It was just this silly little almost booklet. Barbara May Lewis said they must not have known what her dad had created. Nearly a decade later, the bosses gave May the rights to the story. He got letters from children, teachers and store managers from across the country. GREENE: Montgomery Ward printed more than two million copies of Robert L. It seemed really icky so he changed it to tummy. LEWIS: My father read me the manuscript of Rudolph, and what I remember was not liking the word stomach. His daughter remembers her dad laboring over words, many of which would never make it into the song we now know. The department store used to give away free books to kids each Christmas, and May thought Rudolph would be a great character in one. As life would have it, he wound up being a catalog writer at Montgomery Ward in Chicago. May always wanted to write the great American novel. LEWIS: It was his opinion of himself that gave rise to Rudolph, I think, so all the better. He was a nerdy kid who saw himself as a loser. He skipped a grade or two and so was younger and smaller than his classmates. Robert was a bit of an outcast, just like Rudolph. May, who introduced the world to Rudolph when she was just a little girl. She says sister because it was her father, Robert L. But Rudolph, it turns out, didn't come along until 1939.īARBARA MAY LEWIS: Rudolph was born when I was five, so I'm his big sister. They've been hauling Santa's sleigh forever. GREENE: You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen. (SOUNDBITE OF GENE AUTRY SONG "RUDOLPH, THE RED-NOSED REINDEER") We're bringing back this story in case you missed it. You ever wonder where Rudolph came from? Well, we'll try to help you out here.
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