Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (song) | Christmas Specials Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (song) 3,653pages on Publisher: St. Nicholas Music "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" is a song based on the story of the same name, created by Robert L. May in 1939 as part of his employment with Montgomery Ward . It tells the tale of Rudolph , Santa 's ninth and lead reindeer, who possesses an unusually red-colored nose that gives off its own light (bioluminescence), powerful enough to illuminate the team's path through inclement winter weather. The story is owned by The Rudolph Company, L.P. and has been sold in numerous forms including a popular song, a television special done in stop-motion animation , and a feature film . Character Arts, LLC manages the licensing for the Rudolph Company, L.P. Contents [ show ] Production information Robert L. May created Rudolph in 1939 as an assignment for Montgomery Ward.

The retailer had been buying and giving away coloring books for Christmas every year and it was decided that creating their own book would save money. In its first year of publication, 2.4 million copies of Rudolph's story were distributed by Montgomery Ward. The story is written as a poem in the meter of 'Twas the Night Before Christmas . Johnny Marks , May's brother-in-law, decided to adapt his story into a song. Marks (1909–1985), who was Jewish, was a radio producer and wrote several popular Christmas songs. He was born in a New York City suburb and graduated from Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., before going off to Paris to study music. He had a heroic World War II combat record, winning the Bronze Star and four battle stars. It was first sung commercially by crooner Harry Brannon on New York city radio in the latter part of 1948 before Gene Autry recorded it formally in 1949, and has since filtered into the popular consciousness.

The lyric "All of the other reindeer" can be misheard in dialects with the cot-caught merger as the mondegreen "Olive the other reindeer", and has given rise to another character featured in a Christmas special of her own . Lyrics Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer : snopes.com Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Was Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer created to bring comfort to a girl whose mother was dying of cancer? - - Claim: The character 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer' was created by a father to bring comfort to his daughter as her mother was dying of cancer. Mixture WHAT'S TRUE: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was created by a man whose wife was dying of cancer. WHAT'S FALSE: The story of Rudolph was created by a father to bring comfort to his daughter as her mother lay dying of cancer. Example: [Collected via e-mail, December 2010] A man named Bob May, depressed and brokenhearted, stared out his drafty apartment window into the chilling December night. His 4-year-old daughter Barbara sat on his lap quietly sobbing.

Bob's wife, Evelyn, was dying of cancer. Little Barbara couldn't understand why her mommy could never come home. Barbara looked up into her dad's eyes and asked, "Why isn't Mommy just like everybody else's Mommy?" Bob's jaw tightened and his eyes welled with tears. Her question brought waves of grief, but also of anger. It had been the story of Bob's life. Life always had to be different for Bob. Small when he was a kid, Bob was often bullied by other boys. He was too little at the time to compete in sports. He was often called names he'd rather not remember. From childhood, Bob was different and never seemed to fit in. Bob did complete college, married his loving wife and was grateful to get his job as a copywriter at Montgomery Ward during the Great Depression. Then he was blessed with his little girl. But it was all short-lived. Evelyn's bout with cancer stripped them of all their savings and now Bob and his daughter were forced to live in a two-room apartment in the Chicago slums. Evelyn died just days before Christmas in 1938.

Bob struggled to give hope to his child, for whom he couldn't even afford to buy a Christmas gift. But if he couldn't buy a gift, he was determined to make one — a storybook! Bob had created an animal character in his own mind and told the animal's story to little Barbara to give her comfort and hope. Again and again Bob told the story, embellishing it more with each telling. Who was the character? What was the story all about? The story Bob May created was his own autobiography in fable form. The character he created was a misfit outcast like he was. The name of the character? A little reindeer named Rudolph, with a big shiny nose. Bob finished the book just in time to give it to his little girl on Christmas Day. But the story doesn't end there. The general manager of Montgomery Ward caught wind of the little storybook and offered Bob May a nominal fee to purchase the rights to print the book. Wards went on to print, Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer and distribute it to children visiting Santa Claus in their stores. By 1946 Wards had printed and distributed more than six million copies of Rudolph.

