Continuing the trend of making classic Christmas cartoons, Rankin/Bass went back to the Christmas song list as they typically did and decided to select Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town as their next cartoon in 1970.

When released, it was one of the highest rated Christmas cartoons of all time, – very close to Rudolph and Charlie Brown Christmas.

An orphan named Claus (Kris Kringle) ends up in the hands of Tanta Kringle, and is taught how to make toys. Years later, when he decides to bring toys to Sombertown, Burgermeister Meisterburger, the corpulent crooked leader of Sombertown, fails to watch where he’s going and illegalizes toys as a scapegoat. Rather than being forced into a career change, Kringle finds ways to sneak toys in.

Narrated by Fred Astaire (S.D. Kluger).

On Freeform and other channels when this is broadcasted (which is rarely) the scenes of Kringle fleeing Sombertown after he attempts to subdue Burgermeister Meisterburger with a toy and another scene much later where Burgermeister Meisterburger torches the toys IN FRONT of the kids are not seen (or they used to be cut). Apparently they didn’t want kids imitating roof jumping and felt nervous about having kids seeing the pile of toys about to be burned.

Came out around the same time as the Aristocats.

Winter Warlock is likely an inspiration for the Ice King in Adventure Time.

Mickey Rooney voices Kringle and later voiced Tod in the Fox and the Hound around a decade later.

The toy duck doesn’t appear until right when the Meisterburger trips on it. Presumably this might’ve been done by an assassin; ah theories – something to fill the empty void in my brain!

Throughout the cartoon, the Meisterburger goes through multiple injuries and quickly heals, furthering concluding that he’s using the toy ban as an excuse for him failing to understand the concept of spatial awareness.

Anyone thinking of the prohibition era when they see this nowadays? The way this cartoon is told sounds familiar to the Untouchables and that inspired the Simpsons episode with the alcohol ban (Homer vs. the 18th Amendment).

S.D. Kluger looks like Woody from Toy Story.

I wonder if the Burgermeister Meisterburger burned in hell after he died long after declaring to have the Kringles hunted down and vandalizing toys.

Of the four cartoons sent out by F.H.E. in the very late 1980s and early 1990s, this is the one I’ve seen the least. I saw the Little Drummer Boy and Frosty way more than this.

Like Rudolph I think this got a really good restoration job. These two and I think Year Without a Santa Claus are the three stop-motion cartoons that Rankin/Bass have given the most effort into restoration.

I don’t think I’ve ever really had any broken bones in my life but I don’t think breaking a funny bone would lead to a fever. That thermometer the doctor put into the Meisterburger’s mouth always confused me.