'The Year Without a Santa Claus' Turns 50
Remember Heat Miser and Snow Miser? No matter its age, this holiday show from our childhood always delights
If you were growing up in the 1960s, '70s, and/or '80s, part of the magic of the Christmas season came from the many different types of television specials on in the evenings, each telling its own holiday-related story.
I remember watching "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (which turns 60 this year), "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "Frosty the Snowman" every year. These stories were a tradition. It just didn't seem like Christmas without them.
And back then, you had to watch the shows the night and time they were on; no reruns or watching them on VHS, DVD or streaming.
A special that has really stuck with me over the years — and has always been one of my favorites — is "The Year Without a Santa Claus."
"They used the right word — Animagic — because there's a layer to these things that's magic and you can't describe it."
The Miser Brothers — the Heat Miser and Snow Miser — became such icons that they are still talked about, watched and used in merchandising today. Hallmark has been putting out ornaments featuring them for years.
But do you know how the show came about?
Grab a cup of cocoa, don a Christmas sweater and have yourself a seat, as we take a trip back in time.
The Use of Animagic
By the time "The Year Without a Santa Claus" premiered on ABC TV on December 10, 1974, Rankin/Bass Productions, the company that created it, had been making TV shows for more than a decade.
Founded by Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass, the company often used "Animagic" to make their programs, although they did create more traditional cel animated cartoons as well.
Animagic (a combination of the words "animation" and "magic") is a stop-motion process in which puppets wearing clothing are used to act out the stories.
"The stop motion for it was done in Japan, and Arthur discovered that they had a super talent for it in the late 1950s," says Rick Goldschmidt, who is the official Rankin/Bass Production Historian/Biographer and has written seven books about the company and its productions. "He decided that this animation was right for the U.S. market and first did 'The New Adventures of Pinocchio' in Animagic. Pinocchio was Arthur's favorite Walt Disney movie. Arthur was the one who made everything happen."
"Even though you know that they're puppets, and you know that it's stop motion, you don't think of them as puppets. You think of them as real characters."
"They used the right word — Animagic — because there's a layer to these things that's magic and you can't describe it," says Goldschmidt. "They did something to the art form that nobody else really ever did, and that was bring personality to it. Even though you know that they're puppets, and you know that it's stop motion, you don't think of them as puppets. You think of them as real characters."
Built on the success of their previous shows such as Rudolph, Frosty and "Santa Claus is Comin' To Town," the men decided to make a different kind of story — one in which Santa gets a cold in early December. After his doctor tells him that no one cares about Christmas anymore, he decides he's not going to make his rounds.
Mrs. Claus wants to save the day, so she sends Jingle and Jangle, two elves, to find some Christmas spirit. Vixen, one of Santa's eight reindeer, gets caught by a dog catcher and chaos ensues…bringing Mrs. Claus to visit the Heat Miser and Snow Miser because the Mayor of Southtown will only release Vixen if it snows there.
Mother Nature gets involved, and, while we know there's a happy ending, it's always fun to see the Miser brothers complaining and singing before they buck up and listen to Mom.
The Role of a Pulitzer Prize-winning Book
According to Goldschmidt, Raskin found a Pulitzer Prize-winning short story book titled "The Year Without a Santa Claus," written by Phyllis McGinley, and he decided it would make a great Rankin/Bass special.
"He came up with the look for the Heat Miser and Snow Miser —with the sparkly outfits and vaudeville hats and all of that."
Goldschmidt explains, "He took the book to ABC and it was an easy sell because they had developed a friendship with Michael Eisner," who was then in charge of the network's programming and development.
"Romeo Muller, who was the writer of all the classic Rankin/Bass specials, had a knack for really developing a story and bringing in characters that didn't exist before, which is the case with the Heat Miser and Snow Miser," says Goldschmidt. "With 'Rudolph,' it was the Island of Misfit Toys, Hermey, Yukon and Sam. None of those characters are in the storybook or the song. So, he had this way of writing that brought in all these interesting characters."
Goldschmidt adds, "He didn't just write for children either. It was more so that the whole family could enjoy it."
An animator who worked for "Mad" magazine, Paul Coker, designed the characters for all the Rankin/Bass specials.
Part of Holiday History
"He came up with the look for the Heat Miser and Snow Miser — with the sparkly outfits and vaudeville hats and all of that. That's how they came to be the famous characters that they are," says Goldschmidt.
Jules Bass, a talented lyricist, worked with Maury Laws, the musical supervisor and composer to create the unforgettable songs sung by all the characters.
In his latest book, "Rankin/Bass 50th Anniversary Scrapbook," Goldschmidt writes that while talking about the Heat Miser and Snow Miser, Laws said, "I tried to come up with something that matched the braggart, over-the-top nature of their characters. They were rooted in vaudeville, with all of their showbiz minions. I am very proud of those tunes and 'TV Guide Magazine' put it in their Top 50 most memorable television songs."
Goldschmidt agrees that the Christmas season just wouldn't be the same without TV specials such as "The Year Without a Santa Claus."
"They've become a part of our holidays now," he says. "The people who made the shows are the reason they've lasted so long. They were all super talented people, and super nice too."
