Book Excerpt: Happy 60th Anniversary to 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'

And It's Triumphant Return to NBC (It's Original Network)

[Note: This article is an edited book excerpt from Christmas TV Memories: Nostalgic Holiday Favorites of the Small Screen by Herbie J Pilato.]

Who doesn’t love Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which has aired annually, except once (in 1999 when a poorly-made decision outraged viewers)? In 1964, the same year the 90-minute sci-fi feature film oddity titled, Santa Claus Conquered the Martians premiered on the big screen, the 60-minute stop-motion Animagic of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer debuted on NBC.

As musician, author, and entertainment historian David Laurell explained: “Animagic was a technique that Bass and Rankin’s company, Videocraft, used in which three-dimensional figures were animated via the process of single frame photography.”

However it was created, the special transported small-screen viewers to what media analyst and marketeer Bob Barnett called “a world of adventure and misfit toys.” As a child, Burnett “related to Rudolph’s being different. His journey to find his place in the world was both entertaining and comforting. The show created an enchanting magical Christmas atmosphere that was hard to resist.”

Rudolph, more likely than any other children’s special, animated, live-action, Christmas or otherwise (with A Charlie Brown Christmas a close second), is filtered with insightful and caring life lessons of humanity. Directed by Larry Roemer, with cinematography by Kizo Nagashima, and written by Robert May and Romeo Muller, the special tells a “true love” story with pervading messages about maturity, responsibility, pride, prejudice, ambition, and acceptance. It goes to great lengths to decipher things like “deer pressure” from “elf improvement.” There is a need to dispel the fear surrounding a visit to the dentist; to learn that no toy is happy unless it is truly loved by a child. It’s all in there, as are some of the most tender and telling Christmas songs ever composed (“There’s Always Tomorrow”; “Silver and Gold”), and one of the happiest (“Holly Jolly Christmas”). What else could anyone want in a Christmas TV special?

Usually broadcast in late November or early December, the perennial classic signals the commencement of the holiday season, reminding viewers to slow down and shine on until the morning — and beyond. Featuring the stellar vocal talents of Burl Ives, as Sam the Snowman — who we first meet in the North Pole midst of a field of Christmas trees (“Yep — this is where we grow ‘em!”), Paul Frees, and Billy Mae Richards as the leading reindeer, among others, Rudolph glows from one moment to the next.

For example, shortly after Rudolph arrives on the Island of Misfit Toys, with his friends, Yukon Cornelius (the arctic prospector, voiced by Larry Mann) and Herbie/Hermie (the elf who wants to be a dentist, voiced by Paul Solis) he buckles up, and ventures full-speed ahead to fulfill his destiny. He does so by breaking off a piece of land-ice and using it as a drift device to carry him on his way through the icy sea. [Side note: the elf is referred to as “Herbie/Hermie,” as his name changed from the first half of the show to the second, due to a production mishap. But for the sake of clarity, from here on in he will be referred to as “Hermie.”]

As Rudolph drifts across the frigid waters, he wistfully bids farewell to his dear friends, saying, “Goodbye, Cornelius. I hope you find lots of tinsel. Goodbye, Hermie. Whatever a dentist is . . . I hope someday you will be . . . the greatest.”

This scene is one of the most poignant moments in the special, and speaks volumes about Rudolph’s kind heart, leaving the viewer with food for thought . . . especially what he says to Hermie. Without understanding in the least anything about Hermie’s intended profession, Rudolph wants only the highest good for his friend; for Hermie to excel with his aspirations.

According to film and TV historian Robert S. Ray:

“The enormous success of Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol no doubt helped give the green light to the first of the Rankin-Bass Christmas perennials, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Based on the popular song by Johnny Marks and augmented by additional tunes by Johnny Marks, it starred Burl Ives in a flashback-filled retelling of the song’s story. Like Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol before it, this was “Event Television” and as the first of the Rankin/Bass Christmas offerings, this was perhaps the best of them. All the ideas and concepts were fresh and new. Nothing seemed formulaic, as this was the one that invented the later formulas. The fact that the show included commercials featuring members of the puppet cast seen nowhere else made it even more special. This is the first Christmas special that never went away in the ensuing decades. It currently airs multiple times throughout the Christmas season, whereas in 1964, it only aired once and then was gone until the next year.

