Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a stop-motion animated Christmas television special and the first Christmas special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions, known at the time as Videocraft International, Ltd. It has been telecast every year since 1964, making it the longest continuously running Christmas TV special in the United States. It is based on the 1949 Johnny Marks song of the same name, which itself was based on the poem of the same name written in 1939 by Mark’s brother-in-law, Robert L. May. It has become widely popular among both young children and adults familiar with the Christmas season, has garnered a large cult following since its initial debut, and even garnered three sequels, in chronological order: Rudolph's Shiny New Year, Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July, and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys (the latter of which is a direct sequel to this special).
Plot[]
Our narrator Sam, a talking snowman who lives at the North Pole, reminisces about the year that the entire world almost missed Christmas due to a huge blizzard, then decides to tell the story of Rudolph, the son of Santa Claus’ lead reindeer Donner. As the story begins, Donner and his wife are surprised to discover by their newborn fawn’s unusually red nose (which emits a high-pithed squeal each time it glows). When Santa visits their cave to meet him and sees his glowing nose, he warns Donner that he will not be able to pull the sleigh if he keeps carrying this trait for the rest of his life. Consequently, feeling that this isn’t a proper nose for a reindeer, Donner tries to conceal it with a cover made of dirt so Rudolph will fit in with the other reindeer, lest they disapprove. Meanwhile, Hermey, one of Santa’s elves, is having problems of his own—he is bored with his occupation as a toymaker and dreams of becoming a dentist. His boss is outraged by this and scolds him, trying to get to him to obey. Refusing to change his interests, even under the threat of losing his job and being ridiculed by his fellow elves, Hermey resigns and runs away.
One year later, in the springtime, Rudolph’s parents take him to participate in the Reindeer Games, where he and all of the other young bucks learn to fly and are scouted by Santa for future sleigh duty when they get older. There, he meets a beautiful doe named Clarice, who takes a shine to him. When she tells him she thinks he is cute, Rudolph is so inspired by his girlfriend that he turns in the best performance in flight practice. However, during some horseplay with his new friend Fireball, celebrating Rudolph’s performance and Clarice’s love for him, his fake nose pops off. After seeing it glow, the other reindeer mock Rudolph and Coach Comet expels him as a result. Santa even gives Donner a harsh scolding as well, disappointed in how Rudolph had such a great takeoff, but then humiliated himself because of Donner trying to hide his nose. Clarice is the only one who stands by him and tries to comfort him, only for their musings to be interrupted by her father, who forbids her to keep company with Rudolph.
When the dejected Rudolph and Hermey eventually cross paths, they bond after they discover they each have something that makes them unique and resolve to strike out on their own. Shortly after, however, the duo encounter the Abominable Snow Monster of the North, a carnivorous creature who hates Christmas and feeds on reindeer, due to the monster being attracted by Rudolph’s nose, but they manage to escape him. The next day, Rudolph and Hermey meet Yukon Cornelius, a prospector who is obsessed with finding silver and gold, and has spent his life searching for it. The Snow Monster (which Yukon refers to as “the Bumble”) reappears and pursues them, once more due to being attracted to them by Rudolph’s glowing nose. Fortunately, they escape him by Yukon hacking off a slab of ice, creating an iceberg that carries them out to sea, leaving the Bumble behind (since his one weakness is he is unable to swim).
Eventually, all three land on the Island of Misfit Toys—a whole colony where toys no child wants reside, such as a choo-choo train with square wheels and a toy boat that won’t float. Rudolph, Hermey and Cornelius go to see the island’s ruler, a winged lion named King Moonracer, who brings the toys to the island until he can find homes and children who will love them. Because they are misfits but not toys, he allows them to spend the night there, requesting that, when they return to Christmas Town, they ask Santa to help find homes for the Misfit Toys. However, Rudolph fears that his nose will attract the Bumble and endanger his friends. So, while Hermey and Cornelius rest, he leaves on his own that night.
A few months later, Rudolph, now a handsome young teen buck, returns home, despite still being ridiculed by the other reindeer when they see him. When he arrives back in his cave, he finds that his parents are not there. He learns from Santa that they went looking for him after he ran away, Donner felt guilty about the way he had treated his son, and Clarice went them. Rudolph begins searching for them just as a terrible blizzard starts, and finally finds them in the Bumble’s cave, where they are being held captive. He attempts to rescue them until the monster knocks him unconscious with a stalactite. Fortunately, Hermey and Cornelius arrive in the nick of time, having been sent there by Sam. They hatch a plan to save Rudolph and his family. Hermey lures the Bumble out of the cave by imitating the sound of a pig, then Cornelius knocks him out, thus allowing Hermey to extract all his teeth. Rudolph awakens, but the now-toothless Bumble tries to block the from escaping. Cornelius, feeling cocky towards the monster, chases him to a cliff, knocking himself, his dogsled team, and the Bumble over the edge.
Mourning Cornelius’ apparent death, Rudolph, Hermey, Clarice and the Donners return home to Santa’s workshop, where they tell everyone their adventures, after which Rudolph and Hermey stop being ridiculed and everyone apologizes to them. Just then, Cornelius and his dogsled team, who survived the fall, make a grand entrance with the now-tamed Bumble. Yukon informs everyone that the monster has reformed his evil ways and shows them that he is now trained to trim a Christmas tree without the use of a stepladder, to which everyone decides to keep him around. When Rudolph inquires as to how Cornelius survived the fall, the latter explains the Bumble’s bouncing ability saved both their lives.
On Christmas Eve, Santa receives a report saying that the blizzard won’t subside in time for him to make his annual flight, which leads to him deciding to cancel Christmas. As he announces the bad news to everyone, however, he is blinded by Rudolph’s glowing nose and, realizing that its light could cut through the storm, asks him to lead his sleigh, to which he gladly agrees to do so. After making the preparations, Rudolph leads the sleigh to the Island of Misfit Toys, where Santa picks up the toys to take them along on the flight. As the special concludes, the toys are dropped off to their respective homes, with Rudolph leading the sleigh and Santa wishing the viewers “Merry Christmas!”
Songs[]
- “Jingle, Jingle, Jingle”
- "We Are Santa's Elves"
- “There’s Always Tomorrow”
- “We’re a Couple of Misfits”
- “Silver and Gold”
- “The Most Wonderful Day of the Year”
- “A Holly Jolly Christmas”
- “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”
Cast[]
- Burl Ives as Sam the Snowman
- Larry D. Mann as Yukon Cornelius and the Abominable Snow Monster of the North
- Billie Mae Richards as Rudolph
- Paul Soles as Hermey
- Stan Francis as Santa Claus and King Moonracer
- Alfie Scopp as Fireball, Charlie-in-the-Box and male elves
- Janis Orenstein as Clarice
- Paul Kligman as Donner and Coach Comet
- Carl Banas as Foreman Elf and various Misfit toys
- Corrine Conley as Mrs. Donner and Dolly
- Peg Dixon as Mrs. Claus and female elves
- Bernard Cowan as Clarice’s father and Spotted Elephant
The voice of Hank the elf remains unknown
Trivia[]
- The only two puppets from this special still exist and the are Santa and Young Rudolph
- In it's first airing in 1964, the special was sponsored by General Electrics. There were also commercials for some new General Electrics products that features three elves from the special.
Gallery[]