That same year, a major publisher wanted to purchase the rights from Wards to print an updated version of the book. In an unprecedented gesture of kindness, the CEO of Wards returned all rights back to Bob May. The book became a best seller. Many toy and marketing deals followed and Bob May, now remarried with a growing family, became wealthy from the story he created to comfort his grieving daughter. But the story doesn't end there either. Bob's brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, made a song adaptation to Rudolph. Though the song was turned down by such popular vocalists as Bing Crosby and Dinah Shore , it was recorded by the singing cowboy, Gene Autry. "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" was released in 1949 and became a phenomenal success, selling more records than any other Christmas song, with the exception of "White Christmas." The gift of love that Bob May created for his daughter so long ago kept on returning back to bless him again and again. And Bob May learned the lesson, just like his dear friend Rudolph, that being different isn't so bad. In fact, being different can be a blessing.

Origin:To most of us, the character of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, immortalized in song and a popular holiday television special, has always been an essential part of our Christmas folklore, but Rudolph is in fact a mid-twentieth century invention whose creation can be traced to a specific time and person. However, the glurgified account of that event reproduced above, while essentially correct in its broad strokes, erroneously inverts a key aspect of the process: The story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was not developed by a man who was seeking to bring comfort to his daughter as her mother lay dying of cancer and who subsequently sold his creation to a department store chain. Instead, the Rudolph character and story was developed for commercial purposes by a Montgomery Ward copywriter at the specific request of his employer, and that copywriter then tested the story out on his own daughter during the development process to ensure it would appeal to children. Rudolph came to life in 1939 when the Chicago-based Montgomery Ward company asked one of their copywriters, 34-year-old Robert L.

May, to come up with a Christmas story they could give away in booklet form to shoppers as a promotional gimmick — the Montgomery Ward stores had been buying and distributing coloring books to customers at Christmastime every year, and May's department head saw creating a giveaway booklet of their own as a way to save money. Robert May, who had a penchant for writing children's stories and limericks, was tapped to create the booklet. May, drawing in part on the tale of The Ugly Duckling and his own background (he was often taunted as a child for being shy, small, and slight), settled on the idea of an underdog ostracized by the reindeer community because of his physical abnormality: a glowing red nose. Looking for an alliterative name, May considered and rejected Rollo (too cheerful and carefree a name for the story of a misfit) and Reginald (too British) before deciding on Rudolph. He then proceeded to write Rudolph's story in verse as a series of rhyming couplets, testing it out on his 4-year-old daughter, Barbara, as he went along.

Although Barbara was thrilled with Rudolph's story, May's boss was worried that a story featuring a red nose — an image associated with drinking and drunkards — was unsuitable for a Christmas tale. May responded by taking Denver Gillen, a friend from Montgomery Ward's art department, to the Lincoln Park Zoo to sketch some deer. Gillen's illustrations of a red-nosed reindeer overcame the hesitancy of May's superiors, and the Rudolph story was approved. Montgomery Ward distributed 2.4 million copies of the Rudolph booklet in 1939, and although wartime paper shortages curtailed printing for the next several years, a total of 6 million copies had been distributed by the end of 1946. The post-war demand for licensing the Rudolph character was tremendous, but since May had created the story on a "work made for hire" basis as an employee of Montgomery Ward, that company held the copyright to Rudolph, and May received no royalties for his creation.

Deeply in debt from the medical bills resulting from his wife's terminal illness (she died about the time May created Rudolph), May persuaded Montgomery Ward's corporate president, Sewell Avery, to turn the copyright over to him in January 1947, and with the rights to his creation in hand, May's financial security was assured. (Unlike Santa Claus and other familiar Christmas figures of the time, the Rudolph character was a protected trademark that required licensing and the payment of royalties for commercial use.) "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" was reprinted commercially beginning in 1947 and shown in theaters as a nine-minute cartoon the following year, but the Rudolph phenomenon really took off when May's brother-in-law, songwriter Johnny Marks, developed the lyrics and melody for a Rudolph song. Marks' musical version of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (turned down by many in the music industry who didn't want to meddle with the established Santa legend) was recorded by cowboy crooner Gene Autry in 1949, sold two million copies that year, and went on to become one of the best-selling songs of all time (second only to "White Christmas").

