Americans love their newfangled technology. Maybe too much.
I have a close relative who refuses to watch anything but Blu-ray. I have a couple of co-workers who won't watch programs unless they're high-definition on HDTVs.
And then there are those animation aficionados spoiled by the computer-generated magic of such Disney/Pixar offerings as Toy Story, Despicable Me, Finding Nemo, Up, Brave and the ubiquitous Frozen ($1.4 billion in ticket sales and counting). To them, the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies of my childhood must seem flat and antiquated.
I mean, can Bugs Bunny and Tweetie Pie really compete these days with Gru, Shrek, Anna and Elsa?
But there's still something enduring and evocative about old-school stop-motion cartoons. What they lack in glitz and 3-D dazzle, they make up in charm and nostalgia.
I'm talking about vintage cartoons such as Gumby and Davey and Goliath, as well as later stop-motion offerings such as The Nightmare Before Christmas and Chicken Run.
But since this is the Christmas season, we glance fondly back to the 1960s and the Rankin/Bass stop-motion Christmas specials such as The Year Without a Santa Claus, Santa Claus Is Coming to Town, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus and The Little Drummer Boy.
And for the past half century, it wouldn't be Christmas without the holiday special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Airing first on Dec. 6, 1964, the stop-motion cartoon drew an astonishing 50 share of the audience for NBC. It became an instant classic.
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer will be rebroadcast at 7 p.m. today on CBS (its home since 1972) and marks the 50th anniversary of the perennial holiday favorite. Rudolph remains TV's longest running Christmas special, a year older than A Charlie Brown Christmas.
The special, narrated by Burl Ives (who also voices Sam the Snowman), is a musical tale based on the familiar song of the same title by Johnny Marks. Marks adapted his song from a story created in 1939 by his brother-in-law, Robert L. May, as a Christmas giveaway booklet for Montgomery Ward.
Singing cowboy Gene Autry made the song a hit in 1949, and the rest is history.
The themes in Rudolph's saga are also timeless. It recounts the tale of a shy, outcast reindeer whose Christmas spirit is dampened because his shiny nose has made him the laughingstock of all Christmasville.
For drama, there's a fierce Abominable Snow Monster, the flight to the island of Misfit Toys and the rescue in the Arctic wilderness by Yukon Cornelius.
In case you're out of the loop, I won't spoil the dramatic climax, when foggy weather on Christmas Eve threatens to ruin everything. I'll just say that Rudolph with his nose so bright plays a prominent role.
In addition to the titular tune, Marks composed seven additional songs for the special: "Silver and Gold," "We Are Santa's Elves," "We're a Couple of Misfits," "Jingle Jingle Jingle," "There's Always Tomorrow" and "The Most Wonderful Day of the Year."
And, of course, there's the earworm bedeviling Christmas shoppers everywhere -- the incessantly playing "Holly Jolly Christmas," sung by Ives.
Two musical numbers were restored to their original form in the 1998 remastered version. Now included is the full-length version of "We Are Santa's Elves" and "We're a Couple of Misfits," a duet between Rudolph and his newfound friend, Hermey the Elf (who wants to be a dentist).
I feel the main reason the special endures is because at Christmas we all want to remember the magic of our childhood again, and Rudolph, unchanged year after year, helps us do that. So, onward! Let the reindeer games begin.
• Read about it. For those who are fascinated with the subject, pick up Rick Goldschmidt's Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Making of the Rankin/Bass Holiday Classic. The book reveals lots of juicy behind-the-scenes goodies. Examples:
The special was created overseas by Japanese stop-motion animators, and Canadian voice actors made up the cast. Rudolph was voiced by 43-year-old Billie Mae Richards (1921-2010), who was famous for her characterizations of little boys. The credits mistakenly list her as Billy Richards.
Ives was brought in late as a "star name" to help sell the show to the audience. Ives, 1909-1995, was an actor, writer and folk music singer whose biggest hits were "On Top of Old Smoky" in 1951 and "A Little Bitty Tear" in 1961.
The now familiar final scene where Santa returns to the island to fetch the misfit toys was not in the 1964 original. Viewers protested, and the show's sponsor, General Electric, convinced Rankin and Bass to change the ending.
Rudolph scored ratings gold in '64, but even after 50 years the special usually wins its time slot. Last year, according to Nielsen, more than 13 million viewers tuned in.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email: mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Style on 12/09/2014