The sun. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1937-1972, December 24, 1970, Image 14
SEC. B, PAGE 2—The Newberry Sun, Newberry, S. C., Thurs., Dec. 24, 1970
Santa’s White Beard, Red Suit Come
from Cartoonist
O 70- MAT PAGE 27
m
“HELLO, LITTLE ONE” WAS TITLE FOH this famed drawing
of Santa, by Thomas INast from Harper's ITeeA'/y. Nasi, a noted
19th century political cartoonist, was the first to illustrate Santa
as a bearded, red-nosed jolly old man whose rotund figure was
clothed in a fur-trimmed red suit, according to researchers for
Hallmark.
Who gave Santa his red
suit, broad girth, white beard,
ruddy cheeks and nose, fur-
trimmed hat and coat?
Surprisingly enough, the
donor was a political car
toonist.
The artist’s name was
Thomas Nast, cartoonist for
Harper’s Illustrated Weekly,
who also created the now-
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Shealy Tractor & Impl. Co.
Route 1 Newberry, S. C. Phone 276-0336
famous symbols of the Re
publican elephant and the
Democratic donkey.
The figure of Santa that
Nast drew in 1863, and per
haps earlier, has proved to be
the definitive one, and even
today the figure as drawn by
Nast appears occasionally on
Christmas greetings.
“Nast’s image of Santa was
extraordinary,” says Mrs.
Jeannette Lee, director of
design at Hallmark.
“He gave Santa many of
the qualities that have en
deared him to children ever
since, and we wouldn’t dream
of tampering very much with
them today.”
Nast first credited Santa
with keeping books on good
and bad children, having a
Christmas toy workshop and
reading letters sent, to him
by children.
Perhaps it was the now-
famous poem, “A Visit from
St. Nicholas,” by Dr. Clement
Clarke Moore, that inspired
Nast’s illustration of Santa.
In this children’s classic of
1823, the right jolly old elf,
who looked like a peddler
with a pack on his back, was
first described in print.
Nast followed Dr. Moore’s
description of Santa in sev
eral particulars, but many of
his concepts were original.
At the time of Nast’s Santa
Claus drawings the nation
was at Civil War, and fam
ilies were separated. In a
note to cheer both soldiers
and their waiting families
Nast drew “Santa Claus in
Camp,” for Harper’s Weekly.
This earliest Santa was
different from any artist’s
creations up till then. He was
shown wearing stars and
stripes of the Union and dis
tributing gifts to soldiers.
Actually, this Santa might
have been meant as a repre
sentation of Uncle Sam also.
A later, equally moving
Nast illustration featured a
soldier’s Christmas home
coming.
Born in 1840 in the tiny
hamlet of Landau, Bavaria,
Nast probably pictured Santa
as the long-imagined Saint
Nicholas of his childhood.
Albert Bigelow Paine, a
friend and admirer of Nast,
said the artist often revealed
to him his love of the Santa
illustrations. He later wrote
in his biography of the car
toonist:
“His own childhood in far-
off Bavaria has been meas
ured by the yearly visits of
... St. Nicholas . . . and the
girlhood of the woman who
was to become his wife
(Sarah Edwards of New York)
was intimately associated
with brilliant and joyous
celebrations.
“Nast’s children later re
called there was always a
multitude of paper dolls —
marvelously big and elabo
rate, a race long since be
come extinct.
“And these the artistic
father — more than half a
child himself at the Christ
mas season — arranged in
processions and cavalcades,
gay pageants that marched
in and about those larger
presents that could not be
crowded into the row of
stockings that hung by the
family fireplace.
“It was a time of splendor
and rejoicing — the festive
blossoming of the winter sea
son — and it was a beautiful
and sturdy family that made
Merry Christmas riot in the
spacious New York home.”
In Nast’s day, the idea of
somfc v>rt of Santa was not
new to . his country. He was
introduc ’ to North America
by the early Dutch settlers
and his name was St. Nicho
las. The annual visit of this
kind man, who was thought
to have been a fourth-cen
tury bishop, was his feast
day, December 6th.
By 1809, Washington Irving
was describing Santa as a
small Dutch citizen who
looked much like Father
Knickerbocker. Irying won
dered how the poor old man
could get to all the homes
in a growing America on his
horse, so he invented the fa
mous reindeer-drawn sleigh.
Appreciated Gifts
Garden tools do not sound
very romantic as Christmas gifts,
but if you choose them with
care and buy high quality ones
you’ll be doing a gardening
friend a favor. In the medium
price range are such conveni
ences as electric hedge-clippers
and lawn edgers.
With good
old-fashioned
enthusiasm we send
Christmas greetings and
warm wishes that you and your dear ones
may enjoy a bounty of wonderful holiday pleasures.
Newberry Drug Company
944 MAIN STREET
NEWBERRY, S. C. Telephone 276-2722