''Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey'' is a 1977 Japanese-American

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

stop motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exh ...

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

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 en ...

produced 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. It was known for its seasonal television specials, ...

. It premiered on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

on December 3, 1977. The story is based on the 1975 song of the same name, written by

Gene Autry Orvon Grover "Gene" Autry (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), nicknamed the Singing Cowboy, was an American actor, musician, singer, composer, rodeo performer, and baseball team owner, who largely gained fame by singing in a Crooner ...

, Don Pfrimmer and Dave Burgess.

Plot

Santa Claus Santa Claus (also known as Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Father Christmas, Kris Kringle or Santa) is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring gifts during the late evening and overnight hours on Chris ...

donkey The donkey or ass is a domesticated equine. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a separate species, ''Equus asinus''. It was domes ...

Spieltoe tells the story of Nestor, his ancestor who lived in a stable during the days of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. Nestor is teased by other animals and mistreated by Olaf, the stable owner, for his unusually long ears. One night when Roman soldiers come to the stable to buy donkeys, they dismiss Nestor as an imperfect misfit and leave him behind while taking all the other donkeys for free. Enraged, Olaf casts Nestor out into the frigid cold. Nestor's mother finds him and shields from the harsh weather with her own body, freezing to death in the process. The next day, Nestor meets a

cherub A cherub (; : cherubim; ''kərūḇ'', pl. ''kərūḇīm'') is one type of supernatural being in the Abrahamic religions. The numerous depictions of cherubim assign to them many different roles, such as protecting the entrance of the Garden of ...

named Tilly, who says that they need to travel to

Bethlehem Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...

. When they reach the outskirts of the town, Tilly returns to Heaven, instructing Nestor to wait. When

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

and

Joseph Joseph is a common male name, derived from the Hebrew (). "Joseph" is used, along with " Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the modern-day Nordic count ...

are expecting Jesus, they take Nestor because of his "gentle eyes", but are caught in a

sandstorm A dust storm, also called a sandstorm, is a meteorological phenomenon common in arid and semi-arid regions. Dust storms arise when a gust front or other strong wind blows loose sand and dirt from a dry surface. Fine particles are transported b ...

. In the midst of the storm, Nestor hears Tilly's voice, but recognizes it as his mother's, and she tells him to follow the voices of the angels. Nestor guides Mary and Joseph through the storm, while wrapping Mary in his ears to keep her warm. They arrive in Bethlehem, where Nestor finds the stable where Mary gives birth to

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

. Nestor finds his way back to his home stable where he is hailed as hero by Olaf and the other animals. Back in the present, Spieltoe, Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and the other Christmas elves and reindeer dance in from the Christmas tree to honor Nestor. Nestor is seen one final time as he quotes "Merry Christmas".

Cast

Roger Miller Roger Dean Miller Sr. (January 2, 1936 – October 25, 1992) was an American singer-songwriter, widely known for his honky-tonk-influenced novelty songs and his chart-topping country hits " King of the Road", "Dang Me", and " England Swing ...

as Spieltoe * Erik Stern as Nestor *

Brenda Vaccaro Brenda Buell Vaccaro (born November 18, 1939) is an American stage, film and television actress. In a career spanning over half a century, she received one Academy Award nomination, three Golden Globe Award nominations (winning one), four Primet ...

as Tilly *

Paul Frees Solomon Hersh Frees (June 22, 1920November 2, 1986), better known as Paul Frees, 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 the ...

as: ** Olaf the Stable Owner ** A Donkey Dealer ** Santa Claus *

Linda Gary Linda Gary (born Linda Gary Dewoskin, November 4, 1944 – October 5, 1995) was an American actress. Gary was best known for her work in animated series and films, such as providing voices of several female characters in ''He-Man and the Master ...

as Nestor's Mother * Iris Rainer and Shelly Hines as Nestor's friends *

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

as a Roman Soldier * Taryn Davies as Mary * Harry Maurice Rosner as Joseph

Crew

* Produced and Directed by Arthur Rankin Jr. and

Jules Bass Julius Caesar 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 ...

* Assistant Producer: Masaki Iizuka * Written by

Romeo Muller Romeo Earl Muller, Jr. (August 7, 1928 – December 30, 1992) was an American screenwriter and actor most remembered for his screenplays for the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials including ''Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'', ''The Little Drumm ...

* Based on the Song by

, Don Pfrimmer and Dave Burgess * Additional Music and Lyrics by Maury Laws and

* Design by Paul Coker, Jr. * "Animagic" Supervisors: Akikazu Kono and Satoshi Fujino * Sound Recorders: John Curcio and Joe Jorgensen * Music Arranged and Conducted by Maury Laws

Production

In addition to Akikazu Kono, this is Rankin/Bass' second and last "Animagic" stop motion puppet production to be supervised by another Japanese animator, Satoshi Fujino, who also previously worked on '' The Little Drummer Boy, Book II''.

Home video

The special was released in 2000 with '' The Year Without a Santa Claus''. It was later included in ''The Complete Rankin/Bass Christmas Collection'' DVD in 2022 and Blu-ray in 2023.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey 1977 in American television 1977 television specials 1970s American television specials American Broadcasting Company television specials 1970s animated television specials Fictional donkeys Anthropomorphic donkeys Christmas characters Nativity of Jesus on television Television shows directed by Jules Bass Television shows directed by Arthur Rankin Jr. Rankin/Bass Productions television specials Stop-motion animated television shows Television shows written by Romeo Muller Animated films set in the 1st century Animated films set in Palestine (region) Children's television series about talking animals