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A 1967 AnimatedAdaptation of one Creator/CharlesDickens' lesser-known Christmas stories. Produced by Creator/RankinBass and animated by the Japanese studio Creator/Eiken (then known as Television Corporation of Japan) and executive produced by Creator/AaronSpelling and actor Creator/DannyThomas, it is the second of Rankin[=/=]Bass' 18 [[ChristmasSpecial Christmas specials]]. It first aired on Creator/{{NBC}} on December 18, 1967, as the twelfth episode of the anthology series ''The Danny Thomas Hour''.
to:
A 1967 AnimatedAdaptation of one Creator/CharlesDickens' lesser-known Christmas stories. Produced by Creator/RankinBass and animated by the Japanese studio Creator/Eiken Creator/{{Eiken}} (then known as Television Corporation of Japan) and executive produced by Creator/AaronSpelling and actor Creator/DannyThomas, it is the second of Rankin[=/=]Bass' 18 [[ChristmasSpecial Christmas specials]]. It first aired on Creator/{{NBC}} on December 18, 1967, as the twelfth episode of the anthology series ''The Danny Thomas Hour''.
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Changed line(s) 11,12 (click to see context) from:
A 1967 AnimatedAdaptation of one Creator/CharlesDickens' lesser-known Christmas stories. Produced by Creator/RankinBass and animated by the Japanese studio [[Manga/SazaeSan Eiken]] (then known as Television Corporation of Japan) and executive produced by Creator/AaronSpelling and actor Creator/DannyThomas, it is the second of Rankin[=/=]Bass' 18 [[ChristmasSpecial Christmas specials]]. It first aired on Creator/{{NBC}} on December 18, 1967, as the twelfth episode of the anthology series ''The Danny Thomas Hour''.
to:
A 1967 AnimatedAdaptation of one Creator/CharlesDickens' lesser-known Christmas stories. Produced by Creator/RankinBass and animated by the Japanese studio [[Manga/SazaeSan Eiken]] Creator/Eiken (then known as Television Corporation of Japan) and executive produced by Creator/AaronSpelling and actor Creator/DannyThomas, it is the second of Rankin[=/=]Bass' 18 [[ChristmasSpecial Christmas specials]]. It first aired on Creator/{{NBC}} on December 18, 1967, as the twelfth episode of the anthology series ''The Danny Thomas Hour''.
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Example does not sufficiently explain how it applies, Trope was cut/disambiguated due to cleanup
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* DisabledLoveInterest: Bertha becomes inflicted by "hysterical blindness" due to grief over the news of Edward's death.
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The story is told by [[AlliterativeName Cricket Crockett]] (Creator/RoddyMcDowall), who relates the tale of the year he met and moved in with the Plummer family, consisting of toy maker Caleb (Danny Thomas) and his daughter Bertha (Creator/MarloThomas). In spite of the fact that crickets are supposed to bring good luck, the following year turns out to be a complete disaster for the Plummers. News that her fiancé Edward (Ed Ames) has died at sea causes the grief-stricken Bertha to go blind. Caleb loses the will to work, dives into deep debt and loses the family home. Caleb desperately ends up working for free for the greedy Mr. Tackleton (Hans Conried) in exchange for food and board putting a roof over their heads again. As Caleb struggles to keep Bertha happy in spite their pitiable circumstances, Tackleton takes an interest in the girl... as does a curious old man who looks and sounds suspiciously like Bertha's lost fiancé. With a grim Christmas upon the hearth, somehow Cricket Crockett must fix this dour situation.
After its initial airing, the special aired just once in 1967 then largely fell into obscurity, eventually appearing on PBS in the 2000s and later in 2019 on Creator/{{Freeform}}'s 25 Days of Christmas marathon. The special is currently owned by Creator/NBCUniversal, who currently owns the rights to the pre-1973 Rankin Bass library and has re-issued it on multiple media formats.
After its initial airing, the special aired just once in 1967 then largely fell into obscurity, eventually appearing on PBS in the 2000s and later in 2019 on Creator/{{Freeform}}'s 25 Days of Christmas marathon. The special is currently owned by Creator/NBCUniversal, who currently owns the rights to the pre-1973 Rankin Bass library and has re-issued it on multiple media formats.
to:
The story is told by [[AlliterativeName Cricket Crockett]] (Creator/RoddyMcDowall), who relates the tale of the year he met and moved in with the Plummer family, consisting of toy maker Caleb (Danny Thomas) and his daughter Bertha (Creator/MarloThomas). In spite of the fact that crickets are supposed to bring good luck, the following year turns out to be a complete disaster for the Plummers. News that her fiancé Edward (Ed Ames) has died at sea causes the grief-stricken Bertha to go blind. blind, while Caleb loses the will to work, dives into deep debt and loses the family home. In desperation, Caleb desperately ends up working for free for the greedy Mr. Tackleton (Hans Conried) in exchange for food and board putting a roof over their heads again. As board. While Caleb struggles to keep Bertha happy in spite despite their pitiable circumstances, Tackleton takes an interest in the girl... as does a curious old man who looks and sounds suspiciously like Bertha's lost fiancé.the deceased Edward. With a grim Christmas upon the hearth, somehow Cricket Crockett must fix this dour situation.
