On December 6, 1964, Americans settled down in front of their televisions for what they didn’t know would become an essential part of holiday culture. Animated holiday specials were nothing new, but this was something a little different, something a little weird.
Rankin/Bass Productions hired a Japanese animation studio to produce an adaptation of the classic Christmas song “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” using a revolutionary technique called “Animagic”, a form of stop-motion photography in which figures made of wood and plastic are photographed one frame at a time. The results were odd, jerky, some might even say creepy. Yet, it’s a look that has become as essential to Christmas in America as presents under the tree, ugly sweaters and dads falling asleep in the middle of the afternoon.
