Robert L. May adaptation of Rudolph. Though the song was turned down by such popular vocalists as Bing Crosby and Dinah Shore, it was recorded by the singing cowboy Gene Autry. "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" was released in 1949 and became a phenomenal success, selling more records than any other Christmas song, with the exception of "White Christmas". In 1941, May married another Ward employee, Virginia, and had five children with her. She was a devout Catholic, and he converted to Catholicism during the marriage. May wrote two sequels to "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". The first is mostly in prose (except that Rudolph
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Fleischer cartoon short, is no longer in print, but a revised Little Golden Books version of the storybook was reissued in 1972. Perhaps the most well-known version of all the Rudolph adaptations is the Rankin/Bass version of 1964. Filmed in Tokyo, Japan, with all sound recordings done in Toronto, Canada, the show premiered on NBC. As the producers of the special only had the song as source material and did not have a copy of the original book, they interpolated an original story around the central narrative of the song, one that differed from the book. This re-telling chronicles Rudolph's