History Creator / RankinBassProductions

While ''Rudolph the-Red Nosed Reindeer'', ''Frosty the Snowman'', and ''Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town'' still air annually on Creator/{{CBS}} every Christmas season, near the end of the [[Main/TheNewTens 2010s]], these specials would also begin airing on Creator/{{Freeform}} as part of their ''25 Days Of Christmas'' block including the 1968 special ''The Little Drummer Boy''.

While ''Rudolph the-Red Nosed Reindeer'', ''Frosty the Snowman'', and ''Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town'' still air annually on Creator/{{CBS}} every Christmas season, near the end of the [[Main/TheNewTens 2010s decade]], these specials would also begin airing on Creator/{{FreeForm}} as part of their ''25 Days Of Christmas'' block including the 1968 special ''The Little Drummer Boy''.

While ''Rudolph the-Red Nosed Reindeer'', ''Frosty the Snowman'', and ''Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town'' still air annually on Creator/{{CBS}} every Christmas season. Near the end of the [[Main/TheNewTens 2010s decade]], these specials would also begin airing on Creator/{{FreeForm}} as part of their ''25 Days Of Christmas'' block including the 1968 special ''The Little Drummer Boy''.

The company's lesser-known Christmas specials (such as ''Nestor the Long-Eared Donkey'' and ''The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow'') and followups (''The Little Drummer Boy II'', ''Rudolph's Shiny New Year'' and ''Frosty's Winter Wonderland'') currently air on Creator/{{AMC}} for their Christmas block ''Best Christmas Ever'' where the channel would air a marathon of Rankin-Bass Holiday specials during the weekends after Thanksgiving. Prior to AMC, [[ChannelHop these specials used to air]] on "ABC Family" (now "[=FreeForm=]") between the late 1990s and throughout [[Main/TurnOfTheMillennium the 2000s decade]].

* ''The Mouse on the Mayflower'' (1968) Music/TennesseeErnieFord

While ''Rudolph the-Red Nosed Reindeer'', ''Frosty the Snowman'', and ''Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town'' still air annually on Creator/{{CBS}} every Christmas season. Near the end of the [[Main/TheNewTens 2010s decade]], these specials would also begin airing on Creator/{{FreeForm}} as part of their "25 Days of Christmas" block including the 1968 special ''The Little Drummer Boy''.

The company's lesser-known Christmas specials (such as ''Nestor the Long-Eared Donkey'' and ''The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow'') and followups (''The Little Drummer Boy II'', ''Rudolph's Shiny New Year'' and ''Frosty's Winter Wonderland'') currently air on Creator/{{AMC}} for their Christmas block "Best Christmas Ever" where the channel would air a marathon of Rankin-Bass Holiday specials during the weekends after Thanksgiving. Prior to AMC, [[ChannelHop these specials used to air]] on "ABC Family" (now "[=FreeForm=]") between the late 1990s and throughout [[Main/TurnOfTheMillennium the 2000s decade]].

* ''WesternAnimation/Coneheads'' (1983)

* ''WesternAnimation/TheConeheads'' (1983)

* ''Film/KingKongEscapes'' (1968)

* ''The Last Dinosaur'' (live action) (1976)

* ''Film/TheBermudaDepths'' (live action) (1977) -- In which Burl Ives is eaten by a giant turtle

* ''The Ivory Ape'' (live action) (1980)

* InternationalCoproduction: All of their shows, movies and specials were co-produced with many Japanese companies. Particularly {{Creator/Topcraft}} throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.

Founded by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass in 1960 as Videocraft International, the UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity-based studio is responsible for a series of (usually) StopMotion puppet animated (called "Animagic") holiday specials that are virtual fixtures of seasonal television programming. Such titles as ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer'', ''WesternAnimation/SantaClausIsCominToTown'', ''WesternAnimation/FrostyTheSnowman'', and ''WesternAnimation/HereComesPeterCottontail'' have been seen more or less annually since they first aired, and many subsequent holiday specials produced by other companies will contain salutes to these shows.

* ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer'' (1964) Burl Ives as Sam the Snowman

* ''Cricket on the Hearth'' (1967) Creator/RoddyMcDowall as [[AlliterativeName Cricket Crocket]]

The general formula of these holiday specials was to take one or more classic holiday songs and to build a script (usually by staff writer Romeo Muller) around the music, featuring a celebrity narrator as an InkSuitActor in the story and interspersing it with original songs with music by Maury Laws and lyrics by co-producer/co-director Jules Bass. Very likely a majority of the characters was voiced by Creator/PaulFrees.

[[quoteright:315:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rankin_bass_productions.jpg]]

Founded by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass in 1960 as Videocraft International, the UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity-based studio is responsible for a series of (usually) StopMotion puppet animated (called "Animagic") holiday specials that are virtual fixtures of seasonal television programming. Such tiles as ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer'', ''WesternAnimation/SantaClausIsCominToTown'', ''WesternAnimation/FrostyTheSnowman'', and ''WesternAnimation/HereComesPeterCottontail'' have been airing more or less annually since they were first produced, and many subsequent holiday specials produced by other companies will contain salutes to these shows.

[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rankin_bass_productions.jpg]]

Founded by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass in 1960 as Videocraft International, the UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity-based studio is responsible for a series of (usually) StopMotion puppet animated (called "Animagic") holiday specials that are virtual fixtures of seasonal television programming. Works such as ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer'', ''WesternAnimation/SantaClausIsCominToTown'', ''WesternAnimation/FrostyTheSnowman'', and ''WesternAnimation/HereComesPeterCottontail'' have been airing more or less annually since the early '60s, when they were first produced. Many subsequent holiday specials produced by other companies will contain salutes to these shows.

