Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town is a 1970 Rankin/Bass stop motion Christmas special. It is sort of based off the song “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town”. I say “sort of” because other than the title and a few plot elements it doesn’t have much to do with the song. The movie itself is just a story of the origin of Santa Claus, it could be entitled Santa Claus: Origins, though all of the supposed “origins” of the Santa Claus mythology are unique to this TV special.
This one is extremely popular, but honestly it’s not the best one. The writing on this one isn’t very good. For example the main antagonist is the Burgermeister Meisterburger, and he never really loses or gets defeated. The narrator just says, “Eventually the Burgermeisters sort of died out”. Also, the songs are pretty good, but most of them have nothing to do with the show. The “put one foot in front of the other” song is really fun, but the way it is integrated into the show is a bit absurd. Jessica’s song doesn’t really make sense either. If you’ve seen this show you should know what I’m talking about.
One thing I like about these Rankin/Bass Santa Claus shows is the simple suit that Santa wears. It’s red with white trim. I like the traditional Santa suit. I don’t care for the Santa suits with funky designs in the fabric and weird looking trim. Red Jack, black belt, black boots, and the classic hat is what Santa should be wearing, and that’s what he wears in these shows. I don’t really have much else to say about this. Check back in tomorrow.