# 4946-49 - 2014 First-Class Forever Stamp - Contemporary Christmas: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
U.S. #4946-49
2014 49¢ Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
In the 1930s, Chicago-based retail store Montgomery Ward bought and gave away coloring books to children every year for Christmas. In 1939, they decided it would be easier to create their own book and tasked copywriter Robert May with crafting a fun story for their new book.
Nearly a decade later, the story was turned into a cartoon by Max Fleisher to promote Montgomery Ward stores. Then in 1949, May’s brother-in-law turned the poem into a song, popularly performed by Gene Autry. The tune, which differed some from the book, was the number one song that Christmas and sold 2.5 million copies its first year. It would go on to become the second best-selling record of all time into the 1980s. In the coming years, the tale of Rudolph would also be adapted for comic books as well as another children’s book from Little Golden Books.
In 1964, 25 years after the original book was produced, the story was adapted once again, into the beloved stop-motion animation television special by Rankin and Bass. When the producers were planning the special, they couldn’t find a copy of the book, so they based their story on the song and added in some new characters – Hermey the elf, Yukon Cornelius, Clarice, the Abominable Snow Monster, and Sam the living Snowman.
U.S. #4946-49
2014 49¢ Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
In the 1930s, Chicago-based retail store Montgomery Ward bought and gave away coloring books to children every year for Christmas. In 1939, they decided it would be easier to create their own book and tasked copywriter Robert May with crafting a fun story for their new book.
Nearly a decade later, the story was turned into a cartoon by Max Fleisher to promote Montgomery Ward stores. Then in 1949, May’s brother-in-law turned the poem into a song, popularly performed by Gene Autry. The tune, which differed some from the book, was the number one song that Christmas and sold 2.5 million copies its first year. It would go on to become the second best-selling record of all time into the 1980s. In the coming years, the tale of Rudolph would also be adapted for comic books as well as another children’s book from Little Golden Books.
In 1964, 25 years after the original book was produced, the story was adapted once again, into the beloved stop-motion animation television special by Rankin and Bass. When the producers were planning the special, they couldn’t find a copy of the book, so they based their story on the song and added in some new characters – Hermey the elf, Yukon Cornelius, Clarice, the Abominable Snow Monster, and Sam the living Snowman.