The Enchanted World of Rankin-Bass News

Happy Halloween! It's the
OCTOBER 2003 NEWS!

Don't Forget to Watch Your Mad Monster Party DVD This Halloween!

If you're like us, you'll start the holidays off right and remember to pull Mad Monster Party out from your DVD collection and pop it in the player this Halloween season. What's that? You say you don't own Mad Monster Party on DVD? Well, what are you waiting for? Order yours today at amazon.com by clicking on the pic to the right!

Rankin/Bass Fans Cheer Release of Santa Claus is Comin' to Town Items!

You will start seeing items based on the classic TV SPECIAL SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN' TO TOWN showing up primarily at WALGREEN'S DRUG STORES soon! ENESCO has told us to expect the ornaments in early NOVEMBER. Some fans are reporting plush dolls and wrapping paper showing up in some stores already. A trade ad is appearing in magazines of a SNOW BABY statue featuring SANTA CLAUS and TOPPER in a sleigh with the babies loading presents. You can check www.department56.com for this item. It looks like many Products will be available from the special and we will try to keep you up to date.
If you didn't get the RHINO CD SOUNDTRACK Release of SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN' TO TOWN/FROSTY THE SNOWMAN yet, we HIGHLY RECOMMEND it. It can be found at AMAZON.COM and it includes a detailed booklet with an interview with Rick about RANKIN/BASS. Rick acted as RESEARCH CONSULTANT on the Project and made sure that it was up to par with the first RANKIN/BASS CD Soundtrack release...MAD MONSTER PARTY (Percepto.com).

A Very Rare Rankin/Bass Single in the Archives!

THANKS to SUSAN BELL (RANKIN/BASS Fanatic), we discovered and aquired in our archives the VERY RARE Burl Ives DECCA Single w/ Picture Sleeve of "A Holly Jolly Christmas" b/w "Snow For Johnny." When I found out about it, I immediately contacted MAURY LAWS and DOROTHY IVES and neither were able to turn up a copy in their archives, which goes to show how EXTREMELY RARE this item is. The cover features a similar BUT different image to the one that appears on the cover of the DECCA Record Album. It is a posed shot because of course the two characters do not meet one another in the special. What a find!

"Have a Holly Jolly Christmas" with the Animation of Rankin and Bass!
Thursday, December 4, 2003
6:00 to 7:30 p.m.
Pioneering producers Arthur Rankin, Jr., and Jules Bass presented their groundbreaking stop-motion animation television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer in 1964 and have entertained every generation since with over thirty animated television specials. TV Guide included three of their Christmas specials, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town, and Frosty the Snowman in their "Ten Best Classic Family Holiday Specials" list. Arthur Rankin, Jr., will discuss his early work with stop-motion animation, his relationship with partner Jules Bass, and how the pair created such enduring programs.

In Person: Arthur Rankin, Jr.
The Museum of Television & Radio
25 West 52 Street
New York, NY 10019
(212) 621-6882

Official rankinbass.com/timeandspacetoys.com T-Shirts Available in our online shoppe!

FRESH from WIZARD WORLD CON 2003, we now have this beautiful T-Shirt made up by STEVE ROSENBERRY DESIGNS in Florida! It features the beautiful MITCH O' CONNELL art from our homepage on the front with RANKINBASS.COM written below. On the back it features the MISER BROS PRESS logo in Red with the TIME&SPACETOYS.COM logo!
This shirt is a High Quality, 100% Cotton, Pre-Shrunk ANVIL T-Shirt and 33% of this sale goes to the charity Boot Camp for New Dads! Order yours via our online shoppe today!

RARE Coker Color Model sheet turns up in R/B Archives!
This is a WONDERFUL Color Model Sheet from HERE COMES PETER COTTONTAIL drawn and painted by RANKIN/BASS legendaty artist PAUL COKER, JR.! It even features the SANTA BUNNY. HERE COMES PETER COTTONTAIL is one of the VERY Best RANKIN/BASS Holiday Specials Starring DANNY KAYE and it is available on DVD and HOME VIDEO from CLASSIC MEDIA. The DVD features a GREAT BONUS CARTOON: PUSS N' BOOTS from FESTIVAL OF FAMILY CLASSICS (The cartoon even has the open and close to FESTIVAL OF FAMILY CLASSICS!).

One of the reasons we love COTTONTAIL so much is...it touches on every HOLIDAY and has a wonderful BASS/LAWS Score! VINCENT PRICE is GREAT as EVIL IRONTAIL and the HALLOWEEN Section of the Special is worth watching for this time of year! The backing score is WALTZ FOR A WITCH in this section (Originally featured in MAD MONSTER PARTY)

Rick's ebay Halloween Auctions!

RICK has some special auctions up on EBAY under Seller ANIMAGIC1. One such HALLOWEEN auctions is the last several sets of EXCLUSIVE K-MART DVD Postcard sets from the RANKIN/BASS Classic MAD MONSTER PARTY (1967). Rick Produced these card sets for ANCHOR BAY as a special BONUS for the K-MART DVDs when it was first issued there. There are 4 postcards in the set with graphics and tidbits on the backs. The photos are Directly off the original STUDIO Transparencies and are even clearer than they appear in Rick's first book. Get your set while you can! HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Visit timeandspacetoys.com for Great Rudolph Merchandise!

Walgreen's Following in the Same Footsteps as CVS?
To date, we have seen and heard about many Products based on the RANKIN/BASS Christmas Classic SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN' TO TOWN...most of which will be available at WALGREEN'S beginning now through CHRISTMAS. So far, the only line of Products that even come close to resembling the characters that we know and love, has once again been Produced by ENESCO (See their ornament line in our SEPT NEWS).
Perhaps, the powers that be at WALGREEN'S did not read page 205 of my book THE MAKING OF THE RANKIN/BASS HOLIDAY CLASSIC: RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER. This whole marketing campaign is so familiar to us. They even used the same manufacturer for their PLUSH dolls to the same effect. They have also included a rehash of the RUDOLPH beanies that CVS was giving away towards the end of their misguided campaign of 2000.
While we are happy to see another RANKIN/BASS classic be made into Products for the fans to enjoy, we can't help but be disappointed at the lack of quality and planning that went into this campaign. I have always felt that the motto "Do it right or don't do it at all" was something to live by. The sad thing is...when this poor quality merchandise doesn't sell...the powers that be will say something like "I guess nobody remembers this show." OR "I guess there weren't as many fans of this show as we thought." Instead of "Maybe we should have brought in some of the Professionals and fan base to see what they think of this Product."

HAVE A SAFE & HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Rick and Mark