Inspirations for the man can be traced to different figures in history and folklore: Saint Nicholas from the 4th century, who lived during that time in Turkey and gave gifts to the poor; Odin from Norse Mythology, who is often said to appear during the Yuletide festitives of a 'Great Hunt'; Sinterklaas, a Dutch figure who can be considered the proto-Santa Claus. It wasn't too long before such a figure became part of Christianity, often times becoming more of the figurehead on Christmas itself, instead of Jesus Christ.
(Sorry for that.)
(No problem.)
Overall, he has become a major figure in Western society during the winter season. Pop culture likes to play around with the idea of how Santa Claus came to be. Sometimes, he can be adventurous. Other times, he is just a simple good person wanting to do more. Occasionally, he is seen as both.
(Like Russian Santa Claus here)
In 1970, Rankin/Bass released their own take on Santa Claus' origins, a special titles 'Santa Claus is Comin' To Town'.
The narrative of this special is actually from a mailman named Special Delivery, or S.D., Kluger, who addresses the audience of sorts (really just children) through the mailbag.
(See, its appearances like this that make people see stop motion as 'uncanny valley')
So, he explains how the story begins in the town of...Sombertown. It is run by Burgermeister Meisterburger, a rather ill-tempered person more concerned with his own power than anything else. His assistant, Grimsley, brings him a baby from Burgermeister's doorstep, with only the name tag 'Claus' and a note saying to take care of him. Burgermeister just orders Grimsley to take the baby to the orphanage instead. Well, we've found our villain for this special.
Grimsley tries taking the baby during a snowstorm, but loses it during the travels. The baby nearly ends up in the hands of the Winter Warlock, who-
(Woah!)
Uh...but some friendly critters manage to save the baby and deliver him to the a family of elves. The Kringles decide to keep the child as their own, with the elf queen Tanta naming the baby 'Kris'. Kris grows up with the elves, learning how they were great toy makers to the king of the land years ago. Inspired, Kris works on becoming a toymaker himself, hoping to restore their respected name.
Years later, Kris has grown up and makes his way to the closest town to deliver the toys. He encounters a penguin who got lost trying to get to the South Pole (somehow ending up in middle Europe or something) and joins Kris on his journey. I know the penguin has a name, but it really isn't that important to the plot.
Anyway, before Kris actually reaches Sombertown (where else would he end up), Burgermeister gets into an accident with a toy duck and bans all toys until he recovers. Kris didn't really get that memo and starts handing out toys upon his arrival. He even manages to convince the local teacher, Jessica, to get into the fun. However, Burgermeister ends up getting involved as well, wanting Kris to get arrested for delivering the toys.
No surprise, Kris and the penguin end up escaping the town, but quickly finds themselves in the clutches of the Winter Warlock-
(Gaah!)
-who was actually waiting for Kris to return and dish out some punishment. However, Kris retaliates by giving him a toy train, warming the Winter Warlock's heart and turning him nice.
(Guess he feels a bit embarrassed at scaring Kris)
So, Kris gets a new friend, but is told by Jessica of how the Burgermeister destroyed the toys Kris brought to the kids. The Burgermeister keeps trying to get Kris to stop his toy delivery, but the future Santa Claus couldn't be stopped.
Lock all the doors? Kris goes down chimneys instead.
Daily searches? Kris hides the toys in the socks drying by the fireplace.
Eventually, the Burgermeister wises up and lays a trap for Kris. He ends up capturing Kris, the penguin, all the elves and even Winter himself. Apparently, the former 'Winter Warlock' didn't have all that great power he once had before.
Jessica ends up being the only one left, wanting to try and free the others captured. She manages to find Winter's cell, but he laments how few magic abilities he has left. The only one that could be significant is some corn that grant reindeer the power of flight. Jessica manages to pull it off and free the captured.
Not long after, the Burgermeister puts out the order to capture Kris on sight, but Kris manages to grow a beard to hide his appearance.
(Genius!)
He also ends up discovering the name 'Clause', which he was original found under. He not only took the name back, but also ended up marrying Jessica to make her Mrs. Clause. Eventually, the group finds a home in the North Pole, building a new house and recieving letters from children for toys. As the years go on, Santa Claus decides that he would go out one day a year (since he was getting tired of weekly trips and the like). The day he picked out ended up being Christmas itself.
In the end, S.D. Kluger recites how that, while there are some people who may not enjoy the holidays, it is important to keep to them and enjoy them. It ends with the titular song as Kluger gets some picks ups from the elves, the penguin and Winter himself along the ride to Santa Claus' home.
Final Thoughts:
This special seemed a bit...off. This is mostly in the story moreso than the animation, which was pretty good for its time. It felt like they needed to fit in a lot of the usual Santa Claus tropes (name, red suit, toy gifting, going down chimneys, etc) and worked on building a story around it all. In some areas, it worked and fell flat in others.
Much like Rudolph before it, it didn't need to have high stakes outside of trying to outsmart the main villain of the special. It certainly felt more casual, laid back, something to watch with family instead of by yourself. Characters are kind of simple, though you could read into a few of them to find them more complex, like the Winter Warlock and even the Burgermeister himself.
In the end, it isn't a major special to see, but it wouldn't hurt to see it at least once.
Next time, we'll see what it is like to have a year without a Santa Claus.
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