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The Calgary Sunday Sun, December 8, 2002

 

HO, HO, HO

Inside look

At perfecting

Santa Claus

By Michelle Mark

BORN TO bring joy into the hearts of children everywhere, a handful of not-so-average Calgarians are suiting up to work their Christmas magic.

Wielding the power to make dreams come true with a jolly ho, ho, ho; a sled full of hope; an attentive ear and a warm hug, these men believe there is no greater gift than helping to make a child’s dream come true.

But while many children know the thrill of a visit with old St. Nick, few people have had a glimpse of what it’s like to be Santa himself.

Calgarian Victor Nevada believes so strongly in the spirit of Santa Claus, he has devoted his life to doing everything so children will welcome the jolly old elf into their hearts.

Nevada, a real estate agent for 25 years – who first donned his red Santa suit some 20 years ago – teaches a school for Santas across North America.

"The idea is to give some of the Santas the right tools so they can develop their own character," said Nevada, 59.

He also custom-makes costumes for Santas around the world and maintains a web site, www.santaschool.com, on what it takes for working Santas to shine their brightest.

The two-day course, which attracts hundreds of prospective Santas from across North America every year, includes photography, voice and movement coaching, costuming and hairdressing.

Commercial photographers show the Santas what to do with their stance and facial expressions to make an optimal photo.

"Pictures with Santa may be the one thing that people will keep forever," Nevada said.

"The object is to make the photo something the kids can keep long after they’ve grown – and maybe even hand down.

"There’s no reason a Santa photo taken in 2002 shouldn’t be around 100 years from now."

Nevada and his team hit the streets – as well as company and house parties – are seen on commercials and appear in nightclub acts all December long.

"In a 30 to 40 second time slot, Santa wields incredible power for good," Nevada said.

"If you know how to work it, you can make a major impact on a child’s life – or an adult’s life, for that matter.

"A good Santa can recognize that power and use it wisely."

While most of them do it to make a difference in a child’s life, Santas can make anywhere from minimum wage to thousands of dollars for an appearance.

"They run the whole gamut," Nevada said.

"If it weren’t for Santas in some of the malls doing Santa for minimum wage, there would be no Santa. The, what would the kids do?"

In Santa school, Santa wannabes learn the importance of good grooming and hygiene, using language suitable for children, carrying candy canes at all times, making sure the child is always accompanied by an adult, staying on top of the latest trends in toys and games, and never promising a child they will get what they ask for.

The specialized course also teaches Santas how to gently restrain children so they can’t pull on Santa’s beard.

At every event he goes to, Nevada said there’s always at least one child who is beside themselves with excitement over seeing Santa.

"They light the spark for everyone else," he said.

"When you have a little boy or girl run up to you, throw their arms around you saying "I love Christmas, I love Santa," it really pulls at your heartstrings."

Faced with kids, young and old, Nevada works his magic even on Santa’s most skeptical visitors.

"They don’t want to be non-believers," Nevada said.

Christmas is a huge event for a child, so they want you to give them the right answers so they can believe for one more year.

"Kids are logical beings. If you can give them a scientific answer to a question, you’re home-free."

Mike Shepherd, a 38 year-old Calgary actor who jingles his way into children’s hearts every year as the Chinook Centre Santa, says being a Santa isn’t a job, it’s his calling.

A mall Santa for the past eight years – three most recently at Chinook centre – Shepherd says he feels like he was born to play the part.

"It’s an amazing feeling," he said.

"If people come to see me and go away with a smile and feel good about Christmas and about themselves – then I know I’ve done a good job."

"It’s about getting people back into the fantasy and away from commercialism a bit."

But Shepherd, who has posed for tens of thousands of photos with everyone from two-day-old babies to 97 – year – olds on his knee, says it doesn’t take long before the flash bulbs leave him seeing stars.

"It really screws up your night vision," he said, laughing, adding knee pads are a must for any Santa dealing with scared or frustrated kids.

"You have to," he said.

"Some of these kids are up on your lap, they’re crying and they’re kicking you in the shins."

As Santa at the second largest mall in Western Canada, Shepherd says he’s heard it all as thousands of people confide to him what they secretly want for Christmas.

"I get single moms looking for a good man," he said.

"I’ve had everything from a little girl asking for a magic wand to turn her classmates into frogs, another little one asking for longer hair and a million watermelons – two kids asking me to bring their dead parents back to them for Christmas."

