A brief history of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer
Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer is a favorite among Christmas stories and songs. But how did this popular Christmas lore come about? The idea of having eight named reindeer pulling Santa’s sleigh came about in 1823 from the famous poem ‘A Visit from St. Nicholas’, perhaps more popularly known today as ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’. Over a century later in 1939 Rudolph was created and added to the team that pulled Santa’s sleigh.
During the early years of the 1900’s a department store that was based in Chicago hired people to create Christmas books as a way to promote the holiday. Coloring books were given to children in an effort to get parents to shop. But it was Robert L. May, a company employee at the time, who created a coloring book that would change the holiday lore as we know it. May drew inspiration from his own personal shyness and the story of the ugly duckling to create the story of the reindeer known for his bright red nose. 2.4 million copies of this popular Christmas story were distributed that year.
The popularity of Rudolph the red nosed reindeer skyrocketed after Mays convinced John Marks to create a song based on the story. In 1948 a cartoon was created about the beloved reindeer. The cartoon was directed by Max Fleischer and added to the stories popularity. In 1964 a stop-motion televised special of this popular story was released. In the special Rudolph had a love interest, a young doe by the name of Clarice. A few other new characters were added to the story a well, an elf named Hermey who had aspirations of becoming a dentist and Sam the snowman. The special differed from the original in a few ways, still, it is still widely enjoyed and regarded as a classic.