~
illustration by Denver Gillen
detail photo by Styrous®
Well, after spending weeks gathering and wrapping all the
Christmas presents I've finally gotten into the holiday spirit! And what could be more in keeping with
Christmas,
Santa Claus, snow and joy?
Rudolph, of course!
Midway through creating this blog entry I realized this is the very first record I ever owned. So,
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is my choice for celebrating 70 years of record collecting and this
special day of a year that has been extraordinary in so many ways.
This song about Rudolph was written by
Johnny Marks in 1949, recorded by
Gene Autry and was a HUGE hit! I remember when it came out . . .
Marks described the song as “one of the worst ever written” but he sent a copy to
Gene Autry
who agreed with him and rejected the song; however, his wife found it
“enchanting” and talked Autry into using it on the other side of an
already scheduled record. As they say, the rest is history!
My mom (
link below) bought a
cover of the song on
Golden Records for me in 1949 for
Christmas. The
Golden Records label was originally issued from
1948 to 1962; they were produced for little kids. Little Golden Records were six inches (15 cm) in
diameter and made of bright yellow plastic (orange plastic was used for
a few titles). Each side played for a maximum of about one minute and
forty-five seconds at
78 RPM. I recall being disappointed she hadn't bought the popular version of it which was by
Gene Autry on
Columbia Records and for BIG kids.
But,
as can be seen, I played the record my mom bought me to death and beat
it up as only a kid can; I remember it had a cover with Rudolph on it
but the cover vanished decades ago, who knows where. I still can't believe that was 70 years ago!
I fell in love with it!
However, many years later when I was collecting
vinyl LPs I came across a
beat up old copy of the Autry recording which proudly proclaimed, "The Original", and bought it to satisfy that
kid from the 40's still living inside me.
background illustration by Denver Gillen
Mike Stewart (not of the
We Five fame) is the singer on my version of the song; he is accompanied by The Sandpapers (not of the
Guantanamera fame) and
Mitch Miller before he became a 50's recording star in his own right.
The song has been covered by recording artists other than Autry: there is Perry Como with about a zillion version of it,
Burl Ives,
Dean Martin,
Paul Carrack,
The Temptations and many more (
YouTube link below).
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a fictional reindeer created by
Robert Lewis May. Rudolph is usually depicted as the ninth and youngest of
Santa Claus's reindeer, using his luminous red nose to lead the reindeer team and guide Santa's sleigh on
Christmas Eve.
Though he initially receives ridicule for his nose as a fawn, the
brightness of his nose is so powerful that it illuminates the team's
path through the harsh
winter weather.
Rudolph first appeared in a 1939 promotional booklet written by
Robert L. May and published by
Montgomery Ward, the department store. Oh, my Gosh! Does the name of THAT store bring back memories of my childhood!
illustration by Denver Gillen
May, drew in part from the 1844 tale of
The Ugly Duckyling by
Hans Christian Andersen
and his own background (he was often taunted as a child for being shy,
small, and slight), settled on the idea of an underdog ostracized by the
reindeer community because of his physical abnormality: a glowing red
nose. His boss was worried that a story featuring a red nose — an image
associated with drinking and drunkards — was unsuitable for a Christmas
tale. May took Denver Gillen, a friend from the
Montgomery Ward art department, to the
Lincoln Park Zoo
to sketch some deer. Gillen’s illustrations of a red-nosed reindeer
overcame the hesitancy of May’s superiors, and the Rudolph story was
approved. A total of 6 million copies had been distributed by the end of
1946.
The "B" side of the record had a little
ditty written by Alec Wilder called
The Reindeer Dance and performed by
Mitch Miller.
Alec Wilder ~ The Reindeer Dance
6" 78 RPM record & label
photos by Styrous®
It's a funky recording but sometimes enjoyable things in life aren't always the prim, proper and legitimate way to go!
Viewfinder links:
Merry Christmas!
Christmas - 2019
