Santa, Baby!

It’s 2001, and a magical partridge is sending me on a coat drive for some kind of Karate Kid-style Santa training.  ️ Andre Bennett and Tim Babb join us for a ride in our light blue ’54 convertible as we take a joyride through the very last and most overlooked Rankin/Bass Christmas special, featuring a mostly black cast starring Patti LaBelle, Gregory Hines, and a criminally underused Eartha Kitt as a talking cat.  ****  Topics & Tangents:  This special was co-written by Suzanne Collins, who went on to write “The Hunger Games.”  The other co-writer, Peter Bakalian, also has a book series. It’s called “The F.A.R.T. Diaries.”  Patti LaBelle in Philadelphia’s “Get to Know Us” tourism campaign, 1985.  Patti LaBelle on “Sesame Street” singing “How I Miss My X.”  IMDb’s photo gallery for “Santa, Baby!” is full of high-quality promotional images.  RankinBass.com’s first look at “Santa, Baby!” from December 2001.  Gregory Hines in “The Muppets Take Manhattan” and “Running Scared.”  Rankin/Bass finally includes “The Twelve Days of Christmas” and “Jingle Bells” in a Christmas special.  Natalie Toro (Samson) lists “Santa Baby!” on her bio page.  Andre’s uncle co-wrote K-Ci & JoJo’s “All My Life.”  ****  Commercials:  McDonald’s “Wake Up” Breakfast Commercial featuring Patti LaBelle (1990)  Can’t Wait for Christmas.  ****  “Santa, Baby” © 2001 Perisphere Pictures, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Find us at adventcalendar.house.