Why Is the Doll a Misfit Toy in 'Rudolph'? The Answer Is Surprisingly Dark

May 2024 · 3 minute read

Why is the doll a misfit toy in 'Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer'? Her backstory is in truth moderately unhappy.

Allison Cacich - Author

It’s been fifty five years since Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer first premiered on NBC, and watching the beloved TV particular is nonetheless a Christmastime custom for many families. 

You couldn’t ask for a more inspiring gang of outsiders than Rudolph, wannabe dentist/elf Hermey, and everybody’s favourite prospector, Yukon Cornelius. After being solid out via their respective tribes, the trio turns to each other for companionship. 

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During their travels thru the North Pole, they unintentionally land on the Island of Misfit Toys, where those that are broken or undesirable go to reside till they can to find a child who will love them.

Residents come with a jack-in-the-box named Charlie, a spotted elephant, a choo-choo educate with sq. wheels on the caboose, a water pistol that shoots jelly, a fowl that doesn’t fly, a cowboy who rides an ostrich, and a boat that may’t keep afloat. 

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One query that has plagued the forestall movement animation classic for years is why the doll, known as Dolly for Sue to a couple, is on the island. She never unearths what’s "wrong" with her, and not anything is physically off about her appearance. It took till 2005 for enthusiasts to finally get an answer.

Why is the doll a misfit toy in Rudolph?

We first see Dolly for Sue — "the kind that will even say 'How do you do?'" — during "The Most Wonderful Day of the Year," which introduces the target market to the island’s lonely, yet hopeful population.

Though Dolly seems pleased throughout the music, manufacturer Arthur Rankin Jr. published in an interview with the Archive of American Television that she ended up on the island due to depression and low vanity. Yikes, that’s heavy.

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"I always say, well, she has psychiatric problems. She was under the care of an analyst," Arthur admitted. He elaborated on that point in a 2007 chat with NPR’s "Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me," stating that Dolly felt unloved after being abandoned through her owner (who used to be presumably Sue).

Dolly’s "issues" had been first hinted at on the Dolly for Sue Stuffins sold by CVS in 1998. A tag hooked up to her body learn: "I’m a little rag doll who just wants a friend. I think that will help my broken heart mend."

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Arthur also printed that the mystery surrounding Dolly’s presence on the island stems from the proven fact that she used to be a last-minute addition to the broadcast. The manufacturers felt they needed a misfit toy that younger ladies may relate to (take note, it was once a different time again then).

As the special underwent revisions over the years, Dolly got extra display screen time and contours, making her lack of a bodily defect extra obvious. 

Two years ahead of his demise, Arthur was once asked about what makes Rudolph undying. "I really don’t have an answer to that," he confessed. "I think because it was the first special of its kind… I think that, in looking for something to watch for Christmas, parents put their children in front of the television.

"And as the audience grew, so did the children that watched it," he added. "They grew as much as grow to be mothers. And they grew as much as change into grandmothers! And additionally they put their children and grandchildren in front of the television set… To many of us, Rudolph manner Christmas."

We do not know where Santa could be with out him!

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