Red-Nosed Parable

Red-Nosed Parable

You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donder and Blitzen, but do you recall… ?“  

And of course, you do. Who could forget the most famous reindeer of all?  But do you know the story behind the song?

In 1939, Montgomery Ward, a major retail store, asked one of its copywriters, Bob May, to write a Christmas story as a gift for the children visiting Santa in their stores. May was going through a particularly difficult time in his life. His wife was dying from cancer and their four-year-old daughter was confused about why her mother who was unlike other mothers and could not play with her. 

May recalled his own childhood, when he had been smaller than the other boys and clumsy at sports, and created another outsider -- a reindeer with a glowing red nose. In May’s story, Rudolph’s parents loved and encouraged him, but his peers taunted him because he was different. Of course, his oddity saved Santa on that famous foggy night. May’s daughter loved Rudolph and so did the thousands of children who visited Santa that year at Montgomery Ward. 

May’s wife died and he was left with huge medical bills. He asked Montgomery Ward for the copyright to his story -- and in the most unbelievable part of this story -- they gave it to him.  Rudolph became an even bigger phenomenon when May’s brother-in-law Johnny Marks put the story to music and the great Gene Autry recorded the song we all know and love. It became the second most recorded holiday song after White Christmas. What a story! 

Certainly a parable for us all, or rather, several parables. 

First, there’s the parable of the story. Bob May, a successful copywriter for a major business, never forgot how the taunting of his boyhood friends had made him feel even smaller and clumsier than he was. He knew what it felt like to be different. He remembered how his parents supported him and realized that his lack of skill in sports may have focused his creative talents in other areas. Differences can be good. None of the other reindeer could guide Santa’s sleigh.

Then there’s the parable of the song. Johnny Marks first asked Bing Crosby, the most popular singer of the day, to record it. Bing said no. Dinah Shore, also extremely popular, turned him down as well. It was too childish, not the right image for either. So Marks asked Gene Autry, the “Singing Cowboy.” Gene took it home and played it for his wife. He was about to turn it down too, but his wife convinced him that it would be a great song for him. Taking a chance can lead to great rewards; Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer became Autry’s greatest hit.

Finally, there’s the parable of Montgomery Ward. The store commissioned the story with the sole object of making money. Enticing the kiddies into the store to see Santa raised sales. Six million copies had been given away by 1946. They made a lot of money and could have made a whole lot more with the success of the song. But in 1947 they gave the copyright back to Bob May so that he could pay the medical bills from his wife’s terminal illness. It is better to give than to receive. Montgomery Ward has long closed, but its legacy with Rudolph continues.

Bob May lived comfortably on the royalties from his story and song until his death in 1976.  Rudolph lives on, teaching us every holiday season that it is good to be different and that, on the foggy nights in our lives, we can look for a light to guide us.

By doing something to help others, like writing a story that enthralls children, or a composing a song that brings joy, or giving to someone in need, we too, can go down in history.