Published 8:45 pm Tuesday, December 17, 2024 By Submitted Memories by Bev Jackson Cotter When I was a little girl, Santa Claus brought me “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” a book that I have read over and over, enjoying the story each and every time. I didn’t know then that it wasn’t actually Santa who left the book under the tree, but Mom and Dad, thanks to a special 1939 Christmas promotion at Montgomery Wards that was repeated in 1946. Bev Jackson Cotter In 1949 when Gene Autry reluctantly agreed to record the song, I connected with Rudolph in an even stronger fashion.
Ever since that time, I have slowly added Rudolphs to my ever growing collection — records, books, stuffed animals, tiny sculptures, even Lenox china tree ornaments. This year while pondering the future of my collection, I found the book “Rudolph’s Second Christmas.” I had forgotten that Robert L.
May had written a sequel to his original story. May had worked as an advertising copywriter for Montgomery Ward & Co. in Chicago.
In 1939, as a special Christmas promotion, they published his original story, giving away six million copies in 1939 and 1946. May died in 1976. Fifteen years later, his daughter was sorting through a box of papers and discovered a story he had written in 1947.
It had never been published. It’s an interesting story and tells us more of Rudolph’s personality and how he spent the year following his magical first trip with Santa. After that successful journey, he and Sa.
