Rudolph

Rudolph is the central character of the song Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. He was first created for a promotion by Montgomery Ward Department Stores in 1939. Soon after, a song was written and a recorded version by Gene Autry was a best-seller over the 1949 holiday season. It remains a Christmas favorite to this day and was performed by as a fawn and  as an adolescent in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie.

The Rankin/Bass version
In the original Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer special, just as the song suggests, Rudolph was born with an unusually shiny red nose. Donner was ashamed of his son's unusual trait, so he placed a fake nose on Rudolph, which later fell off.

Rudolph leaves home because he feels ashamed of this. He later befriends Hermey, an elf outcast who wanted to be a dentist, and the miner Yukon Cornelius. They arrived at the Island of Misfit Toys, a place where all of the unwanted toys go.

After spending the night, Rudolph travels back to his home, and finds out that his family left to go look for him. He searches for them, saving them from the Abominable Snowmonster of the North. Once they arrive at the North Pole, Rudolph learns that Christmas will have to be canceled because of the weather conditions. However, Santa Claus asks Rudolph to use his nose to light the way and lead his team. Thus, Christmas is saved and Rudolph is praised as a hero instead of a misfit.

Rudolph also makes a brief cameo in Santa Claus is Comin' to Town, immediately following the introduction of the original eight reindeer. As a continuity nod, S. D. Kluger points out to his audience that Rudolph does not have a role in the story he's telling, since his backstory is another story altogether.

Rudolph returned in two sequels, Rudolph's Shiny New Year and Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July. The latter provides a detailed backstory for Rudolph's nose, explaining that the Lady Borealis made it shine as a defense against the evil Winterbolt, and that its power lasts only as long as Rudolph uses his gift for good.

Oddly enough, Rudolph is not accompanied by any of his co-stars from the original special in Shiny New Year nor Christmas in July. Also, although he was a fully-grown reindeer by the end of the original special, in these sequels, he appears to have de-aged back to his younger form.

Rudolph later starred in another sequel to the Rankin/Bass Rudolph, titled Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys.

Theatrical cartoon short
Rudolph's first screen appearance came in 1944, in the form of a cartoon short produced by Max Fleischer for the Jam Handy Corporation, that was more faithful to May's original story than Marks' song (which had not yet been written). It was reissued in 1948 with the song added.

On December 16, 2009, Mike Nelson featured this version in a live Rifftrax Christmas show in San Diego, California which was broadcast to select theaters in the United States.

Children's book
In 1958, Golden Books published an illustrated storybook, adapted by Barbara Shook Hazen and illustrated by Richard Scarry. The book is similar in story to the Max Fleischer cartoon short. Although it is one of the more memorable versions of the story in book form, it is apparently no longer in print. However, a revised Golden Books version of the storybook has since been issued.