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- [00:02]
Susan
Welcome to the History Tricks, where any resemblance to a boring old history lesson is purely coincidental.
- [00:10]
Beckett
Hello, it's Beckett and Susan. We just want to wish all of you happy, happy holidays. As is our tradition this time of year, we are posting our coverage of an unsung hero who holds the whole thing together from behind the scenes, one Mrs. Claus.
- [00:29]
Susan
We'll be back after the first of the year with new subjects and new episodes. And that's so exciting to me because I know who we're covering next.
- [00:37]
Jess
That's as close as we're getting to A Christmas Carol.
- [00:39]
Beckett
Best wishes to all of you, happiness and health to all, and we will see you again in the new year. And now on with the show.
- [00:48]
Jess
Hello and welcome to the show. It's Jess Beckett today with a tiny little mini cast about one of the most undersung characters that's around during this time of year. Today I'm going to give you the history of Mrs. Claus, Santa's mostly patient, certainly tolerant wife of somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 years or so. A note to listeners with young children in the room, do preview the content. You know, just in case I say something of a revealing nature about, shall we say, the jolly old elf himself. So on we go. Once upon a time, Santa Claus was a bachelor. Not only a bachelor, but a Bishop Nicholas of Myra in modern day Turkey, who was born in the year 270. He used to pay the dowries of poor girls on the sly and leave treats for the children of his town, theoretically anonymously. But the word went out. If you leave your shoes out on the steps and someone happens to be passing by, well, you just never know. The legend began with a real man and was kept alive by the Dutch tradition of Sinterklaas. Sinterklaas. That's what happens when you say the words St. Nicholas over time with an accent and another language. Sort of like when you play the telephone game. The words just change. Still with the gifts and the shoes, but now only on one day, December 5th. And Sinterklaus was brought to the new World. New Amsterdam now, of course, New York. With the Dutch settlers, Sinterklaas became the modern words Santa Claus somewhere around the American Revolution. Even at the time of twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, etcetera, Santa is still a single man. He got the reindeer with this poem in 1823, but no mention of a wife until 1849. And that was only in a morality tale by an author named James Reese about a family who was kind to Two old strangers. And in the morning they were revealed to be, quote, not Santa Claus and his wife, but in fact the daughter they'd thrown out of the house for having a boyfriend who comes back married and with money. So perhaps not yet the Mrs. Claus we've grown to expect. But the casualness with which they mention not Santa Claus and his wife kind of implies that a wife for Mr. North Pole was sort of common knowledge that was just now making it into print. She remained a shadowy figure and not much was known about her. Where did they meet? What was she like? How did she look? Harper's magazine in 1862 gave her a dozen red petticoats. This was the time of the Balmoral petticoat. Queen Victoria and family made them very famous. Red flannel worn with a slightly shorter skirt for country walking and physical activity or ice skating. But a dozen other than their insulating properties, I just do not know. I hope her rocking chair was a giant one. Mrs. Claus, not yet named, had her first truly prominent role in Lil's travels in Santa claus land in 1879. Here's a quote from that story. There was a lady sitting by a golden desk writing in a large book, and Santa Claus was looking through a great telescope. And every once in a while he stopped and put his ear to a large speaking tube. While I was resting, he went on with his observations. Presently he said to the lady, put down a good mark for Sarah Buttermilk. I see she's trying to conquer her quick temper. So Mrs. Claus is now the keeper of the naughty and nice list. Tradesmen's wives often did the books. This seemed to be more of the same. But author Katherine Lee Bates gave her an attitude in Goody Santa Claus on a sleigh ride in 1889, in which Mrs. Santa lays it out there. Why should you have all the glory of the joyous Christmas story and poor little Goody Santa Claus have nothing but the work. Now the pack is fairly rifled and poor Santa's well nigh stifled. Yet you would not let your Goody fill a single baby sock. Yes, I know the task takes brain, dear. I can only hold the reins, reindeer and to see me climb down chimney, it would give your nerves a shock. And he