Okay, I Wasn't Going To Reblog This Post, Because I Am Making A Very Lengthy Video About All The Rudolph

Okay, I wasn't going to reblog this post, because I am making a very lengthy video about all the Rudolph movies and I don't want to spoil anything, but when I saw this addition I felt I had to respond, as someone who has dedicated way too much time learning about this character.

Yes, it is true that Rudolph was a marketing mascot from Montgomery Ward. It is also true that Robert L. May created Rudolph and wrote the original book, although it's debated how that came about and whether he created the character for Montgomery Ward or whether he came up with Rudolph first.

However, there is a happy ending to this story: In 1946, Montgomery Ward president Sewell Avery directly gave the copyright to Rudolph back to May. And for the rest of his life, May owned the copyright to the Rudolph character and thus directly profited from sales of the book and the many animated specials.

Sources:

Rumore, Kori. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was created in Chicago: Here's how the story became a book, song and TV special." Chicago Tribune, Dec 24, 2021.

"The History Of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." NPR, Dec 25, 2013.

"Did Montgomery Ward Give the Rights to “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” Back to the Story’s Author for Free?" Legends Revealed, Dec 20, 2012.

There are many issues with the Rudolph story and Rudolph as a character, and it is okay to take issue with them! I just wanted to clear this up to make sure all the facts were being shared.

somebody has got to stop the santa claus thing btw. It's getting out of hand. we keep yes-anding new additions to a lore that became outdated a century ago. Most houses don't even have chimneys anymore and nobody wears stockings. At some point we accepted the idea that Santa Claus watches children while they sleep and now we have elf on the shelf to deal with. Honestly we should have put a stop to the whole thing with rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. "Hey so what if there was a reindeer born with a congenital condition that makes him the worlds first known bioluminescent ungulate, and because of this he experienced reindeer ableism" who comes up with something like that

New gig announcement:

I will be playing with the Falsies at Risers Fest in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, March 9 and Sunday, March 10!

The event will be held at Artomatic on the eighth floor. We'll be headlining on the first night and playing next to last on the second. Event starts at 2 PM, free entry. Details here. Hope to see you there!

Phew! The script for my next video is finally complete. Let's check on the word cou--AAAAAAAAAAA

An edit.

The band I'm in, The Falsies, will be embarking on a small tour of the east coast in Spring 2024!

Our first four shows are listed below. Further shows will be announced later. This weekend, we'll be kicking off the tour at the Artomatic Risers Fest in Washington, D.C. on Saturday and Sunday, March 9 and 10. Events start at 2 PM, free entry. Hope to see you there or at one of the future dates!

Further info below:

Also here's the illustration alone without the text (I drew this as an homage to the Tin Machine album cover)!

In case you ever think logo oversimplification is bad nowadays, just remember what Electric Light Orchestra did to their logo in 1986.

Yeesh.