After In contrast to the other Rankin[=/=]Bass specials, this one largely fell into obscurity after its initial airing, the special aired just once in 1967 then largely fell into obscurity, eventually appearing resurfacing on PBS Creator/{{PBS}} in the 2000s and later in 2019 on as part of Creator/{{Freeform}}'s 25 2019 "25 Days of Christmas Christmas" marathon. The Along with the rest of the pre-1973 Rankin[=/=]Bass library, the special is currently owned by Creator/NBCUniversal, who currently owns the rights to the pre-1973 Rankin Bass library and which has re-issued it on multiple home media formats.
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The story is told by [[AlliterativeName Cricket Crockett]] (played by Creator/RoddyMcDowall), who relates the tale of the year he met and moved in with the Plummer family, consisting of toy maker Caleb (played by Danny Thomas) and his daughter Bertha (played by Creator/MarloThomas). Despite the fact crickets are supposed to bring good luck, the following year turns out to be a complete disaster for the Plummers. News that her fiancé Edward (played by Ed Ames) has died at sea causes the grief-stricked Bertha to go blind. Caleb loses the will to work, dives into deep debt and loses the family home. Caleb desperately ends up working for free for the greedy Mr. Tackleton in exchange for food and board putting a roof over their heads again. As Caleb struggles to keep Bertha happy in spite their pitiable circumstances, Tackleton takes an interest in the girl... as does a curious old man that looks and sounds suspiciously like Bertha's lost fiancé. With a grim Christmas upon the hearth, somehow Cricket Crockett must fix this dour situation.
to:
The story is told by [[AlliterativeName Cricket Crockett]] (played by Creator/RoddyMcDowall), (Creator/RoddyMcDowall), who relates the tale of the year he met and moved in with the Plummer family, consisting of toy maker Caleb (played by Danny (Danny Thomas) and his daughter Bertha (played by Creator/MarloThomas). Despite (Creator/MarloThomas). In spite of the fact that crickets are supposed to bring good luck, the following year turns out to be a complete disaster for the Plummers. News that her fiancé Edward (played by Ed (Ed Ames) has died at sea causes the grief-stricked grief-stricken Bertha to go blind. Caleb loses the will to work, dives into deep debt and loses the family home. Caleb desperately ends up working for free for the greedy Mr. Tackleton (Hans Conried) in exchange for food and board putting a roof over their heads again. As Caleb struggles to keep Bertha happy in spite their pitiable circumstances, Tackleton takes an interest in the girl... as does a curious old man that who looks and sounds suspiciously like Bertha's lost fiancé. With a grim Christmas upon the hearth, somehow Cricket Crockett must fix this dour situation.
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A 1967 AnimatedAdaptation of one Creator/CharlesDickens' lesser-known Christmas stories. Produced by Creator/RankinBass and animated by Japanese studio [[Manga/SazaeSan Eiken]] (then known as Television Corporation of Japan) and executive produced by Creator/AaronSpelling and actor Creator/DannyThomas, it is the second of Rankin Bass' 18 [[ChristmasSpecial Christmas specials]]. The special first aired as the twelfth episode of ''The Danny Thomas Hour''.
to:
A 1967 AnimatedAdaptation of one Creator/CharlesDickens' lesser-known Christmas stories. Produced by Creator/RankinBass and animated by the Japanese studio [[Manga/SazaeSan Eiken]] (then known as Television Corporation of Japan) and executive produced by Creator/AaronSpelling and actor Creator/DannyThomas, it is the second of Rankin Bass' Rankin[=/=]Bass' 18 [[ChristmasSpecial Christmas specials]]. The special It first aired on Creator/{{NBC}} on December 18, 1967, as the twelfth episode of the anthology series ''The Danny Thomas Hour''.
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* {{Expy}}: Apart from his British accent, Cricket Crockett is very similar to [[WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}} Jiminy Cricket]]: not only his species, but his style of clothing, his role as advisor to the other protagonists, and his status as a CharacterNarrator looking back on his past adventures.
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* TearsOfJoy: Bertha sings a song about this phenomenon, "Smiles Go with Tears."
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* UnrelatedInTheAdaptation: In the book, Edward is Caleb's son and Bertha's brother. Since the Peerybingles and the Fieldings were dropped from this version, Edward was changed to Edward Benton and Bertha is now his unlucky fiancé. Aside from the change in his fiancé, his storyline is largely the same.
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* UnrelatedInTheAdaptation: In the book, Edward Plummer is Caleb's son and Bertha's brother. Since the Peerybingles and the Fieldings were dropped from this version, Edward was changed to [[AdaptationalNameChange Edward Benton Benton]] and Bertha is now his unlucky fiancé. Aside from the change in his fiancé, his storyline is largely the same.
