Here Comes Peter Cottontail facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Here Comes Peter Cottontail
Based on
Written by	Romeo Muller
Directed by	Jules Bass Arthur Rankin Jr.
Voices of	Casey Kasem Vincent Price Joan Gardner Paul Frees
Narrated by	Danny Kaye
Country of origin	United States Japan
Original language(s)	English
Production
Producer(s)	Jules Bass Arthur Rankin Jr.
Cinematography	Kizo Nagashima (Animagic Supervision)
Editor(s)	Irwin Goldress
Running time	55 minutes
Production company(s)	Rankin/Bass Productions
Distributor	NBCUniversal Television Distribution
Release
Original network	ABC
Original release	April 4, 1971 (1971-04-04)
Chronology
Followed by	Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie

Here Comes Peter Cottontail is a fun Easter TV special from 1971. It was made using stop-motion animation, which means characters are moved slightly and photographed frame by frame. This special is based on a 1957 book called The Easter Bunny That Overslept. It also features the famous Easter song "Here Comes Peter Cottontail".

The show first aired on April 4, 1971, on the ABC network. Over the years, it has been shown on many other channels like CBS and Cartoon Network. In 2005, a computer-animated movie sequel was made, called Here Comes Peter Cottontail: The Movie.

Story of Peter Cottontail

The story is about Peter Cottontail, a young Easter Bunny who lives in April Valley. This is where all the Easter Bunnies live and work. They make Easter candy, sew bonnets, and decorate Easter eggs.

Colonel Wellington B. Bunny, the current Chief Easter Bunny, is about to retire. He chooses Peter to take his place. Peter has always dreamed of this job, even though he sometimes boasts and isn't always responsible.

However, an evil rabbit named Irontail also wants to be Chief Easter Bunny. He wants to ruin Easter because a child once roller-skated over his tail. Irontail challenges Peter to a contest to see who can deliver the most eggs. The rules of April Valley say this is allowed.

Peter agrees to the challenge, but he stays up all night partying. He asks his rooster, Ben, to wake him up early. But Irontail secretly gives Ben magic bubblegum, which seals his beak. Peter sleeps through the morning, missing the rooster's calls.

Irontail tries to deliver eggs all day, but he isn't very good at it. He only manages to deliver one egg to a sleeping hobo. But that's still one more egg than Peter delivered! So, Irontail becomes the new Chief Easter Bunny.

Irontail quickly makes Easter terrible. He orders eggs to be painted brown and gray. He makes candy sculptors create chocolate spiders instead of bunnies. He even replaces Easter bonnets with galoshes (rain boots).

Peter feels terrible about his bragging and how it led to this disaster. He leaves April Valley in shame. He then meets Seymour S. Sassafras, a friendly inventor. Sassafras supplies April Valley with colors for eggs from his amazing Garden of Surprises.

Sassafras lets Peter use his Yestermorrowbile, a special time machine. A caterpillar named Antoine pilots the machine. Peter plans to go back to Easter, deliver his eggs, win the contest, and defeat Irontail.

But Irontail finds out about Peter's plan. He sends his spider to mess with the time machine. This makes Peter and Antoine travel to other holidays instead of Easter.

Since the contest rules don't say eggs must be delivered only on Easter, Peter tries to give them away on other holidays. On the Fourth of July, he tries to trick two boys by painting his eggs red, white, and blue, pretending they are firecrackers. It doesn't work.

Next, they land on Halloween. Peter meets a witch named Madame Esmeralda and gives her a Halloween egg. This makes the score tied! When she calls other Halloween creatures, Irontail sends his helper, Montresor, to steal Peter's eggs.

Peter gets his eggs back, but they can't go back to Halloween because the time machine needs fixing. After failing to give away eggs on Thanksgiving, they land on Christmas Eve. Peter dresses as Santa Claus and tries to give away Christmas eggs, but the streets are empty.

He hears crying from a hat shop and meets Bonnie, an Easter bonnet from April Valley. Bonnie is sad because no one wants to buy her. Peter trades his Christmas eggs for Bonnie. But Irontail steals the eggs again! Peter and Bonnie chase him, accidentally leaving Antoine behind.

During the chase, Irontail crashes into Santa's sleigh. Santa makes Irontail give the eggs back to Peter. Peter is too sad to thank Santa because Antoine is gone.

Later, Peter and Bonnie land on Valentine's Day. Peter meets a pretty bunny named Donna and gives her a Valentine egg. However, Irontail casts a spell on all the eggs, turning them green inside and out. No one wants the green eggs, and even Donna gives hers back.

After failing to give away the green eggs on Washington's birthday, Peter promises to be more responsible. They land in the middle of St. Patrick's Day. Finally, Peter manages to give away the green eggs! He wins the contest and becomes the official Chief Easter Bunny. Antoine returns as a butterfly. Irontail becomes the April Valley janitor. Peter then leads a big parade with all the characters from the story.

Voice Actors

The special featured these voice actors:

How the Show Was Made

On May 28, 1971, the famous actor Danny Kaye was a guest on a TV show called The Dick Cavett Show. He talked about his work on Peter Cottontail. He even showed some raw footage of how the puppets were made. He also explained how the stop-motion scenes were put together. This gave viewers a peek behind the scenes of how the special was created.

Songs in the Special

1. Here Comes Peter Cottontail – Seymour S. Sassafrass
2. The Easter Bunny Never Sleeps – Colonel Wellington B. Bunny, Chorus
3. The Easter Bunny Always Sleeps (Irontail's reprise; the diabolical version of The Easter Bunny Never Sleeps) – Irontail
4. If I Could Only Get Back to Yesterday – Seymour S. Sassafrass, Chorus
5. When You Can't Get It All Together, Improvise – Antoine, Peter Cottontail, Chorus
6. Be Mine Today – Peter Cottontail, Donna, Chorus
7. In The Puzzle of Life – Seymour S. Sassafrass, Chorus
8. Here Comes Peter Cottontail (reprise) – Seymour S. Sassafrass, Chorus

Behind the Scenes Crew

• Producers/Directors – Jules Bass, Arthur Rankin, Jr.
• Teleplay – Romeo Muller
• Music and Lyrics – Jules Bass, Maury Laws
• Based on "Here Comes Peter Cottontail" – Steve Nelson/Jack Rollins © 1949 Hill & Range Songs, Inc.
• Based on "The Easter Bunny That Overslept" – Priscilla and Otto Friedrich © 1957 Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Company
  • Illustration – Adrienne Adams
• Character Design – Paul Coker, Jr.
• Continuity Design – Steve Nakagawa
• Editorial Supervisor – Irwin Goldress
• Sound and Effects Recording – John Boyd, Jim Harris
• "Animagic" Supervision – Kizo Nagashima
• Character Model Sculptor – Ichiro Komuro (uncredited)
• Animators – Yutaka Mikome (uncredited), Takeo Nakamura, Hiroshi Tabata
• Musical Director – Maury Laws

Home Video Releases

Here Comes Peter Cottontail has been released many times on different home video formats. It came out on VHS tapes in the 1990s and early 2000s. It has also been released on DVD several times, starting in 2002.

A Blu-ray version was released in 2019. However, this Blu-ray version is shorter than the original special. It cuts out some scenes and songs, making it nearly 10 minutes shorter. This edited version was later sold everywhere in 2020.