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The story behind the story - Rudolph

BuffaloBill

By BuffaloBill
in Off the Wall Archives

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BuffaloBill

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A man named Bob May, depressed and brokenhearted, stared out his drafty apartment window into the chilling December night.

 

His 4-year-old daughter Barbara sat on his lap quietly sobbing. Bob's wife, Evelyn, was dying of cancer.

 

Little Barbara couldn't understand why her mommy could never came home. Barbara looked up into her dad's eyes and asked, "Why isn't Mommy just like everybody else's Mommy?"

 

Bob's jaw tightened and his eyes welled with tears. Her question brought waves of grief, but also of anger. It had been the story of Bob's life. Life always had to be different for Bob.

 

Small when he was a kid, Bob was often bullied by other boys. He was too little at the time to compete in sports. He was often called names he'd rather not remember. From childhood, Bob was different and never seemed to fit in. Bob completed college, married his loving wife, and was grateful to get his job as a copywriter at Montgomery Ward (dept. Store) during the Great Depression. Then he was blessed with his little girl. But it was all short lived.

 

Evelyn's bout with cancer stripped them of all their savings and now Bob and his daughter were forced to live in a two-room apartment in the Chicago slums. Evelyn died just days before Christmas in 1938.

 

Bob struggled to give hope to his child, for whom he couldn't even afford to buy a Christmas gift. But if he couldn't buy a gift, he was determined to make one - a storybook!

 

Bob had created an animal character in his own mind and told the animal's story to little Barbara to give her comfort and hope. Again and again Bob told the story, embellishing it more with each telling. Who was the character? What was the story all about?

 

The story Bob May created was his own autobiography in fable form. The character he created was a misfit outcast like he was. The name of the character? A little reindeer named Rudolph, with a big shiny nose.

 

Bob finished the book just in time to give it to his little girl on Christmas Day. But the story doesn't end there.

 

The general manager of Montgomery Ward caught wind of the little

 

storybook and offered Bob May a nominal fee to purchase the rights to print the book, and Wards went on to print, “Rudolph, the Red- nosed Reindeer" and distribute it to children visiting Santa Claus in their stores.

 

By 1946 Wards had printed and distributed more than six million copies of Rudolph. That same year, a major publisher wanted to purchase the rights from Wards to print an updated version of the book.

 

In an unprecedented gesture of kindness, the CEO of Wards returned all rights back to Bob May. The book became a best seller.

 

Many toy and marketing deals followed and Bob May, now remarried with a growing family, became wealthy from the story he created to comfort his grieving daughter.

 

But the story doesn't end there either.

 

Bob's brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, made a song adaptation to Rudolph. Though the song was turned down by such popular vocalists as Bing Crosby and DinahShore, it was recorded by the singing cowboy, Gene Autry.

 

"Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" was released in 1949 and became a phenomenal success, selling more records than any other Christmas song, with the exception of "White Christmas."

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ExiledInIllinois Hall of Famer

ExiledInIllinois

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It wasn't that far off the truth.

 

"Evelyn died just days before Christmas in 1938."

 

Except this part... She died July 1939... Yeah... Just days before Christmas... Approx. 180 days.

 

It is an urban legend... Spread since 2007:

 

http://urbanlegends.about.com/od/christmaslore/a/rudolph_the_red_nosed_reindeer.htm

 

 

 

 

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boyst Hall of Famer

boyst

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"Evelyn died just days before Christmas in 1938."

 

Except this part... She died July 1939... Yeah... Just days before Christmas... Approx. 180 days.

 

It is an urban legend... Spread since 2007:

 

http://urbanlegends....ed_reindeer.htm

it's all relative and to a father who lost his wife while raising his young daughter I am sure there were many nights where they just sat together in misery as the holidays approached.
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ExiledInIllinois Hall of Famer

ExiledInIllinois

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it's all relative and to a father who lost his wife while raising his young daughter I am sure there were many nights where they just sat together in misery as the holidays approached.

 

Then there is the part that nothing ever went right in his life. It appears that May was born into a rich & affluent family... That of course was hit hard by the Great Depression... So of course losing his wife sucks... He did re-marry and resumed an affluent life.

 

Not saying he didn't have a hard 10-15 years... Didn't almost everyone during the 1930's? The urban legend (as all urban legends are) is over the top.

 

I didn't read very close... But I always heard that Monkey Wards retained the rights to the story... Not sure how true it was that he received them out of "kindness."

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Beerball Hall of Famer

Beerball

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Then there is the part that nothing ever went right in his life. It appears that May was born into a rich & affluent family... That of course was hit hard by the Great Depression... So of course losing his wife sucks... He did re-marry and resumed an affluent life.

 

Not saying he didn't have a hard 10-15 years... Didn't almost everyone during the 1930's? The urban legend (as all urban legends are) is over the top.

 

I didn't read very close... But I always heard that Monkey Wards retained the rights to the story... Not sure how true it was that he received them out of "kindness."

Is your name Scrooge McDuck?
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ExiledInIllinois Hall of Famer

ExiledInIllinois

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Is your name Scrooge McDuck?

 

No. Why do people have to make stuff and/or embellish? This isn't fictional, May's story... No need to make things up. Why is it acceptable to mix fact w/fiction? If they are going to make up a story, @ least use fictional people. Isn't the truth important? Why spread something that isn't true?

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