A stop-action television special about Rudolph produced by Rankin/Bass and narrated by Burl Ives was first aired in 1964 and remains a popular perennial holiday favorite in the U.S. May quit his copywriting job in 1951 and spent seven years managing the Rudolph franchise his creation had spawned before returning to Montgomery Ward, where he worked until his retirement in 1971. May died in 1976, comfortable in the life his reindeer creation had provided for him. The story of Rudolph is primarily known to us through the lyrics of Johnny Marks' song (which provides only the barest outlines of Rudolph's story) and the 1964 television special. The story Robert May wrote is substantially different from both of them in a number of ways. Rudolph was neither one of Santa's reindeer nor the offspring of one of Santa's reindeer, and he did not live at the North Pole.

Rudolph dwelled in an "ordinary" reindeer village elsewhere, and although he was taunted and laughed at for having a shiny red nose, he was not regarded by his parents as a shameful embarrassment; Rudolph was brought up in a loving household and was a responsible reindeer with a good self-image and sense of worth. Moreover, Rudolph also did not rise to fame when Santa picked him out from a reindeer herd because of his shiny nose; instead, Santa discovered the red-nosed reindeer quite by accident, when he noticed the glow emanating from Rudolph's room while he was delivering presents to Rudolph's house. Worried that the thickening fog that night (already the cause of several accidents and delays) would keep him from completing his Christmas Eve rounds, Santa tapped Rudolph to lead his team, which the young reindeer agreed to do, after first stopping to complete one last task: leaving behind a note for his mother and father.

As Ronald Lankford noted in his cultural history of American Christmas songs, Rudolph's story was a classic reflection of American values during the 1940s and beyond: Much like the modern Santa Claus song, Rudolph's story is for children; more specifically, it is a children's story about overcoming adversity and earning, by personal effort, respect in the adult world. As a young deer (child) with a handicap that turns out to be an unrecognized asset, Rudolph comes to the rescue of an adult (Santa) at the last minute (on Christmas Eve). When Rudolph saves the day, he gains respect from both his peers (the reindeer who refused to include him in games) and the adult world. The story of Rudolph, then, is the fantasy story made to order for American children: each child has the need to express and receive approval for his or her individuality and/or special qualities. Rudolph's story embodies the American Dream for the child, written large because of the cultural significance of Christmas. Originally published: 16 December 2013 Thank you for writing to us!

Although we receive hundreds of e-mails every day, we really and truly read them all, and your comments, suggestions, and questions are most welcome. Unfortunately, we can manage to answer only a small fraction of our incoming mail. Our site covers many of the items currently being plopped into inboxes everywhere, so if you were writing to ask us about something you just received, our search engine can probably help you find the very article you want. Choose a few key words from the item you're looking for and click here to go to the search engine. (Searching on whole phrases will often fail to produce matches because the text of many items is quite variable, so picking out one or two key words is the best strategy.) We do reserve the right to use non-confidential material sent to us via this form on our site, but only after it has been stripped of any information that might identify the sender or any other individuals not party to this communication. Your Email "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" Was Written To Comfort a Grieving Daughter -Fiction!

A real example of the eRumor as it has appeared on the Internet: **True Story of Rudolph** A man named Bob May, depressed and brokenhearted, stared out his drafty apartment window into the chilling December night. His 4-year-old daughter Barbara sat on his lap quietly sobbing. Bobs wife, Evelyn, was dying of cancer. Little Barbara couldn’t understand why her mommy could never come home. Barbara looked up into her dad’s eyes and asked, “Why isn’t Mommy just like everybody else’s Mommy?” Bob’s jaw tightened and his eyes welled with tears. Her question brought waves of grief, but also of anger. It had been the story of Bob’s life. Life always had to be different for Bob. Small when he was a kid, Bob was often bullied by other boys. He was too little at the time to compete in sports. He was often called names he’d rather not remember. From childhood, Bob was different and never seemed to fit in. Bob did complete college, married his loving wife and was grateful to get his job as a copywriter at Montgomery Ward during the Great Depression. Then he was blessed with his little girl. But it was all short-lived.

