Relate to the events that are cemented in history. Im ellee pai hong. Im kerry sayers. And im your host, bill kurtis. Its the holiday special, through the decades. Its the holidays a season in many ways that remains unchanged through the decades. We celebrate with the same lights, delicious treats, obligatory shopping and as much merriment as we can muster each year. So, today we thought wed take a look back at both some of the traditions and stories that return every year as if by clockwork and a few that may feel distinctively of a different era from the time tested rituals of our colonial days to the generosity of a North Carolina man who set an example for the past and the future. But, we begin with a story that you may recall. The one about rudolph. The most famous reindeer of all. We all know his story. But what you may not know is the origin of this classic tale. Things started simply enough as a holiday promotion for a Department Store in 1939. Rudolphs backstory begins in chicago near the end of the great depression. At retail giant Montgomery Ward, adverstising copywriter robert may was given a new assignment to create an original christmas story for a holiday giveaway. His boss wanted him to write a comic book paper comic book to give away in their Toy Department with a toy purchase. And they knew my father was very good at writing short stories, um. Very good with limericks and rhymes and he was kind of known for that at the office. May decided to make a reindeer the focal point of his christmas story and similar to the childrens classic, the ugly duckling, he wanted the main character to have an underdog quality and overcome a daunting obstacle. He drew upon his own childhood as a bright but undersized youngster. The story is autobiographical because my father skipped a lot of grades. He was always the youngest in his class, he was small in stature. He realized that kids could really identify with not fitting in, not being part of the group, but then realizing, ultimately, maybe the one thing that made them odd was going to be something that would change their life for the good and change everyone elses life for the good. May gave his main character a glowing red nose bright enough to guide santas sleigh through a foggy christmas eve. And he named him rudolph. Then may dove into writing the story sometimes running lines by his wife and fouryearold daughter, barbara. Well, he was a great story teller i had stories every night. And, i just remember his checking with me a few really difficult words like stomach which he thought maybe littler kids wouldnt know. And i think i suggested tummy. And i remember sitting at the desk late night after night. True to his vision, may portrayed rudoplh as both saddened by being different but also strong in himself. And of course, finding a unique and special purpose for his shiny red nose. There is one illustration where rudolph is leaving a note for his mom and dad when he leaves with santa telling them not to worry. And thats my fathers actual handwriting on the note at the end of the bed. dear mom and dad, dont worry ive gone to help santa. that just gives me goose bumps when i know that he wrote that. That thats really is writing cause i miss him. In the midst of writing the rudolph story tragedy struck the may family when roberts wife eveyln died after a long bout with cancer. His boss at Montgomery Ward offered to take him off the project but he refused. My father, after his first wife passed away, wanted extra things to do to keep busy and i think it gave him something he could do with his daughter as well, as a single father. He could come home at night and work on the story with her and i believe that that. I think it did help him through a very difficult time. In the fall of 1939 robert may finished rudolph the rednosed reindeer. That Holiday Season, Montgomery Ward gave out copies of the booklet to its customers nearly twoandahalf million in all. The booklet and the story were an overnight sensation. He was very excited that it was popular, that it had gotten such a good response, that people had written in and said they loved it and that their kids had loved it. In 1940, the war in europe deepened and with it came a paper shortage forcing Montgomery Ward to suspend production of the rudolph story. After the war, production resumed. The downtime only helped increase rudoplhs popularity. Wards gave away over three million copies in 1946. By then, robert may had remarried and started a second family but times were still tough, he was burdened with medical bills from his first wifes illness. And then came a suprising stroke of corporate benevolence. At that time, people at Montgomery Ward could see that the public was really infatuated with rudolph. And a friend of our dads interceded on his behalf and was able to get the copyright so that allowed my father to pursue publishing offers that had come from several publishers who wanted to put out a hardbound edition of the book. In 1947, the rudolph book was introduced, and the following year saw a nineminute animated film version of the story. Well, i remember moving from, kindof a dingy little apartment to a wonderful house which had walltowall carpeting and those miraculous light switches which didnt make any noise. Well, my dad always felt that it was just a complete gift that rudolph had been as successful as it had been and he always referred to our house as the house that rudolph built rudolphs next big leap would come in the form of music. Robert mays brotherinlaw was a songwriter named johhny marks. My uncle john and my father they discussed writing a song that would parallel the story that my father told in the book. My uncle said sure he would give it a whirl and ended up writing the song, rudolph the rednosed reindeer. it was recorded reluctantly recorded by gene autrey. His wife told him not to sing it, that it was not