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A 1967 AnimatedAdaptation of one Creator/CharlesDickens' lesser-known Christmas stories. Produced by Creator/RankinBass and animated by Japanese studio [[Manga/SazaeSan Eiken]] (then known as Television Corporation of Japan) and executive produced by Creator/AaronSpelling and actor Danny Thomas, it is the second of Rankin Bass' 18 [[ChristmasSpecial Christmas specials]]. The special first aired as the twelfth episode of ''The Danny Thomas Hour''.
to:
A 1967 AnimatedAdaptation of one Creator/CharlesDickens' lesser-known Christmas stories. Produced by Creator/RankinBass and animated by Japanese studio [[Manga/SazaeSan Eiken]] (then known as Television Corporation of Japan) and executive produced by Creator/AaronSpelling and actor Danny Thomas, Creator/DannyThomas, it is the second of Rankin Bass' 18 [[ChristmasSpecial Christmas specials]]. The special first aired as the twelfth episode of ''The Danny Thomas Hour''.
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* TheScrooge: Charles Dickens definitely liked to give people what they wanted in a Christmas story, so naturally Caleb Plummer's miserly, cruel boss Tackleton hates children and Christmas. [[spoiler: Complete with a HeelFaceTurn
just before the ending credits.]]
just before the ending credits.]]
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* TheScrooge: Charles Dickens definitely liked to give people what they wanted in a Christmas story, so naturally Caleb Plummer's miserly, cruel boss Tackleton hates children and Christmas. [[spoiler: Complete with a HeelFaceTurn
HeelFaceTurn just before the ending credits.]]
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* TheScrooge: Charles Dickens definitely liked to give people what they wanted in a Christmas story, so naturally Caleb Plummer's miserly, cruel boss Tackleton hates children and Christmas. [[spoiler: Complete with a HeelFaceTurn just before the ending credits.]]
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* TheScrooge: Charles Dickens definitely liked to give people what they wanted in a Christmas story, so naturally Caleb Plummer's miserly, cruel boss Tackleton hates children and Christmas. [[spoiler: Complete with a HeelFaceTurn HeelFaceTurn
just before the ending credits.]]]]
* SpecialOccasionsAreMagic: The hour of Midnight on Christmas Eve allows magical things to happen. Like [[LivingToys toys coming to life]] only to [[MrExposition deliver plot exposition]] and then go away. They have a rule that humans can't see them while animate, but crickets don't count.
just before the ending credits.
* SpecialOccasionsAreMagic: The hour of Midnight on Christmas Eve allows magical things to happen. Like [[LivingToys toys coming to life]] only to [[MrExposition deliver plot exposition]] and then go away. They have a rule that humans can't see them while animate, but crickets don't count.
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* KarmaHoudini: Tackleton gets off rather light for his abuse of Caleb and Bertha and multiple attempts at murdering Cricket Crockett. All that happens is he doesn't get to marry Bertha, but she still cares him about him enough that he even changes to become a better person! Too bad [[spoiler: he got Uriah killed first and doesn't even care.]]
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* AscendedExtra: The title of the book is meant to refer to a little cricket that lives in the Peerybingles' hearth that is said to be a guardian angel but otherwise does not impact the events and is just a normal cricket. Compared to this special where the cricket has been upgraded to main character status and is so anthromorphized that he talks to humans and wears clothing.
* AscendedExtra: The title of the book is meant to refer to a little cricket that lives in the Peerybingles' hearth that is said to be a guardian angel but otherwise does not impact the events and is just a normal cricket. Compared to this special where the cricket has been upgraded to main character status and is so anthromorphized that he talks to humans and wears clothing.
* TheChanteuse: Out of the blue, Uriah flies off to a full humanoid animal bar that includes a sultry cat singer named Maude, who proceed to sing a big band number about fish and chips.
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* TheChanteuse: Out of the blue, Uriah flies off to a full humanoid animal bar that includes a sultry cat singer named Maude, who proceed to sing a big band number about fish and chips.
* MorallyBankruptBanker: The money lender that Caleb is shown going to is drawn so evilly that he laughs with glee as he puts Caleb deeper into debt.
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* MorallyBankruptBanker: The money lender that Caleb is shown going to is drawn so evilly that he laughs with glee as he puts Caleb deeper into debt.
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A 1967 AnimatedAdaptation of one Creator/CharlesDickens' lesser-known Christmas stories. Produced by Creator/RankinBass and animated by Japanese studio Eiken (then known as Television Corporation of Japan) and executive produced by Creator/AaronSpelling and actor Danny Thomas, it is the second of Rankin Bass' 18 [[ChristmasSpecial Christmas specials]]. The special first aired as the twelfth episode of ''The Danny Thomas Hour''.
to:
A 1967 AnimatedAdaptation of one Creator/CharlesDickens' lesser-known Christmas stories. Produced by Creator/RankinBass and animated by Japanese studio Eiken [[Manga/SazaeSan Eiken]] (then known as Television Corporation of Japan) and executive produced by Creator/AaronSpelling and actor Danny Thomas, it is the second of Rankin Bass' 18 [[ChristmasSpecial Christmas specials]]. The special first aired as the twelfth episode of ''The Danny Thomas Hour''.
