The Little Drummer Boy (TV special)

A young Jewish boy named Aaron lives a peaceful and happy life with his parents on a farm with their three farm animals, Samson the Donkey, Baba the Lamb, and Joshua the Camel. On his birthday, Aaron's parents give him a drum as a gift, to which the animals dance when he plays it. One night, bandits from the desert steal their livestock, kill Aaron's parents, and burn the farm down. Emotionally scarred from the tragedy, Aaron begins to hate all humanity. Because his drumming can make the three animals dance, Aaron is kidnapped and forced to join Ben Haramed's caravan with rather inept performers against his will. When performing in Jerusalem, Aaron becomes infuriated by the townspeople's amusement and lashes out at them for being thieves and knaves.

Some time later, the troupe comes upon the Magi caravan who are following a bright star in the sky. Seizing his chance, Ben greedily attempts to perform for the Magi, but they are uninterested as they try to make haste to get to the star's destination. One of the caravan camels becomes too weak to continue traveling and the Magi has no extra camel, so Ben seizes Aaron and bargains with them that they use Joshua in exchange for some of their gold, but Aaron refuses to take any gold from Ben and leaves for Bethlehem with Samson and Baba. Later Aaron and his two remaining animal companions Samson and Baba escape, climb the tallest hill and join up with the Magi as they follow the star and then journey toward Bethlehem. There, upon recognizing Joshua and trying to reunite with him, Baba is struck by a Roman chariot. Aaron takes the injured lamb to the Magi to be healed, but they insist that maybe the baby can help. Having no gift to give to the baby, Aaron decides that his "gift" to Him and His parents will be his playing his drum for them. As a sign of gratitude, Baba is healed and rushes into Aaron's arms, filling Aaron's heart with joy at last.[2]

• Greer Garson as "Our Storyteller"
• Teddy Eccles as Aaron
• Jose Ferrer as Ben Haramad
• Paul Frees as Ali, Aaron's father, Three Kings
• June Foray as Aaron's mother
• The Vienna Boys' Choir singing the title song.

The Little Drummer Boy received an approval rating of 75% on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on thirteen reviews. The site's critical consensus reads: "The Little Drummer Boy is a mature addition to the Rankin-Bass catalogue, with a powerful conclusion that compensates for the special's dour storytelling and unpolished animation."[3]

In 1976, Rankin/Bass produced a sequel, titled The Little Drummer Boy, Book II, again sponsored by the American Gas Association. It premiered on December 13, 1976, on NBC, and like its predecessor, has also aired on Freeform and separately on AMC as of 2018.[4] Warner Bros. is the show's current distributor through their ownership of the post-1973 Rankin/Bass Productions library via Telepictures.[5] In this sequel, written by Jules Bass (under the pseudonym Julian P. Gardner), Aaron and his animal friends team up with Melchior, one of the Magi, to protect silver bells, made to ring for Christ's arrival, from a band of greedy Roman soldiers.[6] Warner Archive released The Little Drummer Boy Book II, in a collection called Rankin/Bass TV Holiday Favorites Collection.

• List of Rankin/Bass Productions films
• List of Christmas films

Wikiquote has quotations related to The Little Drummer Boy (TV special).

• The Little Drummer Boy at IMDb
• The Little Drummer Boy Book II at IMDb