Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" is a popular Christmas story that has been told in numerous forms including songs and theatrical & television films.
Rudolph's origins
Rudolph's story was originally written in verse by Robert L. May for the Montgomery Ward chain of department stores in 1939 and published as a book to be given to children in the store at Christmas time.
Rudolph is depicted as an ordinary reindeer with a large, red nose, often grinning and always leading the team pulling Santa's sleigh.
The Song
Johnny Marks, May's brother-in-law, decided to adapt May's story into a song, which through the years has been recorded by many artists (most notably by Gene Autry), and has since filtered into the popular consciousness.
The song contains these lyrics:
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
- Had a very shiny nose
- And if you ever saw him
- You would even say it glows
- All of the other reindeer
- Used to laugh and call him names
- They never let poor Rudolph
- Join in any reindeer games
- Then one foggy Christmas Eve
- Santa came to say
- Rudolph, with your nose so bright,
- Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?
- Then all the reindeer loved him
- As they shouted out with glee:
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,
- You'll go down in history!
In the U.S. the song is sometimes performed (usually by children) in a humorous manner with additional lyrics. These lyrics are to be recited as a sort of response at the end of most of the lines in the song. Sample lyrics follow (responses in bold):
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (reindeer)
- Had a very shiny nose (like a light bulb)
- And if you ever saw him (saw him)
- You would even say it glows (like a light bulb)
- All of the other reindeer (reindeer)
- Used to laugh and call him names (like Pinocchio)
- They never let poor Rudolph (Rudolph)
- Join in any reindeer games (like Monopoly)
- Then one foggy Christmas Eve
- Santa came to say (Ho-ho-ho!)
- Rudolph, with your nose so bright,
- Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?
- Then all the reindeer loved him (loved him)
- As they shouted out with glee: (Yippee!)
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, (reindeer)
- You'll go down in history! (like the Presidents)
Rudolph In The Media
Rudolph's first screen appearance came in 1944, in the form of a Paramount/Max Fleischer theatrical cartoon short that was more faithful to May's original story than Marks' eventual song.
But the most famous incarnation of the reindeer debuted on NBC in 1964, when the Rankin-Bass animation studio produced a stop motion animated TV special of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer that became a popular hit in itself. Re-broadcast many times over the years, even after it was finally released on video, this version of the story of Rudolph (as narrated by folk singer Burl Ives in the persona of Sam the snowman), adds a simple story that introduces the characters of the "Island of Misfit Toys," the Abominable Snowman known as "Bumbles," and the elf who wants to be a dentist. The special (which currently airs on CBS) inspired numerous television sequels made by the same studio, including one that paired Rudolph with another famous creation inspired by a song, Frosty The Snowman.
An animated feature film remake of the fictional story of Rudolph was produced in 1998, entitled Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie, but this version of the story paled in comparison with the Rankin-Bass classic, both in terms of quality and box-office revenue. It only saw a limited theatrical release before quickly being sent to home video.
And in 2001, yet another Rudolph movie was produced, this one another sequel to the Rankin-Bass original special called Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys, produced entirely with digital computerized animation (as oppposed to traditional stop-motion animation).
External links
- History of Rudolph (http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/rudolph.asp)
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Radio (http://www.radiorudolph.com/)
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