Finally, the truth revealed…

While it ranks with [lastfm link_type="artist_info"]Gene Autry[/lastfm]‘s most famous recordings, did you know he didn’t like “Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer” when he was first offered it?…

An article on InterfaithFamily.com about the history of the song — penned by a pair of Jewish-American writers, Johnny Marks and Robert May — pointed out several “untold stories”:

Autry, the beloved “singing cowboy,” was persuaded to record “Rudolph” because his wife Ina Mae liked it.

Still unsure of the song, “Rudolph” was actually the B-side of Gene’s 1949 holiday single “If It Doesn’t Snow on Christmas.”

Composers Marks and May were brothers-in-law — Johnny married Bob’s sister Margaret.

The song originated in a poem May wrote for a booklet distributed by Montgomery Ward department stores — the store liked the idea of using an animal character and May’s daughter Barbara liked the deer residing at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo.

The poem was originally accompanied by a drawing by illustrator Denver Gillen.

May displayed a statue of Rudolph outside his suburban Chicago home for many years. After his death, the statue was donated to his alma mater Dartmouth College. ~JZ.