Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer-A Biography

His story's been told in print, celebrated in song, and featured in at least three films. He's become a part of Christmas tradition for many baby boomers and their children (and grandchildren).

But who was he, really? And how did he get to be so famous?

Humble beginnings
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" was created by Robert L. May, a copywriter for the Montgomery Ward company in Chicago. Ward's had been doing promotions every year at Christmas, giving away products they'd purchased. The trouble was, it was an expensive proposition for them, so in 1939 they decided to develop their own product. They asked May, who had a reputation for writing catchy jingles, to write a story they could print and distribute themselves.

May, who supposedly had been the brunt of many jokes as a child because he was small and shy, came up with a character who was also a bit of misfit, although for a different reason-he was a reindeer with a bright, shiny red nose. Looking for a name that was an alliteration of the word "red," he tried "Rollo" and "Reginald" before settling on "Rudolph." Then, following the style of Clement Moore's poem "The Night Before Christmas," May wrote his tale of Rudolph in rhyming couplets (verses with two lines each).

Ward's had the book printed and gave out more than 2 million copies during the Christmas season of 1939. Paper shortages during World War II kept them from printing any more, but once things eased up they continued the holiday giveaways. The little book about the red-nosed reindeer was very popular.

But May had a problem. His book was doing very well, but he couldn't make any money from it, because the copyright was owned by Montgomery Ward. And he desperately needed funds to pay off debt from the medical bills incurred by his wife, who had died several years earlier. Fortunately (for him, at least; it was probably not so fortunate for his employer), Ward's transferred the rights to him in early 1947.

"Rudolph" takes off
May had the story printed later that year into a book that could be sold. It did well, and was even made into a short cartoon that was shown in theaters.

Then in 1949 May's brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, wrote a song named after and based loosely on the book. It took some persuading to get it recorded-many people didn't want to tamper with established Christmas legends-but it finally was, by Gene Autry, a country singer and star of cowboy movies. Autry had had success with another Christmas song-"Here Comes Santa Claus," which he wrote-but "Rudolph" far surpassed that one in popularity, selling 2 million copies the year it was released. It's since become the second best-selling song in history, topped only by Bing Crosby's version of "White Christmas."

Rudolph's appearances on film have also grown since that first short cartoon. The most memorable is probably the 1964 animated television special starring Burl Ives, which was digitally restored and released as "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie" with added footage in 1998. Another film, named after the book but with a different plot, was released in 1998 and starred John Goodman and Whoopi Goldberg.

The original story
If asked to tell the story of Rudolph, most people would probably recite the verses from the song, or maybe give a summary of the 1964 television show. The original book, though, had a somewhat different plot.

Rudolph was definitely made fun of by other reindeer. But his parents loved him and provided a good home for him. (In some ways, this qualifies as a very up-to-date storyline for children's books.) His parents were not Santa's reindeer; they lived in a different village.

Rudolph was noticed by Santa when he stopped at Rudolph's house to deliver presents on Christmas Eve. The worsening fog had already proved hazardous, and Santa was worried that he wouldn't be able to finish his deliveries. Once he saw the glow from Rudolph's nose, he asked Rudolph to lead his team, and they got through just fine after that.

Rudolph's future
Robert May died in 1976 and Johnny March in 1985. They both lived to see "Rudolph" evolve from a simple story into a merchandising phenomenon. But where the story will go from here is anybody's guess.

There's a lot of room for development, though. The story of Rudolph is a classic tale, one that many generations of children (and adults) can understand. It's one that's existed in many incarnations for a very long time, and will probably continue for a long time to come, simply because it's so inspiring-the tale of the misfit who became a hero.