The Santa Claus man : the rise and fall of a Jazz Age con man and the invention of Christmas in New York

Author

Alex Palmer

Call Number

• 394.2663 P1732 (CEN)

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Publication Information

Guilford, Connecticut : Lyons Press, [2015]

Physical Description

xiii, 306 pages : maps, illustrations ; 24 cm

Summary

"Before the charismatic John Duval Gluck, Jr. came along, letters from New York City children to Santa Claus were destroyed, unopened, by the U.S. Post Office. Gluck saw an opportunity, and created the Santa Claus Association. The effort delighted the public, and for 15 years money and gifts flowed to the only group authorized to answer Santa's mail. Gluck became a Jazz Age celebrity, rubbing shoulders with the era's movie stars and politicians, and even planned to erect a vast Santa Claus monument in the center of Manhattan -- until Gotham's crusading charity commissioner discovered some dark secrets in Santa's workshop. The rise and fall of the Santa Claus Association is a caper both heartwarming and hardboiled, involving stolen art, phony Boy Scouts, a kidnapping, pursuit by the FBI, a Coney Island bullfight, and above all, the thrills and dangers of a wild imagination. It's also the larger story of how Christmas became the extravagant holiday we celebrate today, from Santa's early beginnings in New York to the country's first citywide Christmas tree and Macy's first grand holiday parade" --

Contents

• The Adventurers' Club
• Appointed rounds
• "To all a good night"
• The most photographed man in the world
• "Enemy, death, and a Christmas tree"
• Cathedrals of commerce
• Child wonderland
• Doors to deception
• Naughty list
• German intrigue
• Poor boy gets nothing
• "Santa Claus as a business man and advertiser"
• Order out of chaos
• Spectacle on 34th Street
• Dead letters
• Epilogue: Operation Santa Claus.