''The Year Without a Santa Claus'' is a 1974

stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

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 ent ...

produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. The story is based on

Phyllis McGinley Phyllis McGinley (March 21, 1905 – February 22, 1978) was an American author of children's books and poetry. Her poetry was in the style of light verse, specializing in humor, satiric tone and the positive aspects of suburban life. She won a ...

's 1956 book of the same name. It is narrated by Shirley Booth (her final acting credit before her retirement from acting) and starring the voices of Mickey Rooney,

Dick Shawn Dick Shawn (born Richard Schulefand, December 1, 1923 – April 17, 1987) was an American actor and comedian. He played a wide variety of supporting roles and was a prolific character actor. During the 1960s, he played small roles in madcap comed ...

, and George S. Irving. It was originally broadcast on December 10, 1974, on ABC.

Plot

Santa Claus wakes up with a

cold Cold is the presence of low temperature, especially in the atmosphere. In common usage, cold is often a subjective perception. A lower bound to temperature is absolute zero, defined as 0.00K on the Kelvin scale, an absolute thermodynamic ...

sometime before Christmas in the early 20th century. His doctor, who thinks nobody cares about him anymore, advises him to make some changes to his routine, so Santa decides to take a holiday instead of delivering gifts. Mrs. Claus unsuccessfully tries to convince him otherwise, so she enlists two

elves An elf () is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic mythology and folklore. Elves appear especially in North Germanic mythology. They are subsequently mentioned in Snorri Sturluson's Icelandic Prose Edda. He distinguishes " ...

named Jingle and Jangle to find proof that people still believe in Santa. Jingle and Jangle set out with Santa's youngest

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 sub ...

Vixen, but are shot down by crossfire between the conflicting Miser Brothers: Snow Miser, who controls the world's cold weather, and Heat Miser, who controls its warm weather. Vixen saves her guardian elves from falling to their doom and they continue on their uncertain path. Jingle, Jangle, and Vixen come upon Southtown, a small community in the

southern United States The Southern United States (sometimes Dixie, also referred to as the Southern States, the American South, the Southland, or simply the South) is a geographic and cultural region of the United States of America. It is between the Atlantic Ocean ...

. They ask a group of children, including a boy named Iggy, if they believe in Santa, but they are skeptical. To make matters worse, Vixen grows sick due to the warm weather and is sent to the local

animal shelter An animal shelter or pound is a place where stray, lost, abandoned or surrendered animals – mostly dogs and cats – are housed. The word "pound" has its origins in the animal pounds of agricultural communities, where stray livestock would ...

after Jingle and Jangle disguise her as a dog. The town's police officer refers them to the town's mayor, who laughs at their story but agrees to free Vixen if they can prove they are elves by making it snow in Southtown on Christmas. Jingle and Jangle call Mrs. Claus to pick them up. As she leaves, Santa discovers Vixen is missing and travels to Southtown himself to retrieve her while disguised as a civilian named "Klaus". While there, he meets Iggy and his family. Klaus reveals his belief in Santa, and Iggy's father reveals that Santa personally visited him one Christmas, and he still believes as well. When Claus leaves to retrieve Vixen, Iggy realizes his true identity and resolves to help Jingle and Jangle. Iggy joins Mrs. Claus when she arrives to pick up Jingle and Jangle, and together they visit the Miser Brothers. They ask Snow Miser to send snow to Southtown for a day; he is agreeable but says he cannot as it is part of Heat Miser's territory. They then ask Heat Miser, who says he will only comply if Snow Miser turns the

North Pole The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's rotation, Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distingu ...

over to him in exchange. When the brothers begin bickering again, Mrs. Claus goes over their heads and visits their mother, Mother Nature, who convinces her sons to compromise. As Christmas approaches, the world's children send their own presents to Santa, setting off international headlines. Touched by the outpouring of generosity and appreciation, Santa decides to make his journey after all. On Christmas Eve, he makes a public stop in Southtown during a snowfall. The next day, the children, including Iggy, are delighted to receive their presents. As the special ends, Mrs. Claus narrates that somehow, "yearly, newly, faithfully and truly", Santa always comes. Santa is shown getting out of bed to prepare himself, his reindeer, and his gift-loaded sleigh, remarking he could never imagine "a year without a Santa Claus".

