EASTER FEVER/THE JACK RABBIT STORY
This ,Nelvana’s fifth half-hour special, appeared on Canadian Broadcasting Corp. television Sunday 30 March 1980. Both Patrick Loubert and Michael Hirsh are named Producers. Clive Smith’s role is confusing, sometimes named Producer, he does not appear in the credits. It is likely he was already working on what would become Rock and Rule. According to Starweek, planning for Rock and Rule was already underway when this project was being finalized. A partner production company was Topcraft a Japanese animation company. The film was a Canadian/American production: The Directors were John Celestri an American animator and cartoonist, Greg Duffell of Toronto an animator, producer and writer who owned Lightbox Studios Inc. and Ken Stephenson. The screenwriter was American Larry Moulin. Songs were by John Sebastian. The music was composed by Patrician Cullen, another Nelvana regular. The voice actors included Nelvana regulars Catherine O’Hare and Chris Wiggins. Don Fergusson of the comedy team Royal Canadian Air Farce also participated.
Unlike the previous specials, Easter Fever has no continuous storyline. Rather it is three episodes within the framework of a celebrity roast modelled on the television series Comedy Central Roasts (1998-2002) in which among insults and jokes the celebrity’s life and career were revealed by his or her peers. The Easter element fades with each episode until it disappears altogether. The alternate title “The Jack Rabbit Story” would have better reflected the creators’ intent.
The “roast” has been organized because “Jack, The Easter Rabbit” is going to retire. The show starts with a catchy number “Easter’s been good to me” sung by “Jack”. The first celebrity “Santa Claus” who “Jack” idolizes relates “Jack’s” origin story. It began when he and other rabbits were attacked by farmers for eating their crops. He was rescued and raised by a hen. His childhood was in the “Rudolph Reindeer” mode. He was an outsider who didn’t fit in with the chickens and who was mocked by the other farm animals. One Christmas his chicken “parents” who were poor painted an egg and put it in a stocking for him. It fell out and became lost, but “Jack” searched and found it. He remembered this event when during the Easter holiday the farm animals complained about having nothing to do. Thus was born “Jack The Easter Bunny” who hid painted eggs for others to search out and find. “Santa” ends the story calling Easter the second most important holiday which “Jack” jokingly disputes.
The second celebrity “Ratso” tells how “Jack” and “Scarlett O’Hare” became a couple. “Jack” was training for Easter Day when he saw “Scarlet” and fell so hopelessly in love with her that he was incapacitated. The farm animals organized a contest for a replacement and “Scarlet” accidently won much to “Ratso’s” displeasure. “Ratso” had always envied “Jack” and wanted to take over the Easter egg delivery himself. He organized a gang of rat toughs, and they harassed “Scarlet”. “Jack” raced to the rescue, but it is uncertain who saved who. “Ratso” ends his account when he says to “Jack” “no hard feelings” but it is questionable if he no longer envies “Jack”
The third celebrity is “Scrawny Chicken” and she tells how she and the other hens and their eggs were rescued from the mad chef “Madam Melegg” who had kidnapped them and was forcing them to lay two million eggs. The main event is “Jack’s” battle with “Madam Melegg”. References to Easter have disappeared.
Concerning the “roast” framework, it is difficult to say whether Nelvana is indulging in its tradition of social comment or whether the creators are simply copying the atmosphere they saw in the Comedy Central Roasts”. The characters seem superficial, their behaviors more theatrical than real. A rivalry beneath the surface of camaraderie is hinted at in the “Santa” episode and made explicit in the “Ratso” episode. The only genuine character is the young aardvark who throughout the film attempts to reach “Jack”. At the end of the roast, he succeeds and presents “Jack” with an Easter Egg begging him to stay on as the “Easter Bunny” which, of course, “Jack” agrees to do.
As in other Nelvana productions, film reviewers identify the quality of the animation as the strength of the film. To quote Jeremy Ferguson:
“What makes this nonsense worth watching is the quality of the animation in a medium were quality has long been sacrificed in pursuit of the fast buck.”
SOURCE:
Article periodical:
The Spectator [Hamilton] TV Times, 25 March – 5 April 1980: “The Easter Bunny is a cluck”. Writ., Wesley Hicks: no page number, cover.
Starweek Magazine, 25 March – 5 April 1980: “Nelvana’s Easter Egg”. Writ., Jeremy Ferguson: 6.
Newspaper:
Toronto Sun, 2 October 1979: Nelvana’s ‘Thanksgiving’ is Out Of This World”. Writ., George Anthony.
Internet:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0382006/fullcredits. Accessed 29 April 2024.
GALLERY:
The Spectator [Hamilton] TV Times, 25 March – 5 April 1980: No page number.
Starweek Magazine, 25 March – 5 April 1980: 6.