Rankin-Bass Month: The Little Drummer Boy (Review)

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The Little Drummer Boy began as a Christmas carol written under the title “Carol of the Drum” and was first recorded in 1951 by the Von Trapp Family Singers. Maybe you’ve heard of ’em. It was inspired by a long-lost Czech carol, and the French legend of a poor juggler who performs for a statue of the Virgin Mary. The idea of a performer humbly offering their own talents as a gift to a holy figure has been revised and retold in many ways throughout the years (the Tomie De Paola book The Clown Of God is a beautiful example), and has resonated so much in its current form that it’s brought together singers as diverse as Bing Crosby and David Bowie.

I’m willing to bet the song’s popularity is what attracted Rankin-Bass to it, but it still strikes me as an unusual choice for their first stop-motion special made following Rudolph. The R-B roster mainly consists of secular Christmas stories. Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town and Cricket On The Hearth barely touched on the Nativity in their tales. Little Drummer Boy, though? He doesn’t give a figgy pudding for Santa and wholly embraces the biblical side of Christmas. It’s only one of a handful Rankin-Bass specials that do – which means it’s buried beneath the more popular non-Jesusy Rudolph and Frosty outings. Heck, just look at the cover for Little Drummer Boy. Compare the covers for the other Rankin-Bass specials which advertise its celebrity narrator, or that they’re based on some “classic” story by a beloved author. There are TWO Academy-Award winning actors in the cast of Little Drummer Boy, and it’s partly based on what millions of people consider a true story, but instead of playing on that, there’s a cute tagline. Now I may be a tad prejudiced, but I find this to deliberate slighting of this particular Rankin-Bass special a bit unfair. Allow me to elucidate:

Rankin-Bass Month: Frosty the Snowman (Review)

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Well…this is awkward.

When I first wrote this review, it opened with Cynicism saying “Bad news, Shelf. Since you shat on Rudolph last week, Patreon’s taking money AWAY from you. If you don’t say more nice things about this week’s special, we’re going to have to file for bankruptcy.” Just a fun little way of letting you know today’s post is going to be a bit less harsh than the previous one.

But then I checked my Patreon hours after the Rudolph review went up, and the numbers had shrunk substantially.

It actually happened.

A silly one-off joke I wrote to ease you, the reader, into the review, accidentally came true.

It’s like the universe itself is punishing me for daring to not like Rudolph.

Okay, the truth of the matter is a bit more complicated than that, but nobody actually quit being a patron based on my feelings towards Rudolph, for which I am relieved and grateful for. It’s already been sorted out and I certainly don’t hold this mishap against anyone because of events beyond their control.

Anyway, enough of my rambling. If you can’t already tell, today’s holiday outing is Frosty The Snowman.

Frosty, Frosty, Frosty…yeah, not a big fan of this one either.

“YOU HATE FROSTY TOO, YOU MONSTER?!”

“I didn’t say THAT!”

Frosty, like Rudolph, was another Rankin-Bass special I lost my taste for due to forced overexposure. It’s light on story and character, the animation is nothing to write home over, and we trade a bunch of subpar songs for one song dragged across the entire affair. But I’ll give it this over Rudolph:

1. It’s shorter. Slashed right down the middle of Rudolph’s runtime, Frosty’s only twenty-five minutes of schmaltzy bland holiday fare instead of nearly an hour.
2. The only jerk in the special is the clear-cut villain, who’s the most fun character in this thing.
3. The cheap stop-motion has been replaced by cheap traditional animation. Not much of an exchange, I’ll take any crumbs of hand-drawn goodness I can get these days.

If I may elaborate on the latter, the designs for the characters and backgrounds are kind of interesting. The man behind them is Paul Coker Jr., who also created comics for MAD Magazine, hence why the characters have a bit of a unique geometric aesthetic but are still kind of…weird-looking. Alfred E. Neuman wouldn’t feel out of place among this cast.

