Robert L. May

Robert L. May (July 27, 1905 – August 11, 1976) was an American advertising copywriter. He is best known for creating the fictional character Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Early in 1939, May's boss at Montgomery Ward asked him to write a "cheery children's book" for Christmas shoppers, suggesting it should be an animal story. Prior to that time, Montgomery Ward had been buying and giving away coloring books for Christmas, but it was decided that creating a book of its own would save money and be a nice good-will gesture. In writing the Christmas giveaway, May decided to make a reindeer the central character of the book because it was a Christmas animal. Working at home and in his spare time at the office, May wrote the book in about 50 hours. He finished the poem in late August 1939. This softcover Rudolph poem booklet was first distributed by Montgomery Ward during the 1939 holiday season. Shoppers loved it and 2.4 million copies were distributed. Wartime restrictions on paper use prevented a re-issue until 1946. In that year, Montgomery Ward gave away another 3.6 million softcover copies to its shoppers. In 1946, May received an offer from RCA Victor, which wanted to do a spoken-word record of the poem. He could not give his approval, however, because Montgomery Ward held the rights to his poem. At the encouragement of Wilbur H. Norton, a company vice-president, Ward's president, Sewell Avery, gave May the copyright to the poem, free and clear. The transfer did not ta…