Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
The float during the 1998 NBC Telecast.
Years active	1998-2001
Sponsor	GoodTimes Entertainment
Designer	Manfred Bass
Type	Falloon

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie is a 1998 American animated adventure musical film about the character of the same name, who first appeared in a 1939 Christmas story by Robert L. May. The film was the first theatrical feature from GoodTimes Entertainment, long known as a home video company. It stars Kathleen Barr as the voice of the titular character, Rudolph, and also features celebrity talents including John Goodman, Eric Idle, Cathy Weseluck, Whoopi Goldberg, Debbie Reynolds, Richard Simmons, and Bob Newhart. The film disappointed at the box-office, recouping only $113,484 of its $10 million budget from its limited theatrical release.

History with the Macy's Parade

Rudolph first appeared as a Falloon sponsored by GoodTimes Entertainment and was made to promote the ill-fated Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie. It made its Parade debut in 1998, where he also became the 1998 Holiday Ambassador for Macy's. Despite the box-office failure of the film, it continued to make subsequent appearances in 1999, 2000, and 2001, when it was retired. Despite this, the Rudolph Falloon was used as a decoration at Universal Orlando Florida in 2012, during the run of Macy's Holiday Parade. And some of the paintbrushes from the float still survives at the parade studio.

Incident

• In 1998, the Rudolph figure randomly deflated at Central Park West, but was re-inflated later on.

Guest Stars

Listed below are the guest stars that have performed/appeared on the float, alongside the respective songs which they sang during the NBC Telecast.

• 1998 - The Pointer Sisters; sang "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"
• 1999 - Florence Henderson; sang "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"
• 2000 - Andrea McArdle and Alexis Kalehoff; sang "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"
• 2001 - Tony Bennett; sang "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"