Maybe it's the undeniable alliterative appeal of Rudolph the Red-Nosed reindeer br that makes him the most known or popular of all Santa's nine flying reindeers. br It certainly doesn't seem as easy to come up with a similar catchy description br for the others - Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner and br Blitzen - as named in the song. The story of Rudolph whose glowing red nose made him a standout, first appeared br in 1939 when Montgomery Ward department stores distributed about 2.4 million br booklets with the poem in the form of a story about Rudolph the Red-Nosed br Reindeer. It was written by Robert L. May, who worked in the store's br advertisement or marketing department, to be used to attract more people into br the store. When the booklet was reissued in 1939, sales soared to more than 3.5 br million copies. But it wasn't until a decade later, in 1949, that the story br really gained immense popularity when Gene Autry sang a musical version of the br fable.