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Rankin-Bass
Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment (founded and formerly known as Videocraft International, Ltd. and Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc.) was an American production company located in New York City, and known for its seasonal television specials, usually done in stop motion animation. Rankin/Bass' stop-motion productions are recognizable by their visual style of doll-like characters with spheroid body parts and ubiquitous powdery snow using an animation technique called "Animagic". Nearly all of the studio's animation was outsourced to Japanese animation companies such as MOM Production, Mushi Productions and Topcraft. Rankin/Bass was one of the first western studios to outsource their low-budget animated television and film productions to animation studios in foreign countries; the others that already practiced animation outsourcing includes Total Television and King Features Syndicate TV in New York City; and Jay Ward Productions and Hanna-Barbera Productions in Los Angeles, Cali ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Little Drummer Boy (TV Special)
''The Little Drummer Boy'' is a stop motion television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions, based on the song of the same name. It was first televised in Canada on December 15, 1968 on the CTV Television Network, followed four days later by its American nationwide release on NBC. A sequel was broadcast in 1976. Plot A young Jewish boy named Aaron lives a peaceful and happy life with his parents on a farm with their three farm animals, Samson the Donkey, Baba the Lamb, and Joshua the Camel. On his birthday, Aaron's parents give him a drum as a gift, to which the animals dance when he plays it. One night, bandits from the desert steal their livestock, kill Aaron's parents, and burn the farm down. Emotionally scarred from the tragedy, Aaron begins to hate all humanity. Because his drumming can make the three animals dance, Aaron is kidnapped and forced to join Ben Haramed's caravan with rather inept performers against his will. When performing in Jerusalem, Aaron becomes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Telepictures
Telepictures (also known as Telepictures Productions; formerly known as Telepictures Distribution and Telepictures Corporation) is an American television show and filmmaking company, currently operating as a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Television Studios. Telepictures was established in 1979 by David Salzman, Michael Jay Solomon, and Michael Garin as a television syndication firm. History Early years The company syndicated Rankin-Bass's programming and specials that were produced from 1974 to 1988, including new and successful animated series, such as '' ThunderCats'' and '' SilverHawks''. Telepictures bought Rankin-Bass outright in 1983. In addition, Telepictures had syndicated numerous television programs such as '' My Favorite Martian'', '' Here's Lucy'', '' Love Connection'', and the original '' The People's Court'' with Judge Joseph Wapner. Telepictures also operated a small publishing arm, which published magazines, such as '' The Muppets Magazine'' and ''Challenge of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (TV Special)
''Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'' is a 1964 Christmas stop motion animated television special produced by Videocraft International, Ltd. (later known as Rankin/Bass Productions) and currently distributed by NBCUniversal Television Distribution (later known as NBCUniversal Syndication Studios). It first aired December 6, 1964, on the NBC television network in the United States and was sponsored by General Electric under the umbrella title of ''The General Electric Fantasy Hour''. The special was based on the 1949 Johnny Marks song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" which was itself based on the poem of the same name written in 1939 by Marks' brother-in-law, Robert L. May. Since 1972, the special has aired on CBS; the network unveiled a high-definition, digitally remastered version of the program in 2005, re-scanned frame-by-frame from the original 35 mm film elements. As with ''A Charlie Brown Christmas'' and ''How the Grinch Stole Christmas'', ''Rudolph'' no longer ai ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maury Laws
