Hardrock, Frosty & Rudolph, all Chicago Babies

Every Christmas morning, since the early ‘50’s, these Chicago-rooted seasonal favorites were broadcast locally and nationwide on Chicago ‘s WGN-TV’s children shows 'Bozo' and 'Garfield Goose'.

Christmas ‘56, “Hardrock, Coco & Joe” aired as marketing backup for the song. Centaur Productions and Wah Ming Chang, who specialized in sculpture, stop-motion animation and odd props did the animation. Check out his Asian-featured Santa. Chang is also credited with developing props for the original Star Trek TV show, including the communicators long before cell phones were invented, and some headdresses and jewelry worn by Liz Taylor's in 'Cleopatra'.

FROSTY THE SNOWMAN
In ‘54, WGN-TV also aired the "Frosty" , a three-minute animated short. Another favorite Christmas classic , complete with a bouncy, jazzy version of the song. Frosty, first recorded by Gene Autry and the Cass County Boys and was written after the success of Autry's ‘53 recording of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" . The "cool man's" story was also recorded by The Ronettes, Nat King Cole, Ella Fitzgerald, Larry Groce, Ray Conniff, the Cocteau Twins, Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Beach Boys, and..... yes....... even one by actor Burt Reynolds. Only Jimmy Durante sang two versions, one with alternative lyrics and another for a TV Frosty.

Rudolph - born in 1939 when Chicago based Montgomery-Ward Department Stores asked one of their copywriters, Robert L. May, to design a Christmas story as a store give-away for shoppers. Based in part on The Ugly Duckling fable and May’s own physical abnormality, a read nose, he titled it “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer“. But Montgomery-Ward objected to a red-nosed reindeer because a “red nose” was associated with drinking and drunkards. Only after Montgomery Ward’s art department created such a cute sketch of Rudolph that it went to press. By ‘46 over 6 million copies were given out to customers.

Ward held the licensing and copy write for Rudolph and profits soared. May, as an employee of Ward, was not entitled to any royalties. His wife was terminally ill and medical bill mounted before her death. So in ‘47, he persuaded Ward to release the copy write and licensing to him. He was now debt free and often joked that the “deer” paid for all his daughters’ college educations and lifelong family financial security.



So Kid, check local listings or catch them on U-tube. Bring back memories or create new ones with the next generation viewing audience.