NR Productions

Hear the power of music. Write a few catchy tunes for your movie and it will stay on broadcast TV for decades. We’ll save analyzing the dysfunctional Donner family for another day, and look instead at the interesting history of this show.

Rudolph was produced for sponsor General Electric by the Rankin/Bass company. First broadcast in 1964, production costs were around $500,000.

The movie was shot using the revolutionary “Animagic” technique, an impressive label for simple stop motion. Early animation companies named their unique methods with retro flair, my current favorite is “Supermarionation”.

If you’ve ever noticed artistic similarities between Rudolph and other pieces of TV nostalgia such as: “The Little Drummer Boy”, “Jack Frost”, “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town”, “The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus” and others, pat yourself on the back for being extra observant. All of these films were produced by Rankin/Bass.

Rudolph is quite small, about 4″ high. His nose is (predictably) lit with a small red lightbulb and wire running through his nose and body to an external power source.

Recently a copy of the Santa and Rudolf puppets appeared and were restored by the folks at Screen Novelty. It’s a fascinating look at the construction of these small figures. The original owner has also put up a page detailing the process. Santa’s head was hand carved out of wood, proving you can construct a stop motion puppet out of any material.

Producer Aurthur Ranklin on the Bumble:

I always added a King-Kong like creature in the early days.

Still no connection between Rudolph and Komaneko, but I’ll keep looking.

For those interested in studying this film further, the book: Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Making Of The Rankin/Bass Holiday Classic is a great resource.

Unfortunately, Rankin/Bass was also responsible for creating “Frosty the Snowman”. We do not thank them for this.