TV Tidbit: The Easter Bunny is Comin’ to Town

At Christmas time, we all sit down to watch many holiday Christmas specials made by those keepers of the yuletide, Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town, Frosty the Snowman, Twas the Night Before Christmas, The Little Drummer Boy and The Year Without a Santa Claus are among the many holiday specials that this duo were behind producing. But Rankin and Bass were not just Christmas-fixated. One of their best and most beautifully constructed stop-motion animation special debuted in 1977, on April 6th. The Easter Bunny is Comin’ to Town was very similar-to Rankin and Bass’s Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town, but this time the story behind the traditions of Easter were explored: hiding eggs, jelly beans, Easter Lily’s, all explained in a delightful 50-minute story. Once again, Fred Astaire returned to voice the character of mailman S.D. Kluger (as he did in Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town). As he narrates, the story of Sunny (voiced by Skip Hinnant), a.k.a. The Easter Bunny unfolds. Full of delightful colors and a batch of chirpy little upbeat ditties, The Easter Bunny is Comin’ to Town was great fun for the whole family.

Fun Fact: Rankin and Bass were also responsible for another Easter-related stop-motion animation classic, Here Comes Peter Cottontail. Made in 1971, it featured the voices of Danny Kaye, Casey Kasem, and Vincent Price. It is a different take on the story of the Easter Bunny and how he comes about being tasked with hiding Easter eggs.