Evelyn’s bout with cancer stripped them of all their s avings and now Bob and his daughter were forced to live in a two-room apartment in the Chicago slums. Evelyn died just days before Christmas in 1938. Bob struggled to give hope to his child, for whom he couldn’t even afford to buy a Christmas gift. But if he couldn’t buy a gift, he was determined to make one – a storybook! Bob had created a character in his own mind and told the animal’s story to little Barbara to give her comfort and hope. Again and again Bob told the story, embellishing it more with each telling. Who was the character? What was the story all about? The story Bob May created was his own autobiography in fable form. The character he created was a misfit outcast like he was. The name of the character? A little reindeer named Rudolph, with a big shiny nose. Bob finished the book just in time to give it to his little girl on Christmas Day. But the story doesn’t end there. The general manager of Montgomery Ward caught wind of the little storybook and offered Bob May a nominal fee to purchase the rights to print the book.

Wards went on to print,_ Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer_ and distribute it to children visiting Santa Claus in their stores. By 1946 Wards had printed and distributed more than six million copies of Rudolph. That same year, a major publisher wanted to purchase the rights from Wards to print an updated version of the book. In an unprecedented gesture of kindness, the CEO of Wards returned all rights back to Bob May. The book became a best seller. Many toy and marketing deals followed and Bob May, now remarried with a growing family, became wealthy from the story he created to comfort his grieving daughter. But the story doesn’t end there either. Bob’s brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, made a song adaptation to Rudolph. Though the song was turned down by such popular vocalists as Bing Crosby and Dinah Shore, it was recorded by the singing cowboy, Gene Autry.

“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” was released in 1949 and became a phenomenal success, selling more records than any other Christmas song, with the exception of “White Christmas.” The gift of love that Bob May created for his daughter so long ago kept on returning back to bless him again and again. And Bob May learned the lesson, just like his dear friend Rudolph, that being different isn’t so bad In fact, being different can be a blessing. Gene Autry - Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (Full Song) - YouTube Gene Autry - Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (Full Song) Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Published on Jan 27, 2013 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a fictional reindeer with a glowing red nose. He is popularly known as "Santa's 9th Reindeer" and, when depicted, is the lead reindeer pulling Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve.

The luminosity of his nose is so great that it illuminates the team's path through inclement winter weather. Rudolph first appeared in a 1939 booklet written by Robert L. May and published by Montgomery Ward. The story is owned by The Rudolph Company, L.P. and has been adapted in numerous forms including a popular song, a television special and sequels, and a feature film and sequel. Character Arts, LLC manages the licensing for the Rudolph Company, L.P. In many countries, Rudolph has become a figure of Christmas folklore. Robert L. May created Rudolph in 1939 as an assignment for Montgomery Ward. The retailer had been buying and giving away coloring books for Christmas every year and it was decided that creating their own book would save money. May considered naming the reindeer "Rollo" and "Reginald" before deciding upon using the name "Rudolph". In its first year of publication, 2.5 million copies of Rudolph's story were distributed by Montgomery Ward. The story is written as a poem in the meter of "'Twas the Night Before Christmas".

Publication and reprint rights for the book Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer are controlled by Pearson Plc. Of note is the change in the cultural significance of a red nose. In popular culture, a bright red nose was then closely associated with chronic alcoholism and drunkards, and so the story idea was initially rejected. May asked his illustrator friend at Wards, Denver Gillen, to draw "cute reindeer", using zoo deer as models. The alert, bouncy character Gillen developed convinced management to support the idea. Maxton Books published the first mass-market edition of Rudolph and also published a sequel, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Shines Again in 1954. In 1991 Applewood Books published Rudolph's Second Christmas, an unpublished sequel that Robert May wrote in 1947. In 2003, Penguin Books issued a reprint version of the original Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with new artwork by Lisa Papp. Penguin also reprinted May's sequels Rudolph Shines Again and Rudolph's Second Christmas (now retitled Rudolph to the Rescue).

