History Creator / RankinBassProductions

Although Rankin-Bass shut down 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.

Rankin/Bass also produced non-holiday AnimatedShows. Best known is probably ''WesternAnimation/{{ThunderCats|1985}}''; its other series included ''WesternAnimation/TalesOfTheWizardOfOz'', ''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.

* {{Animesque}}: While character designs for their specials were done in the U.S., their specials and series animated in Japan often feature the LimitedAnimation and artistic touches like CheekyMouth common in actual anime of the era. Even future industry heavyweights like Creator/OsamuDezaki cut their teeth working on shows like ''Frosty the Snowman'', and Topcraft itself would eventually form the backbone of Creator/StudioGhibli. 1978's ''The Stingiest Man in Town'', a Topcraft co-production, was actually broadcast in Japan concurrently with its U.S. premiere, causing it to be listed in some anime sources such as ''The Anime Encyclopedia''.

* ''The Ballad of Smokey the Bear'' (1966) Creator/JamesCagney

* ''The Story of the First Christmas Snow'' (1975) Creator/AngelaLansbury as Sister Theresa

* ''[[WesternAnimation/TheLittleDrummerBoy The Little Drummer Boy, Book II]]'' (1976) Greer Garson as Our Storyteller

* ''The Stingiest Man in Town'' (1978) Creator/TomBosley as B.A.H. Humbug (as this special was not only animated by Topcraft but was broadcast in Japan, it's listed as an anime in some sources)

* ''[[WesternAnimation/TheReluctantDragonAndMrToadShow The Reluctant Dragon & Mr. Toad Show]]'' (1970)

* ''Return to Oz'' (TV; no relation to Disney's [[Film/ReturnToOz 1985 live-action film]]) (1964)

* ''The Sins of Dorian Gray'' (live action) (TV) (1983) a [[GenderFlip gender-flipped]] modern-day (well, 1983) update with top-billed Creator/AnthonyPerkins playing the Lord Henry Wotton character (here a tycoon called Henry Lord). Dorian Gray is a model discovered by Henry Lord who's played by Belinda Bauer (''Film/PoisonIvy2Lily'' and ''Film/RoboCop2''). The portrait becomes her video-taped screen test.

* ''WesternAnimation/SantaClausIsCominToTown'' (1970) Creator/FredAstaire as S.D. ("Special Delivery") Kluger, also established Creator/MickeyRooney as the official voice of the Rankin/Bass Santa.

''TV Specials'' (with Narrator)

* ''WesternAnimation/RudolphsShinyNewYear'' (1976) Red Skelton as Father Time

''TV Series''

''Films''

[[/index]]

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

* {{Animesque}}: While character designs for their specials were done in the U.S., their specials and series animated in Japan often feature the LimitedAnimation and artistic touches like CheekyMouth common in actual anime of the era. Even future industry heavyweights like Creator/OsamuDezaki cut their teeth working on shows like ''Frosty the Snowman''. 1978's ''The Stingiest Man in Town'', a Topcraft co-production, was actually broadcast in Japan concurrently with its U.S. premiere, causing it to be listed in some anime sources such as ''The Anime Encyclopedia''.

* {{Animesque}}: While character designs for their specials were done in the U.S., their specials and series animated in Japan often feature the LimitedAnimation and artistic touches like CheekyMouth common in actual anime of the era. Even future industry heavyweights like Creator/OsamuDezaki cut their teeth working on shows like ''Frosty the Snowman''. 1978's ''The Stingiest Man in Town'', a Topcraft co-production, was actually broadcast in Japan, causing it to be listed in some anime sources such as ''The Anime Encyclopedia''.

Its most ambitious projects were animated adaptations of Creator/JRRTolkien's books, with ''WesternAnimation/TheHobbit'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheReturnOfTheKing''. (Not to be confused with Creator/RalphBakshi's [[WesternAnimation/TheLordOfTheRings adaptation]], which bridged the series.) Along with ''WesternAnimation/TheLastUnicorn'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheFlightOfDragons'', these films were the first major [[{{Animesque}} U.S.-Japanese]] animation production crossovers. The co-producing Japanese company was known as {{Creator/Topcraft}} and soon after, they went on to form the company Creator/StudioGhibli.

