12/1/2023 0 Comments Animation puppetThe company’s motivation wasn’t purely altruistic its Fantasy Hour series created an opportunity to market its housewares directly to viewers. Over the next 18 months, GE poured the equivalent of more than $4.5 million into the special’s innovative stop-motion animation. Adding to the kismet, a General Electric engineer named Nick Holonyak developed the first LED light bulb capable of emitting visible red light in 1962-the same bulb used for Rudolph’s bioluminescent nose.īy mid-1963, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was officially in production. “That's how it all got to the network.” As GE’s vice president of housewares, Sahloff influenced the company’s television specials, which aired on NBC. “In fact, one of the Montgomery Ward's people, Willard Sahloff, was in General Electric,” Goldschmidt says. With conversations underway, May’s history with Montgomery Ward also came into play. Hermey, Rudolph, Head Elf, Yukon Cornelius, Sam the Snowman and Santa Claus in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images Rankin reached out to Marks to broach the possibility of putting Rudolph on television as part of the GE Fantasy Hour, a branded series of TV specials sponsored by General Electric. In 1960, Rankin formed Rankin/Bass Productions with collaborator Jules Bass, and the two began producing children’s television specials. Marks lived in Greenwich Village, where he became friends with a neighbor named Arthur Rankin. It shot to the top of Billboard’s country-western and pop charts and remained a top holiday hit for decades.Īccording to Rick Goldschmidt, the official historian of Rankin/Bass Productions, the song’s popularity kicked off a chain reaction of coincidences and connections that played out during the early 1960s. In perhaps the greatest turning point of Marks’ career, she persuaded Autry to record “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” in time for the 1949 holiday season. But Autry’s wife, Ina, was moved by Rudolph’s underdog story and predicted it would strike a chord with other listeners, too. When Marks presented the song to Gene Autry, the so-called “Singing Cowboy” wasn’t initially enthusiastic. ” Later revisions proved more successful, and he began shopping the tune around to singers like Bing Crosby, Dinah Shore and Perry Como (who would have taken it, had Marks given him permission to alter the lyrics). Still, Marks initially struggled with the task, calling his first attempt “ easily one of the worst songs ever written. Johnny Marks, writer of the Christmas song “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer,” on December 05, 1977. Marks would later go on to publish 175 original songs, including television scores, radio hits and commercial jingles. By then, Marks was already a professional composer who had been writing songs since his teenage years. He persuaded his brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, to write music to accompany the story. Knowing how popular the book had been, May sensed an opportunity to turn his luck around. After World War II, Montgomery Ward unexpectedly granted him the rights to Rudolph. Saddled with medical debt, he continued working at Montgomery Ward and eventually remarried. The company gave away more than two million copies that season.ĭespite this success, May struggled with life as a single father. Montgomery Ward transformed the poem into a 32-page booklet distributed to children for free-a meaningful gesture in a country still shaken by the Great Depression. In August, May filed a story told in 89 couplets. “Gratefully I buried myself in the writing,” he wrote at the time. But he found solace in the story, drawing inspiration from his young daughter’s fondness for reindeer at the Lincoln Park Zoo. When she died in July 1939, May was given the option to give up the assignment. May’s wife had been diagnosed with cancer, and as the year wore on, her health deteriorated. May agreed to tackle the assignment, despite difficulties in his personal life. The department store began preparing for Christmas 1939 nearly a year in advance, and tasked May with penning an original holiday story they could market to shoppers. Rudolph’s story began with a Jewish Montgomery Ward copywriter named Robert May. Before Rudolph lit up the small screen, a series of tragedies, twists of fortune and lucky coincidences allowed his tale to endure through decades-eventually ensuring a place in holiday tradition. But each played an important role in the making of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, a classic Christmas special currently celebrating its 57th straight year of annual reruns. Reindeer and dentists, puppets and LED light bulbs, Gene Autry and General Electric-these odd pairings might not seem to have much in common.
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