In the style of Mike Rowe’s podcast “The Way I Heard It” and Paul Harvey’s radio show “The Rest of the Story”, this episode of the Piano Parent Podcast brings you the backstory of a musician or song or a moment in music history. I use these musical mysteries to tell you something you might not know about someone or something that is somewhat familiar.
In this case, I will tell you the story of a young author who never wrote the great American novel but still managed to go “Down in History”.
Here is his story:
Listen to the full episode here
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Robert grew up in Long Island, New York with his brother and two sisters. One of Robert’s sisters was Margaret. Remember that name because it will be important later.
After studying psychology and graduating from Dartmouth College in 1926, Robert set out to find work. He was happy doing any sort of work – assistant sales manager, advertising manager, copywriter. Though his dream was to someday write the great American novel, Robert’s real talent was in writing limericks and short stories.
In 1928, Robert married his sweetheart, Evelyn, and the two began their life together as a happy couple. They moved to Georgia and New York before finally settling in Chicago where Evelyn worked as a social worker and Robert continued writing sales copy, this time for a major American retailer.
When his employer, a large retail company to be revealed later, decided to create a promotional Christmas giveaway for children as an incentive to get shoppers into their stores nationwide, Robert was tasked with the assignment. In previous years, the company had purchased coloring books and other promotional items from outside sources but coming out of the tight years of the Great Depression, this year the retailer decided to cut costs and create something in-house. Robert’s instructions from his boss were, “Write a cheery Christmas story – maybe something about an animal.”
In early 1939, Robert set out to create a cheery Christmas story that would engage a young audience. He had the perfect product-tester in his own home – a few years earlier, Evelyn had given birth to their daughter, Barbara who was now four years old. If Barbara understood and enjoyed the story, he could guarantee other children would love it too.
As Evelyn and Robert tucked Barbara in bed each night, he would read parts of the story to her and test her reactions. It might have sounded something like this:
“Read some more of the Christmas story, Daddy.
“Hmmmm…..where were we? Ah, yes.
While way, way up North on this same foggy night
Old Santa was packing his sleigh for its flight
‘This fog,’ he complained, ‘will be hard to get through’
He shook his round head, (And his stomach shook too)
Which word sounds better there, Honey, stomach or tummy?”
“I like tummy better, Daddy.
“Okay. He shook his round head, (And his tummy shook too)“
As the weeks passed, other work projects took Robert away from his Christmas story but he continued to write and test and rewrite it, bit by bit.
Sadly, in the spring of 1939, Evelyn became very sick with cancer. In spite of seeking out the best doctors money could buy, she passed away on July 28, 1939, leaving Robert a young widower and little Barbara without her mother.
When Robert’s boss heard the terrible news, he offered to give the assignment to another copywriter. Who could write a “cheery Christmas story” after such a loss? Robert realized he needed this story now more than ever – his daughter, Barbara needed it too – so he convinced his boss to let him keep working on the project.
Robert was able to complete the story, a poem patterned after ‘The Night Before Christmas” and illustrated by Denver Gillen, a co-worker in the company’s art department, just in time for the 1939 holiday season. With that project complete, I’m sure Robert and Denver moved on to other sales copy and didn’t give it much more thought. Their names don’t even appear on the cover of some of the early books.
The children’s book was a smashing success! Robert’s story was given to over 2 million children across America that first year. After a long hiatus due to wartime paper restrictions, the company reissued the Christmas promotion in 1946 to the tune of 3.6 million copies.
Originally, Robert wasn’t given any sort of bonus or royalty for his story. It was just part of his job. In 1947, however, something unprecedented took place. Sewell Avery, the CEO of the Montgomery Ward company, signed the rights to the story over to Robert. Maybe it was a Christmas miracle, maybe the company learned of Robert’s heavy medical debt from Evelyn’s cancer treatments, maybe they figured the story had run its course. Whatever the reason, Robert now owned the right to sell and profit from the story however he chose.
By now, you may be thinking, ‘Okay, Shelly. That’s a nice story but what, exactly, does it have to do with music?’
But wait, there's more!
Well, even if Montgomery Ward thought that was the end of Robert’s story, it was really just the beginning.
Once Robert had the rights to his story, someone recommended that he record himself reading the poem. While the recording did fairly well on the market, booksellers were hesitant to republish the story. After all, it had already been distributed to six million children for FREE. Who would want to buy it at this point? Maxton Publishers of New York took a chance and offered a small run of the book, about 100,000 copies which sold out quickly. Again, to much success.
All that was well and good but after a spoken word record and book sales, what else could be done with a story that only surges in popularity one holiday of the year?
Remember Robert’s sister, Margaret? Like many young ladies of her day, she fell in love with a war hero. Johnny had served as an Army Captain in the 26th Special Service Company during World War II. He earned four battle stars and a Bronze Star for his service. Now that the war was over, he returned home and wanted to get back to his true passion, songwriting.
