Post by jpkansas on Dec 2, 2004 3:02:24 GMT -5
December 2, 1949 - A Christmas record that is still one of the most popular songs of the season first hit the record stores today in 1949. An advertising agency creative director named Robert L. May, who came up with a Christmas promotion for the Montgomery Ward department stores, inspired the song. The advertising gimmick was part of all of Montgomery Ward’s newspaper ads and window displays. It was a Red Nosed Reindeer the stores named Rudolph, and it inspired Gene Autry to record a song by that title.