1968 was a legendary chaotic year in American history.That's when this gentle Christmas special debuted.This thread is about The Little Drummer Boy.There is no official release of this special available uncut but there'll be a link at the end to see it.
This may be the fastest made Rankin/Bass special ever.Arthur Rankin sold the idea to NBC one winter morning and called up Romeo Muller to write it. Romeo got out his Bible and finished it that afternoon. By evening he was reciting his script over the phone to Rankin's secretary.
What Muller wrote was a story that blended Biblical content with Shakespearean prose & the cast added to its stature. (It was Romeo's favorite Rankin/Bass special.) Academy Award winning actress Greer Garson gives this special its regal narration.This is her Gas ad for it. 
Jose Ferrer stars as the villain Ben Haramad. In recent years the woke complain this character is "racist" against arabs or jews but Ferrer was most known for playing Cyrano de eBrgerac and he was famous for his large nose hence the caricature.
One of the most brilliant touches of Muller's adaptation of the Nativity story is he chose to make each of the Wisemen represent one of the gentile races much like in some traditions Noah's sons are claimed to be the fathers of each ethnic group.This was VERY innovative for 1968.
This is the song One Star in the Night without the dialog from the film. I've dubbed it over the footage where it goes in the special since it's not available on CD.
Drummer Boy aired on network TV NBC until the early 80's when religious Christmas specials were dropped. It then moved to cable broadcasts but has always been treated as the stepchild of the other Rankin/Bass specials.
In the late 90's Drummer Boy was "restored" from a 16 MM print. The original negative has been missing for years. When the sound was remixed many of the sound effects were "lost." Compare how the emotional drama of the moment is last without the animal sounds in the climax.
Paul Frees' temp narration was mixed in replacing some of Greer Garson's as well.
The latest edit on bluray includes inserted fade outs making room for new commercial breaks and ruin the flow of the special. The best print I've found of it as it originally was is here but it's upscaled, I wish they'd do a correct restoration:
Drummer Boy is just as essential of a Christmas special as Rudolph, Frosty, the Grinch, Charlie Brown, Magoo and all the rest. It needs to be rediscovered and kept alive for what it is.I don't think another family project combined a fictional character with the Nativity as well.
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