We Love Rudolph!

 

 

Number 11 on our Top Christmas Movies list is Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Rudolph, the song, is kind of done. But the stop-motion TV movie, which airs just weeks before Christmas is always welcome!

The movie first aired on Sunday, Dec. 6, 1964 on the NBC television network in the US and was sponsored by General Electric under the umbrella title of The General Electric Fantasy Hour. The special was based on the Johnny Marks song Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer which was itself based on the 1939 poem written by Marks’ brother-in-law, Robert L. May.

[one_fourth]

[/one_fourth][three_fourth_last] Since 1972, the special has aired on CBS, with the network unveiling a high-definition, digitally remastered version of the program in 2005. Rudolph airs several times during the Christmas and holiday season and on several cable channels. It has been telecast every year since 1964, making it the longest running Christmas TV special in history and one of only five 1960s Christmas specials still being telecast.

Sam the Snowman, the narrator, is voiced by folk singer Burl Ives, who contributes several tunes throughout the program. Among the more well-known songs from the special is Johnny Marks’ A Holly Jolly Christmas, which became a Christmas standard in its own right.

Sam the Snowman tells us the story of a young red-nosed reindeer who, after being ousted from the reindeer games because of his beaming honker, teams up with Hermey, an elf who wants to be a dentist, and Yukon Cornelius, the prospector. They run into the Abominable Snowman and find a whole island of misfit toys. Rudoph vows to see if he can get Santa to help the toys, and he goes back to the North Pole on Christmas Eve. But Santa’s sleigh is fogged in. But when Santa looks over Rudolph, he gets a very bright idea…