Not a Santa that went on a bender, but rather a Santa literally thrown in the trash.
Last winter I while driving my daughter to school, I saw a debris pile in front of a house being renovated. Actually, what caught my attention was a large dollhouse next to the pile. I thought my youngest daughter would enjoy that, so I stopped to pick it up. After loading that up, I glanced through the other items thrown out and saw a Santa Claus figure covered in snow and leaves. I initially dismissed it as a modern decoration, but figured I might as well take a look. As it turned out, it was a Harold Gale piece, made most likely in the 1950's.
Here he is, still covered in dirt and leaves. He stands 22" tall to the peak of his hat.
After some cleaning and good beard comb-out, he came out pretty good.
In 1946, Harold Gale and his wife Viola began making animated department store display Santa's in their apartment, working late into the night assembling them from wire frames, red velvet and spun fiberglass or cotton beards. Their displays ranged from large department store window Santas to smaller drug store countertop versions. Risking their life savings of $3,000, they started The Harold Gale Santa Company. Their craftmenship and quality of materials made them very popular and soon sales were growing at such an extent they opened a 3,000 square foot factory with a staff of 30 to 50 employees. Here's one of the few photos I've been able to find of Harold and Viola Gale.
Their popularity in department stores created a demand in the home market and in 1957 Harold and Viola began creating smaller 15" home versions of their Santas. Sporting white "Go Go" boots and a white belt, these are easily identified in many current eBay auctions. At first, these Santas were only available through Sears, but by 1963 were available in most popular department stores. By 1960, Harold Gale was producing over 100,000 Santa's. The Harold Gale Santa Company closed around 1988.
funny -- the first thing i noticed was his white go-go boots. what a groovy little hipster St. Nick was!
ReplyDeleteBut, more importantly, did your daughter like the dollhouse?
ReplyDeleteShe loved it! It was too big to fit in my trunk, so I had to carefully remove portions of the roof. I was able to glue those back on.
DeleteNot really the "junk in the trunk" I would have preferred.
ReplyDeleteAye, but it's my kind of junk in the trunk.
DeleteNice find!
ReplyDelete