''Hans Christian Andersen's The Emperor's New Clothes'' is an animated television special broadcast on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial American ...

on Monday night, February 21, 1972. The special was produced by

Rankin/Bass Productions 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. It was known for its seasonal television specials, ...

, a former division of Tomorrow Entertainment, using their "Animagic" stop-motion puppetry technique in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, along with some live-action footage shot in

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

. The special, a musical adaptation of the fable of the same name by

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogue (literature), travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fai ...

, starred

Danny Kaye Danny Kaye (born David Daniel Kaminsky; ; January 18, 1911 – March 3, 1987) was an American actor, comedian, singer, and dancer. His performances featured physical comedy, idiosyncratic pantomimes, and rapid-fire novelty songs. Kaye starred ...

as the voice of the narrator and main character named Marmaduke. Kaye was strongly associated with the author, having previously played the title role in the 1952 film ''

''. The cast also included

Cyril Ritchard Cyril Joseph Trimnell-Ritchard (1 December 1898 – 18 December 1977), known professionally as Cyril Ritchard, was an Australian stage, screen and television actor, and director. He is best remembered today for his performance as Captain Hook i ...

Imogene Coca Imogene Coca (born Emogeane Coca; November 18, 1908 – June 2, 2001) was an American comic actress best known for her role opposite Sid Caesar on ''Your Show of Shows''. Starting out in vaudeville as a child acrobat, she studied ballet and pursu ...

Allen Swift Ira J. Stadlen (January 16, 1924 – April 18, 2010), known professionally as Allen Swift, was an American actor, writer and magician, best known as a voiceover artist who voiced cartoon characters Simon Bar Sinister and Riff-Raff on the ' ...

and

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 ...

. Kaye sang five original songs written by Maury Laws and Jules Bass: "Come Along with Me", "Clothes Make the Man" with Swift, "The Tailor's Song", "Creation", and "All You Need Is Money to Be Rich" with Coca, while Ritchard sang "I See What I Want to See". The special was intended to serve as a pilot for a series titled ''The Enchanted World of Danny Kaye'', with various specials and installments planned, and the special was initially marketed as such. Cartoonist Jack Davis, who designed characters for the special, also had concept drawings for further specials, which can be glimpsed in the making-of documentary on the 30th anniversary DVD release by

Sony Wonder Sony Pictures Kids Zone is the kids and family entertainment label of Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and the former record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment. Despite the similarity in name, Sony Wonder is not directly related to the fo ...

and

Classic Media DreamWorks Classics is an American entertainment company owned by DreamWorks Animation, a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is a subsidiary of Comcast. Founded as Classic Media in 2000 by Eric Ellenboge ...

in 2002. No further specials were produced.

Plot

Danny Kaye tells a group of Danish children the story of "

The Emperor's New Clothes "The Emperor's New Clothes" ( ) is a literary folktale written by the Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, about a vain emperor who gets exposed before his subjects. The tale has been translated into over 100 languages.Andersen 2005a 4 "Th ...

