'Twas the Night Before Christmas (1974 TV special)

'Twas the Night Before Christmas
Title page
Genre	Animation
Written by	Jerome Coopersmith
Directed by	Arthur Rankin Jr. Jules Bass
Starring	Joel Grey George Gobel Tammy Grimes John McGiver
Narrated by	George Gobel (main story) Joel Grey (poem sequence)
Theme music composer	Maury Laws
Country of origin	United States Japan
Original language	English
Production
Producers	Arthur Rankin Jr. Jules Bass
Cinematography	Toru Hara Tsuguyuki Kubo
Running time	25 minutes
Production companies	Rankin/Bass Productions Topcraft
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	December 8, 1974 (1974-12-08)
Related
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)[a] Frosty the Snowman (1969)[b] Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (1970)[c] Here Comes Peter Cottontail (1971)[d] 'Twas the Night Before Christmas (1974)[e] The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974)[f] The First Easter Rabbit (1976)[g] Frosty's Winter Wonderland (1976)[h] Rudolph's Shiny New Year (1976)[i] The Easter Bunny Is Comin' to Town (1977)[j] Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey (1977)[k] The Stingiest Man in Town (1978)[l] Jack Frost (1979)[m] Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (1979)[n] Pinocchio's Christmas (1980)[o] Frosty Returns (1992)[p] Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys (2001)[q] The Legend of Frosty the Snowman (2005)[r] A Miser Brothers' Christmas (2008)[s]
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'Twas the Night Before Christmas is a 1974 animated Christmas television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions^[1] that features Clement Clarke Moore's famous 1823 poem A Visit from St. Nicholas, the opening line of which is the source of the title of this animated special.^[2] The special first originally aired on CBS on December 8, 1974,^[3] and the network aired it annually until 1994, when The Family Channel (now Freeform) took over its syndication rights. AMC took over syndication rights for the special in 2018.^[4]

Although the opening credits mention "told and sung by Joel Grey", it is really narrated by George Gobel, as there is more emphasis on the point of view of Father Mouse, with Moore's poem read by Grey as a secondary plot.

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