Christmas Mini Review: How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

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animated, animated special, animation, benedict cumberbatch, boris karloff, Christmas, Christmas cartoon, christmas special, chuck jones, cindy lou who, dr. seuss, fahoo fores, grinch, holiday special, holiday tradition, how the grinch stole christmas, jim carrey, june foray, max the dog, mount crumpit, mt. crumpit, rhyme, rhyming, roast beast, the grinch, thurl ravenscroft, trim up the tree, tv review, tv special, welcome christmas, who hash, whoville, you're a mean one mr. grinch

Ah, the holiday season, the start of winter’s deep freeze…

…Though from where I’m typing it’s 70 degrees (damn you, global warming!!)

It’s now that I’m thankful of everything I’ve got

(And I ask Santa for everything else I have not)

And for you, fellow reader, I have a small gift,

A review that’s humorous, tidy, and swift.

So what can I review in a cinch or a pinch? How about…

I was gonna say Charlie Brown, but meh, he’ll do.

The Grinch hates Christmas

The whole holiday season

(Please disregard the movie

It gives him a dumb reason).

The Grinch glowers from his cave

At all of the Whos

Whom every Christmas

They bother to choose

To fill the air with joyous noise

Of singing and laughter from

The girls and the boys

The presents, the laughter,

The singing too

Makes a Christmas like theirs

Seem too good to be true.

I admit I don’t blame the Grinch on hating the toys

As he emphasizes and we see all the noise, noise, noise, NOISE…

…they make.

(Hey, doing a whole review in rhyme ain’t easy.)

Still, these are some creative play things,

Requiring skill and imagination to make them all sing.

Be honest, even you wanted at least one of these as a kid, whatever they are.

His dog Max pops up

With a beard made of snow

And in the Grinch’s head

An idea starts to grow.

In a Santa disguise

And a reindeer-dog sleigh,

He sneaks down to Whoville

To steal Christmas away!

To the mellifluous tones of Ravenscroft-Thurl,

The Grinch snatches treats from each Who boy and girl.

And am I the only one who was curious about what Who-Hash tastes like?

He finds himself spotted by one Cindy-Lou

(Who I wanted to be ever since I was two).

Cindy-Lou is adorable, and June Foray sounds so sweet…

…but where the hell are both her feet?!

The Grinch fools Cindy into going back to bed

And when all is done and said,

He finishes his rounds

Stealing Christmas all ’round town

The houses and square

Are empty and bare.

He rides to the tip of his mountain top

To let go of Christmas and watch it all drop

But over the snow comes the sound of the Whos

And they aren’t wailing or sobbing boo-hoos

They’re singing, though the Grinch doesn’t know why

And their song makes a star raise up to the sky.

The Grinch is quite sore that his plan didn’t work

But here’s where Chuck’s animation really gets to work.

In just a few seconds, it’s not at all strange

We see the Grinch undergo a three-size heart change.

Awwwwwww. No seriously, awwwwwwwwwww.

With the spirit of Christmas at last understood,

The Grinch uses his super-Grinch strength for good.

Or maybe he finally achieved godhood.

He’s welcomed into town where he brings back the feast,

The decorations, the toys, and he carves the roast beast.

Nearly fifty years later this short is still great

Its music and message still resonate.

And here’s a fun fact (or a funny ordeal)

Though this 30-minute animation won Seuss’ appeal,

He had one small complaint –

“Chuck Jones, you schnook!

The Grinch looks like YOU instead of like in the book!”

Separated at birth?

Still, Jones’ animation and Seuss’ wordplay

Make this a must-see every holiday.

How much appeal has the Grinch?

This isn’t false or true-ish

My friend Brian loves it –

And he’s freaking Jewish!

 

Merry Christmas, my readers, or whatever you celebrate

I hope your holidays are heartwarming and great

May your days be filled with comfort and cheer

And I’ll be seeing you in the New Year!