The Year Without a Santa Claus

I loved this one as a kid; and its right-CBS had all the best Christmas specials in the '70s-Rankin Bass' in particular. Who can not like this one-Santa takes a holiday, Heat Miser and Freeze Miser, 'Blue Christmas' being done with some oomph for a change....

A certified must-see if you saw this as a kid or want your kids to see it . *** outta ****, it still works today.

I find this holiday made-for-T.V. movie to be one of the more charming of its kind, maybe because it's not as well known as "Rudolph" and "Frosty" and other holiday perennials.

In this one, Santa (voiced by Mickey Rooney, who also did Santa honors in "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town") decides he's had enough of Christmas and those who don't appreciate him and cancels the holiday. Mrs. Claus (voiced by Shirley Booth) decides it's up to her to prove to Santa how much everyone still loves and admires him, so she sends off two elves on an around-the-world fact-finding mission to compile evidence of a belief in Santa and what he stands for. From there, the plot goes all over the place and nothing makes a whole lot of sense, but it's all harmless enough. The film's biggest selling point, of course, are the miser brothers, Heat and Snow, who each get a showstopping burlesque number complete with mini back up singers. I wish these two had been given a Christmas movie of their own.

Grade: A-

The Year Without a Santa Claus is a 1974 Christmas stop motion animated television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. The story is based on Phyllis McGinley's 1956 book of the same name, illustrated by Kurt Werth. It was originally broadcast on December 10, 1974 on ABC.

This could be a sequel to "Santa Claus is Coming To Town" and it is in a spiritual way. Their is however isn't. The animation is different and the elves in this special are not the same elves we see in "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". It is however produced by the same company (Rankin/Bass) and Mickey Rooney voices "Santa" in this special as well.

Now in this film "Santa" decides to not deliver presents this year because he sees that people no longer have "Christmas Spirit" and no longer believe in Santa.

In an effort to save Christmas Mrs. Claus dispatches two elves out into the world to prove to Santa wrong.

Now this special has the now classic songs from "The Heatmiser" and "Mr Snow". There is however 2 other songs that should of been cut or re-worked. Then again that is just my opinion

This special is a true classic. To call it "One of the crown jewels of Holiday Programming" would not do it justice. It is one of the finest programs ever produced for TV.

This special really gained a huge following once it hit Home Video. ABC held the rights for TV broadcast for years but seldom aired the special. After it became obvious that this special was loved by millions ABC began running it again on "ABC FAMILY" and the "ABC Network". The same thing happened with "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" that special was also returned to the ABC Network because of its huge following. That special was syndicated for years. ABC has now re- gained broadcasting rights.

I grew up on the Rankin-Bass specials such as The Little Drummer Boy, Rudolph and The Year Without a Santa Claus. When I got to be in the 6th grade or so I thought I was too 'mature'(yeah, right) for them, but I still secretly watched TYWASC just to see the Snow Miser and the Heat Miser do their thing. One night when I was a teenager a bunch of us were sitting around flipping channels and landed on the Snow Miser about to start. You can imagine how it went after that, since we were all trying to act nonchalant and cool:

me:"oh MAN, this dumb special."

teen #1: "You want me to change it?"

teen #2:"I don't care if you don't"

me: "OK, whatever, I guess we'll leave it." By the time Heat Miser was halfway through his big number we all had big grins on our faces. The next time it was on I taped it and we watched it every year. At some point, the tape broke (probably from overuse), but a few years ago I finally tracked down a copy of the video. Now it's back in print!

The whole special is cool (can't beat that RB stop-motion) but we bought it just to see the Miser brothers do their thing. It's worth the price of admission even though they only have about 10 minutes of screen time. This year we actually were going to give the whole movie a try, but lost patience after about 10 minutes (though kids might enjoy this more) and just cut to the chase and fast-forwarded to the Snow Miser. Usually when we dust off the copy every Christmas, my husband is the one hitting the rewind button after the big finish, "TOO MUCH!"and sheepishly saying " OK, uh, just one more time..." Warning: you will NOT be able to get the song out of your head. Those are catchy-ass songs! Even better, they sound like something Danny Elfman would write- the Heat Miser song especially could be an early-80's Oingo Boingo song. You will walk around for days with, "They call me Heat Miser, what ever I touch, starts to melt in my clutch..." running through your head. To this day I have yet to meet one person who hasn't seen the special, loved the song, and in fact most of them know all the lyrics. You'll start singing it to yourself at work- "he's Mr. White Christmas he's Mr. Snow"...and without fail you'll hear someone else, "I'm Mr. Icicle, I'm MIS-ter Ten below..."

I agree with the other reviewers-they are crazy not to repackage the special prominently featuring the Miser bros, because it would fly off the shelves. At least put a little sticker with a picture of Heat Miser on the box or something, people will get the idea.

I'm also glad I'm not the only adult who has thought about who they would cast in a live-action version...we were thinking James Woods (who unfortunately looks more like Snow Miser every year) and--hey, as long as we're dreaming here anyway--Chris Farley. Anyway, if you watched the special as a kid, and are holding off on purchasing a copy because you think it won't stand the test of time, trust me on this- IT WILL! It's...too much. TOO MUCH! (BA-da-da-da).

Almost everyone who was a child in the US during the early to mid-70s seems to remember that Christmas special with Heat Miser and Snow Miser, but no one can remember the title, or much else about the show. After finally tracking it down and watching it again after all these years, I can understand why. The non-Miser Brothers parts don't hold up so well for this adult, at least. I guess the thought of a sulky, depressed Santa isn't as dramatic as it seemed when I was five. However, my brother and I greatly enjoyed the opportunity to sing along again with "He's Mister Heat Miser, he's Mister Sun...."

It's a mystery to me why the folks marketing the video give only a plot summary on the package with no mention of what kids find most memorable. This is also true of most the guides to holiday viewing in the entertainment magazines. Hint to marketing people: make sure you advertise this as the one with Heat Miser and Snow Miser in it, and everyone born between about '66 and '72 will be buying it for their kids, if not themselves.