Colin McEnroe Show: Being Santa Claus
What's it like to play the role of jolly old St. Nick?
Saint Nicholas of Myra was a 4th century Greek bishop from an area that is now Turkey, so it is my position that he was a dark-skinned man, as opposed to the chubby rosy-cheeked walking cardiac time bomb of modern depictions and also as opposed to any kind of Norse, Gandalfian adaptations.
While writing this, I had an "Idiotic Eureka Moment," which occur when you abruptly figure out something everybody else has always known. Even though I've always understood that Santa Claus is derived from St. Nicholas, it never occurred to me until this moment that his name is just an elision or corruption of St. Nicholas.
We may have our own static ideas about Santa, but he also has to be protean, because he has to be what people need him to be.
Today on the show, we'll talk about the whole tradition of dressing up as Santa and interacting with kids and also about whether the Internet is piercing Santa's veil.
Leave your comments below, e-mail colin@wnpr.org or Tweet us @wnprcolin.
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E-mail From Mike
My name is Mike Henthorne from North Windham, CT. I would not say I am a professional santa clause in anyway shape or form, but I did do the job for my mother-in-law when we both worked for Rite Aid in Jewett City many years ago. There was very little prep for the job save for the outfit (which came together basically overnight), but I did seem slightly unprepared once I made it to the store and came in. It was not a huge gig, but I saw a few dozen kids and had several photos taken with families over the course of 2-3 hours. I would say, considering my lack of training, I did a pretty good job and I would not mind doing it again sometime.
A note on prior skills that would pertain to this, I have been part of a live action role-playing group out of Putnam area and that did give me the courage to go out and pretend to be someone that I really was not in the end.
-Mike Henthorne
PS - I am an avid listener and really enjoy your show. Keep up the good work and the people will never stop listening.
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