A story book for Christmas was created in 1939 during
the time of the great depression. The story was created for the
Chicargo based Montgomery Wards Department Stores featuring a new
character called Rudolph. One of the highlights for the Christmas
season was for parents to take their children for a visit to large
department stores such as Montgomery Wards to visit Santa, sit on his
knee and receive a gift. For many years the Montgomery Wards Santa gave
away from his Christmas sack a specially printed Christmas color-in
book. The store wanted to save money and do something different so it
gave one of its stores copywriters, 34 year old Rudolph L May the job
of coming up with a story. May was said to be taunted as a child
because he was shy and small in statue. It is believed that the idea of
being ostracized came from his own personal experiences. May created
Rudolph with similar problems who in the end rises above his problems
and is transformed.
Originally May wrote the story as a rhyming
verse which his young 4 years old daughter Barbara loved. Originally
store owners thought a red nose may be inappropriate as generally a red
nose was associated with drinking. However after illustrations surfaced
this suggestion was dismissed and the story was approved. The story
book of Rudolph soon filled Santas sack as a give-away; a new gimmick
for promotions which took on immediate success in the Montgomery Wards
stores.
Upon release in 1939 2.4 million copies of the story was
distributed. Due to war time paper shortages, minimal copies were
printed over the coming years. However by 1946 it was estimated that a
total of 6 million copies had been given away. The story later went on
to be translated into 25 languages.
Rudolph was created during a
difficult time for May as his wife had a terminal illness (cancer) and
died. Writing Rudolph was a distraction that brought him and his young
daughter Barbara together in a magical way. May changed the story as he
wrote it depending on Barbaras reaction. May received no royalties for
Rudolph because copyright was held by Montgomery Wards for whom he was
an employee only. May was snowed under with medical and other bills. He
went to Montgomery Wards to seek release of the rights to Rudolph. It
was in 1947 that his request succeeded. May was able to transform is
financial circumstances as he had the story printed commercially in the
same year. The following year a nine minute cartoon was shown in
theatres. This soon followed by Mays brother in law Johnny Marks, a
songwriter, developing a song to go with the story. His song Rudolph
the Red-Nosed Reindeer was recorded and made famous by Gene Autry in
1949. It sold two million copies in the first year. It become a
Christmas classic and one of the best selling songs of all time. In
1964 Burl Ives narrated a TV special about Rudolph which is still
popular today. May secured a good life from Rudolph. He quit his
copywriting job in 1951 to concentrate on Rudolph yet returned a number
of years later and stayed until his retirement in 1971. He died in 1976.
Rudolph
came along more than 100 years after the flying reindeer made their
debut. Although loved and cherished by his family, Rudolph was a
misfit, teased and later ostracized by the reindeer community because
of his unusual glowing red nose. The story unfolds with Santa
discovering Rudolph by accident when he noticed a glow emanating from
Rudolphs room while delivering presents to his home one Christmas eve.
As the thickening fog was already the cause of several accidents and
delays Santa was worried he may not be able to complete his rounds.
Rudolph was recruited as the light of the way leading Santas reindeer
team to successfully fulfill all deliveries. The message of Rudolph
proved popular, that is, a perceived liability is often an asset
waiting to be discovered!
