DECK THE POLS WITH SOLES APLENTY,
FA-LA-LA-LA-LA, LA-LA-LA-LA

December 18, 2008, The Globe and Mail

by JOHN DOYLE

Santa, dude, just send me shoes, will ya?

I'm a journalist, see, and a product of my environment. I need the shoes to fling at people, especially political leaders. It's the latest thing. Like the kids needing iPods 'n' stuff.

As it happens, I plan to be in Ottawa early in the New Year and I'll need the shoes for throwing at politicians. I gotta fit in. I'm practising already, with an old shoe I borrowed from a neighbour. By the time I get to Ottawa, I plan to be a human slingshot, armed with the shoes you send me. Please, Santa, please.

This is the future, you know. (That's you, not just Santa.) The small army of security guards surrounding Our Glorious Leader (OGL) will be on high alert for the shoe-throwing journalists. Instead of looking up, for snipers, they'll be looking down, to see if the Press Gallery members are duly shod, or hopping from one foot to another on the cold earth because they've got one shoe off and ready to throw at OGL or, more likely, Jim Flaherty, the Minister for Misery.

The security people are probably training for it, as we speak. Look out, guys, there's Rosemary Barton of the CBC throwing one of her cute little flats at Our Glorious Leader. The man to watch for is Kevin "Kid" Newman of Global. He does rowing, you know. I've seen his rower's arms. If he takes off one of his Size 13s and aims it accurately at the Minister for Misery, then the Minister is headed for the big cabinet shuffle in the sky. Mark my words. Footage at 11. Stay tuned.

Santa, dude, I know I asked for shoes before. But that's when I was a young fella in Ireland and we were so poor I traipsed around with my footsies wrapped in a bit of old tarpaulin. You were kind. The shoes came, eventually. I have been your stalwart supporter ever since.

Santa's great, isn't he? I tried being Santa once. It's a hard gig. Dressed up as the man himself, I was obliged to hide at the side of a house and wait for a gaggle of small, ungrateful children to turn up. As I waited, freezing in the snow, passing cars honked horns and people waved. A woman slowed down and remarked that I'd lost a lot of weight since she last saw me. Then she asked what diet I was using, and could I send her the details for next Christmas. When the ungrateful kids showed up, and I went all "Ho-ho-ho!", one of them sought refuge under his mother's skirt. So I gave up being Santa. It's a job for others.

Mall Santa (Global, 8 p.m.) is a lovely portrait of three chaps who play Santa at Christmastime. As a feature story in yesterday's Globe explained, it didn't turn out the way filmmaker Mike Sheerin predicted. In getting to know the three men, he became acutely aware - as does the viewer - of the profound gap between ordinary life and role-playing as Santa. That becomes the focus of the program, which is a deft blend of social observation and bittersweet comedy - it's really about human connection, that need to relate, to give and to listen to others. There is tremendous solace in that, especially for two of the Santas featured here, who are lonely men.

This is very much worth your time tonight. At this time of year, we are swamped with all manner of Santa caricatures and jokes. Of course, it always seems terrifically adult to denigrate the very idea of Santa Claus. But it's actually rather juvenile. Here, with great sensitivity, the program gently probes what it means to represent so much to so many kids. And how that can transform a person, even temporarily.

Me, I'm ready to petition any number of Mall Santas, and the real one, the Top Guy. I need those shoes for flinging at politicians. I want to fit in. Please, Santa, please.

Check local listings.


CLAUS FOR CELEBRATION
TV Guide, December 15, 2008
by MELISSA HANK

Who are those white-haired guys in red pants luring kids from their parents with promises of candy?

No, they don’t belong on Dateline NBC’s “To Catch a Predator”. They’re mall Santas – purveyors of goodwill, holiday cheer and hilariously awkward children’s Christmas pictures. (You should see the one of my co-worker Denette’s kid. It’s squirmy, screaming awesomeness.)

But who are these mall Santas really? They revel in fake-snowy oases in shopping centres, cheerfully lapping up the attention, but when the Christmas season’s over, their glory days are put on ho-ho-hold.

Global’s one-hour documentary Mall Santa seeks to uncover the real lives of these Santas, and they’re surprisingly ordinary guys with a simple goal: to make kids happy.

Through the special, we meet Santa John (a packaging plant employee who’s been Santa for 11 years), Santa Bernie (also a parade Santa who’s had the gig for 50 years) and Santa Roy (a retired accountant who’s been Santa for 12 years). 

Seeing the men puttering through their daily lives in T-shirts and khakis, but always sporting white hair and long beards, is disconcerting. Does Santa really drink Dominican rum on his days off?

Leading up to the five- or six-week high season in 2007, Santa Bernie scrambles to land himself a gig. But he soon finds one, and the adventures of all three Santas frequently escalate into hilarity once they start interacting with the kids.

One child asks for a backhoe, another for a Venus Flytrap, another for a dolphin. A bothered-looking boy complains about his sister, while others either bawl or stay mute. The best kid ever tells one Santa, “My poo’s coming out. And I pooed already. And then I peed. And I need to pee again.” What can you do but offer the kid a candy cane?

