[Ohio-talk] The True Story of Rudolph

[Suzanne Turner]

Thank you for this wonderful story.
Merry Christmas!

Suzanne

Sent from my iPhone

On Dec 23, 2012, at 10:57 PM, "Eric Duffy" <eduffy at deltav.org> wrote:

> 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.
>
>
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Suzanne Turner, BSW, MPA
Employment Coordinator and Benefit Specialist

Cleveland Sight Center
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