Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer is one of the most popular and enduring festive songs. It has made the title character iconic and is as redolent of the season as Christmas lights and fir trees. The story behind how it came to be composed is a surprising one though.
The reindeer with the brightly glowing nose did not start his life as the character in a song at all. He was the creation of a man called Robert L. May, a copywriter who lived in Chicago.
May devised him when he was writing a festive colouring book for Montgomery Ward, which was a catalogue and retail firm. He got the flash of inspiration when he saw how much his young daughter loved the deer found within Lincoln Park Zoo.
But what led him to give Rudolph that legendary red nose? Well, that came from his recollections of being bullied when he was a child, due to his small size and shy nature. It gave him the bright idea of making Rudolph an outcast who was picked on, only to triumph in the end.
This all happened around Christmas 1939, and this could easily have been the end of the story for Rudolph. However, May had a brother-in-law called Johnny Marks, who was a songwriter. A decade on from the original creation, he came up with the famous song, which was recorded by singer Gene Autry in time for the 1949 festive season. It has since become a worldwide hit, and Rudolph remains a festive fixture to this day.
