The Easter Bunny Is Comin' To Town

The Easter Bunny Is Comin' To Town
Cover of the DVD version
Written by	Romeo Muller
Directed by	Jules Bass Arthur Rankin, Jr.
Narrated by	Fred Astaire
Theme music composer	Maury Laws
Country of origin	United States Japan
Original language(s)	English
Production
Producer(s)	Jules Bass Arthur Rankin, Jr. Masaki Iizuka (associate producer)
Cinematography	Akikazu Kono
Running time	50 minutes
Production company(s)	Rankin/Bass
Distributor	Warner Home Video (current rights holder)
Release
Original network	ABC
Original release	April 6, 1977
Chronology
Followed by	Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey (1977)
External links
Website

The Easter Bunny is Comin' to Town is a 1977 Easter stop motion animated television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions, and featuring the voice of Fred Astaire as the narrator. It originally premiered on ABC on April 6, 1977 at 8 p.m.

S.D. Kluger (from Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town and once again voiced by Fred Astaire) returns as a train engineer, but still a mailman to answer questions about the Easter Bunny in the children's letters.

The story begins in the small town of Kidville, run by all orphaned children (Including S.D. Kluger when he was a kid) and located on the other side of Big Rock Mountain. The children enjoy the simple life, despite being bothered by Gadzooks the Bear who hates everything to do with the holidays. One Easter morning, they find an orphaned baby rabbit, raise him as their own, and name him Sunny when they notice how much he likes the warm sun. Sunny (voiced by Skip Hinnant), now one year old, makes plans with the children to get what they make for what they need in exchange, including their eggs, with help from three chickens called the Hendrew Sisters. A year after being found, Sunny sets off to deliver his eggs. Along the way, he meets a friendly hobo named Hallelujah Jones, who suggests to him that he could sell his eggs in a town called Town. However, upon climbing Big Rock Mountain, Sunny runs into Gadzooks who steals his eggs. After escaping, Sunny makes it to Town, which is a dreary, dismal place where if any children are born, the whole family has to move away, under the laws of seven-year-old King Bruce the Frail (Voiced by James Spies) and his aunt, the Dowager Duchess Lily Longtooth, who actually rules the whole town. Bruce complains about wanting to be a normal child, despite his aunt's objections.

Saddened by this, Sunny heads back to Kidville and explains the problem. Hallelujah and the children dip the eggs in various bowls of paint as a way of tricking Gadzooks. He lies to the bear, saying he is on his way to sell colored stones as paperweights. Gadzooks, befuddled by Sunny's lie, lets him go, demanding to bring him eggs. Sunny makes it into Town again, passing out his eggs to all the townspeople, including King Bruce, who crowns him the Easter Bunny, Royal Knight of the Rainbow Eggs and he and Sunny hold a traditional ritual of eating the eggs. However, Lily, disappointed in her nephew, chases Sunny out, outlaws eggs, and sends him to bed without supper. After Bruce tells Sunny that he knew his supper would be more beans, anyway, Sunny promises to bring him very special beans next Easter. The following year, Sunny, Hallelujah, and Herbert the Baker make the first Easter jelly beans. However, upon their way to Town to deliver them, Gadzooks, still angered by Sunny's lie, thinking his eggs are colored stones again, flings them far, far away. All hope seems lost until all the other children hunt the eggs up in bushes and trees, and Sunny decides that he'll always hide them. Next Easter, Sunny sets out, only to get caught by Gadzooks, who chases him to Kidville, where everybody has all pitched in to make him a brand new Easter outfit made by the Kidville tailors and he becomes their friend.