* ''WesternAnimation/FrostyTheSnowman'' (1969) Creator/JimmyDurante

* ''The Stingiest Man in Town'' (1978) Creator/TomBosley as B.A.H. Humbug

* ''Pinocchio's Christmas'' (1980)

* ''The Sins of Dorian Gray'' (live action) (TV) (1983) a [[GenderFlip gender-flipped]] modern-day (well, 1983) update with top-billed Creator/AnthonyPerkins playing the Lord Henry Wotton character (here a tycoon called Henry Lord). Dorian Gray is a model discovered by Henry Lord who's played by Belinda Bauer (''Film/PoisonIvy2Lily'' and''Film/RoboCop2''). The portrait becomes her screen test.

* ''The Sins of Dorian Gray'' (live action) (TV) (1983) a [[GenderFlip gender-flipped]] modern-day (well, 1983) update with top-billed Creator/AnthonyPerkins plays the Lord Henry Wotton character (here a tycoon called Henry Lord). Dorian Gray is a model discovered by Henry Lord who's played by Belinda Bauer (''Film/PoisonIvy2Lily'' and''Film/RoboCop2''). The portrait becomes her screen test.

* ''The Sins of Dorian Gray'' (live action) (1983)

Arthur Rankin Jr. passed away from an illness on January 30, 2014. Jules Bass would also pass away on October 25, 2022 at an assisted living facility in Rye, New York.

Arthur Rankin Jr. passed away from an illness on January 30, 2014. Jules Bass would also pass away on October 25, 2022 at a living facility in Rye, New York.

Arthur Rankin Jr. passed away from an illness on January 30, 2014.

Rankin/Bass also produced non-holiday AnimatedShows. Best known is probably ''WesternAnimation/{{ThunderCats|1985}}''; 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.

* DarkerAndEdgier: Compared to their future Christmas Specials, their second Christmas Special ''The Little Drummer Boy'' has a very melancholy and somber tone. Since Aaron (the special's main protagonist) is angry at humanity after witnessing a group of thieves killing his parents and stealing his parent's flock of sheep. Alongside being one of the only Rankin/Bass specials to show an on-screen murder even if it's bloodless.

Its most ambitious projects were animated adaptations of Creator/JRRTolkien's books, with ''WesternAnimation/TheHobbit'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheReturnOfTheKing''. (Not to be confused with Creator/RalphBakshi's [[SoBadItsGood ill-fated]] [[WesternAnimation/TheLordOfTheRings attempt]], which bridged the series.). Along with ''WesternAnimation/TheLastUnicorn'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheFlightOfDragons'', these films were the first major [[{{Animesque}} U.S.-Japanese]] animation production crossovers. The co-producing Japanese company was known as {{Creator/Topcraft}} and soon after, they went on to form the company Creator/StudioGhibli.

* ''WesternAnimation/FrostysWinterWonderland'' (1976) Andy Griffith

* ''The Stingiest Man in Town'' (1978) Tom Bosley as B.A.H. Humbug

* ''WesternAnimation/RudolphAndFrostysChristmasInJuly'' (1979) Mickey Rooney as Santa

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLeprechaunsChristmasGold'' (1981) Art Carney as Blarney Kilarney

* ''[[WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer1964 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer]]'' (1964) Burl Ives as Sam the Snowman

* ''WesternAnimation/TheMouseOnTheMayflower'' (1968) Music/TennesseeErnieFord

* ''WesternAnimation/FrostyTheSnowman'' (1969) Jimmy Durante

[[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. Such titles as ''[[WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer1964 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer]]'', ''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.

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 were voiced by Creator/PaulFrees.

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''.