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* InformedAbility: Despite the entire premise of the special being that crickets bring good luck, Cricket Crockett's presence in the Plummer home does nothing to prevent that cascade of misfortune that strikes the family... including losing the hearth he's supposed to be living on. His only actual contributions are quite small and just revolve around resolving the plotline with Bertha's marriage prospects. [[spoiler: He prevents Tackleton from being able to receive Bertha's acceptance of her marriage proposal via putting pepper in his tea and making him leave in a sneezing fit. Later Cricket hangs out with the toys when ''they'' do all the work of revealing Edward's identity. His only contribution there is to ''finally'' get Edward to reveal the truth to Bertha.]] The only time we see something truly lucky happen is for Cricket himself, as a series of wild circumstances stack up at the final act [[spoiler: leading to multiple different animals all helping him get back to the Plummers after his kidnapping.]]
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* FurryConfusion: The various animal characters in the special seem to vary in their level of anthromorphization. The title character Cricket Crockett has human hands and wears clothes on his top half, a top hat, and a pair of shoes appropriate for insect feet. He can speak to humans and be understood and nobody finds it strange. Uriah the Crow however is just a normal crow, can only speak to other animals, and can only squawk at humans. On the exact opposite end are the fully anthromorphized animals at the brothel Uriah visits, who have mostly humanoid shapes, wear full clothing, and seem to have their own human-equivalent society where they get drunk and watch elaborate performances by sexy cat singers backed by a full band.
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* ForgottenFallenFriend: Tackleton completely forgets about [[spoiler:Uriah Caw]] after their last scene together.
* FurryConfusion: The various animal characters in the special seem to vary in their level of anthromorphization. The title character Cricket Crockett has human hands and wears clothes on his top half, a top hat, and a pair of shoes appropriate for insect feet. He can speak to humans and be understood and nobody finds it strange. Uriah Caw the Crow however is just a normal crow, can only speak to other animals, and can only squawk at humans. On the exact opposite end are the fully anthromorphized animals at the brothel Uriah visits, who have mostly humanoid shapes, wear full clothing, and seem to have their own human-equivalent society where they get drunk and watch elaborate performances by sexy cat singers backed by a full band.
* FurryConfusion: The various animal characters in the special seem to vary in their level of anthromorphization. The title character Cricket Crockett has human hands and wears clothes on his top half, a top hat, and a pair of shoes appropriate for insect feet. He can speak to humans and be understood and nobody finds it strange. Uriah Caw the Crow however is just a normal crow, can only speak to other animals, and can only squawk at humans. On the exact opposite end are the fully anthromorphized animals at the brothel Uriah visits, who have mostly humanoid shapes, wear full clothing, and seem to have their own human-equivalent society where they get drunk and watch elaborate performances by sexy cat singers backed by a full band.
* InformedAbility: Despite the entire premise of the special being that crickets bring good luck, Cricket Crockett's presence in the Plummer home does nothing to prevent that cascade of misfortune that strikes the family... including losing the hearth he's supposed to be living on. His only actual contributions are quite small and just revolve around resolving the plotline with Bertha's marriage prospects. [[spoiler: He prevents Tackleton from being able to receive Bertha's acceptance of her marriage proposal via putting pepper in his tea and making him leave in a sneezing fit. Later Cricket hangs out with the toys when ''they'' do all the work of revealing Edward's identity. His only contribution there is to ''finally'' get Edward to reveal the truth to Bertha.]] The only time we see something truly lucky happen is for Cricket himself, as a series of wild circumstances stack up at the final act [[spoiler: leading to multiple different animals all helping him get back to the Plummers after his kidnapping.]]
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* NoHonorAmongThieves: Uriah teams up with a pair of animals thugs named Strangler and Slink to off Cricket Crockett. They decide to instead capture him and sell him to a captain that pays high prices for crickets to sell to China. [[spoiler: The captain takes Cricket and then instead of paying the thieves, shoots all three of them.]]
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* NoHonorAmongThieves: Uriah teams up with a pair of animals animal thugs named Strangler and Slink to off Cricket Crockett. They decide to instead capture him and sell him to a captain that pays high prices for crickets to sell to China. [[spoiler: The captain takes Cricket and then instead of paying the thieves, shoots all three of them.]]
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* PaperThinDisguise: It is ''blindingly'' obvious that the old man is Edward in disguise as the disguise is really just wearing ragged clothes and a bad wig. It's even crazier that Bertha in particular can't identify him as by the time she meets the "old man", she's now blind and has to rely on recognizing people by their voices - and Edward does ''nothing'' to disguise his voice plus he calls her by name when he supposedly hasn't met her yet.
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* PaperThinDisguise: It is ''blindingly'' obvious that the old man is Edward in disguise as the disguise is really just wearing ragged clothes and a bad wig. It's even crazier that Bertha in particular can't identify him as by the time she meets the "old man", she's now blind and has to rely on recognizing people by their voices - and Edward does ''nothing'' to disguise his voice plus he and even calls her by name when he supposedly hasn't met her yet.
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* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:Uriah Caw, Strangler, and Slink]] bite it near the end of the special, which is especially noticeable for [[spoiler:Strangler and Slink, who only had two scenes before getting offed]].
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* FamilyUnfriendlyDeath: [[spoiler:Uriah Caw and his two animal henchmen are shot to death by the crooked captain]].
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** Had Uriah (a raven) just eaten Cricket Crockett (a cricket) instead of hiring a pair of animal thugs named Strangler and Slink to kill the bug/sell him to a captain, [[spoiler:Uriah wouldn't have been shot to death by the captain]].
