Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
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"Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" is a popular Christmas story owned by St. Nicholas Music Inc. that has been sold in numerous forms including a popular song, a television special, and a feature film.
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[edit] Rudolph's origins
Rudolph's story was originally written in verse by Robert L. May for the Montgomery Ward chain of department stores in 1939 and published as a book to be given to children in the store at Christmas time. May was an Orthodox Jew hired as a freelance writer by the clothing store chain.
According to the story, Rudolph is the son of Donner, one of Santa's eight original reindeer (who were first mentioned in the famous poem A Visit from St. Nicholas). Rudolph was born with a glowing red nose, which made him a social outcast among the other reindeer. However, one Christmas eve it was too foggy for Santa Claus to make his flight around the world. About to cancel, Santa suddenly noticed Rudolph's nose, and decided it could be a makeshift lamp to guide his sleigh. Since then Rudolph has been a permanent member of Santa's team, and is welcomed by the other reindeer, making Santa's reindeer team a total of nine.
[edit] The song
Johnny Marks, May's brother-in-law, decided to adapt May's story into a song, which through the years has been recorded by many artists (most notably by Gene Autry in 1949), and has since filtered into the popular consciousness.
The song contains these lyrics:
- You know Dasher and Dancer
- And Prancer and Vixen,
- Comet and Cupid
- And Donder and Blitzen,
- But do you recall
- The most famous reindeer of all?
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
- Had a very shiny nose
- And if you ever saw it
- You would even say it glows
- All of the other reindeer
- Used to laugh and call him names
- They never let poor Rudolph
- Join in any reindeer games
- Then one foggy Christmas Eve
- Santa came to say
- "Rudolph, with your nose so bright,
- Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?"
- Then all the reindeer loved him
- As they shouted out with glee:
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,
- You'll go down in history!
In the U.S. and Canada, the song is sometimes performed (usually by children) in a humorous manner with additional lyrics. These lyrics are to be recited as a sort of response at the end of most of the lines in the song. Sample lyrics follow (responses in bold):
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (reindeer)
- Had a very shiny nose (like a lightbulb)
- And if you ever saw him (saw him)
- You would even say it glows (like a lightbulb/flashlight)
- All of the other reindeer (reindeer)
- Used to laugh and call him names (like Pinocchio/fudgeface)
- They never let poor Rudolph (Rudolph)
- Join in any reindeer games (like Monopoly) or (like football)
- Then one foggy Christmas Eve
- Santa came to say (Happy Birthday!), or (Ho-ho-ho!), or (in his underwear!), or (G'day!) - Australian version
- "Rudolph, with your nose so bright,
- Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?" (all right!)
- Then all the reindeer loved him (loved him)
- As they shouted out with glee: (Yippee!) or (Hooray!)
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, (reindeer)
- You'll go down in history! (like Columbus / Mickey Mouse / George Washington / The Yellow Pages)
Or, as it was sung on The Simpsons:
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
- Had a very shiny nose
- And if you ever saw it
- You would even say it glows (like a lightbulb)
- All of the other reindeer
- Used to laugh and call him names (like shnozzola!)
- They never let poor Rudolph
- Join in any reindeer games (like Strip Poker)
- Then one foggy Christmas Eve
- Santa came to say:
- "Rudolph, get your nose over here,
- Won't you guide my sleigh... today." - Homer couldn't remember the lyrics correctly and made up the rest.
- Then all the reindeer loved him
- As they shouted out with glee:
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
- You'll go down in history! - Bart then ends the song with: like Attila the Hun before Homer cuts off Bart's singing by choking him.
The 1960 version produced by Alvin and the Chipmunks is done in a straightforward way, except that Rudolph joins the boys, and it is clear from his voice that he is "stuffed up" with a head cold, as he is unable to say certain words correctly, and this is presumed to be the explanation for his nose being red:
- Rudolph with your dose so bright
- Won't you guide my sleigh todight?
The popular song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" in its Finnish translation, Petteri Punakuono, has led to Rudolph's general acceptance in the mythology as Joulupukki's, the Finnish Santa's, lead reindeer. However, Santa's reindeer in the Finnish version do not fly.
[edit] Rudolph in the media
[edit] Theatrical cartoon short
Rudolph's first screen appearance came in 1948, in the form of a theatrical cartoon short, produced by Max Fleischer for the Jam Handy Corporation, that was more faithful to May's original story than Marks' eventual song.
[edit] Animated TV special
Main article: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (television special)
The reindeer debuted on NBC in 1964, when Rankin/Bass produced a stop motion animated TV special of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer that became a popular hit in itself. This version was re-broadcast many times over the years, even after it was finally released on video. CBS now airs it each year, making it the longest running TV special.
