Cricket on the Hearth [DVD]

PLOT: Danny Thomas stars as Caleb, a toymaker who discovers a cricket (delightfully played by Roddy McDowell) on his fireplace hearth at Christmas which is supposed to be a sign of good luck. His daughter Bertha, (played by his real life daughter Marlo Thomas who makes her first musical performance in this show), is sadly seeing her fiance Edward off to war so luck is not with them yet. Edward is gone for months, and finally news arrives that he is dead, but the grief strikes Bertha blind. Caleb who was already very poor only seems to do worse. He is forced to work for Grugg Tackleton (voiced by Hans Conried who also voiced Captain Hook for Disney), a mean Scrooge like character, who only pays room and board. He is a crow named Caw (voiced by Paul Frees who also voices the Sea Captain). Since Bertha cannot see, the toymaker tells his daughter they are in luxurious surroundings and he is being paid very well. He meets an old and hungry stranger and brings him home to eat. The evil Tackleton decides he wants to marry Bertha, and the cricket joins with the toys that are brought to life to defend her honor. Songs include "Don't Give Your Love Away", "Smiles Go With Tears", "Through My Eyes", "The First Christmas", "That Was Yesterday", "Fish and Chips", "Parade of the Toys", and "A Waltz for Christmas". BACKGROUND INFO: This one hour format television special was first aired on NBC on December 18, 1967. It was created by Rankin/Bass Studios in association with Aaron Spelling and Danny Thomas. Music by Maury Laws, and lyrics by Jules Bass. This was the 5th television special from the studio, and their first Christmas holiday show after Rudolph. This was the first time Danny and Marlo Thomas appeared together for a television show, and it was shown again later during an episode on the Danny Thomas Show. Marlo was on television in her own popular show the same year this was in producion. The script was written by Rankin Bass regulars, Romeo Muller and Arthur Rankin. It has great cel animation art, and a good story. By the way the horrible artwork on the box pictured here is not from the actual film, so do not let it scare you off. This rights to the show are currently owned by Golden Books, and they have done a great job recently with DVD's with the other shows they have in their catalogue from Rankin/Bass who brought us such memorable holiday classics such as Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, Year without a Santa Claus, Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey, Mad Monster Party, The Little Drummer Boy, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Mouse on the Mayflower, Here Comes Peter Cottontail, the Stingiest Man in Town, Jack Frost, Pinnochio's Christmas, Rudolph's Shiny New Year, the First Easter Bunny. Rankin/Bass also made non-holiday films such as The Hobbit, Flight of Dragons, and The Last Unicorn. It is incredible that one company is responsible for all those TV specials, 95% of the ones we see every year. Their work includes standard animation, stop-motion animagic, and live action. I have bought all the other Rankin/Bass that have been released on DVD.

This quaint and wholesome story was loved by my children when we owned it on VHS tape. We were so happy to find it again on DVD so we can watch it every year. Danny and Marlo Thomas give touching performances.

Haven’t seen this in a long time, took me awhile to find it. DVD came in fine. Plays wonderfully. Enjoyed watching it with my mom! The few things I get to do with her, during the holidays.

Another Rankin Bass classic released. Enjoy it, but it doesn't last long. Running time is less than an hour, which makes me wonder about the price. The company should really put out several of Rankin-Bass's unreleased specials and features as a box set, with 2 or 3 features to a disk. LET'S SEE MORE PLEASE. There are still so many that haven't come out yet. Releasing the "Festival of Family Classics" series, one volume at a time as "Classic Adventures" doesn't do it justice. Put the full series out on DVD, please. Let's have their other unreleased features and their 70s serieses like "Smokey Bear," "Osmonds", etc. Don't let them sit on vault shelves for more decades. Peter

A very good DVD - I wanted to know more about the Cricket on the Hearth as I heard it brings good luck. I was given a bronze cricket. I'm not sure if it brings good luck or not but did enjoy the story.

Very cute Christmas movie and it's so neat that Danny and Marlo Thomas did this together. Roddy McDowell as the cricket is cute too! I recommend seeing this classic Christmas cartoon.

Very cute!

Wow awesome