I will always love this wonderful television Christmas special. As Clarisa sings...Theres Always Tomorrow. I must get to the Post Office and buy the Rudolph stamps! 5 Fun Facts About Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer - Rudolph Turns 50 December 9th, 2014 This year, the famed and beloved TV Christmas special classic Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer celebrates its 50th anniversary. The stop-motion animation originally aired on NBC in December 1964, and 50 years later it is still going strong. To commemorate the anniversary, we dug up a few fun facts about Rudolph, Santa, Hermy and his pals. The specials first airing of the holiday season is tonight on CBS tonight at 8 p.m. 1) The story of Rudolph was created to save a department store money. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and his story were created in 1939 by Robert L. May in an effort to save retailer and department store Montgomery Ward money. May was hired to create the story and distribute the book every Christmas. Until then, the retailer had been purchasing books, which it gave away every Christmas. Some 2.5 million copies of Rudolph were printed and distributed in its first year. 2) Fans werent happy that Santa didnt fulfill a promise. After the first airing of Rudolph and his misfit friends in 1964, viewers called and complained that Santa did not fulfill his promise of visiting the island of misfit toys annually to collect and distribute the unwanted toys to boys and girls around the globe. The following year, a new scene reflecting fans wishes was added and is now a permanent part of the Christmas classic. 3) There are deleted scenes not seen since the original. Of course, scenes needed to be deleted to make way for the new ending of Santa visiting the land of misfit toys. To make room, several scenes were axed from the original version, which include: the instrumental bridge from We Are Santas Elves, featuring the elf orchestra; Rudolph & Hermeys duet reprise of Were a Couple of Misfits, and the Peppermint Mine scene resolving the fate of Yukon Cornelius. 4) The original puppets reemerged in 2005. The nephew of the original rescuer found the puppets used in the film in a family attic and then brought them to be appraised on the PBS Antiques Roadshow back in 2006. Created for about $5,000 each in 1964, they were valued at $8,000 to $10,000 for the pair. The family sold both figures to Kevin A. Kriess, the president of TimeandSpaceToys and a lifelong fan of the Rankin-Bass films. Mr. Kriess declined to reveal the purchase price, but said he had promised the family he would restore the puppets and show them publicly, reported the New York Times in a 2006 story. 5) The US Post Office is celebrating Rudolphs 50 anniersary. The USPS is celebrating and cashing in on the anniversary during the holiday season. If you havent sent out your Christmas cards yet, there should be plenty to go around -- the post office has printed some 500 million stamps of Rudolph and his friends. starpulse/news/Markus_A_Larr/2014/12/09/rudolph-turns-50-5-fun-facts-about-rud
Posted on: Thu, 11 Dec 2014 02:30:00 +0000
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