Category My Choice_Christmas - Robert May: Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer - YouTube My Choice_Christmas - Robert May: Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Dec 3, 2010 Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer is a character created in a story and song by the same name. The story was created by Robert L. May in 1939. Rudolph has become a figure of Christmas folklore. The song tells the tale of Santa Claus' ninth and lead reindeer who possesses an unusually red-colored nose that gives off its own light, powerful enough to illuminate the team's path through inclement winter weather. Music is copyrighted by its corresponding owners. No infringement of copyright is meant and if it does infringe, please message me and I'll remove it.

----------------------------------------------------------- Robert May - IMDb IMDb 18 January 2017 5:37 PM, UTC NEWS Writer Trivia: In 1939, as a copywriter for the Montgomery Ward department store chain, he wrote the story "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" as a promotional booklet. It was illustrated by Denver Gillen, a friend from Montgomery Ward's art department. See more trivia » Born: Do you have a demo reel? Add it to your IMDbPage How much of Robert May's work have you seen? User Polls 1948 Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Short) (story - as Robert L. May) Related Videos Did You Know? Personal Quote: [on the character of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer] "Everything connected with Rudolph has a touch of miracle about it, a kindly star." Trivia: Brother-in-law of composer Johnny Marks, who wrote the song, "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer," based upon May's original story.

See more » Nickname: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer RUDOLPH THE RED-NOSED REINDEER (1964) Background: Robert L. May (1905-1976), a copywriter for Montgomery Ward in Chicago, created Rudolph in 1939 as a poem, adding the character to the list of Santa's reindeer given in Clement C. Moore's famous "A Visit from St. Nicholas." The store had traditionally had a coloring book give-away at the holiday season and wanted to save money by offering their own production. May rejected the names Rollo and Reginald for the reindeer, and the store initially had some reservations about the red nose implications, but the character became popular and spawned a 9-minute cartoon in 1948. The song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" was written in 1949 by Johnny Marks, brother-in-law of May, and recorded by Gene Autry the following year. Since then, everybody and their jingle dogs have recorded the song. The claymation Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer appeared in 1964.

When Reagan deregulated advertising, the elf song was typically cut when this aired on network television for many years. Notes Produced: Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass (the production team responsible for The Last Dinosaur) Directed: Larry Roemer Voices: Larry Mann, Billy Richards, Paul Soles. Summary : The technique of verisimilitude is exemplified effectively with newspaper headlines showing grim winter scenes very unlike the claymation atmosphere characteristic of the remainder of the show. Sam the Snowman (Burl Ives), our narrator, welcomes us to Christmastown (the North Pole) whose "#1 citizens are the Clauses," and explains that "some years ago" a blizzard threatened Christmas. We see Mrs. Claus pushing food at a relatively skinny Santa, and Sam says, "It's always the same story." He trumps up the surprise notion that some of us haven't heard the story of Rudolph and tells us to "pull up an iceblock." The credits run. One spring prior to the big blizzard, Donner and "Mrs. Donner" have a calf with a hideous facial deformity.

Their anxiety is justified when Santa visits the cave, sings the self-promotional "Jingle Jingle Jingle," and tsk-tsks about Rudolph's nose. What Sam refers to as a "nonconformity" the Donners decide to keep hidden. Reindeer, we learn, also must regularly hide from the Abominable Snow-Monster, and Dad Donner shows Rudolph how he uses his antlers to pretend to be a stick. Meanwhile, Hermey the elf is not happy in his toyshop work, but his orthodontal career aspirations render him a "misfit." Rudolph is made to wear a nose-cover which he complains is "not very comfortable." Donner insists that "self-respect" is more important. And Christmas comes and goes. The next year, the elves practice their own self-promotional song, "We Are Santa's Elves" ("We work hard all day, but our work is play"), but Hermey is missing, working on dolls' teeth instead of "practicing" how to be an elf by going "hee hee and ho ho." He gets chewed out by the chief elf and decides to take off.

