The Tale of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Most children know the story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer as the son of one of Santa's flying fleet. After enduring taunts from his peers, Santa chooses him to lead his Christmas eve run. But, is that what really happened? And how did the story of Rudolph come about?

Rudolph's origins seem to be a bit in dispute.

One version, told in Stories behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas by Ace Collins, states that Robert May wrote the story for his daughter Barbara as his wife was dying of cancer. The girl felt she was "different" because, unlike her friends, her mommy was ill. May, unable to afford a Christmas present for his child, penned a story about a reindeer who was "different".

The seemingly undisputed fact of history is that May was, at the time, a 34-year old ad copy writer for the Montgomery Ward company, a department store chain and catalog retailer since 1872.

According to Collins' retelling, May gave the story away at a company Christmas party. It was such a hit, his bosses purchased the rights and distributed the booklet as a free gift to shoppers.

Another version states that, in 1939, Montgomery Ward was looking for a Christmas promotion - a give-away to reward loyal customers and, hopefully, entice a few new ones. Executives charged May with the task.

Presenting the story, in rhyming couplets, May did not immediately thrill his bosses. They feared the "red nose" was too closely aligned with drunkenness and worried how it would be received. Ultimately, the execs were won over by an art department employee's depiction of the lovable reindeer in cartoon form.

After dismissing the monikers of Rollo and Reginald, May settled on Rudolph, with his 4-year old daughter's approval.

However the story got its start, the 1939 tale only slightly resembles the retelling most of our children see in stop-action animated stories replayed incessantly at this time of year. In fact, my own children are watching it right now on a cable channel.

In the original story, Rudolph, whose creation was said to have been inspired by the tale of the Ugly Duckling penned by Hans Christian Andersen, was raised in a reindeer village (not at the North Pole) by loving parents who were never embarrassed by their son's illuminating proboscis. As a result, Rudolph was a well-adjusted reindeer with high self-esteem, despite the fact that he was ridiculed by the other reindeer in the village.

As Santa delivered presents to Rudolph's home, he happened to notice the glow coming from the young reindeer's bedroom. Santa, already behind schedule as the in-coming fog had caused accidents and travel delays, implored Rudolph to lead his sleigh and get him through his Christmas eve deliveries on time.

In 1946, my mother went Christmas shopping with her mother in Columbia City, Indiana. A 13-year old at the time, she received one of the millions of copies dispersed at Montgomery Ward stores throughout that Christmas buying season. She still recalls my grandmother's prophetic words after reading through the original poem for the first time:

"This is really going to take off," said Esther Harley. "This is going to be a classic."

Too bad she didn't foresee the need to preserve that original copy.

In January of 1947, May was able to convince the Montgomery Ward company to sell him the rights to his creation. Later that year, he authorized a nine-minute cartoon, created by the same studios that gave us Popeye, that ran in movie theaters.

In 1949, May's brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, penned the now famous melody and lyrics to the song that gave Rudolph a world-wide audience. Originally sung by Gene Autry, the song has been recorded more than 300 times and is second only to White Christmas as the best selling Christmas tune of all time.

Background information:

Harper, Jennifer "Fractured Lyrics, Long a Tradition of Season" The Washington Times, Washington, DC, December 11, 2005, pg. D.01.