Surprise! Welcome back! I’m spending some of my precious weekend time talking about a show that’s close to a lot of hearts. Would I let you go a day without a Rankin-Bass special? No! That’s why I’m taking a look at The Year Without a Santa Claus!

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This is the special most people remember for the appearance of Heat Miser and Snow Miser. Yet while their own breakout from this special is substantial, they actually aren’t a large part of what I’m going to talk about today. The Year Without a Santa Claus is a tangentially film about family ties, yes, but refreshingly, it’s mostly a film about underestimating women. While Santa sniffles, Mrs. Claus moves the story forward. While those brothers arye arguing, Mother Nature proves that she’s the political leader we all deserve. The Year Without a Santa Claus is the special where men bitch and whine while women get shit done.

The Year Without a Santa Claus begins when Santa gets sick. Again played by Mickey Rooney, though with a bit more gristle in his voice when he plays the character as an old man, he’s worn out and tired from the one day a year he has to go out and work. This version of Santa is sick and tired. He needs rest and recovery, and decides, regretfully, that he won’t be able to go out this year. He outright cancels Christmas.

Narrated by Shirley Booth as Mrs. Claus, Booth replaces Robie Lester in her Santa Claus is Comin to Town role as Santa’s wife Jessica. As the main character of this piece, Booth’s Mrs. Claus differs by feeling far more forceful. She has a definite will and agency of her own in contrast to her husband’s lethargy. Far from needing a strong and vigorous male lead, she steps up into her own when Santa goes down and knows it would be silly even considering cancelling the whole holiday just on his behalf. She even considers taking up the main role herself!

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In I Could Be Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus dresses up in her husband’s clothes and fantasizes in the mirror about taking on the role. She makes a good point! Looking back at the origin of the character, there’s nothing inherently special about him other than a desire to do good. To cancel Christmas entirely just because he’s got a mild case of “man flu” doesn’t make a lick of sense, and Mrs. Claus knows it. She spent her younger years as a schoolteacher. She yearns for more than simply sitting around the North Pole, especially when she knows there are going to be sad children on Christmas morning. Since her husband will never see reason that way, she puts a plan into action to trick him instead.

“Humoring her husband for the time being…” Mrs. Claus convinces two elves, the unfortunately named Jingle Bells & Jangle Bells (another pair of brothers) to go on a hapless misadventure to find Christmas cheer that can reinvigorate Santa Claus. They ride Vixen the reindeer into the human world. This is the second central female character introduced, and notice how young she is compared to any of the other reindeer we see in this special. She’s clearly developed her abilities earlier, and can take on a job that’s later shown to be a high ranking position given to experienced bucks. Mrs. Claus knew what she was doing assigning her, women empowering other women.

Once in the human world of Southtown, Jingle and Jangle disguise Vixen as a dog, diminishing her female power by covering her horns in the same way Rudolph’s nose had to be doused, though thankfully nobody calls her a bitch. Fittingly, it’s this need to hide who she really is that leads to her being captured and sent to the pound.

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Santa goes after them on Dasher. An all-male combo team that thinks they’re helping, but really only serve towards Santa’s own needs in the end. Santa’s travelling outfit here makes him look like a wizard trying to make it in the Muggle world. This aspect of Santa is pretty great. He’s spent so many years hiding away in the North Pole that he doesn’t understand the mortal world anymore. Obviously substantial time has passed since the events of Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town, and Santa is shocked by what he learns when confronted by a group of schoolchildren.

These kids don’t care about Christmas and don’t believe in Santa. It’s a continued theme from Twas the Night Before Christmas, but belief is less at the forefront this time and more being used as a gag for how Santa reacts to this news. Is he really that out of touch and unimportant? Could Christmas actually go on without him?

This old man talking to your son is not someone you should invite inside. Yet that’s exactly what this family does! In a roundtable dinner conversation, Iggy comes to the realization that Santa is, indeed, real. I Believe in Santa Claus, sings Santa Claus.

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Jingle and Jangle make their way to the mayor’s office to get Vixen released. He will release the dog, but only if they can prove they’re actually Santa’s elves. He demands they make it snow. He’ll give Santa a national holiday if it does. Faced with this task, Jingle and Jangle immediately give up and fly back to the North Pole to get Mrs. Claus to bail them out.

Since Southtown never gets any snow, Mrs. Claus must speak to somebody who has the power to make it it happen. She takes them to see Snow Miser on Blitzen. Individual reindeer are really getting a workout in this special.

We all know how the special plays out here. Snow Miser says he won’t do it unless Heat Miser agrees, but Heat Miser wants springtime in the North Pole as compensation. This is the most memorable part of the special and a lot of people’s favourite because, let’s face it, those songs are damn catchy. But let’s think about it more closely. Snow Miser and Heat Miser have opposing songs. They are equally closed minded and stubborn. This is a parable for how a male dominated world works, and Mrs. Claus’ calm and thoughtful response shows how ridiculous it is.

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To each of their insane requests, Mrs Claus replies with “I’ll see what I can do”. She’s so political. I can only imagine what Santa’s response would be here, blustering and arguing through a stubborn opponent. Mrs. Claus knows that approach won’t work, takes her time, and thinks through the entire process, finally deciding to do the sensible thing, bypass the two boys, and speak to their mother.

Since Santa isn’t going out this year, the children of the world decide to get presents for Santa instead. It’s a sequence that feels more like the “and now a word from us kids” segment from Arthur episode than any Arthur episode I’ve watched this week. The little slice of Blue Christmas is sweet here, and fitting in a musical in which white and green Christmases both featured so prominently.

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Mrs. Claus sits down and speaks to the Miser Brothers’ mother: Mother Nature. Two women sit down and have a conversation with one another. All the more impressive, four male characters are in the room and (for the most part) fall silent to their power. Both Mrs. Claus and Mother Nature are flanked by a pair of brothers who seemingly represent them, but fall short of actually achieving this goal in every way. The women fare far better when actually speaking for themselves. Mother Nature, of course, agrees with Mrs. Claus that with a little compromise on both sides, they can make things work for the greater good.

It snows in Southtown, the goal is achieved, and Mrs. Claus’ hard work is rewarded by everybody celebrating her husband instead. Here Comes Santa Claus plays as Santa flies his sleigh into this triumphant finale that he did not deserve.

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Look, I like this special. I admit that Heat Miser and Snow Miser are fantastic, and those scenes are pretty definitive entertainment value. Yet taken as a whole, it just feels so middling, like there’s nothing at stake. Maybe the threat of Santa going to cancel Christmas would feel real if Mrs. Claus wasn’t such a boss. But I wouldn’t change that. She gets stuff done in this episode and doesn’t get the credit she deserves. Never underestimate women.

I know it seems like I’m just ranking this is order of when I’ve watched each film, but that really is just a matter of coincidence. I can definitely see something coming in and taking the #5 spot away from The Year Without A Santa Claus, for as much as people love this special, it spends a lot of time middling about with dog catchers. I definitely consider it a lower-tier inclusion.

 

1. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
2. Frosty the Snowman
3. Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town
4. Twas the Night Before Christmas
5. The Year Without a Santa Claus
6. The Little Drummer Boy

 

Our next special is a quieter affair. Put on your mittens and your snowboots, because tomorrow we’re going to be taking a look at The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow!

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Billy Seguire
thebillyseguire@gmail.com
A Toronto-based writer and reviewer who thrives on good science-fiction and stories that defy expectations. Always tries to find a way to be excited about what he's doing. Definitely isn't just two kids in a trenchcoat. Co-Host of Scooby Dos or Scooby Don'ts.

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