Meanwhile at reindeer practice, girlie deer flirt with Rudolph and his new friend Fireball. Coach Comet announces, "My job is to make bucks out of you." Rudolph speaks awkwardly with one doe, Clarice, and when she says she thinks he's "cute" he flies and impresses the other reindeer. But his fake nose pops off and the others laugh in derision: "Hey, Fire-snoot!" "Shnozz!" Santa tells Donner he should be ashamed of himself and Comet says that "we won't let Rudolph join in any of our reindeer games." Clarice still walks homewards with him, singing in non-sequitur reassurance, "There's Always Tomorrow For Dreams to Come True" ("We all pretend the rainbow has an end, and you'll be there, my friend, some day"), until her father snatches her away from Rudolph the freak. Hermey and Rudolph meet up, sing "Fame and Fortune," and Hermey proposes, "What do you say we both be independent together?" Unfortunately, the Abominable Snow-Monster is able to track them because of ol' Fire-snoot.

The next day they meet Yukon Cornelius, a prospector with a dogsled team that includes a poodle. He rants about silver and gold, minimally prompting Sam the Snowman to sing "Silver and Gold," a supposedly anti-materialistic tune rating tinsel and wrapping paper above precious metals ("What would a Christmas tree be" without sparkly crap all over it?). Cornelius needs to get supplies: "cornmeal, gunpowder, hamhocks, guitar strings." But the Abominable chases them until they create an ice-break and float away. We learn that Donner is headed out to look for Rudolph, telling the Mrs. that "This is man's work." Mrs. D. and Clarice venture out themselves anyway. The adventurers have now landed on the Island of Misfit Toys, where a Charlie-in-the-box and other plaything rejects sing "When Christmas Day Is Here" ("Toy galore scattered on the floor; there's no room for more, and it's all because of Santa Claus!").

In the course of the song, we meet a water pistol who shoots jelly, a bird who swims, a cowboy who rides an ostrich, a boat that sinks, a bear with feathers, an elephant with the pox, and a ragdoll. (A long-standing question has involved the undetectable flaw in the ragdoll. One myth has it that she is a homicidal maniac, but the barely known fact is that she is included among the Misfit Toys because she pees hydrochloric acid.) The leader of the island, King Moonraiser, a rage-aholic flying lion, searches the earth for unwanted toys and brings them to the island. Rudolph, Hermey, and Cornelius are not welcome since the island is exclusively for toys ("Even among misfits you're misfits"), but the tyrant nevertheless extracts a promise from them that they'll notify Santa Claus of the Island's existence. That night, Rudolph sneaks off alone, not wanting to jeopardize the others because of his snoot. Rudolph grows antlers and supposedly realizes "you can't run away from your troubles," although he seems to have mangaged to do so quite well so far.

He returns to Christmastown's taunts of "Neon-Nose" where Santa tells him the other deer have gone to find him. As Rudolph sets out to retrieve them, the big storm hits. Rudolph finds the cave of the Abominable Snow-Monster, a geo-architectural hell-mouth, in which the other deer are presumably about to be eaten. Rudolph gets conked out, but Yukon Cornelius and Hermey happen along. Hermey oinks to lure the Monster to where Yukon can pick-ax ice and a boulder down upon him. Hermey removes the Monster's teeth and when Yukon bullies the Monster towards a cliff, he, Abominable, and the dogs all fall over to their grisly deaths. The others are all very sad "but they realize that the best thing to do is to get the women back to Christmastown." For it is nearing the holiday. Santa promises to visit the Island of Misfit Toys and Hermey will open a dentist's office with the chief elf holding the first appointment. Donner apologizes. Then Yukon appears again, insisting Snow-Monsters "bounce" and that he has "reformed" this one.

