Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Have you ever wondered where the story and the song of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer came from? Well, if so, read on to find out. I remember hearing the song when I was a small child and my dad singing it to me. I loved it and soon learned the words and joined in. I was intrigued by the word history, which seemed very long and grown up to me – and I had no idea what it meant!
Robert May was an American author who longed to become rich and famous (well, don’t we all!), but, unfortunately, instead of writing a best-selling novel, he spent his days writing department store catalogues. There are two theories as to how the story originated. The first is that May’s boss at Montgomery Ward asked him to write a short children’s book to hand out in the store for free at Christmas instead of the usual colouring books, and May showed the book to his daughter to get her opinion.
May had heard the story of Ferdinand the Bull, written by Munro Leaf and published in 1936. This book not only became a best-selling children’s book, impressively outselling Gone with the Wind, but also won an Academy Award. Ferdinand the Bull was said to be based on a true story about a bull who was not like the other bulls but preferred smelling flowers in the meadow to bull-fighting. The book was not popular with everyone and was allegedly burned by Hitler, banned by Franco, yet loved by Gandhi.
May decided to base his Christmas story on Ferdinand and gave much thought to which animal to use. His daughter had loved the reindeer at the zoo, so he decided on a reindeer and came up with the story of a red-nosed reindeer who longed to pull Father Christmas’s sleigh. May had been small as a child and never seemed to fit in. He was no good at sports and often called names and bullied. He decided he wanted his reindeer to be an underdog just like he had been. Sadly, May’s work was interrupted when his wife became terminally ill with cancer, and Montgomery Ward kindly suggested that May take some time off to be with her and let someone else complete the project. However, this seemed to spur May on, for he quickly finished the manuscript and read it to his daughter, Barbara, and her grandparents. The second theory about the origin of the book was that May wrote the story for his daughter when his wife was ill, and it was then used for Montgomery Ward’s promotion.
It doesn’t really matter how it happened, but on 1 September 1939, the same day that Hitler invaded Poland, all the Montgomery Ward stores across America received a memo telling them to push the Rudolph promotion. At Christmas time in 1939, 2.3 million copies were handed out across eight hundred stores. Even more books would have been issued, but wartime rationing meant no more could be printed at that time.
As a thank you to May, Montgomery Ward released the copyright back to him after Christmas 1939, but no publisher was interested, with so many copies already in circulation. It wasn’t until 1946, when the printing restrictions were lifted that a further 3.6 m copies were given away. Fortunately for May, a small publisher accepted the book in time for Christmas 1947 and over 100,000 copies were sold at 50 cents each. May persuaded his brother-in-law to turn the story into a song, which went on to be recorded by stars like Gene Autry, Bing Crosby and Dean Martin. May had finally made his fortune and was able to give up his day job.
Happy Christmas, Everyone!
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