David Laurell can further attest to that. As a child, he loved all of the Rankin/Bass productions, along with the various television variety shows and specials, especially Christmas presentations. “Those shows provided me with all kinds of ideas that I incorporated into my performances,” said Laurell, who’s also a former mayor of Burbank, California. Laurell’s “special favorite” Christmas TV production was Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, partially due to the Animagic characters.”

“With a script adapted by award-winning screenwriter Romeo Muller, the special was destined to become a timeless holiday classic,” Laurell continued. That transpired when Rankin approached his neighbor, Johnny Marks, to write the songs for the production. Hesitant at first, Marks was, as Laurell explained, “finally persuaded into working on the Rudolph special, and dove in with inspired gusto.”

Along with the “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” tune, Marks composed other popular holiday tunes including “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day” and “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree.” (As noted in this book’s Introduction, the original version of which was made popular by Brenda Lee shot back to the top of the charts in 2023, this time, in the No. 1 spot.)

For the Rudolph TV special’s soundtrack Marks delivered what Laurell called “another sack of tunes that have gone on to become Yuletide classics.” Topping that list is “Have a Holly Jolly Christmas,” which became a hit for balladeer Burl Ives. Other of Marks’s compositions created for the Rudolph special include “We’re a Couple of Misfits,” “Silver and Gold,” “We Are Santa’s Elves,” “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” and the beloved ballad, “There’s Always Tomorrow.”

Laurell’s mother had received a promotional copy of the Rudolph soundtrack when she purchased a GE appliance; a then-designed LP that he “played ad nauseum, which resulted in every member of the family knowing the words to every song.”

Laurell’s talented brother, David, also appreciated the Rudolph special and memorized all of the show’s lyrics. Consequently, whether it was Mother’s Day, Easter, or Halloween, the Laurell brothers performed a duet of Christmas songs from the Rudolph special. Their two favorite tunes were “Silver and Gold” and “There’s Always Tomorrow.” The latter is performed by the doe Clarise [voiced by Janet Orenstein], Rudolph’s romantic interest, in an attempt to cheer him up after his shimmering nose won’t allow him to “join in any reindeer games.”

That’s an important moment from the special; one that countless viewers through the decades have held dear. As Laurell explained: “When Rudolph moans that it hadn’t been a very lucky day for him, Clarise tells him that any doe would be lucky to be with him and that no matter how bad things may be at the moment, there’s always another day for dreams to come true. She then breaks into the lovely lullaby.”

In the early part of 1968, Laurell’s father began experiencing health issues that, by late spring, had resulted in hospitalization and surgery. In short, his father was dying. That summer, the Laurell brothers were, as David put it, “shipped off to ‘vacation’ with relatives.” By that summer’s end, they returned home to find their father painfully weak. By October, doom and gloom had overshadowed the Laurell home and caused David’s grades to plummet and his depression to surge. “I knew something had to be done to lift all of our spirits,” he recalled, “and I decided I was the one to do it—with a show!”

Laurell began the production with a comedic musical number that was followed by the usual fare of illusory conjurations, puppetry, and sketches:

“My brother and I ended the show by singing “There’s Always Tomorrow.” The vivid reminder of the emotional impact we caused by singing “There’s Always Tomorrow,” coupled with the fact that my father passed away just a few days before Christmas of that year, has forever made the Rudolph television special one that makes me think of him. Every year, when I see the special’s annual airing promoted, I can’t help but think back on a time when I truly believed that there was always another day to do something—to right a wrong, to tell someone how much they mean to you, or to do something you have always dreamed of doing.

