"Ok Rudolph, Full Power!"

The Holy Trinity of Christmas Specials.

#10 of 31 Things I Love About Christmas: Rudolph, Frosty, Santa Claus Is Coming To Town.

While A Charlie Brown Christmas & How The Grinch Stole Christmas are on their own level in their own right, these three are the foundation of Christmas specials. These three…are really something and through the magic of DVDs you can get them in one purchase (the bonus cartoons on these releases will vary as they have been repackaged several times over)

Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (12/6/54 NBC)

This was one of those first Christmas specials I watched as a child on that famous Christmas specials tape circa 1989. For some reason, as a kid, I remember this seeming like it took forever to get through. I mean I loved it, but it seemed like a 3-hour full length motion picture. I guess it goes from fun and cute to kinda sad and scary (Rudolph and Hermey meet up, head out on their own, trying to find their way) and then it goes back to Christmas cheer. It also never occurred to me how many now classic Christmas characters were invented just for the special that were not in the original storybook

It doesn’t get much better than Burl Ives telling the story as Sam The Snowman, Ives was a perfect fit. Buy the Burl Ives Christmas album and buy the Rudolph Soundtrack. Do it for America.

Though I gotta say, looking back, it’s kind of a sad story. The entire thing revolves around Rudolph, Hermey and the inhabitants of the Island of Misfit Toys being outcasts, useless, laughed at and shunned from the group. Until they are needed and all of the sudden it’s all “Rudolph with your nose so bright, won’t you guide my sleigh tonight?” Moral of the story: Be who you are and be okay with it.

Not to mention I got enough Rudolph stuff to make most people throw up and there is so much stuff out there. Rudolph, Clarise, Sam the Snowman, Hermey, Santa and the Abominable Snow Monster of the North are all sitting on my floor. Law of averages figures my mom to get me something Rudolph related for Christmas this year.

This is a great one. It is timeless, warm, fuzzy and truly belongs at the head of the Holy Trinity of Christmas Specials.

Frosty The Snowman (12/7/69 CBS)

The book and the song (most famously recorded by country star Gene Autry) came out in ’50. The TV special didn’t come out until ’69 and was narrated by the great Jimmy Durante.

As my stuffed doll of the very evil Professor Hinkle sits next to the TV in the living room, I am again filled with warm feelings as this was another must-see Christmas special growing up, and it still is. Though the true star of the show is Hocus Pocus the Rabbit, that little guy is hilarious. This one again is filled with Christmas cheer and just the one signature title track as the lone musical number, (far fewer than its’ fellow heavy hitters like Charlie Brown, Grinch, Rudolph and Santa Claus is Coming To Town). Then again maybe that’s part of the charm of this one, they just let the story speak for itself, without the music becoming a bit much.

The story itself revolves around the naughty Professor Hinkle telling the kids “When you’re grown up you’ll realize snowmen can’t come to life...silly, silly, silly.” What a terrible human being. Of course the kids solider on and truly believe in their hearts their friend did come to life. The story…well you now the story, though it does get kinda sad when Frosty is reduced to a puddle of water. Now that I think about it, parts of a lot of the classic Christmas specials are pretty sad and could be borderline traumatizing for a youngster.

Santa comes to the rescue and while I know it is dripping in cheese, clichés and Christmas cheer, it still makes me smile. He comes to comfort Karen and explains the magic of Christmas snow never really goes away. The snow comes back in the spirit of spring winds and summer rains “but you can bet your boots” that when Christmas comes around again, Frosty and his magic comes back, just as you remembered him.

I wonder if Professor Hinkle ever got done writing “I am very sorry for what I did to Frosty” the required a hundred-zillion times or if he ever got a new hat from Santa.

“I’ll be back on Christmas day.” Love it.

Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town (12/14/70 ABC)

This 1970 masterpiece is most certainly another one that remains close. Got this on VHS tape, most likely for Christmas ’92 and loved it. I got an action figure set (courtesy of Santa) that is among my favorite Christmas decorations.

I do recall thinking the mail man/narrator S.D (Special Delivery) Kluger (Fred Astaire) was a bit odd in the opening sequence, dancing with his mailbag. Too much ginger ale for lunch I suppose. Anyways this one is unique in the fact that it attempts to “document” just how Santa Claus came to be and why he does what he does and why we do what we do. In this we “find out” where the Kris Kringle and Santa Claus monikers come from, why we hang up stockings, why he had to start coming down chimneys at night, why he only comes one night a year and why it is December 24, why he started growing a beard and how the reindeer fly.

Pretty creative to spin all this stuff together and oh to actually believe every word. The magic of Christmas and childhood wonder at its finest. I know I can vividly remember going to sleep Christmas eve and actually picturing Santa Claus standing in my living room later on that night. Magic.

It really is heartwarming to see the Kringles take in Baby Claus after the Mayor of Sombertown, Bugermeister Meisterburger and his loyal sidekick Grimsby didn’t want the baby (“Heir Burgermeister, Heir Burgermeister, look what was discovered on your front stoop!”). Once again it does get a bit scary when Kris and his pal Topper the Penguin cross paths with the Winter Warlock who hates Christmas and later on when the Burgermeister torches the toys in the town square (this scene is routinely cut out on television airings). Without giving a full on summary, this one does end happily and has secured its’ rightful place in the history of Christmas specials. There really isn’t another one like it.

These specials are slices of American Christmas lore and legend that no matter how far we technologically advance or how jaded the children become at an increasingly younger age, the specials will always be there.