The First Easter Rabbit is a 1976 animated Easter special, it premiered on April 9, as seen on NBC and later CBS. Created by Rankin/Bass, it tells the story of the Easter Bunny's origin and is loosely based on The Velveteen Rabbit, a children's book by Margery Williams. Burl Ives did the narration of this special which also featured the song "Easter Parade". After 1964's "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer", this is the second Rankin/Bass special to be narrated by Burl Ives.