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I suppose, I had never seen a happier room. And in there, in the corner, was the nicest little hearth you could ever hope for.

Cricket Crocket looking at a room inside of the toy shop.

Cricket on the Hearth is a Christmas special produced by Rankin/Bass and animated by Television Corporation of Japan (now Eiken). It is based on the book of the same name by Charles Dickens and premiered on NBC on December 18, 1967, as the twelfth episode of The Danny Thomas Hour.[1]

Synopsis

The special begins in England where the chorus sings the title song. Our main character, Cricket Crocket, goes inside to warm up and tells us how he became a part of his human family.

Caleb meeting the cricket

Caleb offering the cricket to stay with him and Bertha.

It was springtime and he was looking for a proper family to "adopt". Just then, he spots a toy shop and meets its owner, Caleb Plummer. Caleb suggests that he stay with him and his family for a little while, and Cricket accepts his hospitality.

Cricket enters and sees Caleb's daughter, Bertha weeping as she hugs her fiance, Edward, a sailor in the Royal Navy and must leave for a voyage lasting several years. The two share a tearful farewell and Bertha promises to always be faithful to him ("Don't Give Your Love Away"). Later, Caleb and Bertha, with some help from Cricket, build some toys. Bertha sings "Smiles Go With Tears". Once she's done, Jeremiah Bleak arrives to inform the family that Edward has died at sea. The shocking news devastates Bertha to the point where the tragedy renders her blind. Caleb does all he can to make Bertha feel better, but nothing works. He hires doctors to try to cure her blindness but they cannot. Caleb loses his passion for work and takes out loan after loan. When he's unable to pay the mortgage, he has no choice but to pack up and leave.

With Cricket and Bertha, Caleb try to find a bit of work. As he's about to give up, Cricket spies a toy shop in need of employment ("Through My Eyes"). Caleb meets the greedy toyshop owner Tackleton and his pet crow Uriah and urges him for a job. Tackleton signs on Caleb and tells him that he can sleep on the premises and eat leftovers but won't be paid. Caleb also learns he's the only toymaker working for Tackleton and must do quadruple the usual workload on his own. In their new home, Caleb pretends they're living with other workers and that their situation isn't quite so grim to not worry Bertha.

Cricket meeting Uriah

Cricket meeting Uriah Caw, Tackleton's pet crow.

Later that night, as Caleb and Bertha are sleeping, Uriah appears to chase Cricket around and tries to eat him, until Tackleton calls him back to his cage. The next day is the week before Christmas. Caleb starts to work night and day to keep up with the demands of the season and Tackleton's penny-pinching orders. Caleb bumps into an old man who is Edward in disguise two days before Christmas. Caleb invites him to come home with them, and Bertha is surprised when this supposed stranger knows her name. Caleb declares that they are all one family and that Christmas is a time for mankind to come together ("The First Christmas").

Tacklton gives Caleb and Bertha a Christmas Bonus

Tackleton giving Caleb and Bertha a Christmas bonus.

On Christmas Eve, the trio builds toys until Tackleton and Uriah stop by to give them a Christmas bonus of a few shillings. What Tackleton wants, however, is to make Bertha his wife. He gives her an hour to think it over. Bertha, unaware of Tackleton's true nature and age, is honored, though Caleb initially refuses since he still sees her as just a child. She tells Caleb that he must accept the fact that she is grown-up now ("That Was Yesterday"). Edward arrives intending to finally tell Bertha the truth about him, but Bertha happily tells him that she's decided to marry Tackleton. Edward leaves in heartbreak.

Cricket is determined that Bertha doesn't yes to Tackleton's proposal, so he calls on his friends to sabotage her meeting with him. After it ends with Tackleton running out sneezing (as Cricket put black pepper in his tea), Tackleton orders Uriah to get rid of the cricket by any means necessary. Uriah goes to an animal bar down by the docks and meets his associates, a dog, and a monkey named Strangler and Slink. They listen to a cat named Moll sing "Fish and Chips".

After the song, they go over plans to eliminate Cricket. Slink proposes an alternate solution to killing him: they can capture him and sell him to a sea captain who's keen on capturing and selling crickets for their luck. Uriah, Strangler, and Slink kidnap Cricket and bring him to the captain's ship in a cage. The captain, however, shoots them and sets sail to China, intending to sell Cricket Crocket there for a pretty price.

The sea captain talks to the cricket

"You'll fetch a pretty price, you will."

Eager to return home to his family, Cricket plays dead and successfully tricks the captain into throwing him out of the boat. He makes his way back to land with the help of a whale, a pelican, and various helpful fish.

