Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town is based on the song by the same name, introduced in 1934 by Eddie Cantor.
“The special was created using Japanese stop motion animation called “Animagic”, in which all the characters are made out of wood and plastic and animated via stop-motion photography.”
The film tells the story of how Santa Claus and several Claus-related Christmas traditions came to be.
The special features Fred Astaire, Mickey Rooney and Keenan Wynn and premiered on December 14, 1970 on ABC.
Astaire reprised his role in the 1977 the Easter Bunny is Comin’ to Town.