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A 1967 AnimatedAdaptation of one Creator/CharlesDickens lesser known Christmas stories. Produced by Creator/RankinBass and animated by Japanese studio Eiken (then known as Television Corporation of Japan) and executive produced by Creator/AaronSpelling and actor Danny Thomas, it is the second of Rankin Bass' 18 [[ChristmasSpecial Christmas specials]]. The special first aired as the twelfth episode of ''The Danny Thomas Hour''.
to:
A 1967 AnimatedAdaptation of one Creator/CharlesDickens lesser known Creator/CharlesDickens' lesser-known Christmas stories. Produced by Creator/RankinBass and animated by Japanese studio Eiken (then known as Television Corporation of Japan) and executive produced by Creator/AaronSpelling and actor Danny Thomas, it is the second of Rankin Bass' 18 [[ChristmasSpecial Christmas specials]]. The special first aired as the twelfth episode of ''The Danny Thomas Hour''.
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* UnrelatedInTheAdaptation: In the book, Edward is Caleb's son and Bertha's brother. Since the Peerybingles and the Fieldings were dropped from this version, Edward was changed to Edward Benton and Bertha is now his unlucky fiancé. Aside from the change in his fiancé, his storyline is largely the same.
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* UnrelatedInTheAdaptation: In the book, Edward is Caleb's son and Bertha's brother. Since the Peerybingles and the Fieldings were dropped from this version, Edward was changed to Edward Benton and Bertha is now his unlucky fiancé. Aside from the change in his fiance, his storyline is largely the same.
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I'm cursing TV Tropes with Cricket Crockett's bad luck.
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/cricket_on_the_hearth_1967_dvd_cover_review_danny_thomas.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Cricket Crockett, the cricket of good luck! No, really!]]
->''Step on a crack and spill the salt\\
Cross a cat that's black,\\
Not a thing can halt your luck\\
When you have a lucky cricket\\
Cricket on the hearth''
-->-- ''Title Song''
A 1967 AnimatedAdaptation of one Creator/CharlesDickens lesser known Christmas stories. Produced by Creator/RankinBass and animated by Japanese studio Eiken (then known as Television Corporation of Japan) and executive produced by Creator/AaronSpelling and actor Danny Thomas, it is the second of Rankin Bass' 18 [[ChristmasSpecial Christmas specials]]. The special first aired as the twelfth episode of ''The Danny Thomas Hour''.
The story is told by [[AlliterativeName Cricket Crockett]] (played by Creator/RoddyMcDowall), who relates the tale of the year he met and moved in with the Plummer family, consisting of toy maker Caleb (played by Danny Thomas) and his daughter Bertha (played by Creator/MarloThomas). Despite the fact crickets are supposed to bring good luck, the following year turns out to be a complete disaster for the Plummers. News that her fiancé Edward (played by Ed Ames) has died at sea causes the grief-stricked Bertha to go blind. Caleb loses the will to work, dives into deep debt and loses the family home. Caleb desperately ends up working for free for the greedy Mr. Tackleton in exchange for food and board putting a roof over their heads again. As Caleb struggles to keep Bertha happy in spite their pitiable circumstances, Tackleton takes an interest in the girl... as does a curious old man that looks and sounds suspiciously like Bertha's lost fiancé. With a grim Christmas upon the hearth, somehow Cricket Crockett must fix this dour situation.
After its initial airing, the special aired just once in 1967 then largely fell into obscurity, eventually appearing on PBS in the 2000s and later in 2019 on Creator/{{Freeform}}'s 25 Days of Christmas marathon. The special is currently owned by Creator/NBCUniversal, who currently owns the rights to the pre-1973 Rankin Bass library and has re-issued it on multiple media formats.
----
!! This movie provides examples of:
* AscendedExtra: The title of the book is meant to refer to a little cricket that lives in the Peerybingles' hearth that is said to be a guardian angel but otherwise does not impact the events and is just a normal cricket. Compared to this special where the cricket has been upgraded to main character status and is so anthromorphized that he talks to humans and wears clothing.
* AdaptationDistillation: The special is only 49 minutes long, but based on a much longer novella. To simplify the plot, the original main characters, the Peerybingle family, are dropped in favor of the Plummer family, thus reducing the plot to only the ones focusing on Caleb, Bertha, and Edward. All of the other human characters were dropped as well save for Tackleton.
* AdaptationInducedPlothole: In the book, several characters see through Edward's disguise, but in the special, nobody does until the toys unveil him on Christmas Eve. This creates a lot of oddities as its clear in the book he's being caught because the disguise isn't very good while in the special, the disguise is still very bad but it seems to be meant to fool the viewer and the main cast anyway.
* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: "Hysterical blindness", an outdated term for a form of neurological conversion disorder ''is'' a rare medical condition triggered by intense psychological stress. Though an episode can linger for weeks and recurring stress can cause the symptoms to recur, a conversion disorder would not create lifelong blindness as it does for Bertha in this special.
* BookEnds: Because the animated special first ran as an episode of ''The Danny Thomas Hour'', it opens and closes with live action segments starring Thomas.
* CanonForeigner: All of the talking animals (aside from Cricket Crockett) and the living toys are unique to this adaptation.
