The Origins of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

(Image credit: Tim Gouw/Unsplash)

The beloved red-nosed reindeer has, as the song goes, gone down in history. Everybody knows the Christmas carol featuring Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, but where did Rudolph actually come from?

Would you believe that it all actually began with a marketing gimming in the 1930s? It was meant to bring more people to the Montgomery Ward department store during the holiday season.

Before the song was even penned down, there was a children's book which the department head of the store thought of giving away for free to any child with their parents coming to the store.

Over 2 million copies of the book was ordered by the 800 stores of Montgomery Ward nationwide. But, of course, what further drove sales and traffic was the song that we all know and love.

Read the full story of how Robert L. May came up with the original Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer story, and how he asked his brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, to come up with a song adapting the story on Open Culture.