TVSquad

When you think of Rankin-Bass (that's Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass for the unknowing) what's the first thing that comes to mind? Why Christmas, of course! No holiday season would be complete without watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman or The Year Without a Santa Claus (the original, not the bastardized live-action NBC version) at least once. However, Rankin-Bass wasn't only just for Christmas. In fact, they made specials for Thanksgiving, Halloween and . . . Easter.

There were actually three Easter specials, to be exact. The first was Here Comes Peter Cottontail, which premiered in 1971 on ABC. In that one, which starred the voice talent of Casey Kasem, Vincent Price, and Danny Kaye, Peter is a young bunny in April Valley, which is the central hub for all things Easter. The Chief Easter Bunny names Peter his successor, but the citizens of April Valley, including the evil rabbit Irontail (isn't there always an evil rabbit somewhere) declare this monarchy unconstitutional. So, the C.E.B decides to hold a contest between Irontail and Peter to see who can deliver the most eggs. Whoever does gets the Chief Bunny position.

As there is a lesson to be learned in all Rankin-Bass holiday shows, Peter parties all night, gets up late (courtesy of Irontail messing with his alarm clock) and doesn't deliver one damn egg. Irontail becomes the C.E.B and Peter leaves April Valley in shame. But, as with many Rankin-Bass stories, Peter realizes the errors of his ways, hooks up with girl bunny Donna, and redeems himself. In the end he takes his rightful place as Chief Easter Bunny.

Two more Rankin-Bass Easter specials aired after this one. In 1976 came The First Easter Bunny which told the story (narrated by Burl Ives) of how a little boy's stuffed rabbit came to life to become the first Easter Bunny. One year later The Easter Bunny is Comin' to Town premiered, featuring another origin of this famous fuzzy creature. In this one, Fred Aistaire returns as mail carrier S.D. Kluger to tell the story of Sunny, a rabbit adopted by the kid population of Kidville (no kidding!) who decides to deliver eggs to the children of the next town, only to find out that there are no kids. Hm, sounds like an episode of the X-Files to me.