Rankin/Bass

Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc. (formerly Videocraft International, Ltd.) is an American production company, known for its seasonal television specials.

The company origins
The company was founded by Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass in the early-1960s as Videocraft International. One of Videocraft's first projects was an independently produced series, The New Adventures of Pinocchio. The series was produced using "Animagic", a stop-motion animation process pioneered by George Pal's "Puppetoons" and Art Clokey's Gumby and Davey and Goliath.

Rankin and Bass followed the Pinocchio series with a traditional cel-animation series, Tales of the Wizard of Oz, in 1961.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
In 1964, the company produced Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, a stop-motion animated adaptation of the popular Johnny Marks song.