''Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town'' is a 1970 American

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

Christmas television special Christmas themes have long been an inspiration to artists and writers. A prominent aspect of Christian media, the topic first appeared in literature and in music. Filmmakers have picked up on this wealth of material, with both adaptations of Ch ...

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, ...

in New York. The film is narrated by

Fred Astaire Fred Astaire (born Frederick Austerlitz, May 10, 1899 – June 22, 1987) was an American dancer, actor, singer, musician, choreographer, and presenter, whose career in stage, film, and television spanned 76 years. He is widely regarded as the "g ...

and stars the voices of

Mickey Rooney Mickey Rooney (born Ninnian Joseph Yule Jr.; other pseudonym Mickey Maguire; September 23, 1920 – April 6, 2014) was an American actor. In a career spanning nearly nine decades, he appeared in more than 300 films and was among the last survivi ...

Keenan Wynn Francis Xavier Aloysius James Jeremiah Keenan Wynn (July 27, 1916 – October 14, 1986) was an American character actor. His expressive face was his wikt:stock-in-trade, stock-in-trade; though he rarely carried the leading actor, lead role, h ...

, Robie Lester,

Joan Gardner Joan Gardner may refer to: * Joan Gardner (British actress) (1914–1999), British actress * Joan Gardner (voice actress) (1926–1992), American actress * Joan Gardner (Broadway actress) (1903–?), Broadway actress and chorus girl * Joan Gard ...

and

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 well as an assistant song performance by the Westminster Children's Choir. The film tells the story of how

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 ...

and several Claus-related Christmas traditions came to be. It is based on the hit Christmas song, "

Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" is a Christmas music, Christmas song written by John Frederick Coots, J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie, and first recorded by Harry Reser and His Orchestra. When it was covered by Eddie Cantor on his radio show ...

", which was written by J. Fred Coots and

Haven Gillespie James Lamont Gillespie (February 6, 1888 – March 14, 1975), known under the pen name Haven Gillespie, was an American Tin Pan Alley composer and lyricist. He was the writer of " You Go to My Head", "Honey", "By the Sycamore Tree", " That Luc ...

for

Leo Feist, Inc. Leopold Feist (January 3, 1869, New York City or Mount Verson, New York – June 21, 1930, Mount Vernon, New York) was a pioneer in the popular music publishing business. In 1897, Feist founded and ran a music publishing firm bearing his name. In ...

and introduced on radio by

Eddie Cantor Eddie Cantor (born Isidore Itzkowitz; January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Cantor was one of the prominent entertainers of his era. Some of h ...

in 1934, and the story of

Saint Nicholas Saint Nicholas of Myra (traditionally 15 March 270 – 6 December 343), also known as Nicholas of Bari, was an early Christian bishop of Greeks, Greek descent from the maritime city of Patara (Lycia), Patara in Anatolia (in modern-day Antalya ...

. The special was created using Japanese stop-motion animation called "Animagic", in which all the characters are made of wood and plastic, and animated via stop-motion photography. The special was originally telecast December 13, 1970, by ABC, which continues to air the special every year, along with its sister network Freeform (as of 2022, commemorating the special's 50th anniversary), although, at times, both networks have edited the special to make room for commercials.

Plot

Following a

newsreel A newsreel is a form of short documentary film, containing news, news stories and items of topical interest, that was prevalent between the 1910s and the mid 1970s. Typically presented in a Movie theater, cinema, newsreels were a source of cu ...

highlighting the excitement of children worldwide awaiting Santa Claus, a postman named Special Delivery "S.D." Kluger is introduced. After Kluger's

mail truck A mail truck or post van is a type of delivery vehicle that is used to transport post. Originally horse-drawn, most modern mail trucks are automotive vehicles. Evolution In his article, "Right through the Post", John Hollingshead des ...

breaks down while he tries to deliver letters to Santa, he proceeds to tell the story of Santa in response to the letters sent by children. A baby named Claus arrives on the doorstep of Burgermeister Meisterburger, the grouchy mayor of Sombertown. Meisterburger orders Grimsley, his aide, to take Claus to an

orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or abusi ...

