'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer' Inspires 500 Million Limited Edition Forever Stamps

WASHINGTON, DC—December 9, 2014—To commemorate the 50th anniversary of the "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" television program—to air on CBS at 8 p.m. (EST)—the U.S. Postal Service is creating four stamps with a very large print run, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

"Our typical print run is about 25 million to 30 million for a commemorative stamp, but because Rudolph and the holidays are so popular we've printed 500 million stamps depicting Rudolph, Hermey, Santa and Bumble," said Mark Saunders of the Postal Service. "The stamp images were created from still television frames from the special, which premiered 50 years ago in 1964."

According to Character Arts, the company that licenses the rights to Rudolph, the Postal Service and Rudolph share some things in common: "The fit for Rudolph and the Postal Service is like a glove, or maybe a mitten. They are both very reliable and we root for them. Even the famous inscription on a New York City post office—'Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds'—applies as well to Rudolph and Santa."