Here Comes Peter Cottontail is a 1971 stop-motion animated Easter special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. It is based on the 1957 novel, “The Easter Bunny That Overslept,” by Priscilla and Otto Friedrich, and the title is based on the Easter song of the same name by Steve Nelson and Jack Rollins, who also wrote the classic Christmas song “Frosty the Snowman.” Featured voices are Danny Kaye, Casey Kasem, Vincent Price, Joan Gardner, and Paul Frees.
In 2005, it was followed by a computer-animated sequel, Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie.
Plot[]
Our narrator, Seymour S. Sassafrass, an eccentric yet friendly peddler and inventor, tells us the story of how the titular hero, Peter Cottontail, once saved Easter from the hands of his malicious arch-rival, Irontail.
Colonel Wellington B. Bunny, the retiring Chief Easter Bunny of April Valley, where all Easter bunnies live and work, making Easter candy, sewing bonnets, and decorate and deliver Easter eggs, names Peter as his successor, despite Peter’s boasting, irresponsibility and fibbing, the latter of which is exemplified when his left ear droops (ala Pinocchio). Peter, who has always dreamed of being the Chief Easter Bunny pretty much his entire life, gladly accepts the offer.
Meanwhile, there is only one person in April Valley who is not happy with the Colonel’s decision: January Q. Irontail, an evil, reclusive and villainous rabbit, who lives alone in a craggy old tree on the outskirts of April Valley with his pet bat, Montressor. The reason he called by that name is because once, many years ago, a small child accidentally roller-skated over his tail, lopping it off and resulting in him donning a prosthetic tail made of iron, hence his name. Ever since that day, he hates all children, and he only wants Peter’s job for himself so that he can ruin Easter for children everywhere as revenge for the loss of his tail.
He then goes to April Valley, where Colonel Bunny is about to crown Peter the new Chief Easter Bunny. He proposes a contest to see who delivers the most eggs, according to April Valley’s constitution, and the one who wins will be the new ruler of April Valley. Peter says a contest is the only fair way to decide who’s best and takes on Irontail’s challenge. However, despite Peter promising the Colonel that he won’t fail, he’s so confident that he’ll win that instead of getting to be early, he stays up all night partying with friends. Although he tells his alarm clock rooster, Ben, to wake him up 5:30 A.M., Irontail sneaks into his house and feeds the rooster magic bubble gum, sealing his beak. As a result, when the rooster tries to crow, he only manages to blow bubbles; which float so far away that Peter can’t hear them, resulting in him sleeping through and losing the contest. Irontail tries all day long to deliver eggs, but only manages to deliver one egg (to a sleeping hobo), as no one wants an Easter egg from such a nasty bunny. However, it’s still more than what Peter delivered. As a result, Irontail becomes the new Chief Easter Bunny, and begins passing laws that will doubtlessly make the Easter holiday a depressing disaster. These laws include:
· Painting eggs brown and gray
· Making chocolate tarantulas and octopi instead of bunnies and chicks
· And having Easter galoshes instead of bonnets
Meanwhile, ashamed that his bragging and irresponsibility led to this tragedy, Peter leaves April Valley in disgrace, vowing to make up for his mistake if it’s the last thing he does.
The next morning, he meets Seymour in his Garden of Surprises, where he supplies April Valley with the color dyes the bunnies use to color their Easter eggs with, which he gets from the vegetables he grows. Such vegetables include red, white, and blue cabbages, purple cornstalks, striped tomatoes, and orange string beans. Proving to be very compassionate and understanding of Peter’s situation, Sassafrass shows him the Yestermorrow Mobile, a time machine he invented that can transport anyone to the holidays, either yesterday or tomorrow. With the help of its pilot, a French caterpillar named Antoine, Peter realizes that he can go back in time, deliver his eggs, win the contest, and defeat Irontail. Unfortunately, Irontail find out what Peter is up to, and sends his spider to foil his plan. The spider fiddles with the Yestermorrow Mobile’s control wiring, making it so that Peter and Antoine can go to any holiday but Easter.
