NRR Project: 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer' (1949)

 

NRR Project: “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer”

Composed by Johnny Marks

Performed by Gene Autry

Recorded June 27, 1949

3:08

Orvon Grover Autry was born in Texas in 1907. Taking on the moniker of Gene, he grew up on the family ranch. After high school, he got work as a telegrapher, and he used to sing and play guitar to while away the time on the job (and got fired for it). He received encouragement from many people who heard him play, most notably Will Rogers. 

He started off singing on the radio in Oklahoma in 1928. In 1929, he landed a recording deal with Columbia Records. He finally scored a hit with “That Silver-Haired Daddy of Mine,” which he co-wrote. Soon his popularity went through the roof, and he became known as “The Singing Cowboy.”

In 1935, he was cast as the star of The Phantom Empire, a 12-part movie serial that improbably mashed together music, Western drama, and science fiction. He soon was the leading man in low-budget Westerns in which he would sing, fight bad guys, and joke around with his sidekick, Smiley Burnette. He wound up making 96 films in the course of his career, and made an amazing 640 recordings. He was Public Cowboy #1, and inspired a host of imitators.

Autry had a melodious voice, and an easy-going, upbeat persona that appealed to just about everybody. On his horse Champion, he righted wrongs and crooned cowboy ballads. He eventually would branch off into radio and television as well. He is the only person to have five stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for his work in film, radio, TV, recording, and live performance.

It is difficult to gauge now just how popular Autry was. Everyone played his songs, saw his movies, listened to him on the radio, read his comic books, played with toys licensed by his brand. He became a role model for the nation’s youth, and penned a 10-part Cowboy Code that outlined the attributes of an upstanding human being. Kids worshipped him.

“Rudolph” was conceived in 1939 by Robert L. May for the Montgomery Ward department-store franchise, as a marketing tool. Ten years later, his brother-in-law, Johnny Marks, wrote this song. (Marks, who was Jewish, made a specialty of writing Christmas songs.)

Autry didn’t want to record this, but his wife insisted. It was a huge hit, an instant Christmas classic. The story of Rudolph, corny as it may seem, seeped into the public’s consciousness and became one of those songs everybody knows.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: ‘South Pacific’.