What was Rankin/Bass thinking?
In 1979, the thinking world was stunned by the free-TV premier of the Rankin/Bass production of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Return of the King. Of course, Rankin/Bass had been regularly stunning the sensibilities of folk everywhere since the fifties, establishing a niche market in stop-motion animated holiday specials such as The Little Drummer Boy, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman. Just about any Boomer you meet can hum a few bars of one or more kitsch-tune classics spawned by the musical side of their productions.
