46 Fun Facts About Rudolph

Who created the character of Rudolph, in 1939?

Robert L. May, a copywriter at a Chicago mail-order retailer, wrote the Rudolph booklet in 1939 as a work assignment: his employer wanted a Christmas giveaway of its own.

Which department store commissioned the original booklet?

Montgomery Ward, the Chicago mail-order chain, had been buying Christmas colouring booklets to give away and in 1939 decided that producing its own would be cheaper.

Which two names did the author consider before settling on Rudolph?

The author first tried Rollo and Reginald, rejecting Rollo as too cheerful and Reginald as too British, before settling on Rudolph.

How many copies did the store give away in the first year?

The store handed out 2.4 million copies of the booklet in the 1939 Christmas season; wartime paper shortages then halted reprints until 1946.

What gave the author the idea for the glowing nose?

The author said a dense fog rolling in off Lake Michigan, seen from his Chicago office window, gave him the idea of a reindeer with a glowing nose.

Why was the red nose idea initially rejected?

In 1930s popular culture a bright red nose meant a drunkard, and management took some convincing.

Which illustrator's sketches convinced management to approve the story?

Denver Gillen, an artist in the store's art department, sketched live reindeer at Lincoln Park Zoo; his lively drawings persuaded management to approve the project.

In which poetic metre is the original story written?

The author wrote the booklet in anapestic tetrameter, the galloping da-da-DUM metre of 'A Visit from St. Nicholas', so it scans like a Christmas Eve poem.

Which publisher issued the first mass-market edition, in 1947?

Maxton Books printed the first commercial edition in 1947, the year the store that had owned the booklet signed its copyright over to the author.

What was the 1954 sequel called?

The author's 1954 sequel was titled Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Shines Again; it followed the 1939 booklet by fifteen years and was again written in verse.

Which unpublished 1947 sequel finally appeared in 1992?

Rudolph's Second Christmas was written by the author in 1947 but sat unpublished for 45 years until Applewood Books issued it in 1992.

Who wrote the 1949 song that made the character famous?

Johnny Marks, the author's brother-in-law, turned the booklet into the 1949 song; the later television special took its title and much of its story from it.

Which song do the elves perform for an unimpressed Santa?

The elves rehearse 'We Are Santa's Elves' and perform it for Santa, who walks out muttering that it needs work and he has to go.

Which sponsor backed the special's first broadcast?

The umbrella title on air was The General Electric Fantasy Hour.

Which studio made the 1964 special?

Videocraft International, the New York company of Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass, produced the special; the firm was later renamed Rankin/Bass Productions, the name most people know.

What is the stop-motion process used in it called?

Rankin/Bass branded its stop-motion puppet technique 'Animagic' and used the name on its later puppet specials such as Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town.

In which city was the special's animation actually shot?

The animation was shot in Tokyo by Tadahito Mochinaga's MOM Production studio, which Rankin/Bass used for its early stop-motion specials.

Which folk singer voiced Sam the Snowman?

Burl Ives, the folk singer behind 'A Little Bitty Tear', voiced Sam the Snowman and sang 'A Holly Jolly Christmas' in the special.

Which actress voiced the title character?

Most of the cast were Canadian, recorded over two days at RCA Studios in Toronto.

In which city were the voices for the special recorded?

The voices were recorded at RCA Victor's studios in Toronto, where Rankin/Bass cast mostly Canadian radio and television actors for its 1960s specials.

What job does Hermey the elf want instead of making toys?

Hermey wants to be a dentist rather than make toys; the head elf mocks the idea, so he walks out of the workshop and later meets Rudolph on the ice.

What is Yukon Cornelius searching for?

Yukon Cornelius is prospecting for silver and gold, and keeps tossing his pickaxe and licking it to taste for either; he never strikes any.

Who rules the Island of Misfit Toys?

King Moonracer, a winged lion, rules the Island of Misfit Toys; he flies around the world each night gathering unwanted toys and bringing them to the island.

What job does the tamed monster do at the end?

Yukon explains that its bouncing ability had saved all their lives on the way home.

Which network aired the special annually starting in 1972?

CBS took over the special in 1972, after its first years on NBC, and made it a fixture of its December schedule.