Abominable places a star on the top of a tall tree. The next day is Christmas Eve and Mrs. Claus is still pushing food -- "Eat, Santa, eat. The children expect a fat Santa." However, weather reports are bleak: "We'll have to cancel Christmas." When Santa announces this, lo, a nose revelation: "What I'm trying to say is: Rudolph, with your nose so bright, won't you guide my sleigh tonight?" After a rousing rendition of "Holly Jolly Christmas," Santa is now fattened enough to burden nine reindeer, and with much pomposity ("Full power!" "First stop: the Island of Misfit Toys!") they take off into the Arctic sky. After resignation to nihilistic despair among the Charlie-in-the-box, the elephant with the pox, and the ragdoll, Rudolph's nose and Santa show up, the misfits hitch a ride, and all toys are distributed down chimneys the world over as the credits run and the Rudolph song is rendered. Santa has the final word: "Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!" Rudolph Unveiled: the True Origin of a Classic Holiday Character Rudolph Unveiled: the True Origin of a Classic Holiday Character Aimee Herd/TruthorFiction Staff : Dec 31, 2010 : TruthOrFiction.com May would read his verses [to his daughter] and if she inquired about the meaning of any words he would simplify the vocabulary. FOUNDERS NOTE: Jesus always gave attention to the little children. He forbade his disciples from preventing kids to come and be blessed by Him. Jesus said, "..except you become like little children, you cannot even enter the Kingdom of Heaven." By one means or another, in this account of the origins of Rudolph below, the writer went to the child and asked what SHE thought about the story of Rudolph. This is in keeping with the concept of Jesus' view of children. We always celebrate the Christ CHILD during the Christmas season. –Steve Shultz, BCN.

While Christmas has already passed for this year, it's not too late to relate an interesting story about the origin of a beloved—albeit fictional—holiday character: "Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer." Some e-rumors have been circulating the internet of late, but thanks to the TruthorFiction.com staff, we have the true story below. Visit the TruthorFiction search page to dispel or confirm many of those heartwarming emails that find their way into our inboxes. Rudolph—the Real Story: According to TruthorFiction.com , an e-rumor has been making the rounds claiming that Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was created by Robert L. May to comfort his grieving daughter who had lost her mother to cancer. There is some truth to the story, Robert L. May wrote the Christmas poem Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer in 1939. We have researched dozens of sources which include interviews with May himself and his children and there is never a mention that he did this for comforting his child from the death of her mother. Robert L.

May worked as a catalog advertising copywriter for Montgomery Wards & Company when the company, recognizing his skills in poetry, asked him for ideas on a booklet of illustrated poems as a promotional give away. May's wife, Evelyn, died of cancer in July of 1939, according to his account in a December 22, 1975 Gettysburg Times article. This is one year later from the account of the e-rumor. May also had a daughter, named Barbara, and according to a Paul Harvey Rest of the Story article she was recruited to help in development of the story to make sure Rudolph would appeal to children. May would read to her his verses and if she inquired about the meaning of any words he would simplify the vocabulary. May pitched his story to Montgomery Ward's executives about the ugly duckling reindeer with three possible names. The company turned down the idea and asked May to return with a second draft. When May came back with his improved story that included sketches by an illustrator the company executive accepted it, named the red nosed reindeer Rudolph and the rest is history.

The stores distributed 2,400,000 copies of the booklet during the 1939 and 1946 Christmas season promotions. The year 1946 proved to be such a financial success for the company that the executives awarded May with the copyrights of his popular Christmas story. This e-rumor may have been sparked by a story in the book Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas by Ace Collins that said May created the character of Rudolph to bring hope and comfort to his grieving daughter, Barbara, after the death of his wife. Collins told TruthOrFiction.com that his source for this version of the story came from someone working in the Montgomery Wards & Co. public relations department. The story of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer has been released world wide in twenty-five languages. In 1949 Johnny Marks, May's brother-in-law, adapted the story to music and Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer was immortalized by singing cowboy star, Gene Autry. Over two million copies of the recording sold. Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer by Robert L.

May · OverDrive: eBooks, audiobooks and videos for libraries Juvenile Fiction Experience the two original stories! Every year at Christmastime, young and old alike fall under the finger-snapping, joy-inspiring spell of this song. Now fans of the most famous reindeer of them all can become acquainted with the original story of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," written in verse by his creator, Robert L. May, in 1939. In "Rudolph Shines Again," Santa once again needs Rudolph to lead his sleigh on a dark, snowy Christmas eve. But mean teasing from the other reindeer causes Rudolph to lose his light! Rudolph saved Christmas once, but can he do it again - this time without his red glow? Great family entertainment this holiday season! Altogether Christmas Traditions: The History of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer The History of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Most of us are familiar with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, a beloved figure of childhood and Christmas lore. But when did Rudolph become a part of our holiday tradition?