Maury Laws (December 6, 1923 – March 28, 2019) was an American television and film composer from Burlington, North Carolina. Biography In his teens, Laws performed in local country, jazz and dance bands as a singer and guitarist in his home state of North Carolina. His career was put on hold during World War II, in which he served in the Army. In 1964, he was hired as music director for the television production company Videocraft International (now known as Rankin/Bass), a post which he held for roughly 20 years. In this capacity, he conducted and scored music for a number of animated features, including ''The Hobbit'', '' Jack Frost'', '' The Flight of Dragons'', '' The Daydreamer'', ''The Wacky World of Mother Goose'', '' Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town'', and '' Frosty the Snowman''. His most widely known work may be an adaptation of Johnny Marks' score for the well-known Christmas special ''Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'', first aired in 1964. Laws also did composing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Romeo Muller
Romeo Earl Muller, Jr. (August 7, 1928 – December 30, 1992) was an American screenwriter and actor most remembered for his screenplays for the Rankin/Bass holiday specials including ''Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Little Drummer Boy, Frosty the Snowman and Santa Claus is Coming to Town''. Early years Muller was born in the Bronx, New York, the son of Mildred (Kuhlmann) and Romeo Earl Muller. He was raised on Long Island. His talents in the arts were evident very early on. At age 11, he became a puppeteer at his grade school and eventually he began writing his own plays. His career in theatre began when he joined an acting troupe called "Theater Go Round" in Virginia Beach, Virginia with producer/friend Lesley Savage. At this time Romeo wrote plays such as ''Angel With The Big, Big Ears'' and ''The Great Getaway'', which eventually became the Rankin-Bass off Broadway play ''A Month Of Sundays''. Since Muller was a big man at 6'2", 300 pounds (1.88 m, 136 kg), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Kligman
Paul Kligman (21 January 1923 – 29 August 1985) was a Canadian actor. Biography Born in Romania, he emigrated to Canada where he spent his youth in Winnipeg and studied at the University of Manitoba. He moved to Toronto in 1950 and established his career there. In addition to appearing in CBC Television's 1952 ''Sunshine Sketches'', he was a featured performer with Wayne and Shuster since the comedy duo's early television broadcasts. He is most famous for his voice acting in various animated television series, especially in the 1960s '' The Marvel Super Heroes'' (1966) and ''Spider-Man'' (1967), both from Marvel Comics as the first voices of J. Jonah Jameson, General Ross, Red Skull, Krang, Mole Man and Power Man (Erik Josten). He voiced numerous gruff characters, including Donner and Coach Comet, in the 1964 Rankin-Bass adaptation of '' Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer''. Kligman died aged 62 at Toronto's North York General Hospital following heart failure. Filmogr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jules Bass
Julius Bass (September 16, 1935 – October 25, 2022) was an American director, producer, lyricist, composer, and author. Until 1960, he worked at a New York advertising agency, and then co-founded the film production company Videocraft International, later named Rankin/Bass Productions, with his friend, Arthur Rankin Jr. He joined ASCAP in 1963 and collaborated with Edward Thomas and James Polack at their music firm and as a songwriting team primarily with Maury Laws at Rankin/Bass. Early life Bass was born in Philadelphia on September 16, 1935. During his teenage years, he caught scarlet fever and nearly died from the disease. He attended New York University before being employed by an advertising agency. Career Bass started working with Arthur Rankin Jr. at the American Broadcasting Company in 1955. Rankin was an art director and Bass was a copywriter. The pair initially made television commercials, before moving onto television series and movies when they established Vi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Rankin Jr
Arthur Gardner Rankin Jr. (July 19, 1924 – January 30, 2014) was an American director, producer and writer, who mostly worked in animation. Co-creator of Rankin/Bass Productions with his friend Jules Bass, he created stop-motion animation features such as ''Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'', ''Frosty the Snowman'', '' Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town'' and the 1977 cartoon special of ''The Hobbit''. He is credited on over 1,000 television programs. Early life Rankin was born in New York City, the son of actors Arthur Rankin and Marian Mansfield. His paternal grandmother was actress Phyllis Rankin, and his paternal step-grandfather, who adopted his father, was actor Harry Davenport, who played Dr. Meade in the film ''Gone with the Wind''. Career Rankin began his career as an art director for the American Broadcasting Company in the 1940s. In 1955, he and Jules Bass formed the production company Videocraft International to produce television commercials. In 1960, they moved i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eiken (studio)