It is narrated by Sam the Snowman (Burl Ives), who tells that when Rudolph was first born, he had a red light-up nose. Donner, Rudolph's father, wants to hide it, and does so by covering it with dirt so that it's black like any other reindeer's nose. While playing reindeer games with other young reindeer, he befriends a young doe named Clarice. He seems rather popular amongst the other reindeer, until his nose's disguise falls clean off, revealing his red glow. All of the other reindeer - aside from Clarice - ridicule and shun Rudolph. Clarice tries to comfort him, but to no avail. Luckily, Rudolph's not the only one who's different. One elf, Hermey, wants to be a dentist instead of a toy-making elf, and is similarly unaccepted by his peers. Hermey and Rudolph take off together to find where they belong, and meet Yukon Cornelius, an unsuccessful prospector who is seeking silver and gold. They have to beware of the Abominable Snow-monster (whom Yukon refers to as the Bumble), and stumble upon the Island of Misfit Toys, populated with toys such as a "Charlie-in-the-box", a train with square wheels, and a cowboy who rides an ostrich. They want to stay on the island, but King Moon Racer, ruler of the island, says it is for toys only. Hermey and Yukon say the three of them will leave the island in the morning, but Rudolph, figuring his nose will get them in trouble by attracting the snow-monster, decides to set out alone. He arrives at home, but Rudolph's family and Clarice are gone, looking for him. He discovers that they are being held captive by the Bumble, and rejoins his friends to help defeat the frosty fiend. Hermey, with his dentistry skills, helps Rudolph rescue the others by pulling out all the Bumble's teeth. The Bumble still tries to attack - toothless or not - and Yukon tackles the beast... right over the edge of a cliff. When they get back to the North Pole, Rudolph and Hermey are hailed as heroes and apologized to. However, Yukon is sorely missed. That is, until he shows up at Santa's doorstep with the Bumble in tow! Rudolph asks how the two of them survived the fall, and Yukon simply repies, "Didn't I ever tell you about Bumbles? Bumbles bounce!" The toothless Bumble, now reformed puts the star on top of the tree at the Christmas Eve party, in which Rudolph and friends are very welcome. When there is a strong fog, Santa relies on Rudolph as a beacon, and Rudolph gets them to the Island of Misfit Toys and at the end, the toys are given homes (they are dropped out of the sleigh behind the credits via umbrellas).
In 1976, a sequel to the Rankin-Bass original special was produced, entitled Rudolph's Shiny New Year and then a third in 1979 entitled Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July. Then in 2001, a a fourth in the series was released titled Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and The Island of Misfit Toys, produced entirely with computer animation, as opposed to traditional stop-motion animation; however, care was taken to make the computer-generated characters resemble their stop-motion counterparts from the original special as much as possible.
[edit] Animated feature-length film
An animated feature film remake of the story of the legendary Rudolph was produced in 1998, entitled Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie, but this version of the story paled in comparison citation needed with the Rankin-Bass classic, both in terms of quality and box-office revenue. It only saw a limited theatrical release before quickly being sent to home video.
[edit] Robot Chicken Parody
In a Christmas episode of the cartoon Robot Chicken, Rudolph was seen alingside characters from Dragonball Z fighting an evil half Frosty the Snowman-half Santa Claus. A laser shoots from Rudolph's nose and Rudolph says "Why the hell do you think it glowed red??"
[edit] References
Two BBC animations carry on the legend by introducing Rudolph's son, Robbie the Reindeer. However, Rudolph is never directly mentioned by name (references are replaced by a character interrupting with the phrase "Don't say that name!" or something similar, presumably for copyright reasons[citation needed]).
[edit] Satirical references
Mad TV also produced a twisted version of the 1964 classic by incorporating the story into a Martin Scorsese remake reminiscent of The Godfather where the other reindeer were Santa's hitmen and Santa was the ringleader of a snow-based crime syndicate. They entitled it Raging Rudolph.
The Reindeer Monologues are a satirical play in which each of the eight original Reindeer from The Night Before Christmas each perform a monologue. Rudolph does not have a monolouge, due to the fact that he has been molested by Santa. This causes him to have a nervous breakdown.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer at Keyframe - the Animation Resource
- History of Rudolph
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Radio
- The Legendary Role of Reindeer in Christmas
- DollyforSue.com Why is the Doll a Misfit on the Island of Misfit Toys?
- MisfitToys.net Classic Rudolph Christmas Songs, Trivia, Cast
