Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Tuesday Night on CBS

In 1939 Robert L. May created the story of “Rudolph” for Montgomery Ward. In its first year of publication, 2.5 million copies of the story were distributed by Montgomery Ward. Then in 1949 May’s brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, adapted the story to song. They got a famous cowboy, Gene Autry to sing it and the song hit #1 the week of Christmas that year. It eventually sold over 25 million copies and was the second best selling record until the 1980’s.

In 1964, Rankin/Bass created the classic stop-motion Christmas special which premiered on CBS. Rankin/Bass drastically altered the story adding characters like Hermie the elf that wanted to be a dentist, Yukon Cornelius, the Abominable Snowman and the narrator Sam the Snowman, voiced by Burl Ives.

Hailed by many as a holiday classic “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” is more than that. What Rankin/Bass created in 1964 was the first American holiday classic. Until then all the traditions and stories of Christmas where mainly from Victorian England and Europe. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a true American classic and CBS will air the holiday special Tuesday night at 7pm, so get the kids together, a big bowl of popcorn and enjoy. I will.