I wish I could tell you how Johnny and Margaret met but I couldn’t find that detail in my research. I did learn that Johnny had seen the Montgomery Ward Christmas promotion when it first came out in 1939. He even made note of it in his songwriting journal, thinking it might make a catchy tune.
I wish I could tell you how it came about that Johnny would finally pull that idea from his journal and transform Robert’s story into a song. Did Robert pitch the idea to Johnny first or did Johnny make the connection after he learned that his brother-in-law had written the holiday classic? Did Margaret bring the two men together? I just don’t know!
What I do know is that Johnny tinkered with the lyrics and the melody until he was satisfied with the result. At one point he called it “one of the worst songs ever written” but after tweaking the direction of the notes to move upward instead of down, he came to love the little song.
The song that almost wasn't.
After Johnny Marks completed his tune, he set about trying to find someone to record it. In true underdog fashion, no recording artist would touch it. Johnny reached out to popular artists of the day: Bing Crosby, Dinah Shore, but they weren’t interested in his awkward little song.
Perry Como considered recording it if Johnny would make a few changes here and there. Johnny wouldn’t budge – his song was perfect just the way it was.
According to one biographer even Gene Autry didn’t like the song; he also refused to record it. Maybe the “Singing Cowboy” didn’t want to be labeled as the “Christmas Cowboy” – he had just written and released “Here Comes Santa Clause” a few years before.
Thankfully, Gene’s wife, Ina, heard the demo of Johnny’s tune based on Robert’s children’s story and sympathized with the Ugly Duckling-esque theme. She recognized something in that little song that everyone else had dismissed and overlooked. She encouraged Gene to record it, which he did, almost as an afterthought at the end of a recording session.
Gene’s unique style added to the charm of the story. Johnny once told Gene, “What I sent you in 1949 were ink dots on a piece of paper. You had to translate this into a sound, lyrically and musically, that people would like. How many great songs have been lost because of the wrong rendition?”
The rest, as they say, is history.
Gene’s rendition of Johnny’s song, based on Robert’s story went on to become one of THE most popular Christmas songs ever, second only to Irving Berlin’s “White Christmas” for many, many years. It sold 2 million copies the first year it was released and another 25 million over the next 40 years. At the time of Johnny’s death in 1985, the sales count was well over 150 million.
A true underdog story, “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” not only tells the tale of an outcast reindeer who saves the day. It also helped a poor young father work through some of his grief (and maybe even some of his own memories of being mistreated as an awkward child).
Rudolph, the song, helped launch Johnny Marks’ career. He would go on to pen other Christmas classics like “Holly, Jolly Christmas” and “Rocking Around the Christmas Tree”.
Gene Autry’s version of the song endeared him to children of all generations. Some might say his voice, along with Bing Crosby’s, is the voice of Christmas with his recordings of not only “Rudolph” but also “Here Comes Santa Clause” and “Up on the Housetop”.
Once Gene Autry made that first recording, thanks to his wife, Ina, many of those other popular artists reconsidered. I found recordings of Rudolph by Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, and even Perry Como (who didn’t try to change the lyrics this time).
In fact, at the time I’m sharing this, over 700 artists have taken Rudolph out for a spin.
Lessons from Rudolph...
I think the story of Rudolph teaches us to take a closer look. It’s so easy to dismiss someone or something that is unusual to us or different from what we’re used to. We hang on to the familiar because, well, because it’s familiar.
Like the reindeer in the story, we can be quick to judge something that’s unconventional and hold tight to things that make us comfortable. It often takes a different perspective – like Santa Clause in the song or like Ina to Gene – to help us see what is worthwhile and what should be treasured.
I love how one journalist put it:
“The point of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is not for Rudolph to blend in and become another reindeer. The point of Rudolph is for him to be appreciated for what he is.” Robert Harris, journalist.
- If you’re feeling on the outs this holiday season, I pray you will be bold and recognize your value just like Johnny did when people tried to change his song or when they rejected it outright.
- If you see something that is outside of your norm, I hope you will be like Ina – speak up and embrace that hidden treasure. Gene Autry might have thought he would be the only one to sing that little song. Little did he know, he would simply be the first one. He set the tone; others followed.
- When life gets really difficult, I hope you will be like Robert who kept working, bit by bit, and finished his assignment. He channeled his grief into his work – not for a possible reward but simply because he was doing his job.
Now you know a little more of the back story behind that little reindeer who went “down in history”.
Resources
If you would like to learn more about this musical mystery, you might be interested in these resources:
The Real Story Behind Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
The History of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
Shining a Light on the Largely Untold Story of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
Robert L. May and the Story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Johnny Marks – Songwriters Hall of Fame
In this audio, Gene Autry and Johnny Marks talk about their part in making the song.
January 7, 1950 “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” is the #1 song on the U.S. pop charts
Song Facts: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
My favorite link is this one where you can hear Barbara May Lewis read her father’s story and see each page of that original Montgomery Ward Christmas promotion. Click here to listen.
Listen to Johnny Marks play his most popular tune.
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