Artist:Burl Ives
Song:A Holly Jolly Christmas
Album:20th Century Masters: The Christmas Collection: The Best of Burl Ives
Burl Ives performed A Holly Jolly Christmas in the 1964 TV special Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. It was a top five hit and has become a best selling Christmas perennial. Ives was already famous for his music and acting. So he didn't really need another hit. But A Holly Jolly Christmas has turned out to be his most enduring recording. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was produced by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass. They produced TV commercials through their company Videocraft. The two created a stop motion animation called Animagic. This was all executed by Tadahito Mochinaga. NBC hired Rankin/Bass to produce a holiday Christmas special. Of course Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer is based on the Gene Autry hit written by Johnny Marks. He also wrote a couple of new songs including A Holly Jolly Christmas. The voices were recorded in Toronto under the supervision of Bernard Cowan and Paul Soles. You know those mid 60s Spiderman cartoons? They did those too and plenty of others. Originally the voice of Sam the Snowman was supposed to be played by Canadian actor Larry D. Mann. But NBC suggested Ives because of his fame. And it paid off. The TV special was very successful which of course led to more TV specials. And Ives' recording of A Holly Jolly Christmas reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The recording and the TV special are now beloved Christmas perennials. This Burl Ives Christmas album is available as a budget CD. Here's the video for A Holly Jolly Christmas by Burl Ives. Universal produced this animated video in 2019.
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