Over the years, Rudolph, the red-nosed reindeer, has done even better for some of his promoters than he did for Santa on that foggy Christmas Eve.

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The story was written by a New York advertising executive named Robert May, who was assigned to write an animal verse for a large mail-order house.Songwriter Johnny Marks added the tune later on, and the song is one of the best-selling ditties of all time. Books, TV shows and assorted novelties all make Rudolph a Christmas hero. Rudolph has made millions of dollars for holiday entrepreneurs.

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