is an anime studio in Arakawa, Tokyo, Japan. The company was formerly known as Television Corporation of Japan or TCJ before changing its name in 1969 to establish Eiken. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Asatsu-DK. Works TCJ era * '' Sennin Buraku'' (1963, Fuji TV) * ''Tetsujin 28-go'' ("Gigantor" in North America) (1963, Fuji TV, planning by Dentsu) * ''8 Man'' ("The 8th Man" in North America) (1963, TBS) * '' Super Jetter'' (1965) * '' Space Boy Soran'' (1965, TBS) * ''Prince Planet'' (''Yūsei Shōnen Papii'') (1965) * '' Yūsei Kamen'' (1966) * '' Bōken Gabotenjima'' (1967) * '' Skyers 5'' (1967) * '' The Cricket on the Hearth'' (1967) * '' Sasuke'' (1968, TBS) * '' Ninpū Kamui Gaiden'' (1969, Fuji TV, planning by Zuiyo) * '' Sazae-san'' (1969–current, Fuji TV) * ''Kamui Gaiden'' (1969, film) * '' Dōbutsu-mura Monogatari'' (1970, NET) * '' Bakuhatsu Gorō'' (1970, TBS) * ''Norakuro'' (1970, Fuji TV) * '' Shin Skyers 5'' (1971, TBS) * '' Onbu Obake'' (1972, Yomiur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Larry D
Lawrence Jones (born January 25, 1984) is an American professional wrestler and promoter. He is best known for his time with Impact Wrestling, where he performed under the ring name Larry D. Professional wrestling career Impact Wrestling (2019–2022) On October 19, 2019, Larry D lost to Acey Romero in the main event of Impact Wrestling's All Glory special. On February 22, 2020 at Sacrifice, Romero teamed up with Larry D to defeat oVe (Dave Crist and Madman Fulton). Larry D solidified his partnership with Romero on the March 31 episode of ''Impact!'', forming a tag team called "XXXL". On the April 14 episode of ''Impact!'', they made their debut in a four-way tag team match against The Rascalz ( Dez and Wentz), Reno Scum (Adam Thornstowe and Luster the Legend) and TJP and Fallah Bahh, the latter winning after TJP pinned Thornstowe. The following week on Night 1 of Rebellion, they fought in a three-way tag team match against The Rascalz and TJP and Fallah Bahh, the former w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Soles
Paul Robert Soles (August 11, 1930 – May 26, 2021) was a Canadian actor and television personality. He led the voice cast in such series as ''The Marvel Super Heroes'' (1966), voiced the title character in '' Spider-Man'' (1967), and portrayed Hermey in the 1964 television special ''Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer''; Soles was one of the last surviving participants of the special's voice cast. Soles first screen appearance was on CFPL in 1953, and he continued to perform over 60 years later, performing as of 2016 in the comedy web series '' My 90-Year-Old Roommate'' on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's online comedy channel, CBC Comedy. Career Acting roles Soles was the voice of Hermey the misfit elf in Rankin/Bass' ''Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'' from 1964. He also voiced Marvel superhero Spider-Man in the original animated television series also from the 1960s, and he played "The Lawbreaker" on the CBC panel quiz show ''This Is the Law'' in the 1970s, and played ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bernard Cowan
Bernard Cowan (June 11, 1922 – July 17, 1990) was a Canadian actor, producer and writer. He was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. He was occasionally credited under his nickname, Bunny Cowan, such as on the production ''Willy McBean and His Magic Machine''. His name was pronounced with emphasis on the first syllable of "Bernard" and last name as "cow in". Cowan worked as the announcer on many CBC television series such as ''The Pierre Berton Show'', ''Front Page Challenge'' and ''Wayne and Shuster''. He also worked on such animated series as ''Spider-Man'', ''The Marvel Super Heroes'', ''Rocket Robin Hood'', ''The King Kong Show'', and the Christmas special ''Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a fictional reindeer created by Robert L. May. Rudolph is usually depicted as the ninth and youngest of Santa Claus's reindeer, using his luminous red nose to lead the reindeer team and guide Santa's sleigh on ...''. Bernard Cowan was the father of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
