Quick Scoop

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer first premiered on December 6, 1964 , on NBC as part of the network's General Electric Fantasy Hour. The beloved stop-motion Christmas special, produced by Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass, would go on to become an enduring holiday tradition—though its creators originally thought it would be forgotten after just a few years.

The Story Behind the Story

The tale of Rudolph actually began decades before the TV special. In 1939, Robert L. May, a copywriter for Montgomery Ward, created the character for a promotional Christmas-themed book. The department store was reeling from the Depression and wanted to produce their own holiday book to cut back on costs. May worked on perfecting the story and even visited the zoo with the illustrator to nail down what an adorable reindeer should look like. Among the name options they considered were "Rolo," but they ultimately settled on Rudolph.

From Book to Broadcast

The character remained a Montgomery Ward promotional item until 1947, when Maxton Books published the first mass-market edition. By the time the 1964 television special rolled around, Rudolph had already captured American hearts through the book and the famous song. The stop-motion animation special featured groundbreaking puppetry and painstaking attention to detail—animators even brushed the cotton snow before every frame to keep it looking fluffy under studio lights.

An Unexpected Legacy

When the special aired that December night in 1964, Rankin and Bass had no idea they were creating what would become a 60-year holiday phenomenon. The special has aired every year since, and 60 years later, in December 2024, it continued its tradition with broadcasts on NBC. The special has become such a cultural touchstone that Reddit users still celebrate its anniversary and debate its quirks—including a famous copyright mistake where Roman numerals in the title card read "MCLXIV" (1164) instead of "MCMLXIV" (1964), leading some to joke the special accidentally entered the public domain 860 years early.

TL;DR: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer premiered as a TV special on December 6, 1964, on NBC, though the character was created by Robert L. May in 1939 for Montgomery Ward. What Rankin/Bass expected to be a fleeting Christmas special became a beloved 60-year tradition that continues to air annually.

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