Friday, December 3, 2010

Like Animated Classics? Thank Bermuda.

I’m a sucker for cheap animation and of course, for evergreen characters like Hermey the elf who instead of making toys just wants to become a dentist (you go Hermey!). A cheerful narration by Burl Ives doesn’t hurt either. Nor does a slate of original Christmas tunes like “Misfits,” which you can watch on the short video above. So what does this all have to do with Bermuda? Well my friends, I’m happy to report that “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” the 46-year-old, much-beloved holiday special was created by none other than Arthur Rankin Jr., a native Bermudian who also created animated favorites “Frosty the Snowman” and “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” The special originally aired on December 6, 1964 on NBC and it remains the longest-running highest-rated show of its kind in the history of American television. In fact, with an estimated 11.9 million viewers according to Nielsen ratings, it just beat out the oh-so-popular Fox program Glee when it aired on CBS last week. I guess Santa Claus knows where Bermuda is after all! I told you it was beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

1 comment:

  1. Another fun BDA connection... I recently read that Fraggle Rock was inspired by Bermuda's Crystal Caves!

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