The names of Santa's team of eight flying reindeer were established in the poem A Visit From St. Nicholas , published in 1823, but it was in 1939 that the character of Rudolph, "the most famous reindeer of all", was first introduced. For several years during the first part of the 20th century, the department store Montgomery Ward, based in Chicago, had hired outside firms to create Christmas books as promotional items. The coloring books were given away to children as holiday gifts by their store Santa in an effort to entice parents to visit and shop at the store. In 1939, nearing the end of the Great Depression, Montgomery Ward chose to appoint a company employee to create the coloring book. The task was assigned to 34-year-old Robert L. May, a Montgomery Ward copywriter. A graduate of Dartmouth College, May was undergoing difficulties in his life. At the time, May's young wife Evelyn was losing her battle with cancer and had now been bedridden for several years. He had a growing pile of medical bills from his wife's treatment and was caring for their four-year-old daughter Barbara as her mother's condition worsened.

Despite the hardships he was enduring, May embarked on his new assignment. Taunted for his shyness and small stature in his youth, May used that experience, as well as inspiration from The Ugly Duckling story, to create the adventure of a misfit reindeer with a glowing red nose. Though he briefly considered Rollo and Reginald, May settled on Rudolph as his character's name. He began writing the story in rhyming verse, using his young daughter Barbara as a sounding board. Though his daughter loved the tale, his employers hesitated when he presented the idea to them, worrying that red noses were too often associated with the overindulgence of alcohol. In order to persuade them, May and fellow Montgomery Ward employee Denver Gillan from the art department visited Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo, where Gillan observed and sketched reindeer. After viewing Gillan's drawings, May's employers were convinced and his story was given a green light. During the 1939 Christmas season, 2.4 million copies of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer were distributed. Sadly, Evelyn May passed away around the time Rudolph was nearing completion.

Though Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was popular, with 6 million copies in circulation by 1946, the rights belonged to Montgomery Ward since May was in their employ when he created the tale. Facing a mountain of debt due to his wife's medical bills, May was unable to market or enjoy any profits from the story. However, in 1947 May approached and convinced Sewell Avery, the company's corporate president, to turn the copyright over to him. In the meantime, May had met and married Montgomery Ward secretary Virginia Newton and the couple eventually had three children together. With rights to the Rudolph story in hand, May's financial future was now secure and his life had taken a happier turn. In 1947, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was released commercially in book form. However, Rudolph's popularity soared when May persuaded brother-in-law and songwriter Johnny Marks to create a song based on the story. In 1948 a nine minute cartoon, directed by Max Fleischer and featuring the song by Marks, was shown in theaters. Yet the song had not been officially released as a stand alone recording.

Many singers, wary of competing with the Santa Claus franchise, refused requests to record the tune. But in 1949, the "Singing Cowboy" Gene Autry, with prodding from his wife, officially recorded the song. Autry's version of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer sold 2 million copies in its first year and eventually became one of the best-selling songs of all time. The television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, produced by Rankin-Bass, debuted in 1964 on NBC. Created with stop-motion animation, the show was narrated by folk singer Burl Ives and introduced such characters as Sam the Snowman, the doe Clarice who plays Rudolph's love interest, Hermey the misfit elf who dreams of being a dentist, Yukon Cornelius, and the Abominable Snowmonster (referred to as The Bumble by Yukon Cornelius). The famous film differs from May's original story in several ways.

In the original story, Rudolph is teased by other reindeer for his glowing nose, but is raised in a loving home and is not discovered by Santa Claus until Christmas Eve, when Santa is delivering presents in the forest on a foggy night. Despite the story changes, it is now a Christmas classic watched and enjoyed by millions of families each year during the Christmas season. Film sequels have followed, but the 1964 special remains a favorite. Shown on TV each year during the holiday season, it is the longest running Christmas special in the history of television. Rudolph merchandise is available in the form of books, toys, games, clothing and other items and he is now firmly entrenched in our Christmas history. The misfit reindeer with the glowing red nose that helps Santa save Christmas is now recognized and adored worldwide. © Deborah Whipp

Question: Robert L May created which popular Christmas character in 1939?
Answer: Rudolph