, but a gust of wind sweeps the baby away. Claus is rescued by a group of animals who transport him to the Kringles, a family of elves. They rename him Kris and raise him, teaching him how to make toys, the Kringles' family occupation. However, many of the toys pile up unused outside of the workshop, as no Kringle elf has been able to pass the nearby Mountain of the Whispering Winds, fearing the Winter Warlock who lives there. When Kris is old enough, he volunteers to travel to Sombertown himself to deliver the toys. Along the way, he befriends a lost penguin whom he names Topper. Meanwhile, Meisterburger, having tripped over a toy duck, enacts a law prohibiting all toys. Kris then arrives in town and bestows toys on the local children, even giving one to Miss Jessica, their schoolteacher. Meisterburger orders Kris's arrest, prompting him to flee into the forest with Topper. They are soon captured by the Winter Warlock, but the Warlock befriends Kris after he is a given a toy train. To prevent further toy distribution, Meisterburger orders all doors and windows locked, but Kris enters by the

chimney A chimney is an architectural ventilation structure made of masonry, clay or metal that isolates hot toxic exhaust gases or smoke produced by a boiler, stove, furnace, incinerator, or fireplace from human living areas. Chimneys are typical ...

s and places toys in the children's stockings. Meisterburger sets a trap for Kris, while his soldiers capture Winter and the Kringles. Jessica visits Winter in prison, where he reveals that he has lost all his magic except for some enchanted corn that enables some of Kris's

reindeer The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, taiga, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only re ...

friends to fly. With the help of the reindeer, Kris and his companions escape. Soon after, Kris, now sporting a beard as a disguise, returns to his "Claus" name and marries Jessica. They travel to 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 rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

to establish a toy workshop. When the Meisterburgers die out, the toy ban is nullified, and Kris is deemed a saintly figure, becoming

. Due to the rising demand for toys, Santa limits his gift-giving to

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas, the festival commemorating nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus. Christmas Day is observance of Christmas by country, observed around the world, and Christma ...

, the anniversary of his and Jessica's wedding. After finishing the story, S.D. Kluger suddenly remembers that he has to deliver the letters to Santa. He departs in his now-repaired truck with Topper, Winter, and a parade of children, singing "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town".

Voice cast

as Special Delivery "S.D." Kluger *

as Kris Kringle/Santa Claus *

as Winter Warlock * Robie Lester as Miss Jessica/Mrs. Claus *

as Burgermeister Meisterburger, Grimsley, Topper, animals (horse and seals), guards, doctor, Newsreel Announcer, Kringle Brothers (Dingle, Ringle, Tingle, Wingle, and Zingle), male townspeople, businessman, Scrooge-related man, tree monsters (Willy Willow and Peter Pine), and more *

as Tanta Kringle, grouchy store lady, female townspeople, and more * Dina Lynn, Greg Thomas, Gary White, and Andrea Sacino as the children (Greg Thomas also as Baby and Young Kris Kringle)

Songs

# "The First Toymakers to the King" – Tanta and the Kringles featuring the Mike Sammes Singers # "No More Toymakers to the King" – Burgermeister Meisterburger and Grimsley # "Be Prepared to Pay" a.k.a. "If You Sit On My Lap Today" – Kris and the Westminster Children's Choir # "Put One Foot in Front of the Other" – Kris and Winter featuring The Mike Sammes Singers # "My World Is Beginning Today" – Jessica # "Wedding Song" a.k.a. "What Better Way to Tell You" – S. D. Kluger and The Mike Sammes Singers # "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" – S. D. Kluger and the Westminster Children's Choir A vinyl version of the soundtrack was issued in 1970 to promote the special; copies were sent to radio

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at nightclubs or music fes ...

s. A CD version was released by

Rhino A rhinoceros ( ; ; ; : rhinoceros or rhinoceroses), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant taxon, extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates (perissodactyls) in the family (biology), famil ...

on October 1, 2002, the soundtrack for ''Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town'' is available, along with that of ''

Frosty the Snowman "Frosty the Snowman" is a song written by Walter "Jack" Rollins and Steve Nelson, and first recorded by Gene Autry and the Cass County Boys in 1950 and later recorded by Jimmy Durante in that year. It was written after the success of Autry's ...

'', the Rankin/Bass special produced the previous year. This edition contains the full dialogue and all songs for both specials.