a good song and he shouldnt even take it on as a project. He did the first recording of it and it was a huge, huge hit. A huge hit indeed. Rudolph the rednosed reindeer sold over two million records in the first year of its release in 1949. And it remains second only to bing crosbys White Christmas as the best selling Christmas Song ever. He was thrilled that the song was written and that it was catchy and cute and it was played a lot and it took my fathers story to the next level. In 1951, the rudolph had become so popular that robert may took a 10 year hiatus from his joat Montgomery Ward to manage the rudolph franchise. The late 1940s and early 1950s there were over 500 different products that had been licensed for rudolph the red nosed reindeer. This was nothing that he never thought would happen to him ever. And all of a sudden, this was like his child. And he was responsible for it. He wanted to make sure everything that was done around rudolph was done properly, that it was respectful, that a child could identify with it. They had everything from pajamas to headbands to stuffed animals. In the 1960s, rudoplh would be introduced to a new generation of youngsters. This time through a rankinbass tv special. The tv production included a cast of additional characters but stayed true to rudolphs original message. Each additional character was sort of a mini rudolph idea within the rankin bass special. The doll that had red hair and freckles, the charlie in the box, the elf that wanted to be a dentist and was laughed at and all of those characters really reflected the same idea that rudolph projected which was im different but thats ok. Im gonna do what i need to do. Ill be accepted. ultimately, the toys were all adopted and loved. The special premiered in december of 1964 and became an instant classic, appealing to rudolph fans old and new. My father was thrilled with the show. He couldnt believe it. I remember vividly the first time i saw it. And he was just thrilled and so happy and proud and excited and the phone rang, and he got so many congratulatory phone calls and it was a magical time. Rudolph the rednosed reindeer has remained a mainstay of christmas tradition bringing joy to millions. And true to the song, he really did go down in history. When our journey continues, we go back in time to celebrate the season of goodwill as it was before being transformed for all its commercial possibilities. But in this one place there are no traffic jams, no gaudy lights, no television commercials, no commercialism at all except that the baker is baking gingerbread cookies to make the children of the town happy on christmas morning. Well remember the holiday toys of a bygone era. The story behind an unexplained symbol of the season. Plus, the enduring response to a little girls letter about santa claus. Then, the holiday tradition of giving on the coast of maine and the history behind the unique Christmas Tree craze of the 1960s. Its all still ahead on through the decades. Its all still ahead on through the decades. Remain most true to the original spirit of the holidays as it foraged its way from europe to our earliest pioneer days. And today, Colonial Williamsburg celebrates the joyful season as it has for centuries including when Charles Kuralt journeyed through time in 1979. For some, even at this late hour, it may not seem like christmas but as Charles Kuralt reports from on the road christmas isnt really hard to find, all you have to do is step back a few years. We found a place which does not celebrate christmas with enormous crowds jostling in the Department Stores. There are no enormous crowds. There are no Department Stores. music playing what child is this . here christmas is observed simply. Old friends meet to play an old song of the season together. Fires are lighted in all the fireplaces of the town to warm the body and the spirit. I dont mean theres no celebration here. There is a rattling good fife and drum parade down the main street that even the little kids take part. There are wreaths on all the doors of the town evergreens and apples and an air of expectancy. People are bustling about on their errands. I dont mean that its an ordinary time of year but in this one place there are no traffic jams, no gaudy lights, no television commercials, no commercialism at all except that the baker is baking gingerbread cookies to make the children of the town happy on christmas morning. The baker is baking and the blacksmith is working right up until Christmas Day. The ringing of the hammer on the anvil is like a bell to the town as the early winter darkness comes alon choir singing the first noel a group of carolers stands under torches on the square singing together. The simplicity of the moment is sweet to feel. Standing out here in the cold and misty dark among the people singing brings on long thoughts about what we have done to christmas in the name of commerce. This quieter christmas seems so much more of what christmas should be a wreath, a candle, an old song and time for quiet reflection. And what is this place . It is Colonial Williamsburg virginia where christmas is observed as it was observed by the people who lived here in the 1770s. You get the feeling here that this is the christmas many people of america are trying to find. Its too bad we have to go back to the eighteenth century to find it. Singing born is the king of israel. Merry christmas Merry Christmas to you Charles Kuralt. Cbs news. On the road. Still to come as we continue our hour long look back on the Holiday Season through the decades, we remember the charm and the Lessons Learned by antique toys toys teach a child many things. They teach a child when he can see a mechanical toy the way things work. Plus, well take you back to 1984 when Charles Kuralt went on the road to find a man whoad a genuine desire to make a difference. The story is still ahead