The duo first crash land on Mother’s Day, where Peter tries giving his eggs away to a mother and her two children. But this proves to be a difficult holiday to give eggs away on, with the mother’s son even saying, “Who wants Easter eggs on Mother’s Day?” Thus, Peter and Antoine must move on. At the next landing, they wind up on the 4th of July. Since the contest’s rules don’t specifically say the eggs must be delivered on Easter, Peter paints the eggs red, white and blue, and tries to give away them away, even lying to two boys by claiming that the eggs are actually firecrackers, (which backfires horribly).
On Halloween, Irontail calls his old friend, a witch named Madame Esmerelda, and asks her to scare Peter off. Fortunately, Peter isn’t scared by Esmerelda at all, and even gives her a Halloween egg. Esmerelda loves her gift and says she’ll round up the other creatures of Halloween to take the rest of the eggs. Before she can do this, Irontail, angry over Esmerelda’s betrayal, sends Montressor out to steal and smash Peter’s eggs. Luckily, Peter and Antoine manage to safely recover all of the eggs. Unfortunately, Peter cannot go back to Halloween to give away the rest of the eggs since Antoine has to land the Yestermorrow Mobile to keep up with the repairs.
After failing to give away any eggs on Thanksgiving, the duo land on Christmas Eve, wherein Peter, dressed as Santa Claus, tries to give away Christmas eggs on the streets, but fails since the streets are all deserted. Peter hears sobbing from a nearby hat shop. He discovers that it’s coming from Bonnie Bonnet, a talking Easter bonnet who left April Valley years ago. She’s sitting all alone in the shop window, sad that nobody wants to buy her. This prompts Peter to make a deal with the shop owner: he’ll trade Bonnie for his Christmas eggs. The shop owner agrees to this, but just as the deal is about to close, Irontail steals the eggs and flies away on Montressor. Peter and Bonnie go after him, but in their rush, they accidentally leave Antoine behind. During the chase, Irontail and Montressor crash into Santa’s sleigh. Santa returns the eggs to Peter, who cannot stop the Yestermorrow Mobile to thank him, and is sad for leaving Antoine behind.
After missing New Year’s Eve, Peter and Bonnie find the stop button and land on Valentine’s Day, where Peter meets a pretty girl bunny named Donna. He gives her a Valentine’s egg as a gift, and they go ice-skating with the other animals. However, Irontail finds the eggs again and casts an evil spell on them, turning them green, inside and out. Everyone who had gotten a Valentine egg returned it to Peter—even Donna, who returns hers in tears.
After failing to give away the green eggs on George Washington’s birthday, Peter vows to be more honest and responsible, if only he can find a way to give away his eggs. He and Bonnie land on St. Patrick’s Day, which gives Peter another chance to give them away, which he successfully does. Having finally won the contest at last, Peter becomes the new Chief Easter Bunny, his sweetheart Donna gives him a loving kiss, his old friend Antoine returns as a butterfly, and the defeated Irontail is demoted to janitor of April Valley, regulated to picking up trash from the easter parade lead by Peter.
Songs[]
- “Here Comes Peter Cottontail”
- “The Easter Bunny Never Sleeps”
- “The Easter Bunny Always Sleeps (Irontail’s reprise)”
- “If I Could Only Get Back to Yesterday”
- “When You Can’t Get It All Together, Improvise”
- “Be Mine Today”
- “In the Puzzle of Life”
Cast[]
- Danny Kaye—Seymour S. Sassafrass, Colonel Wellington B. Bunny, Antoine
- Casey Kasem—Peter Cottontail
- Vincent Price—January Q. Irontail
- Paul Frees— Colonel Bunny’s assistant, Man at Thanksgiving dinner, Santa Claus, Firefighter, Rooster
- Joan Gardner— Mother’s Day mother, Lady at Thanksgiving dinner, Sue, Madame Esmerelda, Bonnie Bonnet, Hat shop owner, Lady on George Washington’s birthday
- Iris Rainer—Donna
- Greg Thomas—Tommy, Independence Day Boy #1
- Jeff Thomas—Independence Day Boy #2