Thursday, December 11, 2014

Countdown to Christmas: Cricket on the Hearth (1967)

The following was originally published on my other blog, The Land of Whatever, back in 2010:
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Here's a Rankin-Bass production that somehow has been lost to the mists of time, having not gotten as much airplay as the rest of the R-B line. Cricket on the Hearth is based on a story by Charles Dickens (A Christmas Carol), and, as with virtually every other R-B special, is star-packed, with an all-star cast headlined by Danny & Marlo Thomas. Marlo was starring in That Girl around this time, so this might've aired on ABC, I'm not sure. The cast also features actor-singer Ed Ames (Daniel Boone), Abbe Lane, and Roddy McDowell as the titular cricket. Also, Hans Conreid reunited with Danny Thomas, as he'd been a regular on Make Room For Daddy before turning to animation.

Right now, let's take a look. Turns out this was a collaborative effort between Rankin-Bass and Danny Thomas' production company he had with Aaron Spelling.

Edit, 12/4/2020: Had to change the video, and this version has a live-action intro with Danny Thomas at the piano.



Seeing as how I've never seen this show, I cannot rightly give it a rating. It is, however, available on DVD in a compilation package.
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I'm just begging someone to air this now, with Christmas 2 weeks away.

4 comments:

phairhead said...

It's my compilation DVD w/ Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. It's not that great, though Danny Thomas is a hoot! Also, it's only tangently related to Christmas. Bonus: animal on animal gun violence!

hobbyfan said...

Now, I'm hoping someone can upload the full length show.

magicdog said...

I haven't seen this movie although I am familiar with the story.

Have you noticed there are many hearths today which have a cricket figure on it? It's frequently a part of fireplace sets which have the poker and ash shovel.

hobbyfan said...

That puts you one up on me.