Voice cast

* Shirley Booth as Mrs. Claus * Mickey Rooney as Santa Claus *

as Snow Miser * George S. Irving as Heat Miser *

Bob McFadden Robert McFadden (January 19, 1923 – January 7, 2000) was an American singer, impressionist, and voice-over actor perhaps best known for his many contributions to animated cartoons. His most popular television cartoon characters included M ...

as Jingle Bells, Elf Doctor *

Bradley Bolke Bradley Bolke (October 1, 1925 – January 15, 2019) was an American voice actor. Early life Bolke was born on October 1, 1925, in New York City. He later lived in Dobbs Ferry, New York Dobbs Ferry is a village in Westchester County, New York ...

as Jangle Bells, Police Officer * Rhoda Mann as Mother Nature, Mrs. Thistlewhite * Ron Marshall as Mr. Thistlewhite, Mayor of Southtown * Colin Duffy as Ignatius "Iggy" Thistlewhite * Noelle Magargle as the Blue Christmas Girl * The Wee Winter Singers as the Children Choir

Songs

# "

Sleigh Ride "Sleigh Ride" is a light orchestra standard composed by Leroy Anderson. The composer had formed the original idea for the piece during a heat wave in July 1946, and he finished the work in February 1948. The original recordings were instrument ...

" (instrumental) # "The Year Without a Santa Claus" # "I Could Be Santa Claus" # "I Believe in Santa Claus" # "It's Gonna Snow Right Here in Dixie" # "The Snow Miser Song" # "The Heat Miser Song" # " Blue Christmas" # "Sleigh Ride" (instrumental) # "

Here Comes Santa Claus "Here Comes Santa Claus (Right Down Santa Claus Lane)" is a popular Christmas song written and originally performed by Gene Autry, with music composed by Oakley Haldeman. Autry's original recording (in which he pronounces Santa Claus as "Santy Cl ...

" # "The Year Without a Santa Claus (reprise)"

Television rights

The special premiered in 1974 on ABC, and aired annually on Freeform during its

25 Days of Christmas Freeform's 25 Days of Christmas is an American annual seasonal event of Christmas programming broadcast during the month of December by the U.S. cable network Freeform. The event was first held in 1996, and has been an annual fixture of the chann ...

programming block until 2017. As of 2018, AMC: American Movie Classics currently airs the special uncut as part of the Best Christmas Ever block.

Warner Bros. Entertainment Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American Film studio, film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, Califo ...

currently distributes the special through their ownership of the post-1974 Rankin/Bass Productions library.

Home video

The special was first released on VHS by

Vestron Video Vestron Video was the main subsidiary of Vestron, Inc., a home video company based in Stamford, Connecticut, that was active from 1981 to 1993, and is considered to have been a pioneer in the home video market. The name is now used for a collect ...

on September 5, 1991 as part of their Christmas Classics Series, which is distributed by

Family Home Entertainment Family Home Entertainment (FHE) was an American home video company founded in 1980 by Noel C. Bloom. It was a division of International Video Entertainment, which had its headquarters in Newbury Park, California. History The company was founde ...

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Vide ...

released the special on VHS on September 2, 1992, and re-released it on VHS on September 28, 1999. The special was then released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

on October 31, 2000, and re-released on the Deluxe Edition DVD on October 2, 2007. Warner Home Video released the special on

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of st ...

on October 5, 2010, making it the first Rankin/Bass production to be released on that format.

