Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (song) names of the eight reindeer which went: "You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen,<br> But do you recall The most famous reindeer of all?" The song was first sung by crooner Harry Brannon on New York City radio in early November 1949, before Gene Autry's recording hit No. 1 in the U.S. charts during Christmas 1949. The song was suggested as a "B" side for a record Autry was making. Autry rejected the song. His wife convinced him to use it. The success of this Christmas song by Autry gave support
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (TV special) concept designs and storyboards for "Rudolph" were done by Arthur Rankin, Jr. and his staff of artists at Rankin/Bass in New York City. The company's trademark stop motion animation process, known as "Animagic", was filmed at MOM Productions in Tokyo with supervision by Tadahito Mochinaga and associate direction by Kizo Nagashima. Besides "Rudolph", Mochinaga and the rest of the Japanese puppet animation staff are also known for their partnership with Rankin/Bass on their other Animagic productions almost throughout the 1960s, from "The New Adventures of Pinocchio", to "Willy McBean and his Magic Machine", to "The Daydreamer" and "Mad Monster Party?"