Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (TV special)

*Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town*
Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town
	Title page
Genre	Christmas
Written by	Romeo Muller
Directed by	Arthur Rankin Jr.; Jules Bass;
Voices of	Fred Astaire; Mickey Rooney; Keenan Wynn; Paul Frees; Joan Gardner; Robie Lester;
Narrated by	Fred Astaire
Music by	Maury Laws; Jules Bass (lyrics);
Country of origin	United States; Japan (Animagic);
Original language	English
Production
Producers	Arthur Rankin Jr.; Jules Bass;
Cinematography	Kizo Nagashima
Editor	Irwin Goldress
Running time	51 mins
Production company	Rankin/Bass Productions
Original release
Network	ABC
Release	December 13, 1970
Related
	Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964); Frosty the Snowman (1969); Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (1970); Here Comes Peter Cottontail (1971); 'Twas the Night Before Christmas (1974); The Year Without a Santa Claus (1974); The First Easter Rabbit (1976); Frosty's Winter Wonderland (1976); Rudolph's Shiny New Year (1976); The Easter Bunny Is Comin' to Town (1977); Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey (1977); The Stingiest Man in Town (1978); Jack Frost (1979); Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (1979); Pinocchio's Christmas (1980); Frosty Returns (1992); Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys (2001); The Legend of Frosty the Snowman (2005); A Miser Brothers' Christmas (2008);
	Infobox instructions (only shown in preview)

Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town is a 1970 American stop motion Christmas television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions in New York, New York. The film is narrated by Fred Astaire and stars the voices of Mickey Rooney, Keenan Wynn, Robie Lester, Joan Gardner and Paul Frees, as well as an assistant song performance by the Westminster Children's Choir. The film tells the story of how Santa Claus and several Claus-related Christmas traditions came to be. It is based on the hit Christmas song, "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town", which was written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie for Leo Feist, Inc. and introduced on radio by Eddie Cantor in 1934; and the story of Saint Nicholas.^[1]

The special was created using Japanese stop motion animation called "Animagic", in which all the characters are made out of wood and plastic and animated via stop-motion photography. The special was originally telecast December 13, 1970, by ABC,^[2] which continues to air the special every year, along with its sister network Freeform, as of 2022 (commemorating the special's 50th anniversary), although, at times, both networks have edited the special to make room for commercials.

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^ Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. pp. 264–265. ISBN 9781476672939.
^ Woolery, George W. (1989). Animated TV Specials: The Complete Directory to the First Twenty-Five Years, 1962-1987. Scarecrow Press. pp. 359–361. ISBN 0-8108-2198-2. Retrieved March 27, 2020.

[20] Crump, William D. (2019). Happy Holidays—Animated! A Worldwide Encyclopedia of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and New Year's Cartoons on Television and Film. McFarland & Co. pp. 264–265. ISBN 9781476672939.

[Specials-21] Woolery, George W. (1989). Animated TV Specials: The Complete Directory to the First Twenty-Five Years, 1962-1987. Scarecrow Press. pp. 359–361. ISBN 0-8108-2198-2. Retrieved March 27, 2020.

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