'Rudolph' Expert To Speak at Oak Lawn Public Library

OAK LAWN, IL -- The official Rankin-Bass historian Rick Goldschmidt will offer a fascinating lecture on the making of ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ and other stop-action TV holiday classics this Friday, Dec. 16, at the Oak Lawn Public Library. Goldschmidt is scheduled to speak from 2 to 4 p.m.

The Alsip native now lives in a TV memorabilia-filled house in Oak Lawn, but he is mostly known as the official Rankin/Bass historian. Goldschmidt was introduced to Arthur Rankin Jr. by former Mad Magazine artists Jack Davis and Paul Coker, who designed all of Rankin/Bass stories. A historian was born.

Goldschmidt was so highly thought of by Rankin his creative partner, Jules Bass, that he was asked to speak at Rankin’s funeral in 2014. He’s written four books on the legendary animators, including The Enchanted World of Rankin/Bass Portfolio, Making of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Rankin/Bass Mad Monster Party and The Arthur Rankin Jr. Scrapbook. All of Goldshmidt’s books can purchased online from MiserBrosPress.

Throughout the creative geniuses’ career, Rankin and Bass produced 33 “Ani-magic” family-oriented TV specials, 16 of which centered around Christmas. The pair met at ABC in New York City in the 1950s. Rankin was the artistic director for “Tales of Tomorrow” and live TV shows. Bass was a Madison Avenue advertising executive, who penned commercial jingles for Pine-Sol floor wax, Safety cones and other household products.

The two teamed up to form their production company VideoCraft International, where they became interested in stop-action animation. Their first production was Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which debuted in December 1964 on the General Electric Fantasy Hour.

“Rudolph started production in early 1963 and it was truly a global production,” Goldschmidt said. “They worked with actors in Canada to do the ‘Rudolph’ voices, the music was done in England and the animation was produced in Japan.”

Goldschmidt will reveal the history of the legendary animation studio and their classic TV specials and films, as well as rare archived clips from Goldschmidt’s extensive collection that has been exhibited all over the world.

“They built real sets scaled down on table tops. The figures were carved wood and there were two dozen models for each action sequence,” Goldschmidt said. “Some of the models had adjustable ball joints and others were just wire. It was more simple when they started out.”

While Rudolph, Frosty and Kris Kringle are the more famous characters in the Rankin/Bass stable, the creative duo were also known for a few Saturday morning animated shows featuring The Osmonds, The Jackson 5 and The King Kong Show in Chicago.

Not an admirer of today’s animation, Goldschmidt said of Rankin/Bass, “They created a world so much different than what they do with computers today.

"You pick apart a Rankin/Bass film and everything is the best,” Goldschmidt added.

The Oak Lawn Public Library is located at 9427 S. Raymond Ave. Copies of the new 20th Anniversary edition of “The Enchanted World of Rankin/Bass: A Portfolio” will be available for purchase.