Johnny Marks

From Grokipedia

Johnny Marks (November 10, 1909 – September 3, 1985) was an American songwriter, music publisher, and ASCAP board member renowned for composing numerous Christmas standards, most notably "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."

Born in Mount Vernon, New York, Marks graduated from Colgate University in 1931 before studying music at Columbia University and in Paris during the 1920s and early 1930s.

In the late 1930s, he began his songwriting career by penning tunes for Guy Lombardo's orchestra and achieving early success with "Address Unknown," a 1939 anti-antisemitism song recorded by the Ink Spots.

During World War II, Marks served four years as a captain in the U.S. Army's 26th Special Service Company under General George S. Patton, earning a Bronze Star and four battle stars.

After the war, he composed over 175 songs, including non-holiday hits like "Who Calls" for Bing Crosby and "Don't Cross Your Fingers, Cross Your Heart" for Sammy Kaye.

His most enduring legacy stems from holiday compositions; in 1949, inspired by a 1939 children's story written by his brother-in-law Robert L. May, Marks penned "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," which Gene Autry recorded that year, selling millions of copies and becoming one of the best-selling singles of all time with tens of millions in total sales.

That same year, Marks founded St. Nicholas Music, Inc., which grew into a leading publisher of Christmas songs.

Other notable Christmas works include "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" (popularized by Brenda Lee in 1960), "A Holly Jolly Christmas" and "Silver and Gold" (from the 1964 Rankin/Bass TV special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, for which Marks composed the score), "Run Rudolph Run," and an adaptation of "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day."

An active ASCAP member from 1940 until his death, Marks served on its board of directors from 1957 to 1961 and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1981.

He also contributed to Colgate University as a trustee and resided in New York City until his death from a heart attack at age 75.

Nicknamed "Mr. Christmas," Marks' songs continue to define the holiday season and inspire enduring cultural icons like the Rudolph animated specials.

In brief

Johnny Marks was a Jewish songwriter from New York who specialized, almost comically, in Christmas. He took a Montgomery Ward story about a red-nosed reindeer and in 1949 made it a song Gene Autry could ride into the American year. It has not left.

Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree and A Holly Jolly Christmas followed. He ran St. Nicholas Music and treated the season as a catalog to be tended. The joke — a Jewish man writing the soundtrack of a Christian holiday — is so old it has become a fact rather than a punch line. Berlin had already written White Christmas. Marks added the children’s bench.

He served in World War II, kept his craft small and exact, and did not pretend the songs were Mahler. They were built to be remembered by people who cannot read music.

The accomplishment is a month of the calendar. A Jewish professional songwriter wrote the tunes that still start when the decorations come down from the attic.