next morning he brings it to Gruber, asking him to compose a melody for the lyrics. With some inspiration from his wife, Gruber sets music to Mohr's words. At church Gruber and Mohr presents "

Silent Night "Silent Night" (german: "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht", links=no, italic=no) is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in the small town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. It was declared an ...

" performed

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

by the choir.

Cast

Kevin Golsby Kevin () is the anglicized form of the Irish masculine given name (; mga, Caoimhghín ; sga, Cóemgein ; Latinized as ). It is composed of "dear; noble"; Old Irish and ("birth"; Old Irish ). The variant ''Kevan'' is anglicized from , an ...

Richard Meikle Richard Meikle (10 October 1929 – 2 June 1991) was an Australian actor who worked extensively in film, theatre, and radio. He was the father of writer Sam Meikle. Career Meikle began his career as a stage actor. His first recorded role was in ...

James Condon James Thomas Condon (27 September 1923 – 14 February 2014) was an Australian actor of radio and stage, a scriptwriter and voice over, however best known for his numerous television roles in serials and television movies in Australia, particu ...

* Brett Way *

Barbara Frawley Barbara Anne Frawley (14 April 1935 – 1 March 2004) was an Australian actress, voice artist and children's TV host. She is best known as the voice of young Dot in the 1977 film adaptation of ''Dot and the Kangaroo'', as well as ''Around ...

* Boris Janjic Jr. * John Meillon Jr.

Soundtrack

" with music by

Franz Xaver Gruber Franz Xaver Gruber (25 November 1787 – 7 June 1863) was an Austrian primary school teacher, church organist and composer in the village of Lamprechtshausen, Arnsdorf, who is best known for composing the music to "Stille Nacht" ("Silent Night" ...

to lyrics by

References

External links

* 1974 films 1975 television films 1975 films 1970s animated short films Australian television films Australian animated short films Films set in Austria Films set in 1818 Hanna-Barbera television specials Australian Christmas films Christmas television films 1970s Australian animated films 1970s English-language films 1970s American films {{short-animation-film-stub

Plot

Cast

Soundtrack

See also

References

External links