The “most famous reindeer of all,” Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer has his roots right here in Illinois. Montgomery Ward and Company began as a mail order catalog business based in Chicago in 1872. In 1926, Montgomery Ward expanded to retail, opening its first brick and mortar store in Plymouth, Indiana. After a period of rapid expansion, by 1929 Montgomery Ward had 531 department store locations with a flagship store in Chicago on Michigan Avenue between Madison and Washington.
In 1939, Robert May, a copywriter in Montgomery Ward’s advertising department in Chicago, was given the assignment to write a children’s Christmas story which would be printed and given away as an incentive for shoppers to visit Montgomery Ward stores. May was inspired by fog over Lake Michigan and his four-year-old daughter Barbara’s love for the deer in the Lincoln Park Zoo, and the story of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was born. May’s boss was initially hesitant because at the time a “red nose” was associated with drunkenness; however, he was won over when he reviewed the story accompanied by reindeer sketches drawn by another Montgomery Ward employee. The gamble was a success. Over 2 million copies of May’s story were distributed in Montgomery Ward stores during the 1939 Christmas season.
During World War II, Rudolph grew in popularity, but wartime restrictions on paper prevented another mass give away until 1946, when over 3 million copies of the story were given away to Montgomery Ward shoppers. Because May created Rudolph as a part of his employment, Montgomery Ward and Company held the copyright. In January 1947, the President of Montgomery Ward transferred the copyright to May, who was dealing with medical bills from his late wife’s terminal illness. May was able to find a publisher in time for Christmas 1947, when 100,000 copies of a hard cover Rudolph book were sold for 50 cents each.
In 1948, May’s brother-in-law Johnny Marks, wrote a song based on May’s story. In 1949, Gene Autry, “the Singing Cowboy,” recorded “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.” The song sold almost 2 million copies during its first Christmas season and hit Number 1 on the U.S. music charts Christmas week 1949. Still a Christmas staple 75 years later, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer certainly did go down in history.