What the What?

Are you a Santa doll expert? Even better, are you a naked Santa doll expert? Do you know when this lovely Fibre-Craft naked Santa doll (Model No. 3104) was first sold? Given that it was manufactured in Hong Kong, and is weird, frightening and wrapped in crinkly plastic, my guess is that it is another fine product of the 1970s, but that's only a guess. If you have an answer, please let us know at xmasinthe70s [at] yahoo.com.

I was going to ask why Santa is bottomless, but then I decided I don't really want to know.

-- Joal R.

His Strict, Almost Rabbinical Standards Are Feared the World Over

From January 1976. The folks at Noma (the Christmas light company, natch) must have breathed a sigh of relief as everyone in the Christmas light industry knows that Santa is a notorious hard-ass when it comes to quality control.

--Brian H.

Dear Santa: 1975 Edition

What kind of super team could you form with Mr. Spock, Batman, Shazam and George Washington? I'm not sure, but I know I wouldn't mess with it.

--Brian H.

Snapshot No. 3: The Flood

"I think this was in the main court of the mall, and [Santa] was a very, very lucky fellow because that look on my face is pure, unadulterated terror. And, then as now, when I get upset, my stomach gets in knots. I got about two feet off off Santa's lap, and my mom said I absolutely filled my pants.

They had just put me back in the stroller -- Grandma was there with me -- and they had just set me back in the stroller, and [my mother] said it just let loose. She said it was, yeah, all over the floor, it was in the stroller. She rolled me down back to the bathrooms, which were way down by Sears, leaving a trail behind us, and sent my grandma to go find the cheapest set of clothes she could find.

And that I believe is the only other picture I have with Santa. She never took me back to the mall."

Betsy Cech (as told to Joal R.)
Woodland Mall, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Circa 1972-1973