* CharacterNarrator: Cricket Crockett narrates the story, though from many years in the future.
* TheChanteuse: Out of the blue, Uriah flies off to a full humanoid animal bar that includes a sultry cat singer named Maude, who proceed to sing a big band number about fish and chips.
* CompositeCharacter: Bertha is now a combination of the character of the same name from the book as well as Edward's original fiancé May Fielding. This is likely why Bertha starts out sighted but later becomes blind versus in the book where she was born blind.
* InformedAbility: Despite the entire premise of the special being that crickets bring good luck, Cricket Crockett's presence in the Plummer home does nothing to prevent that cascade of misfortune that strikes the family... including losing the hearth he's supposed to be living on. His only actual contributions are quite small and just revolve around resolving the plotline with Bertha's marriage prospects. [[spoiler: He prevents Tackleton from being able to receive Bertha's acceptance of her marriage proposal via putting pepper in his tea and making him leave in a sneezing fit. Later Cricket hangs out with the toys when ''they'' do all the work of revealing Edward's identity. His only contribution there is to ''finally'' get Edward to reveal the truth to Bertha.]] The only time we see something truly lucky happen is for Cricket himself, as a series of wild circumstances stack up at the final act [[spoiler: leading to multiple different animals all helping him get back to the Plummers after his kidnapping.]]
* DisabledLoveInterest: Bertha becomes inflicted by "hysterical blindness" due to grief over the news of Edward's death.
* DisabledMeansHelpless: Despite the fact that Bertha is simply ''blind'' and otherwise doesn't seem to have any other health problems (mental or physical) from the triggering incident, the story treats her as completely helpless and reliant on her father, who then starts creating an elaborate fake reality for her to hide the severity of their circumstances.
* EmpathyDollShot: A non-lethal version. When Bertha's grief-induced blindness is revealed, the camera pans over to the unfinished bride doll she was painting, revealing she never finished painting eyes on it, symbolizing both Bertha's loss of her sight and the loss of her fiancé.
* FurryConfusion: The various animal characters in the special seem to vary in their level of anthromorphization. The title character Cricket Crockett has human hands and wears clothes on his top half, a top hat, and a pair of shoes appropriate for insect feet. He can speak to humans and be understood and nobody finds it strange. Uriah the Crow however is just a normal crow, can only speak to other animals, and can only squawk at humans. On the exact opposite end are the fully anthromorphized animals at the brothel Uriah visits, who have mostly humanoid shapes, wear full clothing, and seem to have their own human-equivalent society where they get drunk and watch elaborate performances by sexy cat singers backed by a full band.
* HalfDressedCartoonAnimal: Cricket Crockett is the only one of the anthromorphic animals who isn't wearing full clothing - full coat and shirt, top hat and shoes, but no pants. He stands out more just because the other animals that wear clothing wear complete outfits.
* HeelFaceTurn: Dickens seems ''very'' fond of having miserable old misers find redemption on Christmas Day... [[spoiler: but Tackleton's, at least in the special, is ''incredibly'' sudden. Bertha leaves him at the altar then when he shows up and cries over it, she tells him she'll always love and care for him, leading to him feeling so happy he instantly turns over a new leaf.]]
* JustEatGilligan: The entire special would have been half as long if Edward had just told Bertha he was still alive immediately instead of wearing an elaborate disguise and masquerading as a different person. The story implies he felt guilty about causing her blindness, but as she went blind out of grief that a report by the government that he was ''dead'', it should be obvious that showing her he was actually ''alive'' could actually help her.
* LivingToys: Starting at midnight on Christmas Eve, the toys in the workshop come to life, though with a strict rule that humans are not allowed to see them. They helpfully explain though anthromorphic crickets don't count, allowing them to help out Cricket Crockett.
* NamedByTheAdaptation: The nameless cricket of the book is now Cricket Crockett.
* NoHonorAmongThieves: Uriah teams up with a pair of animals thugs named Strangler and Slink to off Cricket Crockett. They decide to instead capture him and sell him to a captain that pays high prices for crickets to sell to China. [[spoiler: The captain takes Cricket and then instead of paying the thieves, shoots all three of them.]]
* MorallyBankruptBanker: The money lender that Caleb is shown going to is drawn so evilly that he laughs with glee as he puts Caleb deeper into debt.
* PaperThinDisguise: It is ''blindingly'' obvious that the old man is Edward in disguise as the disguise is really just wearing ragged clothes and a bad wig. It's even crazier that Bertha in particular can't identify him as by the time she meets the "old man", she's now blind and has to rely on recognizing people by their voices - and Edward does ''nothing'' to disguise his voice plus he calls her by name when he supposedly hasn't met her yet.
* PragmaticAdaptation: While this special still isn't very progressive towards people with disabilities, it at least drops the Victorian-era implications that Bertha, as a blind woman, must be prevented from marrying lest she pass her "defects" on to a future child. In this version she has two love interests and the viewer is definitely meant to root for her to marry the right guy.
* RunawayBride: Apparently Bertha never bothered to tell [[spoiler: Tackleton]] that she was marrying someone else and he storms in angry at being left at the church.
