

As the story begins, Donner and his wife are surprised to find that their newborn fawn's unusually red nose is capable of glowing. He then decides to tell us the story of Rudolph, the son of Donner, Santa Claus' lead reindeer. We are introduced to Sam, a talking snowman who lives at the North Pole and is reminiscing about the year that the world almost missed Christmas due to a huge blizzard.

It originally aired on NBC on December 6, 1964, as an installment of The General Electric Fantasy Hour, and is now the world's longest-running and highest-rated television special of all time. Rudolph the Red–Nosed Reindeer is a long-running Christmas television special produced in stop-motion animation by Rankin/Bass, and the company's first Christmas special.

Donner describing Rudolph's abnormal nose Now how can you overlook that? His beak blinks like a blinkin' beacon! Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - "Shiny! I'd even say it glows!" - Preview “
