"Rudolph's" 45th & "Frosty's" 40th on TV: What Makes Them Endure?

Those who grew up in the 60s, 70s or 80s have enough stored memories of watching CBS's classics "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" and "Frosty the Snowman" that it might be fitting for an anniversary piece to interview different generations about their own impressions. Considering both these specials celebrate respective 45 and 40 years on the air the year of this article, hearing the analysis of the American populace may give some sort of answer as to why these TV specials have aired continuously for four decades without fail.

Ultimately, though, it'd be a mistake when most people likely couldn't analyze every point as to why they continue to faithfully watch them.

In part, it's because our collective experience of childhood makes these TV classics an automatic rite of passage every holiday season to keep the shows fresh in the mind each year. But, mostly, all those generations of viewers may be connecting to them because we have an automatic sensor to the perfect and elusive structure that makes up the ultimate TV special.

No matter what faults you can pick out of "Rudolph" and "Frosty", there isn't any denying that the writing and music managed to coalesce into the supreme idea of what a Christmas special should be. And every current writer of television in the world would arguably admit on a stack of bibles that trying to capture this formula today seems to be as elusive as Yukon Cornelius finding gold in them 'thar hills.

When "Rudolph" first debuted on NBC on Dec. 6, 1964 (yes, it was on the Peacock network for its first seven airings), the only person who seemed to have the foresight to its longevity was Burl Ives himself who did the voice of Sam the Snowman. He only agreed to do the special if he could get a stipulation he receive a residual every year the special re-aired. You'd think seeing the final cut would have provided the insight for all the creative forces involved that something special had been attained.

Not that there was a huge dichotomy between it and other programming. Music and scriptwriting were generally better attuned to higher levels of creativity in those days on television. This was when the TV landscape had sharper scripts and music variety shows aired nightly on the three main networks, all with the biggest stars in the world. Network TV usually had an event every night rather than having a few days (nay, weeks) of meaningless programming until finally blessing the public with something exciting or meaningful.

The real selling point of "Rudolph" was more in TV Guide giving a significant write-up that December week on the special's innovative stop-motion animation effects. Today, that might be looked at as unnecessary hype when the blueprint fell squarely on the clever script and iconic songs. With a script by longtime Rankin/Bass scribe Romeo Muller and earworm songs by Johnny Marks, the opening scene with Ives' Sam the Snowman sells the show within seconds.

Yet the creative staff behind the show was also astute enough to do one thing all holiday specials worth their salt do: Have a pivotal scene in the middle of the show that nobody would ever forget.

The example scene is the Island of Misfit Toys with the tragicomedy and charm of the "Most Wonderful Day of the Year" song sequence.

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It's likewise for Rankin/Bass's "Frosty the Snowman" that CBS debuted five years later on Dec. 7, 1969.

The key selling scene is the sequence of Frosty leading the group of kids down the street while singing the title song. Then a befuddled traffic cop swallows his whistle at the extra befuddling sight of a talking snowman. Of course, you also have the animated representation of Jimmy Durante permeating in every scene that gave the idea that a celebrity being an omniscient narrator was a key ingredient in bringing a comforting feeling to the story.

Unfortunately, no other holiday special really tried the celebrity narrator approach since Rankin/Bass virtually owned the concept for years. Instead, the pretenders merely gathered up a team of famous or semi-famous names and promoted them voicing every character in an animated holiday special. It turns out that the real secret to capturing the viewer is a warm and familiar celebrity voice telling the story as the observer and the characters being voiced by less familiar vocal timbres.

Everybody knew who Burl Ives was in the 60s, though didn't really know who the (Canadian) voice cast were in "Rudolph." The same in "Frosty" with narrator Jimmy Durante, even though comedian Jackie Vernon as the voice of Frosty was a semi-familiar presence on variety shows. Still, when we grew up watching all the Rankin/Bass holiday specials, there was always an innate feeling of comfort with Ives, Durante (plus Fred Astaire, Mickey Rooney, Red Skelton and Andy Griffith in all the other specials) being in a Godlike position to seemingly control the outcome of the story.

If that and the right combination of music and script seemed to be exclusive to the Rankin/Bass holiday special factory of yore, does it finally give a definitive answer to why virtually every holiday special since then have paled in comparison?

The only exception would obviously be "Charlie Brown Christmas" aired a year after "Rudolph's" debut and about to celebrate 45 years in 2010. That's a whole other story of breaking every rule in the holiday special, despite the Peanuts team never topping their Christmas special to this day.

There is such a thing as claiming the torch of greatness in family entertainment. Steven Spielberg carried (and arguably still carries) it in movies with many imitators who couldn't and can't hold a candle. Disney doesn't even have to be mentioned, along with their famous and unique anthology TV series being taken for granted years before given a pink slip.

As many of us deride TV today for not bringing a decent family show or special to the fore, the real reasons behind it may be from fear of being derivative or destroying history. When a TV special hits a high mark, writers and producers who grew up with said show usually don't even consider making an attempt to top it.

How would you feel being a TV writer or producer attempting to create a holiday special that could potentially make "Rudolph" and "Frosty" obsolete?

The potential to create a Christmas special with the magic of "Rudolph" and "Frosty" is still there. New generations of writers who grew up with them just want to preserve their assuring TV bastions of childhood. So far, most other animated holiday specials made since seem to be giving a disclaimer at the beginning that they're taking a voluntary back seat. The fair to middling "Frosty Returns" from 1992 is arguably an exception.

With the Rankin/Bass holiday TV special catalog being vast and perennially replayed (mostly on ABC Family each year), the excuse to not top them gets greater as most other TV keeps deteriorating into a wasteland. When you see that much astute respect from today's jaded generation, then the domino effect of future generational respect for these specials is set up to continue indefinitely.

Resources:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058536/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064349/