A difficult and lonely time of year for many, Shepherd said making people feel the magic of Christmas isn’t always easy.

"You get a lot sad people, adults especially, who come to me just to be cheered up," he said.

Shepherd says his heart breaks when he has a little child climb up onto his lap with the weight of the world on his or her shoulders.

"I met these two boys once, whose mom had died just a few days earlier, and wanted a picture of the two of them together to put on their mother’s casket," he said.

"Stuff like that is kind of hard to take."

Tragically, Shepherd just this week learned that a bright-eyed two-year old – Cole Harder – who had visited him last week to confide in him his wishes for Christmas, was shot dead by his father two days later.

Heartbroken, Shepherd has said he takes solace in the fact that he was able to bring joy to the boy’s life during their brief visit.

Some facts about Santa:

He may be able to swoosh down a chimney with a bag full of toys and always know exactly who are the good girls and boys, but a national Santa Claus poll shows old St. Nick is really a pretty average guy. A survey of hundreds of shopping mall Santas brings the jolly old elf a little closer to home.

. Average statistical results for Santa Claus: Height: 5-ft.-9, Weight: 218 lbs., Waist: 43 inches, Age: 52

. Education: High School: 55 %, College: 35 %, Grad School: 10 %

. Favourite holiday song: Here Comes Santa Claus: 30 %, Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer: 15 %, Little Drummer Boy: 10 %, Silent Night: 10 %, I’ll Be Home for Christmas: 10 %

. Favourite cookies: Chocolate Chip: 45 %, Oatmeal: 15 %, Macadamia: 10 %, All Cookies: 10 %

. Favourite beverage to go with cookies: Milk: 45 %, Hot Chocolate: 15 %, Root Beer: 10 %

. In addition, it isn’t magic how Santa keeps his jolly figure, with 70 % of those surveyed saying cookies and ice cream contribute to their 43-inch waistline. And, bombarded with queries from curious kids, the top question the Santas said they are faced with is: "Why are there other Santas at other malls?"

The Santas all responded by saying, "You never know who the real Santa might be."

 
 

2001
 
Saturday Post 23 December, 2001

Santa School

"Nasal hair will not be tolerated:

At a school in Calgary, Canada’s top Claus teaches new Santas the ho-hos and no-nos

Derek McCormack

Saturday Post

At Christmas, my parents pull out a picture of me. I’m sitting on Santa’s knee. Bawling. Santa’s skinny. His beard is nylon. It’s spirit-gummed to his face. Spirit gum stinks.

The photo’s from a store in Peterborough, Ont., my hometown. I was five years old. I believed this man was Santa Claus. Now I think: This Santa was a hack.

If only Santa had been Santa Victor.

"Santa Victor" is the stage name of Victor Nevada. A professional Santa. He does parties and parades all over Western Canada. His suit’s tailor-made. Red velveteen with fun-fur furbelows. His beard’s real.

Santa Victor’s been a Santa for 20 years. He’s steeped in Santa lore, Santa songs, Santa literature. "I talked to as many Santas as I could find in an effort to become better," he says. He’s put his know-how in a book, All About Being Santa: The manual of Bringing Joy. The book forms the syllabus of Santa Victor’s Santa School.

Santa Victor, who lives in Calgary, founded his school in 1997. "Most people think all you have to do is put on a Santa suit, practise your ho-hos, and you’re ready to go." He says. "Nothing could be further from the truth."

Class is conducted in conference centres or banquet halls, whichever his pupils prefer. Santa Victor is willing to travel.

A session of Santa School lasts for a weekend. Santa Victor’s faculty comprises makeup artists, photographers and costumers. The curriculum consists of a series of study units, including Toy Knowledge and How to Pose for Photographs. The session ends with a Paradability Contest. In the Makeup/Wigs & Beards unit, students are instructed in "selection, cleaning, and maintenance." Santa Victor bleaches his beard. He’s tried painting it white. He didn’t like it. He styles it with gels and waxes. "Maybe even some glitter," he says, "depending on my mood." Each student receives a makeup kit with cosmetics for eyes, lips and cheeks. Santa Victor doesn’t use makeup. His cheeks are like roses.