Founded by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass in 1960 as Videocraft International, the UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity-based company is responsible for a series of (usually) StopMotion puppet animated (called "Animagic") holiday specials that are virtual fixtures of seasonal television programming. Works such as ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer'', ''WesternAnimation/SantaClausIsCominToTown'', ''WesternAnimation/FrostyTheSnowman'', and ''WesternAnimation/HereComesPeterCottontail'' have been airing more or less annually since the early '60s, when they were first produced. Many subsequent holiday specials produced by other companies will contain salutes to these shows.

Rankin/Bass also produced non-holiday AnimatedShows. Best known is probably ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats1985''; its other series included ''Tales from the Wizard of Oz'', ''WesternAnimation/TheKingKongShow'', ''WesternAnimation/{{The Jackson 5ive}}'' and ''The Osmonds''. The popularity of ''[=ThunderCats=]'' resulted in two follow-up series, ''WesternAnimation/SilverHawks'' and ''[=TigerSharks=]'' (the third appearing along with three other shows as ''WesternAnimation/TheComicStrip''). By the time of ''[=ThunderCats=]'', the studios were now owned by Creator/{{Lorimar}}-Telepictures; Telepictures had acquired the studio in 1983 after distributing their post-1974[[note]]the pre-1974 library was owned by GE, who had owned Tomorrow Entertainment, R-B's parent firm, for a while then; they eventually sold the library to [[Series/SaturdayNightLive Lorne Michaels]] and his company, Broadway Video; he eventually sold it to Golden Books, who integrated it into their library, which eventually became part of Classic Media, which was sold to Creator/DreamWorksAnimation in 2012. [=DreamWorks=] Animation would later be acquired by [=NBCUniversal=] in 2016, which GE had ironically owned a majority of at one point before selling to Comcast[[/note]] library from Telepictures' founding in 1978. Creator/WarnerBros now owns the rights to those programs, having acquired L-T in 1989.

Founded by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass in 1960 as Videocraft International, the UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity-based company is responsible for a series of (usually) StopMotion puppet animated (called "Animagic") holiday specials that are virtual fixtures of seasonal television programming. Works such as ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer'', ''WesternAnimation/SantaClausIsCominToTown'', ''WesternAnimation/FrostyTheSnowman'' and ''WesternAnimation/HereComesPeterCottontail'' have been airing more or less annually since the early 1960s, when they were first produced. Many subsequent holiday specials produced by other companies will contain salutes to these shows.

[[quoteright:280:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/RankinBassProductions.jpg]]

If you're an American and have had a childhood since the 1960s, you know Rankin/Bass Productions.

* ''Frosty's Winter Wonderland'' (1976) Andy Griffith

* ''WesternAnimation/TheWindInTheWillows|1985'' (TV) (1985) [[note]] Completed in 1985, but never premiered on TV until 1987. [[/note]] (produced with Taiwanese studio Cuckoo's Nest Studio)

* ''WesternAnimation/TheWindInTheWillows1985'' (TV) (1985) [[note]] Completed in 1985, but never premiered on TV until 1987. [[/note]] (produced with Taiwanese studio Cuckoo's Nest Studio)

Founded by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass in 1960 as Videocraft International, the company is responsible for a series of (usually) StopMotion puppet animated (called "Animagic") holiday specials that are virtual fixtures of seasonal television programming. Works such as ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer'', ''WesternAnimation/SantaClausIsCominToTown'', ''WesternAnimation/FrostyTheSnowman'' and ''WesternAnimation/HereComesPeterCottontail'' have been airing more or less annually since the early 1960s, when they were first produced. Many subsequent holiday specials produced by other companies will contain salutes to these shows.

Although Rankin-Bass shut down in in 1987, the company still manages its trademarks. In 2001, it released its latest holiday project, ''Santa, Baby!'', which featured a mostly black cast. The duo also had a part in the ''WesternAnimation/{{ThunderCats|2011}}'' ContinuityReboot. Nonetheless, Rankin/Bass will forever be remembered for virtually defining the concept of specialized holiday programming.

The general formula of these holiday specials was to take one or more classic holiday songs and to build a script (usually by staff writer Romeo Muller) around the music, featuring a celebrity narrator as an InkSuitActor in the story and interspersing it with original songs with music by Maury Laws and lyrics by co-producer/co-director Jules Bass. Very likely a majority of the characters will be voiced by Creator/PaulFrees.

Now dormant, the company only exists nowadays to manage the Rankin/Bass trademarks. In 2001, it released its latest holiday project, ''Santa, Baby!'', which featured a mostly black cast. The duo also had a part in the ''WesternAnimation/{{ThunderCats|2011}}'' ContinuityReboot. Nonetheless, Rankin/Bass will forever be remembered for virtually defining the concept of specialized holiday programming.

Arthur Rankin Jr. passed away on January 30, 2014.

* ''The Mouse on the Mayflower'' (1968) Creator/TennesseeErnieFord

* ''The Mouse on the Mayflower'' (1968) Tennessee Ernie Ford

If you're an American and have had a childhood since the 1960s, at least,[[/labelnote]] you know Rankin/Bass Productions.

If you had a childhood,[[labelnote:*]]in an English-speaking country, at least,[[/labelnote]] you know Rankin/Bass Productions.