Tuesday, December 1, 2015

"Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer"

I grew up watching Rankin and Bass stop-motion animated holiday television shows and they hold a special place in my heart. "Frosty The Snowman" was narrated by Jimmy Durante, "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" was narrated by Fred Astaire, and the classic special you see here, "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer" was narrated by Burl Ives! It airs tonight at 8PM...I'm glad it is still around (it first aired in 1964, the year I was born, so it is as old as me!).


http://www.rankinbass.com/

2 comments:

chessa said...

Never liked this show. Everyone treated him like crap untill he had something useful for them . I wanted him to say "I will Do it for all the kids but we are really going to agree on certain conditions here."

Jeff said...

Hi Chessa,

Thanks for visiting and for the comments.

And yes, I totally agree with you about Rudolph! You nailed it! From a kid's perspective, it's innocent enough, but from an (my) adult perspective, it has a VERY different sense. As someone with a history of serious bullying including physical attacks, I think the shame is on the adult reindeer, AND let's face it, Santa himself for being oblivious about the bully culture that existed in his reindeer community. If I were Rudolph with my adult current knowledge, I would say, "Ohhhhh, NOW you want me, huh? I was disgusting before, but suddenly I am valuable to you? Hmm, seems suspicious."

But at the end of it, it's a dated kid's holiday show and I can remember it with fondness since it was part of the whole holiday magic when I was a wee lad. Ha!

Thanks again!
JEF