finally lets her go down and fill a stocking. Merry Christmas, little people. Joy bells ring in every steeple and goodies gladdest of the glad. I've had my own sweet will. At last Mrs. Claus has a taste of the fame. Incidentally, Katherine Lee Bates was a professor at Wellesley, wrote for the Atlantic Monthly and would later give us the lyrics to America the Beautiful, which in my opinion would have made a far better anthem for this country than the one we have, since it lies within most people's vocal range. And then suddenly Mrs. Claus was backgrounded for 80 some years there. She went back to the supporting role. During this time she didn't even have the nice and naughty list to sustain her. That work was taken up by Santa's Brownies, who we now call elves or assistants. And Mrs. Claus was the representative of the cult of domesticity we talked about in the Queen Victoria podcast. Mrs. Claus keeps Santa darned and fed and cheered up, makes cookies and cocoa and apple pies and roast beef. And she might have charge of the production line, but only while Santa's away and is a mother figure to all the elves and is the plump mob capped, bustling smiley figure that we still associate with her name today. Or she might have a spectacular white ballerina bun on top of her head and snaky wire rimmed spectacles. But still no name, no official one. Anyway, she's been called Jessica, Anna, Margaret, Martha, Carol, Samantha, and of course Charlie Brown's Choice. Merry Christmas. Congratulations on keeping your own last name was what Charlie Brown's sister wrote in the early 60s. I will say that in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, which was from 1964, she inexplicably is this abrasive dark haired lady who keeps trying to make Santa eat because quote, no one likes a skinny Sant, even though the food, even the apple is gray. If that's on tv, look at the food. I don't understand. They never even painted it or something anyway. And there are quite a few 1950s depiction of Mrs. Santa Claus as a young redhead, which we hope is Mrs. Santa. In fact, Santa, I'm doing that thing right now where I put my two fingers up to my eyes and then I point them at you. But otherwise white haired elderly lady with either an exaggerated round figure or else a very good hourglass model of corset. So the 1960s were really when Mrs. C had her comeback. Her debut back into the popular imagination seems to be a story published in family circle in 1961. In How Mrs. Santa Claus Saved Christmas by Philip McGinley, Santa has taken to his bed and blows through the alarm. And so Mrs. Claus takes to the air and mixes up everybody's presents. But somehow everyone ended up better off. It's the hijinks era for sure. There's no possible way I can highlight every single show that featured Mrs. Claus. So here are a few of the highlights. 1974 the year without a Santa Claus, which was also based on a Phyllis McEntee story. Incidentally, Santa Claus is all burnt out and he decides to take a year off. So Mrs. S has to go out in search of the Christmas spirit. Remember the Snow Miser and the Heat Miser? Mrs. Claus has to do some fast talking to get them to agree. This was a major holiday movie during my childhood. 1996 the movie Mrs. Santa Claus Angela Lansbury tried to give her input on improving the machinery and efficiency, and since she was ignored, she set out to prove it for herself that she had the right idea about delivering the presents. And a time travel mishap lands her in the middle of 1910 where she becomes involved in the suffrage movement. I cannot make this stuff up. 2002 the Santa Clause 2, where in fact the whole hook of the entire movie is that Santa has to find a wife or Christmas will go away forever. That actually might be her most starring role of any movie yet. 2010 Martha Claus tries to save the Simpsons Christmas in an episode called the Fight Before Christmas, which of course, everything and everyone comes back to the Simpsons in the end. And incidentally, Martha Claus is Martha Stewart, because of course she is. And last but not least, in fact, my absolute favorite depiction there ever has been, Imelda Staunton. Yes, the lady who plays Professor Umbridge, the scariest villain in the entire Harry Potter series, plays Mrs. Claus in Arthur Christmas from 2011. And in that movie, Mrs. Claus handles all her squabbling relatives, wraps her own dang present from Santa and hands it to him to give to her, makes the gravy, and then drives the technological wonder Santa Enterprise, the S1, all by herself. It's been quite a journey for Mrs. Claus, from Anonymous to bookkeeper to hearth keeper to time traveler, diplomat, problem solver and Peacekeeper. Mrs. Claus, we salute you. Take the 26th off this year, won't you?
