Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer
Rudolph (in English) or Rodolfo (in Spanish), is the name of one of the nine Christmas reindeer who, according to Christmas mythology, pull the magic sleigh with which Santa Claus (Santa Claus) travels around the world distributing Christmas gifts on the night of December 24
In early 1939, May's boss at Ward's asked her to write a “joyful children's book” for Christmas shoppers, suggesting that “it should be an animal story, with a character like Ferdinand the Bull,” which was recently published as a propaganda short a of the Second World War. film by Walt Disney. When writing the Christmas giveaway, May decided to make d is a reindeer the central character of the book because he was a Christmas animal. It had to be a kind of “ugly duckling” that had a lot of heart to succeed with Santa. “It was based on memories of his own painfully timid childhood when he created his story of Rudolph”.
He and his four-year-old daughter Barbara, along with Ward artist Denver Gillen, examine Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo on a Saturday to get a better idea of what Rudolph would look like. Working at home and in her spare time in the office, May wrote the book in about 50 hours. When I finished writing each part, I read it to Barbara. This paperback book of poems by Rudolph was first distributed by Montgomery Ward during the 1939 Christmas season. buyers loved it and 24 million copies were distributed. Restrictions on the use of paper during the war prevented a reissue until 1946.
In 1948, May convinced his brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, to write the lyrics and music for a musical adaptation of Rudolph. Although the song was eventually rejected by such popular vocalists as Bing Crosby and Dinah Shore, it was finally recorded in 1949 by the cowboy singer Gene Autry, whose wife convinced him to sing it.
