''Raggedy Ann and Andy in The Great Santa Claus Caper'', a.k.a. simply ''The Great Santa Claus Caper'', is an animated American

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of e ...

featuring

Raggedy Ann Raggedy Ann is a character created by American writer Johnny Gruelle (1880–1938) that appeared in a series of books he wrote and illustrated for young children. Raggedy Ann is a rag doll with red yarn for hair and a triangle nose. Gruelle r ...

and Raggedy Andy. Produced by Chuck Jones Enterprises, the special was first broadcast November 30, 1978 on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

. The special was followed in 1979 by ''

Raggedy Ann and Andy in The Pumpkin Who Couldn't Smile ''Raggedy Ann and Andy in The Pumpkin Who Couldn't Smile'' (a.k.a. simply ''The Pumpkin Who Couldn't Smile'') is a 1979 animated television special featuring Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy. Produced by Chuck Jones Enterprises, it was first televised ...

''. This is the first special to feature Jones' original character, a dog named Raggedy Arthur, who would go on to become a staple of Raggedy Ann merchandise.

Synopsis

Inventor An invention is a unique or novel device, method, composition, idea or process. An invention may be an improvement upon a machine, product, or process for increasing efficiency or lowering cost. It may also be an entirely new concept. If an ...

and "in"- efficiency expert Alexander Graham Wolf, who looks and sounds like

Wile E. Coyote Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner are a duo of cartoon characters from the ''Looney Tunes'' and ''Merrie Melodies'' series of animated cartoons, first appearing in 1949 in the theatrical cartoon short '' Fast and Furry-ous''. In each episode, ...

, is planning to take over

Santa Santa Claus, also known as Father Christmas, Saint Nicholas, Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, or simply Santa, is a legendary figure originating in Western Christian culture who is said to bring children gifts during the late evening and overnigh ...

's workshop. Overhearing this, Comet, one of Santa's

reindeer Reindeer (in North American English, known as caribou if wild and ''reindeer'' if domesticated) are deer in the genus ''Rangifer''. For the last few decades, reindeer were assigned to one species, ''Rangifer tarandus'', with about 10 subs ...

, asks Raggedy Ann, Raggedy Andy, and their dog Raggedy Arthur to help her because they're easy to carry and aren't bothered by cold weather. At the factory, Alexander is using a machine to encase all the toys in blocks of a transparent and unbreakable substance called gloopstik (made by the Gloopstik Corporation), to ensure that they'll last forever, even though the children won't be able to play with them. He then intends to charge the children for the gloopstik-encased toys and become rich. After arriving the Raggedies soon meet Alexander and he tries to interest them with his machine. At first Andy is intrigued by the idea, but Ann thinks that it's awful. However, when Alexander uses his machine to encase Arthur both Raggedies become angry. Andy demands that Alexander change their dog right back. Within minutes Alexander tries to do so to Andy and has the claw grab him and toss him in the machine while Ann furiously protests and orders Alexander to put Andy down. When he tries to do so to Ann, Andy (who is unharmed) climbs out of the top of the machine and when he sees Alexander chasing Ann, he gets really angry and takes control of the machine. He then encases Alexander in a Christmas tree-shaped block. Ann and Andy laugh until Alexander tells them that gloopstik is unbreakable. At which point they become really worried, and run, hug and tell Arthur that they still love him even though he's stuck. Then the block disintegrates and the Raggedys realize that love is the one thing that can destroy the gloopstik. Breaking the

fourth wall The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...

, they ask all the children at home to shout "LOVE", which causes all the gloopstik blocks to fall apart, including the one in which Alexander's trapped. Having learned his lesson, Alexander destroys his machine (by pushing a button that causes it to consume itself) and leaves the workshop, just before Santa wakes up.

Voices

June Foray June Foray (born June Lucille Forer; September 18, 1917 – July 26, 2017) was an American voice actress. She was best known as the voice of such animated characters as Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha Fatale, Nell Fenwick, Lucifer from Disney' ...

as Raggedy Ann, Comet (uncredited) *

Daws Butler Charles Dawson Butler (November 16, 1916May 18, 1988) was an American voice actor. He worked mostly for the Hanna-Barbera animation production company where he originated the voices of many familiar characters, including Yogi Bear, Huckleberry H ...

as Raggedy Andy *

Les Tremayne Lester Tremayne (16 April 1913 – 19 December 2003) was an English actor. Early life Born in Balham, London, he moved with his family at the age of four to Chicago, Illinois, where he began in community theater. His mother was Dolly Trema ...

as Alexander Graham Wolf, Santa Claus (uncredited)

Credits

* Production Designed by: Ray Aragon * Written, Produced and Directed by: Chuck Jones * Master Animators: Ben Washam, Virgil Ross, Phil Monroe, Ken Champin, Lloyd Vaughan, Irv Anderson, Manny Perez, Tom Ray * Music Composed and Conducted by: Dean Elliott * Backgrounds: Walt Peregoy * Key Animator: Marlene Robinson * Assistant Animators: Joe Roman, Carol Millican, Al Pabian, Bob Tyler, Jean Washam, Retta Davidson, Sammie Lanham * Editor: Sam Horta · Horta Editorial and Sound, Inc. * Camera: Animagraphics, Bemiller Camera * Ink & Paint: Celine Miles with Paulino García DeMingo, Sue Dalton, Colene Gonzales, Anna Lois Ray, Staci Maniskas * Graphics: Don Foster * Production Checker: Margie Roach * Assistant to the Producer: Marian Dern * Associate Producer and Production Manager: Mary Roscoe

References

External links

* *
Great Santa Claus Caper videocassette
at Raggedy-Ann.com {{Chuck Jones 1978 in American television 1978 television specials 1970s American television specials Animated television specials Animated Christmas television specials CBS television specials Christmas television specials Films about sentient toys Television shows directed by Chuck Jones Raggedy Ann Santa Claus in film