When Cricket finally makes it back to the toyshop, it's midnight. The toys start to come alive, which they can only do on Christmas Eve when there are no people present (they inform Cricket Crocket that crickets don't count). Cricket asks for their help in preventing Bertha's marriage to Tackleton, which they agree to since Bertha and her father have looked after them so well. They take Cricket to Edward, who is sleeping outside, and remove his disguise. The toy elephant explains that Edward didn't drown when his ship went down. He built himself a raft, sailed to an uncharted island, and lived there for two years before a whaler found him and brought him back to England.

Edward wakes up and Cricket demands to know why he never told Bertha and Caleb who he was. Edward says he came directly to Bertha once he returned home, but blamed himself for her sudden blindness. He felt guilty stepping back into her life after what he felt he did to her, so he adopted the disguise so he could still Bertha with her without anyone knowing. He finally gathered up the courage to tell her the truth, only to see how happy she was when Tackleton proposed to her and decided not to take that happiness away from her. He came back tonight to have one last look at Bertha before she is married. Cricket insists that Bertha will be happy that he's alive and wakes her. Just as Cricket said, she is thrilled to find Edward again and the two are married right away.

Caleb tells the cricket that he was the luckiest thing

Caleb tells the cricket that he was the luckiest thing.

On Christmas morning, Tackleton is shocked to see Bertha has already been wed to Edward. He cries over how nobody loves him, but Bertha tells him that there will always be a place in her heart for him. Tackleton is suddenly moved by Bertha's kindness and happily changes his ways. Caleb tells Cricket that he was the luckiest thing that ever happened to anyone.

Songs

Title Performed by
"Cricket on the Hearth" Danny Thomas and the Norman Luboff Chorus
"Don't Give Your Love Away" Ed Ames
"Smiles Go With Tears" Marlo Thomas
"Through My Eyes" Danny Thomas
"The First Christmas" Danny Thomas and the Norman Luboff Chorus
"That Was Yesterday" Marlo Thomas
"Fish and Chips" Abbe Lane
"Through My Eyes (Reprise)" Ed Ames
"Medley: Cricket on the Hearth/The First Christmas" Danny Thomas
The Norman Luboff Chorus

Broadcast history

In the years since its initial NBC airing, Cricket on the Hearth has aired annually on Freeform's 25 Days of Christmas block and for a few years on some PBS stations during the 2000s. From 2009 to 2011, This TV aired the special during the Christmas season. MeTV also aired the special annually until 2012. Some airings of this version of the special are incorrectly listed as the 1909 film.

Availability

As of 2024, the special is owned by NBC Universal, who obtained all rights to the pre-1973 Rankin/Bass library when they purchased Classic Media's parent company, DreamWorks Animation, in April 2016.

The special was distributed on home video by Sony Wonder in 1998 and 2006, by Genius Products in 2007 and 2009, and by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment in 2019. Before getting its own individual Blu-ray release in 2019, it was also included in Universal's Original Christmas Classics Deluxe Edition DVD and Blu-ray sets in 2018, sharing a disc with The Little Drummer Boy.

Edits

  • On Freeform's airings of the special, some scenes were sometimes cut for time. Caleb's song, "Through My Eyes" and Bertha's second song "That Was Yesterday" were shortened as well. Also, while the framing device was still kept after the Universal Pictures logo, while shortened, the other one, in the end, was cut entirely to go straight to the credits, and so is the umbrella title to the special.

Cast

Voice actor/actress Character(s)
Danny Thomas Caleb Plummer (animation)
Himself (live-action bookends)
Marlo Thomas Bertha Plummer
Ed Ames Edward Benton
Abbe Lane Moll
Roddy McDowall Cricket Crocket
Hans Conried Tackleton
Paul Frees Jeremiah Bleak
Money Lender
Uriah Caw
Dog
Strangler
Slink
Captain
Toy Elephant
Rocking Horse
The Norman Luboff Chorus Themselves

Gallery

References

  1. The Enchanted World of Rankin/Bass, by Rick Goldschmidt. 1997, Miser Bros. Press.

External links

Rankin/Bass
Rudolph the Red-Nosed ReindeerCricket on the HearthThe Little Drummer BoyFrosty the SnowmanSanta Claus is Comin' to Town • "A Christmas Tree" • 'Twas the Night Before ChristmasThe Year Without a Santa ClausThe First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas SnowFrosty's Winter WonderlandRudolph's Shiny New YearThe Little Drummer Boy, Book IINestor, the Long-Eared Christmas DonkeyThe Stingiest Man in TownRudolph and Frosty's Christmas in JulyJack FrostPinocchio's ChristmasThe Leprechauns' Christmas GoldThe Life and Adventures of Santa ClausSanta, Baby!
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