[Ohio-talk] The True Story of Rudolph

[Eric Duffy]

The True Story of Rudolph
A man named 

Bob May, depressed and brokenhearted, stared out his drafty 

apartment window into the chilling December 

night.

His 4-year-old daughter Barbara sat on his lap 

quietly sobbing. Bob's wife, Evelyn, was dying of cancer. 

Little Barbara couldn't understand why her mommy could never 

come home. Barbara looked up into her dad's eyes and asked, 

"Why isn't Mommy just like everybody else's Mommy?" Bob's 

jaw tightened and his eyes welled with tears. Her question 

brought waves of grief, but also of anger. It had been the 

story of Bob's life. Life always had to be different for 

Bob.

Small when he was a kid, Bob was often bullied 

by other boys. He was too little at the time to compete in 

sports. He was often called names he'd rather not remember. 

>From childhood, Bob was different and never seemed to fit 

in. Bob did complete college, married his loving wife and 

was grateful to get his job as a copywriter at Montgomery 

Ward during the Great Depression. Then he was blessed with 

his little girl. But it was all short-lived. Evelyn's bout 

with cancer stripped them of all their savings and now Bob 

and his daughter were forced to live in a two-room apartment 

in the Chicagoslums. Evelyn died just days before Christmas 

in 1938.

Bob struggled to give hope to his child, for 

whom he couldn't even afford to buy a Christmas gift. But if 

he couldn't buy a gift, he was determined to make one - a 

storybook! Bob had created an animal character in his own 

mind and told the animal's story to little Barbara to give 

her comfort and hope. Again and again Bob told the story, 

embellishing it more with each telling. Who was the 

character? What was the story all about? The story Bob May 

created was his own autobiography in fable form. The 

character he created was a misfit outcast like he was. The 

name of the character? A little reindeer named Rudolph, with 

a big shiny nose. Bob finished the book just in time to give 

it to his little girl on Christmas Day. But the story 

doesn't end there. 

The 

general manager of Montgomery Ward caught wind of the little 

storybook and offered Bob May a nominal fee to purchase the 

rights to print the book. Wards went on to 

print, "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed 

Reindeer" and 

distribute it to children visiting Santa Claus in their 

stores. By 1946 Wards had printed and distributed more than 

six million copies of Rudolph. That same year, a major 

publisher wanted to purchase the rights from Wards to print 

an updated version of the book.

In an unprecedented 

gesture of kindness, the CEO of Wards returned all rights 

back to Bob May. The book became a best seller. Many toy and 

marketing deals followed and Bob May, now remarried with a 

growing family, became wealthy from the story he created to 

comfort his grieving daughter. But the story doesn't end 

there either. 

Bob's 

brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, made a song adaptation to 

Rudolph. Though the song was turned down by such popular 

vocalists as Bing Crosby and DinahShore , it was recorded by 

the singing cowboy, Gene Autry. "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed 

Reindeer" was released in 1949 and became a phenomenal 

success, selling more records than any other Christmas song, 

with the exception of "White Christmas." 
 
The gift of love that Bob May 

created for his daughter so long ago kept on returning back 

to bless him again and again. And Bob May learned the 

lesson, just like his dear friend Rudolph, that being 

different isn't so bad. In fact, being different can be a 

blessing.