Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

According to snopes.com, the story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer all started with the department store Montgomery Ward in 1939. Montgomery Ward wanted to create a coloring booklet that they could give away to families during the holidays as a promotional item. An employee named Robert L. May came up with our glowing-nosed friend and his miraculous act to fill the request.

Since May was teased as a child for his small size, he wanted to create an underdog who would succeed in the end. And Rudolph (who was almost named Rollo or Reginald!) was born.

Little known fact: Montgomery Ward executives were worried that Rudolph's red nose, which was then a symbol of drunkenness, wasn't appropriate for a children's tale. Luckily it was approved anyway!

Here's the Rudolph fame timeline:

1939 Coloring Book

1944 Cartoon Short

1949 Song

1950 Comic Book

1958 Golden Book

1964 Stop-Action Movie

1998 Feature-Length Movie

And now we can't picture Christmas without him. Can you imagine just coming up with a Christmas staple right off the top of your head? Way to go, May!

With pop-up action pictures!

(I could feel Charlie Brown's frustration at me as I wrote this. Yes, Chuck, it all does go back to the commercialism of Christmas!)