People and Places

The Man Who Soundtracked Christmas

🎶 You know Lennon, McCartney and Clapton and Dylan.
Bacharach, Parton & TSwift are killin’.
But do you recall
The most Christmassy songwriter of all? 🎶

Meet Johnny Marks- the man who soundtracked Christmas.

Born in 1909 in Mount Vernon, NY, Marks studied music at Colgate and Columbia Universities before moving to Paris for several years. Marks must have had either a keen business sense, well-thought out career goals or both, because on his return to the states (New York City), he founded a music publishing company called St. Nicholas Music.

Thanks in no small part to Mark’s own writing, his company would eventually become the most important publisher of Christmas music in the world.

That same year (1949), Marks was contacted by his brother-in-law, Robert May, who worked for the Montgomery Ward department store, headquartered in Chicago. May had just written a new promotional item to hand out during the holiday season; a short story called Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer. It needed a song, and May knew a guy- his brother-in-law, Johnny Marks.

Marks worked his musical magic, and sent the song to The Singing Cowboy, Gene Autry, who didn’t want to sing it. As happens in most marriages, Gene’s wife persuaded him out of making a bad decision, and Autry went ahead and recorded Mark’s song, which went on to become a number 1 hit that Christmas season.

Marks was already a successful songwriter before Rudolph, but nothing breeds success like success. A decade later, he connected with Rankin & Bass to write songs for their 1964 TV special “Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer”, which became an instant classic. Marks continued working with Rankin & Bass, penning songs for their other holiday specials as well.

At the end of his stellar career, Marks was most known for the holiday songs he wrote, including:

Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
Holly Jolly Christmas
Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree
The Night Before Christmas
When Santa Claus Gets Your Letter
Everyone’s A Child At Christmas
The Most Wonderful Day of The Year
Jingle Jingle Jingle

…..and there are others.

So as you hum happy holiday tunes this season, save a slice of Christmas cheer for Johnny Marks and his legacy of masterful, merry, music.

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19 thoughts on “The Man Who Soundtracked Christmas”

  1. Lovely tribute and so educational for me. I had no idea about this man’s legendary contributions to the tunes we adore this time of year! I hope this post goes far and wide. Merry Christmas to you and yours, Lisa 🙂

    Reply

  2. Thanks for all of this, Todd! I love those old Rankin & Bass holiday shows and never realized that Marks wrote more than “Rudolph”. Wow! 😎😉😎

    Reply

  5. Cool! I like learning. I knew the story behind Autry doing Rudolf and it was for a department store, but knew nothing of Marks or his story. Thanks for sharing1

    Reply

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