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Mrs. Claus
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mrs. Claus is a folk hero, and is the wife of Santa Claus in many modern versions of the Santa Claus legend.
In many current versions of the mythos, Mrs. Claus lives with her husband and assists with the production of Santa's toys, sometimes overseeing their production by Santa's elves. Mrs. Claus is also shown as enjoying baking. She is usually depicted as being fairly heavy-set like her husband, with white hair in a bun-style hairdo, a red dress, white apron, and (in some depictions) eyeglasses. It has been postulated by some that her maiden name was Mary Christmas, an obvious pun.
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Mrs. Claus was created in poetry by Katherine Lee Bates, author of America the Beautiful, in Goody Santa Claus on a Sleigh Ride in her book: Sunshine and other Verses for Children, published in 1889. Goody is a shortened form of the archaic word Goodwife meaning the female head of the house or simply wife.
The character of Mrs. Claus is a fairly recent creation. The 1956 George Melachrino song Mrs. Santa Claus helped standardize the character and role in the popular imagination.
Today Mrs. Claus is commonly seen in cartoons, storybooks, and movies that deal with Christmas and the world of Santa Claus. Her personality tends to be fairly consistent; she is usually seen as a calm, kind, and patient woman, often in contrast to Santa himself, who can be prone to acting too exuberant.
The 2002 movie The Santa Clause 2 centers on Tim Allen's character being forced to marry in order to continue his role as Santa.
Mrs. Claus is also a character in 1985's Santa Claus: The Movie, where she played a vital role to the film's story.
Mrs. Claus played a major role in several of Rankin/Bass' Christmas specials. In Santa Claus is Coming to Town, she is introduced as a teacher named Jessica, who first meets Santa Claus as a young man, when he's trying to illegally deliver toys to a town run by a despotic ruler. Assisting Santa, Jessica and Santa soon fall in love with each other, and soon marry each other in the nearby forest. In 1974's The Year Without a Santa Claus and the 2006 live action remake, Mrs. Claus played a large role, as she attempts to show Santa (who wishes to stay home that year for Christmas when he feels no one believes in him anymore) that there's some Christmas spirit left in the world. Mrs. Claus also made appearances in several other Rankin/Bass specials, including Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July; Santa calls her "Jessica" at one point in the latter, implying some kind of shared continuity.
The lady was also portrayed in a television musical, Mrs Santa Claus (1996), played by Angela Lansbury, with songs by Jerry Herman. Neglected by her husband, she goes to New York, turn-of-the-last-century, and gets involved in propagating for women's rights and against child labor in toy manufacturing. Of course, she gets to learn how "Santa misses Mrs Claus", as the sentimental song lyrics have it.
One of Mrs. Claus' most unusual television appareances is in The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy Christmas special Billy and Mandy Save Christmas. In this story she is revealed to be a powerful vampiress who, angry that Santa leaves most of the work for her, tries to take over the world before Billy reconciles them.