Rudolf The Red Nose Reindeer - TV Special

Rudolf The Red Nose Reindeer - Videocraft - 1964

We have all watched for years the Rudolph special. But how much of the history and behind the scenes info do you really know. Did you know that the ending we see today is not the original ending. Did you know that the original version did not have Sam the snowman? If not, sit back and enjoy some fun facts about this wonderful classic Christmas special.

The original special aired in December 6, 1964 as part of the "General Electric Fantasy Hour" on the NBC television network. Since GE sponsored the entire show, the commercials during the first few years actually featured the elves from the show, pitching GE products.
The original unaired version of the special did not feature "Sam the Snowman". In fact the actor who played Yukon Cornelius sang all the songs that Sam (Burl Ives) sung. GE wanted a "big name" singer as a condition of sponsoring the show and that is how Burl Ives and Sam the Snowman entered the picture.

Original GE Commercials of 1964 Broadcast Featuring Elves From Rudolph program.

Note:  This is about 10 minutes long.

Johnny Marks originally wrote the Song "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer" in the Late 40's and it was popularized by Gene Autry with his record release in 1949. Marks was hired to write the songs for the TV special. He wrote all the songs including "Silver and Gold", "Jingle, Jingle, Jingle" and "Holly Jolly Christmas". 

Holly Jolly Christmas proved so popular that one year later, Burl Ives released a single in 1965 which is an expanded version from the one found in the special. Marks (who was Jewish) wrote many recognizable Christmas songs including; "Run Rudolph Run" (Chuck Berry), "Rockin' Round the Christmas Tree", among others.  [an instrumental version of "Rockin' can be heard in the reindeer games scene when Fireball first appears]

The original airing of this classic in 1964 differed from the versions shown from 1965 to the late 1990's. In the original 1964 version, the toys from the Island of Misfit Toys were never shown to be rescued. Instead, the last scene before the credits is known as the  "peppermint mine scene" .  In that scene, Yukon throws his pick up in the air and it lands in the snow just like many times before.  This time however, when he licks it he shouts 

"Pepermint!  What I've been searching for !  I've found me a peppermint mine .... Yahoooo !"

After this Santa's sleigh is loaded and the last thing before the closing credits, Santa exclaims "First stop, the Island of Misfit Toys".

Here are the original closing credits.  Sorry no "Peppermint Mine" and no Misfit Toys

After the first showing of the show in 1964, there was a letter writing campaign by children who were upset and concerned about the toys on the Island of Misfit Toys. The producers of the show, cut the peppermint mine scene and added the rescue of toys from the island. They also deleted the "We're a couple of misfits" song and replaced it with the "Fame and Fortune song".   In the late 90's "We're a Couple of Misfits" was restored to it's proper location in the show and appeared on a newly released DVD.  

We're A Couple of Misfits.  Go to 0:50 for beginning of song.

Fame and Fortune.  Again go to about 0:50 for start of the song.

I recently found this version of the "lost" peppermint mine scene from the youtube website. 

The "lost" pepermine mine scene from the 1964 Original airing

The orginal soundtrack to the TV show was not originally for sale in the stores.  The only way that you could get the soundtrack was through a GE dealer, usually by purchasing some General Electric product.  I knew someone (when I was a teenager) who's family had one of these promotional copies of the soundtrack.

Much later the soundtrack was released on CD.  In 2004, 40 years after the original airing, the soundtrack was certified as Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling over 500,000 copies.  As an aside, the soundtrack features "We're a Couple of Misfits", but not "Fame and Fortune" following the 1964 version of the special.

The Original Record

The CD version of the soundtrack

Second to last, according to Rick Goldschmidt writer of the "Enchanted World of Rankin/Bass" the main elf name is Hermey not Herbie.  Sorry Rick, but I can very plainly hear the words "Herbie doesn't like to make toys" in one of the scenes.  He will always be Hermey/Herbie to me !

Scene that shows "Herbie Doesn't Like To Make Toys"

Finally, some of you through the years may have wondered about what was wrong with the "Dolly For Sue" on the Island of Misfit toys.  Arthur Rankin, the producer of "Rudolph" explained in an interview, that the Dolly's problems were psychological (no lie).  Perhaps depression from being cooped up on an island in the cold with no sun in the middle of no where [like State College in the winter].....

I hope you enjoyed your trip down memory lane !