Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer publicity puppets

C. 2001 Miser Bros Press/Rick Goldschmidt Archives

I contacted Masaki Iizuka and he said, “Ichiro Komuro (known as Pinchan to Arthur) and Kyoto Kita created a separate puppet set at the request of Arthur Rankin Jr., that had to be flown to New York quickly for publicity photographs for the network. These photographs were used for regional TV Guide covers, articles, Burl Ives and Johnny Marks publicity shots, the Decca album cover, GE Ads, etc. They were never used for any of the actual animation, which was still in full production all the way up to shortly before the December 6, 1964 airing. These same puppets were leant to NBC and they put them on display in a case, at their Rockefeller Plaza studio, in New York. Eventually they were given back to Rankin/Bass Productions and Barbara eventually was gifted them.”