Editing by ABC, Viacom, and Freeform

The special has been edited for content and length by ABC, Viacom and Freeform since its original airing. In 1986, ABC cut two songs from the special ("My World Is Beginning Today" and "What Better Way to Tell You"), as well as cutting two other songs in half. When Viacom syndicated the special to local television stations in the 1980s and 1990s, only the songs (except "Put One Foot In Front Of The Other") were shortened for time, while "What Better Way To Tell You" was removed entirely. Topper's name was changed to Waddles for unknown reasons, with all dialogue stating his name being re-recorded by Paul Frees. Freeform has cut several scenes they believe may be traumatizing to younger viewers, such as Kris climbing and leaping to escape (which was cut to prevent children from trying to imitate the same stunt), Winter Warlock knowing Kris will return and telling him he will never escape, and the scene in which the Burgermeister torches the seized toys in front of the children of Sombertown. In 2019, Freeform's print of the special included the 2012

Universal Pictures Universal City Studios LLC, doing business as Universal Pictures (also known as Universal Studios or simply Universal), is an American filmmaking, film production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered at the 10 Universal Ci ...

logo preceding the film, due to their 2016 purchase of

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios or simply DreamWorks) is an American animation studio, owned by Comcast's NBCUniversal as part of Universal Pictures, a division of Universal Studios, Inc, Universal Stud ...

(the current owner of the pre-1974 Rankin/Bass library); further, in this version, the scenes that were originally cut were restored.

Home media

Beginning in 1989, the special has been released numerous times on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

. The 2005 DVD release included a CD single of

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey ( ; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and actress. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Songbird Supreme" by ''Guinness World Records'', Carey is known for her five-octave voc ...

performing the title song. The special is also available as part of a DVD box set with other Rankin/Bass Christmas titles, including ''

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 C ...

'' and ''

'', and

Bill Melendez José Cuauhtémoc "Bill" Melendez (November 15, 1916 – September 2, 2008) was an American animator, director, producer, and voice actor. Melendez is known for working on the ''Peanuts'' animated specials, as well as providing the voices of Sno ...

's '' Frosty Returns''. In 2010, the special was released in the same box set on

Blu-ray Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of high-defin ...

. In 2015, both the special and ''Frosty the Snowman'' were released on Blu-ray-DVD combo packs in the 45th Anniversary Collector's Edition. In 2022, the special was released on

4K Ultra HD Ultra-high-definition television (also known as Ultra HD television, Ultra HD, UHDTV, UHD and Super Hi-Vision) today includes 4K UHD and 8K UHD, which are two digital video formats with an aspect ratio of 16:9. These were first proposed by ...

as part of ''The Classic Christmas Specials Collection'' (with ''Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'' and ''Frosty the Snowman'').

Reception

The film has an aggregated review score of 93% based on 14 reviews on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, with a critic consensus stating: "Arriving with light-hearted cheeriness and the best musical numbers, ''Santa Claus Is Comin To Town'' is a magical story told by charming wood-figure animation." Emily Ashby of ''

Common Sense Media Common Sense Media (CSM) is an American nonprofit organization that reviews and provides ratings for media and technology with the goal of providing information on their suitability for children.

'' gave the special five stars out of five, saying as a "classic Christmas movie is a winner for families."

Novelization

Running Press Running Press is an American publishing company and member of the Perseus Books Group, a division of the Hachette Book Group. The publisher's offices are located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with many of the corporate functions taking place in ...

published a

novelization A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book, or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent ...

of the special in 2008. It is written by Sierra Harimann and features watercolor illustrations by Michael Koelsch. The novelization includes some extra details, although it is unclear whether they originated from the author's imagination or were derived from the original script. The Dismal Forest is located at the base of the Mountain of the Whispering Winds. The young children Kris converses with by the fountain are named Annette and Andy. The Sombertown Dungeon is designed like a fortress, featuring a central courtyard where the reindeer arrive to rescue everyone.

Video game

A video game based on the film was released November 8, 2011, for the

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

and

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...

Notes

References

External links

* {{Rankin-Bass 1970 in American television 1970 television specials 1970s American television specials American Broadcasting Company television specials Animated Christmas television specials 1970s animated television specials Christmas television specials Television shows directed by Jules Bass Television shows directed by Arthur Rankin Jr. Santa Claus in television Rankin/Bass Productions television specials Stop-motion animated television shows Television shows written by Romeo Muller American Christmas television specials