Where did Rudolf the Red-nosed reindeer come from?
The red-nosed reindeer joined the Christmas line-up less than 80 years ago.
IN 1821 an anonymous poem, ‘Old Santeclaus’ described an old man on a reindeer sleigh, bringing presents to children.
The 1823 poem known today as ‘The Night Before Christmas’ entrenched the traditions such as riding in a sleigh that lands on the roof, entering through the chimney and having a bag full of toys.
The reindeer were also named: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Dunder and Blixem (later changed to Donner and Blitzen).
In 1939, 34-year-old copywriter Robert L May wrote the story of Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer for a Chicago-based department store chain that had been purchasing and distributing children’s colouring books as Christmas gifts for their customers for several years. Writing in verse as a series of rhyming couplets, May tested the story as he went along on his four-year-old daughter Barbara, who loved the story.
That year 2,4-million copies were handed out. Despite the wartime paper shortage, more than 6-million copies had been distributed by 1946.
May’s story was printed commercially in 1947 and in 1948 a nine-minute cartoon of the story was shown in cinemas. When May’s brother-in-law, songwriter Johnny Marks, wrote the lyrics and melody for the song, the Rudolph phenomenon was born.
The song was recorded by Gene Autry in 1949 and sold two million copies that year, going on to become one of the best-selling songs of all time.
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