And it’s not only children – adults and dogs get a turn on St. Nick’s lap. One man even asks for a new liver.

Filmed in Toronto, the documentary is revealing stuff. And why not poke into the lives of the guys who are as synonymous with malls as ‘80s teen queen Tiffany?

Mall Santa airs Thursday, Dec. 18, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Global.


REALITY TV
December 12, 2008, The Sudbury Star
by BRIAN GORMAN

A boozy old guy who smells of mothballs and cumin.

Well, this isn't about him.

"Mall Santa," Thursday, Dec. 18, on the Global Television Network, tells the story of three men who look born to play St. Nick.

First there's Santa John, a packaging plant worker who has been taking his vacations in November and December for the past 11 years, so he can spend six weeks playing St. Nick at a Toronto mall.

Then, there's Santa Bernie , for whom, as the narrator says, playing Santa is "not just a job but more like an identity."

Bernie, a 70-ish, white-haired gentleman, has been playing Santa for 50 years. He's so far into the role that he even runs a Web site in which he delivers Santa-ish advice to the wired world.

Now, for the first time in half a century, he doesn't have a mall job.

"Santa Claus cannot be out of work," he says, looking and sounding more like Mr. Natural than St. Nick. "That hurts, man."

Eventually he lands at a down-at-the-heels shopping center that draws so few kids that Bernie is bored half to death, and his job is terminated the day before Christmas Eve.

Finally there's Santa Roy, a retired accountant who drives a delivery truck and spends a month and a half moonlighting as the man in red every year.

Though the film doesn't rest heavily on it, there's an interesting subtext of loneliness to "Mall Santa."

So "Mall Santa" has the perfect blend of cheer and melancholy to be a holiday special with a message.


THE LONELY LIFE OF A MALL SANTA
December 17, 2008, The Globe and Mail
by HENRIETTA WALMARK

Filmmaker Mike Sheerin's theory seemed sound. "You do not get a more honest view of a child's life than when he or she is talking to Santa Claus. Because here's a guy who knows when you're naughty or nice and therefore knows if you're lying or telling the truth."

Too bad it didn't pan out: "Didn't get much of that," Sheerin admits. Instead, what he got when he set out to make his documentary, Mall Santa, was an unexpectedly honest view of Santa Claus's life - well, at least the lives of the guys who dress up and play the part every year at the local shopping mall.

"When I initially pitched the idea, I said the stars are going to be the kids," Sheerin explains, whose wife was pregnant with their first child while making the film. "The Santas will be part of the storyline of course, but it's not about them. ... It actually turned out to be the opposite."

Mall Santa provides a different view of the jolly old fellow than recent movies have portrayed. There are no Bad Santas, à la Billy Bob Thornton in this crowd, and no one who puts the boot to a bespectacled kid confessing his wish for a Red Ryder BB gun.

Instead, there's Santa John, who uses all his holiday time from his packing-plant job to be Old St. Nick in the five weeks leading up to Christmas. Santa Bernie, with his broad face, plump belly and classic ho-ho-ho, was born to the role. For 50 years, he's been the man in the red suit. Santa Roy, a retired and retiring accountant, doffs his shyness over the holidays, working seven days a week - five at his day job as a delivery man, the other two at the mall.

While filming the three Toronto-area men he settled on after innocently calling around to follow up on his curiosity about what mall Santa's were really like, Sheerin says he came to the realization that there are different types of Santas. "John was a bit more outgoing in a hey-hey-hey, how-ya-doin', don't-worry-about-it way," says Sheerin. "Roy, he was an introvert, but what a great listener he was to the kids. They could just say whatever they wanted to him and he didn't judge, he just listened. And then Bernie was more of an entertainer with the kids. On any given day a child needs one of those three different personalities to be there for them."

Sheerin also realized the men's personal lives were more Home Alone than Kris Kringle. There's an undertone of sadness in his depiction of these three jolly old souls. Their lives aren't very merry once the gig is up. There's a Mrs. Claus in John's tidy suburban life but Bernie and Roy live alone in a bleak landscape of high-rise apartment towers that reinforce anonymity. "It might be easy to make fun of them," Sheerin says. "The film pokes fun at them at times but it doesn't make fun of them. It celebrates what they do, but it also shows - sometimes in a more raw way then even I thought it would - how lonely it can also be to be a mall Santa." The mood isn't all gloomy, however, as Sheerin's cameras capture the private and often adorable conversations children and adults have with each Santa.

Like the corny 1979 flick The Man in the Santa Claus Suit, each of Sheerin's three subjects is transformed by donning the red costume. Santa John slips into his role as Saint Nicholas with equanimity. "The kid walks away happy - that's an accomplishment," says John. His favourite speech is the one he gets to give to the kids who visit him the day before Christmas: "I'll see you tonight."

For Santa Bernie, it's not so easy. He's Santa even when he's at home, a red shirt stretched across his rotund middle, the wall behind him painted sky blue, as he sits in front of a webcam pitching his services and taking Christmas wishes online. "For two months of the year he is the most important person on the planet," Sheerin explains. "He embodies Santa Claus physically and Christmas is his day. Then it vanishes and it vanishes overnight. That's got to be hard. That's a roller-coaster ride emotionally. When you are also by yourself in your apartment, that can feel very lonely."

