Rating:
Everybody needs an origin story. Batman’s got one, James Bond’s got one, even Captain Kirk’s got one. So you’d better believe Santa Claus has got one. Granted, it’s a little strange to think of Santa, of all people, as a fresh faced youngster just starting on a promising career like, I don’t know, Scarlett Johansson in Scoop, but there it is.

Boy, that was a weird example, wasn’t it? Anyway, that’s not really important (though Scoop is a pretty good movie).

Courtesy of our narrator, Fred Astaire, we learn the story of where Santa came from, how he met Mrs. Claus, how he came to deliver toys on Christmas Eve—just about everything you’d want to know about ol’ Kris Kringle. It’s almost as if Fred Astaire did some serious investigative reporting about Santa, like how in Scoop Scarlett Johansson is investigating Hugh Jackman.

It turns out that Santa was once just a wee baby like the rest of us—a foundling, in fact, who was taken in by a family of toy-making midgets named the Kringles. And not just any toymakers, these Kringles. In days gone by they manufactured the greatest playthings in all the world and were the First Toymakers to the King (even kings like to get down on the rug and play with K’NEX now and again).

Alas, those days are long gone. Now nobody gets their toys because the evil Winter Warlock (Keenan Wynn) blocks the mountain pass into the town below. When young Kris Kringle—for so the baby has been named—grows up and develops Mickey Rooney’s voice he pledges to deliver the toys to the eager children, Winter Warlock or no Winter Warlock.

But you don’t get to be a Winter Warlock by rolling over and taking it. He intends to stop Kris Kringle, and he’ll use all the magic powers he has at his disposal. Sort of like how, in Scoop, Woody Allen plays a magician.

Further standing in the way of Kringle’s delivery is a cruel Burgermeister who’s outlawed all toys in his realm. His reasoning behind the ordinance is as follows: “BLAAWGHH I HATE TOYS MYACKGHH GRA!”

From there it’s a series of adventures, magic and civil disobedience. Kris Kringle meets his special lady, begins his practices of filling stockings and shimmying down dirty chimneys, claims the name Santa Claus and fills in the backstory of every last bit of Santa lore (with the exception of where he got the most famous of all his reindeer; that’s a story for this Friday).

Throughout this Rankin/Bass special are numerous darling moments and fun escapades for the entire family. There’s the usual allotment of musical sequences, most toe-tappingly catchy and one—sung by the not-yet-wed Mrs. Claus—very bizarre indeed. The memorable characters and sweet sense of fun that permeates all of this cartoon place it squarely among the best of the Rankin/Bass TV Christmas shows.

Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town is recommended as a part of this balanced breakfast merry Christmas.

Oh, and once Christmas is over you should probably watch Scoop.

If You Hated This, You Will Also Totally Hate:

• Miracle on 34th Street
• The Santa Clause
• The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause
• The Santa Clause 2
• Nog is Not Just a Ferengi