What did the special's broadcast network unveil in 2005?

In 2005 the network aired a digitally remastered version of the special, restored from the original film elements with a cleaned-up picture and soundtrack.

On the Island of Misfit Toys, the cowboy rides which animal?

The cowboy on the Island of Misfit Toys rides an ostrich instead of a horse; the island's other residents include a train with square wheels and a spotted elephant.

In the 2020s, which rights holder controlled the Rudolph story?

The Rudolph Company, LP, the author's family rights company, controlled the Rudolph character and story through the early 2020s, with Character Arts handling licensing and DreamWorks Classics owning the television special.

Where does Rudolph sit among Santa's reindeer?

Rudolph is the ninth and youngest of Santa's reindeer; the other eight were named in the 1823 poem, and the special presents him as Donner's newborn fawn.

What does his nose do for the team?

Rudolph's glowing nose lights the path through bad weather: on a foggy Christmas Eve, Santa asks him to lead the sleigh so the team can see where it is going.

Which two Rankin/Bass sequels followed the original special?

Rankin/Bass followed the original with Rudolph's Shiny New Year (1976) and Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July (1979), both also made with stop-motion puppets.

What is the scientific name of the real reindeer?

The reindeer is Rangifer tarandus, named by Linnaeus in 1758; in Canada and Alaska the same species is known as caribou.

What makes reindeer unique among deer species?

Reindeer are the only deer species in which females may grow antlers; the share of antlered females varies between herds, and males' antlers are larger.

Which is the smallest subspecies of the real animal?

The Svalbard reindeer, isolated on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard, is the smallest subspecies, with short legs and a stocky body suited to the cold of the far north.

What is a female reindeer called?

A female reindeer is a cow, a male is a bull and a young one is a calf, the same terms used for cattle.

Which regions are reindeer native to?

Reindeer are native to Arctic and subarctic Eurasia and North America, ranging from Norway across Siberia to Alaska and Canada; some herds migrate hundreds of kilometres each year.

In which year did NBC begin airing the special annually again?

NBC brought the special back in 2024 after more than half a century on a rival network; NBC had carried its earliest airings.

Whose recording of the Rudolph song hit No. 1 on the US charts at Christmas 1949?

Gene Autry's recording topped the Billboard chart the week of Christmas 1949, selling 1.75 million copies that first season, and went on to sell over 12 million.

In the 1964 special, what is the name of the doe who tells Rudolph he is cute?

Clarice, the doe who tells Rudolph 'I think you're cute', so thrills him that he takes a huge leap at the reindeer games, just before his false nose pops off.

How does Donner first try to disguise his newborn fawn's glowing nose in the special?

When that fails he fits Rudolph with a prosthetic nose, which works right up until the reindeer games.

Which of Santa's reindeer serves as the coach who expels Rudolph from the reindeer games?

Comet runs the reindeer games and, after Rudolph's nose is exposed, bars him from joining in; Paul Kligman voiced both Comet and Donner.

Which song was cut from the special in 1965, replaced by 'Fame and Fortune', and restored in 1998?

'We're a Couple of Misfits', the duet Rudolph and Hermey sing after running away together, was replaced by the newly written 'Fame and Fortune' in 1965 and put back in the 1998 broadcast.

Which scene was missing from the 1964 broadcast and added in 1965 after viewers wrote in?

The 1964 broadcast ended without Santa collecting the misfit toys, and viewers complained; a new scene of Santa's sleigh picking them up was animated for the 1965 repeat.

Because of a missing Roman numeral, the special's copyright notice gives its year as what?

The notice reads MCLXIV, which is 1164: the M that would have made it the correct year was dropped, and the slip was carried into later prints of the special.

The restored original Rudolph and Santa puppets sold at auction in November 2020 for how much?

The pair fetched $368,000 at a Profiles in History auction in November 2020; they had once been appraised at about $10,000 on Antiques Roadshow and were later donated to Atlanta's Center for Puppetry Arts.

Arthur Rankin Jr. later said the misfit toy Dolly for Sue was a misfit because she was what?

Arthur Rankin Jr. said on NPR that Dolly for Sue was clinically depressed after being abandoned by her owner Sue; no physical flaw was ever written for her.