"The children are important," says Santa Roy, "and we forget that Christmas is too commercialized." Nice sentiments, but cold comfort on Christmas Eve. "Santa drinks Dominican rum," is Roy's lighthearted quip as, alone in his apartment, he pulls a bottle of the stuff from a kitchen cupboard before adding, "It's a little bitter for me because I'm by myself."

Sheerin says the dark ending caught him by surprise. "Frankly, it was unavoidable," he says. "If I wanted to authentically recreate the month and a half I spent with these guys, I had to include the bittersweet ending. I'm a documentary filmmaker not a children's storyteller so I have to adhere to certain sensibilities."

But Sheerin is also a new dad. When asked if he planned to take his son to see Santa, Sheerin's sensibility wobbled a bit. The guy who's made heavyweight docs like Bravo Company: Kandahar and The Secret Mulroney Tapes got slightly giddy. "Eddie, my now 9½-month-old, he was in the womb when we were filming this, and as I was filming I thought, 'It's going to be great to bring Eddie to see Santa Claus next year.' ... We're going to try to visit all three."


MALL SANTA
December 12, 2008, The Globe and Mail
by CATHERINE DAWSON MARCH

The real Santa can't be everywhere, can he? Someone has to help him out in all those shopping malls around the world. This charming documentary introduces viewers to three mall Santas, men blessed with thick white beards who look forward to December all year. One gentleman saves up his holiday time to spend it listening to little ones spill their Christmas secrets on his knee, another introverted former accountant comes out of his shell when he slips on the red suit and yet another jolly soul ends up working in an empty mall, which nearly kills his Christmas spirit. It's a fascinating look at three men who take their special job seriously, and best of all are the scenes from a Santa-cam, which captures many wonderful moments between St. Nick and the kids - happy or not.

Thursday, 8 p.m. on Global

BEYOND HO-HO-HOS
Doc considers real lives and motivations of a trio of mall Santas
December 13, 2008, Toronto Star
by RAJU MUDHAR

While a trip to the mall for photos on Santa's knee is a requisite part of the Christmas season for many families, what about those whose holiday tradition is dressing up as the man in the red suit?

It's a question filmmaker Mike Sheerin asks in Mall Santa, a documentary that aims to shed a bit of perspective on three local impersonators. It follows Santa John, Santa Roy and Santa Bernie as they get suited up and fill the big chair. While filled with all sorts of cute kids, there's more here than just sleigh bells ringing.

"It is light-hearted and I wanted it to be, but toward the end it does take a turn toward the dark," said Sheerin. "At the end of the day, it is a documentary where I was following a season in the life of some mall Santas. So if the story ended in a less than perfect way, it's only because that's how it happened in reality."

All three men have been playing Santa for more than a decade at a personal cost for each. For instance, Santa Roy saves up all of his vacation so he can work this part-time job.

"They sacrifice a bit and they get something in return. They're not in it for the money," Sheerin said. "I don't want to sound too sappy about it, but it fills something in their heart when they get to interact with the kids on that level."

While it's not in the doc, Sheerin says that some mall Santas develop groupies, with families following them from mall to mall.. And it's not just the kids. Santa get visits from the elderly, animals and plenty of new Canadians who are meeting him for the first time.

"On one occasion, one woman came up and was asking us about the story of Santa Claus, because her kid was up there, so she got us to tell the story so she could explain what he was all about afterward."

While they all have grey hair on their chinny-chin-chins, Santa Bernie (who always tells kids to give it a yank to prove his veracity) is also a high-tech Santa, holding court in chat rooms and helping to spread cheer through video-casting from his apartment.

However, playing Santa is a gig with a definite shelf life. One Santa story in particular ends with a bit of a melancholy feel.

"It's not as though as the world collapses on them. But it is not an original thought to say that Christmas time is one of the potentially lonely times for people out there. And for these guys, the hoopla is gone," Sheerin said. "They've been the centre of attention for six weeks and all of a sudden, you're back at home and that's it."Airing at 8 p.m. on Dec. 18 on Global, one very excellent reason to watch this documentary is as an antidote to all the sweetness peddled by many of the other specials airing this time of year.


THE WEEK IN TV
December 16, 2008, The National Post
by MURTZ JAFFER

Mall Santa For those of you who are sick of the same old Christmas special reruns, this Global documentary tackles the subject on everyone's minds: Just who are these Mall Santas behind their beards? The one-hour special follows three Santas as they work the season and chronicles what their lives are like when the Christmas lights are turned off. (Global, 8 p. m.) Bad Santa Whoever programmed this block should be given a promotion. Right on the heels of the aforementioned Mall Santa documentary comes the baddest shopping centre St. Nick of them all. Billy Bob Thornton plays Santa the way he is meant to be played. Movie recommendations are not my thing, but this one is a Christmas classic for all the Gen Xers (definitely not for kids, though). (Global, 9 p. m.)