In the Business unit, Santa Victor teaches invoicing and bookkeeping, "so Santas get a good grounding on how to succeed in their market area." In How to Pose for Photographs, students learn to "create a happy feeling inside." This feeling gives photographs "that sparkle that Santas should have." The History & Philosophy section asks, "Who is Santa? Is he an elf or a human being? To play him properly, you have to know who he is and where he came from."

Santa Clauses started appearing in department stores at the turn of the last century. They were bums. Bums and alcoholics and addicts recruited from missions and hospitals. Swankier stores hired out-of-work vaudevillians and carnies.

These Santa swore. Many spoke in a streetwise slang, "dese and dems and dums." Some Santas smelled liked liquor. Cigarette smoke yellowed their beards. Or worse. The beards were cotton, dry as wicks.

Dime stores sold Santa beards for a nickel. Santa suits came in crepe paper or flannel. They bled red dye on to children. Some Santas didn’t wear red suits. They cadged costumes from tickle trunks and second hand stores. Period photos show Santas in black trousers. Pea coats. Tricorne hats.

In Toronto, the health commissioner discouraged Santas from kissing kids. Parents worried the Santas might be sick with colds or flus or something worse, like TB. Santas were ordered to dry-clean their beards, change gloves regularly. Few obeyed. Some Santas visited hospitals sporting scary wax masks.

The parents had more than disease to worry about. Most Santas appeared in gingerbread castles set up in department store toylands. The castles were firetraps. Tinsel and icicles were lead. Bubbling lights contained rat poison. Fake snow was asbestos-based. It lingered in lungs. Turned a man into a snowman from the inside-out.

Charles Howard changed all this. Howard played Santa at an upscale store in upstate New York. He made his own suit with velvet and rabbit fur.

In 1937, he sent a letter to rival department stores. "Does your Santa know the right answers to all the questions asked? Can he advise parents about the proper toy for each child? Is he a salesman, a student of children? Santa Claus means more than red pants. We know your store expects more, and you know the public expects more."

Where could Santas better themselves? At Howard’s Santa Claus School. The world’s first. He opened it in Albion, N.Y. Classes commenced with the singing of Jingle Bells.

Howard offered much the same curriculum as Santa Victor does now. Howard’s course lasted two days. Each graduate received a B.SC. Bachelor of Santa Claus.

Near the school, Howard founded the Santa Claus Suit Company. His pupils could purchase top-of-the-line Santa accessories. Silver sleigh-bell bracelets. Beards sewn from yak hair, snowy and thick. Belly pads.

Graduates of Howard’s program got jobs at the best stores in the United States and Canada. While hack Santas earned between $15 and $50 a week, Howard graduates earned $75. In 1938, Howard graduates helped found the Union of Department Store Santas. The union won concessions from stores. Coffee and smoke breaks. (In Santa lingo, a nicotine fit is a "Saint Nick fit.") Time off for sore backs. Santas lift a lot of kids. Fire exits in castles.

Santa Victor sells Santa equipment of his own design. His costumes come from a variety of periods. The early 18th century, when Santa was pictured in long robes trimmed with lace and brass buttons. The late 19th century, when Santa was pictured in the furs of Arctic explorers. Santa Victor has recently designed a costume that can be worn eight different ways.

Those who can’t take Santa Victor’s course can still learn from him. His Web site lists tips for amateur Santas. "Refrain from eating strong-smelling foods such as garlic." "Outgrowths of nasal hair will not be tolerated." "No gratuity may be accepted from parents." "Babies must always be placed in your lap. Never reach for a baby." "Carry liability insurance, as well as insurance for slander and defamation of character. Talk to your insurance agent."

 


 

  

Faith, training and a really great beard 

2000
 
From The Calgary Herald - 10 December, 2000

Ho, ho, ho! Santa

is one big business

 

 

 

There’s money in

being jolly old elf

but job doesn’t

come easy

Eva Ferguson

Calgary Herald

And Herald News Services

Gone are the days when just anyone could put on a red suit, white beard and bellow, "Ho- ho-ho."

The Santa trade has become a competitive, lucrative business in searchof a perfect Saint Nick.

With managers of Calgary shopping malls, car dealerships and corporate parties clamoring for the best authentic, jolly old elf, Santa has become a hot commodity.

"You definitely do have to get just the right Santa – we’ve had the same Santa for three years and it’s all about personality," says Mona Biggar,marketing director at Southcentre mall.

"We really want to give an entire experience," she said. "We want him to be believable, with the real beard and everything. Kids like that more, theyget scared less because they can actually see a face."