on through the decades. Through the decades. Today we worry about the latest sneakers, phones and games as we fuss over gifts for our youngest loved ones, but we remember a time when the wrapped boxes under the tree featured gifts made by hand, carefully and painstakingly and would last a lifetime. Well now that the first toys of this space age christmas are broken, we thought you might like to see some toys that have endured decades of christmases. They are short on computer chips but as Walter Cronkite reports, these toys are long on that ingenuity which answers the timeless appeal. The wonder of children at christmas. The toys are too dated for this to be santas workshop but it could be his museum which would make apple stan speelhouse santas curator. A geophysist, former university dean, aide to three president s, speelhouse is an elder statesman of science for who toys have never lost their magic and an educator who thinks theyve always been more than just playthings. Toys teach a child many things. They teach a child, when he can see a mechanical toy, the way things work. The scientist is intrigued by the science in old mechanical toys. The way they harness and demonstrate the principals of physics, the use of gravity in this turn of the century french toy. Magnetism in a 1950s japanese bear. Energy storage in the flywheel of this 70 year old british toy. He has a little can underneath and he draws a picture. Turn of the century by field matter of germany. This mark with his handlebar mustache and the whole thing. That must be quite a mechanism inside there . Well sure. This is a forerunner. You see we think we are so smart today but these fellows did it with a can like that. Old toys also are history. Pieces of christmases passed. Carved on their shapes and painted on their surfaces, are the hopes, fears and prejudices of their times. Heres a toy of the french revolution, blacksmith at his forge but thats no horseshoe hes hammering, its an aristocrats head. Toys today are very different of course what with computers and other electronic gadgets but speelhouse doesnt think the change is for the good. I dont think the culmination of art and the wonderful thing you feel by winding a toy by hand, its hand size, the ability to understand its movement, see its little, simple mechanism and the funny antics it does. These are all, i think, to me, lost in the modern toys. Toys are such marvelous tools for learning of course because they first of all are instruments of wonder and delight. Vehicles in which youthful imaginations can learn to soar. Those are qualities these old toys had in abundance for generations past. Qualities that you dont have to be a child or a scientist to understand. This is Walter Cronkite. Cbs news in santas museum. When our look back on the stories of the Holiday Season through the dfecades. Continues. We have the story of a lone tree found along americas back roads adopted and beloved by motorists passing by. The tree is a juniper and it grows here beside u. S. 50 utterly alone. Not another tree for miles. Nobody remembers who put the first Christmas Ornament on it, some whimsical motorist years ago. From that day to this, the tree has been decorated each year. Nobody knows who does it. Plus, the iconic response to a childs letter that has become as synonymous with christmas as the man whose existence was in question. The story is still ahead right the Holiday Season is a time to pause and reflect, to consider the joys and challenges of the year gone by. In this next piece, Charles Kuralt finds meaning in a single tree on a busy highway nestled high in the mountains of colorado. It lives day in and day out, above the tree line. It endures on its own, without reason or logic, an unexplained symbol of the season. Trees just do not grow up here on the high plateaus of the rockies. Everybody knows that. Trees need good soil and good weather and up here there is no soil and terrible weather. People do not live here. Nothing can live up here and certainly not trees. Thats why the tree is a kind of miracle. The tree is a juniper and it grows here beside u. S. 50 utterly alone. Not another tree for miles. Nobody remembers who put the first Christmas Ornament on it. Some whimsical motorist of years ago. From that day to this, the tree has been redecorated each year. Nobody knows who does it but each year by Christmas Day the tree has become a Christmas Tree. The tree which has no business growing here at all has survived against all the odds. The summer droughts somehow havent killed it or the winter storms. When the Highway Builders came out to widen the road, they could have taken the tree with one pass of their bulldozer but some impulse led them to start widening the road just a few feet past the tree. The trucks pass so close that they rattle the trees branches. The tree has survived the trucks. The tree violates the laws of man and nature. It is too close to the highway for man and not far enough away for nature. The tree pays no attention. It is where it is. It survives. People who live in Grand Junction 30 miles back that way and in delta, colorado, 15 miles that way, all know about and love the tree. They have Christmas Trees of their own of course, the kind of trees that are brought to town in trucks and sold in vacant lots and put up in living rooms. This one tree belongs to nobody and to everybody. Just looking at it makes you think about how unexpected life on the earth can be. The tree is so lonely and so brave that it seems to offer courage to those who pass it. And a message. It is the christmas message that there is life and hope even in a rough world. Charles kuralt. Cbs news. On the road in colorado. As our journey continues, we remember the story of a man on a decades long mission to give back. Plus, the answer to an age old question that captured the power of journalism and the Human Capacity t