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Interesting facts about Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Premiering on NBC December 6th, 1964, Rudolph has become the longest running, highest rated television special in the history of the medium. "At first Johnny Marks (composer of the classic song) didn't want to do the special," says Arthur Rankin. "He was very protective of the song. The song provided a very large income to Marks and he was afraid that over exposure of the hit song might interfere with it's success as a popular song. He was a neighbor of mine at the time and I eventually persuaded him to  do the show and he wrote some very memorable songs in addition to Rudolph."                 The special originally premiered on the General Electric Fantasy Hour on NBC and G.E. sponsored the show for the first three broadcasts. There were many GE print ads with the Rudolph characters from 1964-66 and the soundtrack album was a premium when you purchased GE home appliances. During these early airings, Rankin/Bass (then known as Videocraft INT'L) produced the General Electric commercials complete with Christmas caroler elves in 'Animagic.' Tony Peters, the continuity designer on the show explains, "I worked at Videocraft since the beginning and when it came...Read More