Sundrige Mall Santa Rick McCosh, a professional engineer by trade, agrees not just anyone can don the red suit anymore.

"You have to go through a lot to get here," he said. "You have to sign a contract, there is a specific code of ethics."

"You have to be someone that cares a lot about humanity. Christmas is about giving and sharing, and what better way to do that than being Santa."

Marlborough Mall’s Santa, who goes by the name Jeff, agrees, stressing that just finding someone willing to give of their time and themselves during Christ-mas is tough enough.

"Someone could pee on your lap, pull at your face, throw up on you and you still have to be nice," he said.

Santas say their part-time, seasonal work is demanding. They are professionals, trying their darndest to conjure that "magical moment" for adults and children.

"It’s a package," said Victor Nevada, a Santa-broker who books Santas for parties and malls in Calgary.

"When I put out Santas for a dollar figure, I take everything into account – experience, real beard, their costume, their voice, their face and their walk," said Nevada, a Santa for over 20 years.

Santa’s pre-Christmas duties haven’t changed much over the years – he still offers his knee for children to climb, listens to wish lists, answers letters and makes the odd telephone call.

But more and more Santas are learning their trade in schools so that they can work for corporations or one day run their own business.

Al Perks of Tactics Magazine, a trade magazine for shopping centres across North America, says finding a well-honed Santa is "a cutthroat business. We’re talking big dollars."

"I know Santas who are dragging in $30,000 a season for six weeks’ work, "Perks said. "For some of these guys, Christmas is the only time of the year that they work."

Most North American shopping malls are no longer in the business of hiring a Santa, setting up a Polaroid camera and handing out candy canes.

Corporations are now contracted to enhance the Santa experience. "More and more, the trend is to outsource to specialists to provide Santas, helpers and photographs," said Shirley Mesbur, national marketing director of Cambridge Shopping Centres Ltd., owners of 40 malls across Canada, including the Deerfoot, Southcentre and Sunridge shopping centres in Calgary.

"We hire experts because it may be the most important customer service and public relations that happens in a mall during Christmas."

Chinook Centre hires Palmer and Company, an event management firm, to find their Santa - presented this year in a majestic castle setting, complete with video footage of flying reindeer with reins that kids can pull while chatting with Santa.

Company producer Heather Mitchell said their Santa came from years of experience in a children’s theatre group. .

Many companies polish the wannabe Santas in schools, churning out Santas with plump bellies, rosy-red cheeks, flabby jowls, knowing eyes underlined with bags and wrinkles, framed with full, white manes of hair. The voice must be friendly, deep, gravelly, slow, yet authoritative.

But some Santas say they can’t be taught the most important ingredient- "If you don’t have your inner child or a good imagination, you shouldn’t be doing it," said Mike Shepherd, who’s been Santa in Calgary for six years.

"I’ve had kids fill their drawers," Shepherd said. "Pooping isn’t so bad; It’s number one that you’ve got to watch."

Although most Santas get their start in malls - where they can take up to 100 children in an hour - some refuse to go that route.

"I wouldn’t work under those conditions," said Nevada, who, with natural long-white hair, is a Santa for photo shoots, company and house parties, auto-mobile showrooms, commercials and videos.

"I get more business that I can handle," he said, adding he charges $100 to $200 an hour depending on the work.

 
 
The Calgary Sun – 6 June 2000

Cyber school

for Santas

By Jason van Rassel

Calgary Sun

A great Santa Claus isn’t born – he’s made.

That’s the contention of Calgarian Victor Nevada, who has thrilled kids for more than 20 years playing the jolly man and is starting a course and internet site to teach aspiring Santas.

"A lot of the Santas I’ve met have their hearts in the right place, but they’re not well turned – out," he said. "We want our graduates to hear kids tell their parents: Mom, Dad, that iwas the real Santa."

 With his white hair and long beard, Nevada, 56, plans to devote part of his two – day, $200 course, on Santa Claus’ evolution over the years from a mythical figure in Nordic cultures to the red – suited, rotund man popularized by Norman Rockwell’s paintings and even the old Coca – Cola advertisements of the 1930’s.

Students will also design their own costumes and learn make – up tips and how to sound and move like a real Santa.

With his website, www.santaschool.com, Nevada plans to offer a resource for Santas and for people looking for a reliable one for their function – only Santas with good references will be listed.