Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (TV special)

Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town
Title page
GenreChristmas
Written byRomeo Muller
Directed by
Voices of
Narrated byFred Astaire
Music by
Country of origin
  • United States
  • Japan (Animagic)
Original languageEnglish
Production
Producers
  • Arthur Rankin Jr.
  • Jules Bass
CinematographyKizo Nagashima
EditorIrwin Goldress
Running time51 mins
Production companyRankin/Bass Productions
Original release
NetworkABC
ReleaseDecember 13, 1970 (1970-12-13)
Related
Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town is a 1970 American stop-motion Christmas television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions in New York, New York. The film is narrated by Fred Astaire and stars the voices of Mickey Rooney, Keenan Wynn, Robie Lester, Joan Gardner, and Paul Frees, as well as an assistant song performance by the Westminster Children's Choir. The film tells the story of how Santa Claus and several Claus-related Christmas traditions came to be. It is based on the hit Christmas song, "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town", which was written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie for Leo Feist, Inc. and introduced on radio by Eddie Cantor in 1934; and the story of Saint Nicholas.[1]

The special was created using Japanese stop-motion animation called "Animagic", in which all the characters are made out of wood and plastic and animated via stop-motion photography. The special was originally telecast December 13, 1970, by ABC,[2] 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.


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  1. ^ Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. pp. 264–265. ISBN 9781476672939.
  2. ^ Woolery, George W. (1989). Animated TV Specials: The Complete Directory to the First Twenty-Five Years, 1962-1987. Scarecrow Press. pp. 359–361. ISBN 0-8108-2198-2. Retrieved March 27, 2020.