Back in 1960, animators Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass formed a company called Videocraft International, a prolific studio that put out some of the best known holiday TV specials known to humankind. In 1964, the studio produced Larry Roemer's "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," a stop-motion Christmas special that airs annually to this day. By 1967, Rankin and Bass had begun directing shorts themselves, and by 1968, they had changed the name of their company to Rankin/Bass Productions. Under that banner, the pair made (among other projects) 1968's "The Little Drummer Boy," 1969's "Frosty the Snowman," 1970's "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town," and "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" and "The Year Without a Santa Claus," both of which came out in 1974. "Rudolph's Shiny New Year" later followed

See Full Page