", from the point of view of Marmaduke, a smooth-talking, yet kindly trickster. Marmaduke and his sidekick Mufti hear that a million gold pieces will be awarded to the tailor who makes the best clothes for the emperor. Marmaduke meets the emperor's daughter, Princess Jane, who tells him about the wicked jester, Jasper. Jasper flatters the vain emperor with luxurious clothing, and is taking control of the empire. Jasper pays the tailors starvation wages, and gets rich himself. Marmaduke vows to stop Jasper, but the emperor has them thrown into the Boulevard of Rogues to work. Marmaduke is patching up an old suit for the emperor. An orphan boy named Busky joins them. They finish the suit, and escape the boulevard, crossing a dangerous moat. Marmaduke tells the emperor that he and Mufti have brought a beautiful suit for him. The emperor sees the ragged suit and orders them to leave. Marmaduke says he has enchanted cloth, invisible to anyone who is stupid or unfit to hold office. He pretends to show the emperor, who cannot admit that he cannot see it. Jasper plans to trick Jane into marriage. Marmaduke, Mufti and Busky pretend to work on the suit that isn't there, as the emperor tries to educate himself so that he's smart enough to see the cloth. Jasper threatens to have his henchman Ivan fire the cannon at the Boulevard of Rogues. He threatens to take the prize money. Marmaduke and his friends concoct a plan. Mufti makes fake coins from brass statues brought by Jane. Marmaduke presents the new suit to the emperor, who gives them the prize money in leather sacks. They hide the fake coins in Ivan's cannon, but Jasper orders them to stop. Real gold coins end up in the cannon. Later, the emperor shows off his new "suit." The council gasps at the naked emperor, but Jasper gestures for all to applaud. Jasper tries to arrange a wedding with Jane, but Busky interrupts the procession by laughing and telling the emperor he is naked. The council agrees that the emperor is naked. Furious, the emperor banishes Jasper for allowing Marmaduke to trick him. Busky gives the emperor a note explaining that Jane and Marmaduke are going to marry. Realizing that she loves Marmaduke, the emperor leads a parade through town to the Boulevard of Rogues, and attends the wedding naked. Jasper furiously orders Ivan to fire the cannon into the crowd. The cannon shoots out the golden coins, providing riches to the poor folks of the Boulevard. Mufti mourns the loss of the prize money but Marmaduke is happy as he kisses Jane.

Production

Danny Kaye recorded the soundtrack for Rankin/Bass in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, filmed the live-action segments in

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

, and visited the "Animagic" studio in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

to see the production of the stop-motion animation. When Kaye toured their studio with Arthur Rankin, Jr., the Japanese animators asked him for "a sample of the Danny Kaye style." Later, he explained, "They wanted to see how I moved my hands, my mouth. Did I wiggle my ears when I sang? How did I walk? How did I walk when I wore a cape, and so on. The technicians painstakingly captured every nuance, every gesture to animate the figures. They're really marvelous."

Cast

: Himself (in the live-action scenes), Marmaduke *

: Emperor Klockenlocher *

: Princess Jane Klockenlocher *

: Mufti, The Prime Minister, Ivan *

: The King of Konga, Jasper, The Primer Minster, The Primest Minister * Gary Shapiro: Busky

Crew

* Producers/Directors:

Arthur Rankin, Jr. Arthur Gardner Rankin Jr. (July 19, 1924 – January 30, 2014) was an American director, producer and screenwriter, who mostly worked in animation. Co-creator of Rankin/Bass Productions with his friend Jules Bass, he created stop-motion and ...

Jules Bass Julius Caesar 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 ...

* Writer:

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 Christmas specials including ''Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'', ''The Little Drumm ...

* Music and Lyrics: Maury Laws, Jules Bass * Associate Producer: Herbert Bonis * Character Designers:

Paul Coker, Jr. Paul Coker Jr. (March 5, 1929 – July 23, 2022) was an American illustrator. He worked in many media, including '' Mad'', character design for Rankin-Bass TV specials, greeting cards, and advertising. Career Coker was born in Lawrence, Kansa ...

, Ichiro Komuro * Continuity Designers: Don Duga, Steve Nakagawa * Editorial Supervisor: Irwin Goldress * Sound and Effects Engineers: Jim Harris, John Boyd * Animagic Supervisor: Akikazu Kono * Music Composer, Arranger and Conductor: Maury Laws

Songs

#Come Along with Me (opening theme) – Danny Kaye #Clothes Make the Man – Marmaduke, Mufti #The Tailor's Song – Marmaduke, the Tailors #I See What I Want to See – Emperor Klockenlocher #Creation – Marmaduke #All You Need Is Money to Be Rich – Marmaduke, Princess Jane Klockenlocher #Clothes Make the Man (reprise) – Marmaduke, the Chorus #Come Along with Me (closing theme) – Danny Kaye

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Enchanted World Of Danny Kaye 1972 television specials 1970s American television specials 1970s animated television specials Rankin/Bass Productions television specials Stop-motion animated television shows Television shows written by Romeo Muller Television shows directed by Arthur Rankin Jr. Television shows directed by Jules Bass Animated films set in Denmark Films with live action and animation Television shows based on works by Hans Christian Andersen Works based on The Emperor's New Clothes