''The First Easter Rabbit'' is an

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samue ...

television special that premiered April 9, 1976 on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

and later aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

. Created by

Rankin/Bass Productions Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment (founded and formerly known as Videocraft International, Ltd. and Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc.) was an American production company located in New York City, and known for its seasonal television specials, usua ...

, it tells the story of the

Easter Bunny The Easter Bunny (also called the Easter Rabbit or Easter Hare) is a folkloric figure and symbol of Easter, depicted as a rabbit—sometimes dressed with clothes—bringing Easter eggs. Originating among German Lutherans, the "Easter Hare" ori ...

's origin. The special is loosely based on the 1922 children's book ''

The Velveteen Rabbit ''The Velveteen Rabbit'' (or ''How Toys Become Real'') is a British children's book written by Margery Williams (also known as Margery Williams Bianco) and illustrated by William Nicholson. It chronicles the story of a stuffed rabbit's desire ...

'' by

Margery Williams Margery Williams Bianco (22 July 1881 in London, England – 4 September 1944 in New York City, United States) was an English-American author, primarily of popular children's books. A professional writer since the age of nineteen, she achieve ...

Burl Ives Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995) was an American musician, actor, and author with a career that spanned more than six decades. Ives began his career as an itinerant singer and guitarist, eventually launching his own rad ...

narrated the special which also featured the

Irving Berlin Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer, songwriter and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Born in Imperial Russ ...

song " Easter Parade"; it marked Ives's return to a Rankin/Bass special for the first time since the company's 1964 stop motion television special ''

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a fictional reindeer created by Robert L. May. Rudolph is usually depicted as the ninth and youngest of Santa Claus's reindeer, using his luminous red nose to lead the reindeer team and guide Santa's sleigh on ...

'' twelve years prior.

Plot

G.B., a rabbit, tells the story of Stuffy, who began as a stuffed rabbit given as a Christmas present to a little girl named Glinda. Soon afterward, Stuffy encounters Spats, Flops, and Whiskers, a trio of scheming live rabbits who mock Stuffy for not being real. One day, when Glinda becomes sick after contracting

scarlet fever Scarlet fever, also known as Scarlatina, is an infectious disease caused by '' Streptococcus pyogenes'' a Group A streptococcus (GAS). The infection is a type of Group A streptococcal infection (Group A strep). It most commonly affects chi ...

, her clothes and old toys, including Stuffy, are thrown away to be burned in order to disinfect the playroom. Stuffy is rescued by a sprite named Calliope, who brings him to life and sends him to Easter Valley at the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Ma ...

. Along the way, he again encounters Spats, Flops, and Whiskers, who join him, expecting profit. The four meet

Santa Claus Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnigh ...

, who shows the way to Easter Valley and convinces Stuffy’s companions to give up their selfish ways and help him with the Easter traditions. Meanwhile, an ice being named Zero, aided by his reluctant henchman, a sapient snowball named Bruce, discovers the secret passage to Easter Valley and manages to freeze the valley by stealing the Golden Easter Lily, which has hitherto kept the valley in eternal springtime. Due to the theft, Stuffy and the other rabbits, who have been preparing Easter eggs and other presents for Glinda’s hometown, are snowed in and consequently unable to make their Easter delivery. However, Bruce, remorseful about his role in the theft, confesses to Santa, who rescues the rabbits, allowing them to make the Easter delivery. Stuffy’s delivery to Glinda, who has by now recovered from her illness, is a new Easter bonnet and an invitation to the local Easter parade. Due to the timely gift of a new Easter outfit from her doctor, Jonathan (who is implied to be pursuing Glinda’s mother romantically), Glinda is able to attend the parade. There, she and Stuffy again meet, and the two sing Easter Parade. After the parade, Santa forces Zero to return the Golden Easter Lily to the valley. As Zero does so, he meets Stuffy for the first and only time. Stuffy’s rabbit companions then give Stuffy a new name, G.B., revealing that it is his older self who has been narrating the story all along.

Cast

as G.B. *

Robert Morse Robert Alan Morse (May 18, 1931 – April 20, 2022) was an American actor, who starred in ''How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (musical), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying'', both the 1961 original Broadway production ...

as Stuffy *

Stan Freberg Stan Freberg (born Stanley Friberg; August 7, 1926 – April 7, 2015) was an American actor, author, comedian, musician, radio personality, puppeteer and advertising creative director. His best-known works include "St. George and the Dragonet" ...

as Flops *

Paul Frees Solomon Hersh "Paul" Frees (June 22, 1920November 2, 1986) was an American actor, comedian, impressionist, and vaudevillian. He is known for his work on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Walter Lantz, Rankin/Bass, and Walt Disney theatrical cartoons during ...

as Santa Claus, Zero, Spats * Joan Gardner as Elizabeth, Calliope * Dina Lynn as Glinda *

Don Messick Donald Earle Messick (September 7, 1926 – October 24, 1997) was an American voice actor. He was best known for his performances in Hanna-Barbera cartoons. His best-remembered vocal creations include Scooby-Doo, Bamm-Bamm Rubble and Hoppy in ...

as Jonathan, Whiskers, Bruce the Snowball * Christine Winter as Vocalist

Crew

* Producers/Directors -

Jules Bass Julius Bass (September 16, 1935 – October 25, 2022) was an American director, producer, lyricist, composer, and author. Until 1960, he worked at a New York advertising agency, and then co-founded the film production company Videocraft Internat ...

Arthur Rankin, Jr. Arthur Gardner Rankin Jr. (July 19, 1924 – January 30, 2014) was an American director, producer and writer, who mostly worked in animation. Co-creator of Rankin/Bass Productions with his friend Jules Bass, he created stop-motion animation ...

* Writer - Julian P. Gardner * Songs - There's That Rabbit, Easter Parade ** Music and Lyrics -

Maury Laws Maury Laws (December 6, 1923 – March 28, 2019) was an American television and film composer from Burlington, North Carolina. Biography In his teens, Laws performed in local country, jazz and dance bands as a singer and guitarist in his home st ...

* Sound - John Curcio,

Don Hahn Donald Paul Hahn (born November 26, 1955) is an American film producer who is credited with producing some of the most successful animated films in recent history, including Disney’s ''Beauty and the Beast'' (the first animated film to be nom ...

, Dave Iveland, Tom Clack * Post Production Editing - Irwin Goldress * Overseas Animation Production -

Topcraft Topcraft (トップクラフト ''Toppukurafuto'', also written as "Top Craft") was an animation studio established on February 1, 1972 by former Toei Animation producer Toru Hara, and located in Tokyo, Japan. It was famous for the production of ...

(uncredited) ** Animation - Toru Hara, Tsuguyuki Kubo ** Animation Directors - Kazuyuki Kobayashi, Hidemi Kubo (uncredited) ** Backgrounds - Minoru Nishida (uncredited) ** Key Animation - Yoshiko Sasaki, Tadakatsu Yoshida (uncredited) * Design - Paul Coker, Jr. * Music Arranger and Conductor -

Home media

''The First Easter Rabbit'' was first released on VHS by

ABC Video Enterprises ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

and Golden Book Video in 1986. The second release, by

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Vide ...

, to VHS occurred in 1993, and a remastered "Deluxe Edition" was issued on DVD in 2010.

References

External links