Questions about Rankin/Bass' Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

I am getting lots of questions about my Rudolph segments in Collector's Call (There is a bonus segment on Rudolph at www.collectorscalltv.com)

Many have asked, Who created all of the wonderful and unique characters from the Rankin/Bass version for the TV Special.   Was it Robert L. May?  No, he wrote the short story book for Montgomery Ward.   Was it Johnny Marks?   No, May's brother-in-law wrote the song and then Rankin/Bass hired him to write the additional songs for the program.  Maury Laws was hired as Musical Supervisor (The first time he was given that title).

The characters were created by Romeo Muller, Jr. in the several scripts he wrote for the historic program and then designed by Antony Peters for the Animagic technicians in Japan to make Animagic figures for the TV Special.   Romeo based several of the characters on actual friends of his, such as his girlfriend Clarice.  Hermey was based off of another dear friend.    He created all of the wonderful toys in the Island of Misfit toys as well.   I hope this clears up some of the misconceptions circulating.   Romeo always worked close with Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass in the final development of the special, but his creativity gave the specials an extra level of uniqueness that has made them sustain the test of time!