- [09:52]
Beckett
A quick update from 2017. My old favorite from Arthur Christmas has been overtaken in the year 2016, Marks and Spencer produced a Christmas ad entitled Christmas with love from Mrs. Claus. I cannot even express how amazing she is. It's almost like a James Bond Thriller meets Mrs. Claus. So it's very good. She flies a helicopter. She's kind of a bad aleck, and it actually made me cry at several points. She's played by Janet McTeer, who you'll probably know from the Divergent series as Edith Pryor. I don't know the Gauntlet's been thrown. I don't know how anyone is ever going to top this one. And now an update from 2024. We were very excited to see the new Boots Christmas ad with a Joa Andoh, otherwise known of course as Lady Danbury from Bridgerton, partnering with her elf fluencers. Man, that's a hard word. Elf influencers to fill stockings and the sleigh as Santa has fallen asleep. Make magic, the ad says at the end. And that is what we wish for you. I'll provide a link to a video of that commercial@thehistorychicks.com see you in 2025.
- [11:13]
Susan
Our trip to Philadelphia June 18th through the 22nd, 2025 is filling up fast, so if you'd like to join us, please head on over to Like Minds Travel. There's a link on both our website and the notes for this episode for more information and to register if you're local or local ish and would love to join us for our dinner party. It's not a cruise this time, it's a dinner party at the Betsy Ross House. There's information also on Like Minds Travel for that that is scheduled for June 21st. We would love to see you. When we're on our field trip to Philadelphia, I'd like to take just a moment to acknowledge and thank some very important people to us, starting with all of the members of our private Facebook group, the History Chicks Podcast Lounge. There's so much interesting discussion and weekly triv. And we started window Wednesdays where you show us the view of your world. On Wednesdays and Tuesdays, we have an opportunity to toot our own horns and celebrate with the entire group things that we've accomplished. So thank you for joining us there, all of you. And we have a group of moderators in there. We have Sarah, that's the same Sarah who does trivia. Sarah and Susan, Sue, Lynn and Sean, Lindsay, Stacy, Katie. And we'd also like to thank Laura from Like Minds Travel, our tour agent extraordinaire. She at this very moment is finalizing the details on yet another amazing tour that we'll be taking in the future to places that Beckett and I have only talked about on the show and we get to do that with you. So there'll be more information on that very soon. As always, we really appreciate people who have gone above and beyond and click the donate button on our website and donate to us either one sum or monthly. All of those donations help keep the lights on it. Well, I used to say the house of wood, but that's where Beckett lives. I come to you from the closet of felt acoustic tiles. So from this beautiful closet I thank all of you.
- [13:21]
Beckett
Feel free to visit the Pinterest board because it is full of Mrs. Claus depictions so there are many rabbit holes to fall down there. Thank you so much for listening and happy or Merry Christmas to those that celebrate it.
- [13:33]
Jess
Bye. Our music comes courtesy of Musically. Today's closing music is Santa Will Find you'd by Mindy Smith if you're far.
- [13:43]
Unknown
Away on this holiday and you're dreaming of being at home if you're worried at all that you maybe forgotten you should know that you are alone Cause you're there and you're shining bright like a beer Bright as a northern star so don't worry because Santa will find you Wherever you are Santa will find you tonight if you're listening for reindeer and sleigh bells as they jingle and tap on the roof you're awake Piled in blankets with your cousins at grandma's and you hope they'll be presents for you Cause you're there and you're shining bright like a beaker Bright as a northern star so don't worry because Santa will find you Wherever you are Santa will find you tonight.