* SoundOnlyDeath: The camera pans out to the outside window when [[spoiler: the Captain shoots Uriah, Strangler, and Slink]], revealing only the sounds of the gunshots and the muzzle flashes from outside the window.
* TheScrooge: Charles Dickens definitely liked to give people what they wanted in a Christmas story, so naturally Caleb Plummer's miserly, cruel boss Tackleton hates children and Christmas. [[spoiler: Complete with a HeelFaceTurn just before the ending credits.]]
* WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve: Cricket explains that on midnight at Christmas Eve, magical things can happen for the next hour.
* UnrelatedInTheAdaptation: In the book, Edward is Caleb's son and Bertha's brother. Since the Peerybingles and the Fieldings were dropped from this version, Edward was changed to Edward Benton and Bertha is now his unlucky fiancé. Aside from the change in his fiance, his storyline is largely the same.
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[[caption-width-right:350:Cricket Crockett, the cricket of good luck! No, really!]]
->''Step on a crack and spill the salt\\
Cross a cat that's black,\\
Not a thing can halt your luck\\
When you have a lucky cricket\\
Cricket on the hearth''
-->-- ''Title Song''
A 1967 AnimatedAdaptation of one Creator/CharlesDickens lesser known Christmas stories. Produced by Creator/RankinBass and animated by Japanese studio Eiken (then known as Television Corporation of Japan) and executive produced by Creator/AaronSpelling and actor Danny Thomas, it is the second of Rankin Bass' 18 [[ChristmasSpecial Christmas specials]]. The special first aired as the twelfth episode of ''The Danny Thomas Hour''.
The story is told by [[AlliterativeName Cricket Crockett]] (played by Creator/RoddyMcDowall), who relates the tale of the year he met and moved in with the Plummer family, consisting of toy maker Caleb (played by Danny Thomas) and his daughter Bertha (played by Creator/MarloThomas). Despite the fact crickets are supposed to bring good luck, the following year turns out to be a complete disaster for the Plummers. News that her fiancé Edward (played by Ed Ames) has died at sea causes the grief-stricked Bertha to go blind. Caleb loses the will to work, dives into deep debt and loses the family home. Caleb desperately ends up working for free for the greedy Mr. Tackleton in exchange for food and board putting a roof over their heads again. As Caleb struggles to keep Bertha happy in spite their pitiable circumstances, Tackleton takes an interest in the girl... as does a curious old man that looks and sounds suspiciously like Bertha's lost fiancé. With a grim Christmas upon the hearth, somehow Cricket Crockett must fix this dour situation.
After its initial airing, the special aired just once in 1967 then largely fell into obscurity, eventually appearing on PBS in the 2000s and later in 2019 on Creator/{{Freeform}}'s 25 Days of Christmas marathon. The special is currently owned by Creator/NBCUniversal, who currently owns the rights to the pre-1973 Rankin Bass library and has re-issued it on multiple media formats.
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!! This movie provides examples of:
* AscendedExtra: The title of the book is meant to refer to a little cricket that lives in the Peerybingles' hearth that is said to be a guardian angel but otherwise does not impact the events and is just a normal cricket. Compared to this special where the cricket has been upgraded to main character status and is so anthromorphized that he talks to humans and wears clothing.
* AdaptationDistillation: The special is only 49 minutes long, but based on a much longer novella. To simplify the plot, the original main characters, the Peerybingle family, are dropped in favor of the Plummer family, thus reducing the plot to only the ones focusing on Caleb, Bertha, and Edward. All of the other human characters were dropped as well save for Tackleton.
* AdaptationInducedPlothole: In the book, several characters see through Edward's disguise, but in the special, nobody does until the toys unveil him on Christmas Eve. This creates a lot of oddities as its clear in the book he's being caught because the disguise isn't very good while in the special, the disguise is still very bad but it seems to be meant to fool the viewer and the main cast anyway.
* ArtisticLicenseMedicine: "Hysterical blindness", an outdated term for a form of neurological conversion disorder ''is'' a rare medical condition triggered by intense psychological stress. Though an episode can linger for weeks and recurring stress can cause the symptoms to recur, a conversion disorder would not create lifelong blindness as it does for Bertha in this special.
* BookEnds: Because the animated special first ran as an episode of ''The Danny Thomas Hour'', it opens and closes with live action segments starring Thomas.
* CanonForeigner: All of the talking animals (aside from Cricket Crockett) and the living toys are unique to this adaptation.
* CharacterNarrator: Cricket Crockett narrates the story, though from many years in the future.
* TheChanteuse: Out of the blue, Uriah flies off to a full humanoid animal bar that includes a sultry cat singer named Maude, who proceed to sing a big band number about fish and chips.
* CompositeCharacter: Bertha is now a combination of the character of the same name from the book as well as Edward's original fiancé May Fielding. This is likely why Bertha starts out sighted but later becomes blind versus in the book where she was born blind.
