Mickey Rooney Steps Into the Santa Suit for the First Time

I happened upon Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town this evening, which prompted me to look up my review and see what I had written about it way back when. But lo and behold, when I mused about Rudolph, the Heat and Snow Misers and Nestor, I somehow managed to leave out this Rankin and Bass gem. Time to amend the situation.

Like most Rankin and Bass Christmas specials, this one centers around a particular holiday song and uses it as a way for the narrator, a cheery mailman voiced by Fred Astaire, to provide a framework within which to place the story of the origins of Santa Claus. Of course, it's all a bunch of stuff that writer Romeo Muller made up, so it's sort of silly to listen to the mailman going on and on about how all these things actually happened. Nonetheless, the creative story does seem to tap into the legend of St Nicholas to some small extent, though it doesn't come right out and say so.

Mickey Rooney, who later played the crotchety old Santa in my favorite of the Rankin and Bass specials, gives voice to dashing young Kris Kringle, the boy raised by tiny toymakers. As a young man, he sets out to Sombertown, a dreary village where toys have been outlawed by the grouchy Burgermeister Meisterburger (Paul Frees), whose rules are enforced by his devoted lackey Grimsby (also Frees). Obviously, this interferes with his mission to deliver toys to all the children there, but he isn't too concerned about breaking what he considers to be a ridiculous law.

So the young Kris becomes a noble outlaw, aided by the penguin Topper and the initially disapproving but soon smitten Jessica (Robie Lester). They exercise civil disobedience, refusing to kowtow to an unjust ruler - though Kris does kindly offer the Burgermeister a yoyo, momentarily winning him over. His victory with the ferocious Winter Warlock (comical Disney baddie Keenan Wynn), an ancient magical being who threatens him on his journey between Somberland and home, is more lasting, imparting the value of reaching out to those who have been persecutors and offering them kindness instead of disdain. Put One Foot in Front of the Other, Kris' duet with the rejuvenated warlock, is probably my favorite of the songs written for the special and the one that holds up best out of context.

Claymation isn't the smoothest way to make a movie, and plenty of scenes come across as a bit choppy. That's part of the charm. If I were experiencing it for the first time, as my friend did while over at my house last year, I might raise an eyebrow like she did. But Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town is much too deeply ingrained in my banks of nostalgia for that. When this precursor to The Year Without a Santa Claus comes to town, I'll be watching!