DVD details

*Release date: October 31, 2000 (Original DVD), January 17, 2004 (30th Anniversary Edition DVD), October 2, 2007 (Deluxe Edition DVD), October 5, 2010 (Blu-ray) *Full Screen *Region: 1 *Aspect Ratios: 1.33:1 *Audio tracks: English *Special Features: **''

Rudolph's Shiny New Year ''Rudolph's Shiny New Year'' is a 1976 American-Japanese Christmas and holiday season, Christmas and New Year's stop motion animation, animated television special and a standalone sequel to the 1964 special ''Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (TV s ...

'' **'' Nestor, The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey'' **Stop Motion 101 (Deluxe Edition Exclusive) **We Are Santa's Elves: Profiling Arthur Rankin Jr. & Jules Bass (Deluxe Edition Exclusive)

Live-action remake

live-action Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ...

remake of ''The Year Without a Santa Claus'' premiered on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

on December 11, 2006, and was released on DVD the following day. The remake stars

John Goodman John Stephen Goodman (born June 20, 1952) is an American actor. He gained national fame for his role as the family patriarch Dan Conner in the American Broadcasting Company, ABC comedy series ''Roseanne'' (1988–1997; 2018), for which he rec ...

as Santa Claus,

Michael McKean Michael John McKean (; born October 17, 1947) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, composer, singer, and musician known for various roles in film and television such as Lenny Kosnowski in '' Laverne & Shirley'', David St. Hubbins in '' ...

as the Snow Miser, and

Harvey Fierstein Harvey Forbes Fierstein ( ; born June 6, 1952) is an American actor, playwright and screenwriter. He is best known for his theater work in '' Torch Song Trilogy'' and '' Hairspray'' and movie roles in '' Mrs. Doubtfire'', ''Independence Day'', an ...

as the Heat Miser.The Year Without a Santa Claus starring John Goodman, Chris Kattan, Ethan Suplee, Eddie Griffin, Carol Kane from Warner Home Video on DVD – Widescreen, Original Aspect Ratio – 1.78
It follows largely the same plot as the original special.

Sequel

A sequel, titled '' A Miser Brothers' Christmas'', was produced in 2008 by

Warner Bros. Animation Warner Bros. Animation Inc. is an American animation studio which is part of the Warner Bros. Television Studios division of Warner Bros., a flagship of Warner Bros. Discovery. As the successor to Warner Bros. Cartoons, which was active from 19 ...

and

Cuppa Coffee Studios Cuppa Coffee Studios (formerly known as Cuppa Coffee Animation) is a Canadian production company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. Cuppa Coffee was founded by Adam Shaheen in 1992. It specializes in both stop-motion animation and 2D animation, ...

, and also used stop-motion animation. Mickey Rooney, age 88, reprised his role as Santa Claus, and George S. Irving, age 86, reprised his role as Heat Miser.

Juan Chioran Juan Chioran (born June 18, 1963) is an Argentine-born Canadian actor primarily associated with stage roles at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada. He is based in Stratford, Ontario. Chioran is also known for his voice acting roles, suc ...

and

Catherine Disher Catherine Disher is a British-born Canadian actress. She has won two Gemini Awards: in 2005 for Best Actress for her role in the Canadian mini-series '' Snakes and Ladders'', and in 2010 for her role in '' The Border''. She was also nominated for ...

replaced

and Shirley Booth as Snow Miser and Mrs. Claus, respectively, Shawn and Booth having died prior to the film's production.

References

External links

*
Review by critic Jayson Harsin at Blogcritics Magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Year Without a Santa Claus, The 1974 films 1974 animated films 1974 in American television 1974 television specials 1970s animated short films 1970s American television specials 1970s animated television specials American Broadcasting Company television specials Christmas television specials Films about elves Films scored by Maury Laws Animated Christmas television specials Animated films based on children's books Television shows directed by Jules Bass Television shows directed by Arthur Rankin Jr. Films set in the United States Santa Claus in film Santa Claus in television Southern United States in fiction Stop-motion animated short films Rankin/Bass Productions television specials Stop-motion animated television shows American musical fantasy films Musical television specials American Christmas television specials 1970s American films