* InformedAbility: Despite the entire premise of the special being that crickets bring good luck, Cricket Crockett's presence in the Plummer home does nothing to prevent that cascade of misfortune that strikes the family... including losing the hearth he's supposed to be living on. His only actual contributions are quite small and just revolve around resolving the plotline with Bertha's marriage prospects. [[spoiler: He prevents Tackleton from being able to receive Bertha's acceptance of her marriage proposal via putting pepper in his tea and making him leave in a sneezing fit. Later Cricket hangs out with the toys when ''they'' do all the work of revealing Edward's identity. His only contribution there is to ''finally'' get Edward to reveal the truth to Bertha.]] The only time we see something truly lucky happen is for Cricket himself, as a series of wild circumstances stack up at the final act [[spoiler: leading to multiple different animals all helping him get back to the Plummers after his kidnapping.]]
* DisabledLoveInterest: Bertha becomes inflicted by "hysterical blindness" due to grief over the news of Edward's death.
* DisabledMeansHelpless: Despite the fact that Bertha is simply ''blind'' and otherwise doesn't seem to have any other health problems (mental or physical) from the triggering incident, the story treats her as completely helpless and reliant on her father, who then starts creating an elaborate fake reality for her to hide the severity of their circumstances.
* EmpathyDollShot: A non-lethal version. When Bertha's grief-induced blindness is revealed, the camera pans over to the unfinished bride doll she was painting, revealing she never finished painting eyes on it, symbolizing both Bertha's loss of her sight and the loss of her fiancé.
* FurryConfusion: The various animal characters in the special seem to vary in their level of anthromorphization. The title character Cricket Crockett has human hands and wears clothes on his top half, a top hat, and a pair of shoes appropriate for insect feet. He can speak to humans and be understood and nobody finds it strange. Uriah the Crow however is just a normal crow, can only speak to other animals, and can only squawk at humans. On the exact opposite end are the fully anthromorphized animals at the brothel Uriah visits, who have mostly humanoid shapes, wear full clothing, and seem to have their own human-equivalent society where they get drunk and watch elaborate performances by sexy cat singers backed by a full band.
* HalfDressedCartoonAnimal: Cricket Crockett is the only one of the anthromorphic animals who isn't wearing full clothing - full coat and shirt, top hat and shoes, but no pants. He stands out more just because the other animals that wear clothing wear complete outfits.
* HeelFaceTurn: Dickens seems ''very'' fond of having miserable old misers find redemption on Christmas Day... [[spoiler: but Tackleton's, at least in the special, is ''incredibly'' sudden. Bertha leaves him at the altar then when he shows up and cries over it, she tells him she'll always love and care for him, leading to him feeling so happy he instantly turns over a new leaf.]]
* JustEatGilligan: The entire special would have been half as long if Edward had just told Bertha he was still alive immediately instead of wearing an elaborate disguise and masquerading as a different person. The story implies he felt guilty about causing her blindness, but as she went blind out of grief that a report by the government that he was ''dead'', it should be obvious that showing her he was actually ''alive'' could actually help her.
* LivingToys: Starting at midnight on Christmas Eve, the toys in the workshop come to life, though with a strict rule that humans are not allowed to see them. They helpfully explain though anthromorphic crickets don't count, allowing them to help out Cricket Crockett.
* NamedByTheAdaptation: The nameless cricket of the book is now Cricket Crockett.
* NoHonorAmongThieves: Uriah teams up with a pair of animals thugs named Strangler and Slink to off Cricket Crockett. They decide to instead capture him and sell him to a captain that pays high prices for crickets to sell to China. [[spoiler: The captain takes Cricket and then instead of paying the thieves, shoots all three of them.]]
* MorallyBankruptBanker: The money lender that Caleb is shown going to is drawn so evilly that he laughs with glee as he puts Caleb deeper into debt.
* PaperThinDisguise: It is ''blindingly'' obvious that the old man is Edward in disguise as the disguise is really just wearing ragged clothes and a bad wig. It's even crazier that Bertha in particular can't identify him as by the time she meets the "old man", she's now blind and has to rely on recognizing people by their voices - and Edward does ''nothing'' to disguise his voice plus he calls her by name when he supposedly hasn't met her yet.
* PragmaticAdaptation: While this special still isn't very progressive towards people with disabilities, it at least drops the Victorian-era implications that Bertha, as a blind woman, must be prevented from marrying lest she pass her "defects" on to a future child. In this version she has two love interests and the viewer is definitely meant to root for her to marry the right guy.
* RunawayBride: Apparently Bertha never bothered to tell [[spoiler: Tackleton]] that she was marrying someone else and he storms in angry at being left at the church.
* SoundOnlyDeath: The camera pans out to the outside window when [[spoiler: the Captain shoots Uriah, Strangler, and Slink]], revealing only the sounds of the gunshots and the muzzle flashes from outside the window.
* TheScrooge: Charles Dickens definitely liked to give people what they wanted in a Christmas story, so naturally Caleb Plummer's miserly, cruel boss Tackleton hates children and Christmas. [[spoiler: Complete with a HeelFaceTurn just before the ending credits.]]
* WhenTheClockStrikesTwelve: Cricket explains that on midnight at Christmas Eve, magical things can happen for the next hour.
* UnrelatedInTheAdaptation: In the book, Edward is Caleb's son and Bertha's brother. Since the Peerybingles and the Fieldings were dropped from this version, Edward was changed to Edward Benton and Bertha is now his unlucky fiancé. Aside from the change in his fiance, his storyline is largely the same.
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