“I have always believed that dreams can come true. I still do. But, when my father died, I realized that we must do everything we can to make our dreams become realities, not in the tomorrows that may never come, but in the one day we are assured of—today.”

After Rudolph’s initial screening on NBC in 1964, the special began annual broadcasts on CBS, during which its closing credits were revised. Influenced by TV watchers who pined for a happy ending, the visuals of wrapped gifts being dropped from Santa’s sleigh were replaced by a scene in which Santa stops to pick up the Misfit Toys and delivers them to the homes of children below via umbrellas (except for the misfit toy bird that swims but does not fly who is dropped to its destination).

Rudolph’s tale was told before beginning in 1939, when Robert L. May was commissioned to create the new character for the Chicago-based Montgomery Ward department store which, to save money, sought to market its own coloring book. Then in 1948, a short film about Rudolph was released by Max Fleischer. On June 27, 1949, Gene Autry recorded his now-famed children’s song (which was released by Columbia Records in September 1949). In 1958, Little Golden Books published an illustrated storybook, adapted by Barbara Shook Hazen and illustrated by Richard Scarry. That publication was similar in story to Fleischer’s 1948 film, and no longer in print, but a revised Little Golden Books adaptation of the storybook was reissued in 1972.

The original NBC TV production, produced for The General Electric Fantasy Hour, was followed by two sequels: Rudolph’s Shiny New Year in 1976, and Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July, which was a feature-length movie. That latter entry found Rudolph amidst the Rankin/Bass world of Frosty the Snowman, which premiered on CBS in 1969, while Rudolph also made his cameo appearances in two more Animagic TV specials from the Rankin/Bass camp: Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town (ABC, 1970) and Nestor, the Long–Eared Christmas Donkey (ABC, 1977), and in the Easter television special The First Easter Rabbit (ABC, 1976) with cel animation by Toru Hara’s Topcraft.

Decades later, the 1979 novelty, music pop-chart song, “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,” by Randy Brooks, was recorded by married bluegrass musicians Elmo and Patsy. In 2000, the song was adapted as an animated TV special.

In 1999, Olive, the Other Reindeer, based on the book by J. Otto Siebold and Vivian Walsh, was adapted into an animated TV special with a female twist. Here, Drew Barrymore lends her voice to Olive, who takes it upon herself to essentially approach Santa for a job. Upon learning that Blitzen the reindeer has been injured, Olive steps up to the plate, her sleigh, and as did Rudolph on NBC decades before her, she flies with Mr. Claus on Christmas Eve.

But none of those compared to the charm of the original Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer special, for which Jerry Houser did the commercial voiceovers for the show and other CBS animated specials in later decades. As he recalled:

“I did their whole bank of shows. It was a cool gig. I did that for a long time. I’m really grateful for that. I did Frosty the Snowman, Frosty Returns, and others. Whatever animated specials they had I did.

“I also did the commercial voiceovers for a bunch of their sitcoms and shows. Joe Cipriano was their main voiceover. But I did Kids Say the Darndest Things . . . Candid Camera . . . and all of those kinds of shows that my voice would lend itself to.

“I’m not sure how to define my voice, but it is something that resonates with shows like Rudolph. I don’t know. I didn’t want to be too self-conscious about it. Because there were elements of me in the voice…which I see in all the acting I did.

“I have taught voiceover classes over the years, and I would tell my students to focus on what makes “you unique . . . is you. Anybody can read these lines . . . but only you can do them like you. And that’s what’s special. And if they like they like it, and if they don’t, they don’t. But we all have that extra something that we bring to the party.”

“And I think that was the case with me which is why my voice worked for promoting Rudolph. I guess there is certain energy and friendliness . . . warmth . . . to my voice. But I feel like I can’t really take any credit for it. I mean, the way you sound is the way you sound.”

Click here to order CHRISTMAS TV MEMORIES: NOSTALGIC HOLIDAY FAVORITES OF THE SMALL SCREEN by Herbie J Pilato.