-Santa Rick is a prince among men.
[ Up-tempo classical music plays ]
-He's known, I would say, worldwide
within the Santa community.
-I can't say that anybody has taught me any more
than Santa Rick has.
-I love that man.
♪♪
-Yay! -Yay!
-I truly believe that the world needs Santa Rick right now.
♪♪
-He's got a heart that you could compare
almost to -- well, he's Jewish, but that of Christ.
[ Laughs ]
-Jews and Santa Claus
are not supposed to work together.
It's like wool and linen.
It's a prohibitive mixture.
-It's interesting that Santa Claus is Jewish.
Not even interesting. It's, like, frickin' weird.
♪♪
-So, he wears a red-velvet yarmulke in the synagogue.
-Rick is famous to us.
Rick is known throughout our community.
-Rick is totally a local legend, absolutely.
-The Jew who is Santa Claus.
♪♪
-My name is Santa Rick --
Rick Rosenthal.
[ Klezmer music plays ]
♪♪
Santa's beard is iconic.
[ Soft classical music plays ]
That's really, other than his red suit,
the most important thing.
The poem says "white as snow."
♪♪
There are many choices for how to prepare your mustache,
but, for me, the glue stick is the best thing.
But it must be water-soluble.
The size of my curls
are the size of the medicine pill bottle.
[ Hair dryer whooshing ]
Oh, come on, don't do it, don't do it.
[ Mustache crackling ]
Ho, ho, ho!
That's Santa in there.
I love him.
I know him!
I was born Rick Rosenthal.
But I haven't been him in a long time.
I am Santa Rick. [ Ding! ]
As Santa, I have been honored
to be able to be chosen in a national commercial.
I've locally been on Channel 2.
I also have been on Channel 5.
-Santa! -Oh!
-I didn't know you could cook.
-Well, you know, Mrs. Claus makes all the cookies.
I've been in countless magazines
and newspaper articles all over the world.
I basically have three types of business.
I'm booked as Santa.
I have the National Santa Agency,
and we provide Christmas performers.
Depending on where you are, we might have a Santa
who's in the neighborhood, who's available.
And I have the Northern Lights Santa Academy,
which is the second-largest Santa school in the country.
-♪ Ding dong, ding dong, ding dong dong ♪
-Welcome to the North Pole.
I am dean of the school, but it is your school.
We wanted to be an area of higher learning.
Right now, we are in Atlanta
at one of the local hotels where we hold our school.
We have limited our class size
to 100 Santa, Mrs. Claus, and elves.
We have built up quite a reputation,
because we do things so different.
-You need to find a hair stylist
that is willing to learn a new technique,
is willing to try something different.
The best pair of gloves I got, the most comfortable,
I got at the dollar store for a dollar.
-He drops down the chimney, into the room.
-I encourage you to remember this phrase --
"What would Santa do?"
And if you remember that phrase, some of you will be
better Santas than I ever could imagine.
-[ Clears throat ]
[ Harmonica plays "Jingle Bells" ]
-I needed to up my game,
and I was told this would be a good place to start.
-The main reason for coming to this academy, for me,
was things like how to maintain your beard as it turns white.
-This is my first time doing Santa Academy,
and I was nervous.
As much as I love kids,
love the suit, got the look,
I still don't know what I would do.
♪♪
-This is Santa Fashion 101.
This is an investment, not an expense.
This is a suit, not a costume.
-Who knows what's wrong with this suit?
-When you walk in, you just see
a whole bunch of people wearing red,
with long, white beards.
You're just like, "Um, what's going on here?"
You're like, [Chuckles]
-If you look like Santa,
you guys don't use a public bathroom.
-It's odd 'cause you don't think
you would need a school for that.
But at the same time, I guess you would.
-We're not clowns.
We're professional Christmas performers.
We represent the neatest guy on Earth.
Good to see you again. -You too.
-Haven't seen you since you were 7.
I'm an anomaly because I'm Santa.
That's the last person you expect to see
in an Orthodox neighborhood.
The neighborhood has always been like 95% Jewish.
I am considered an Orthodox Jew.
I believe personally, God has a sense of humor.
I live in a neighborhood called Merry Hills.
I moved there in 1964.
The streets are Holly, Reindeer, Christmas, Merry.
On my way to the synagogue, I always have to walk past
the intersection of Merry and Christmas.
In the siddur, is everything you need for a prayer service.
There's shacharit in the morning,
and then mincha and maariv in the afternoon and evening.
A tallit is the prayer shawl.
And it's very important to wear this.
It puts me in a holy spot.
♪♪
[ Speaking Hebrew ]
Judaism specifically mentions
that we are supposed to be a shining light unto the world.
The world needs Santa.
He just invokes this happiness in everybody.
There shouldn't be any problem
with someone Jewish portraying Santa.
♪♪
-If you find the right person that fits for something,
does it really matter what religion they are?
And also, Jesus was Jewish, right?
-I am a rabbi.
I have absolutely no problem with it.
-He can pull off a Jewish Santa Claus.
-Santa Rick is the only Jewish Santa I know
in the country.
-He's a Santa first.
And then he's Jewish later.
-That doesn't bother me in the least.
You know? -I think it's fascinating.
-I don't think it negatively impacts
his portrayal of Santa Claus in any way.
♪♪
-"Santa Rick" Rosenthal.
5 foot, 10 1/2 inches.
So, I am getting ready
to do an audition.
And it's for a national furniture chain.
"Look right into the camera and say a few 'ho ho hos'
and a couple of favorite Santa catch phrases.
I can do this. [ Chuckles ] I will.
So, I grew up in Atlanta,
and I've always been an entrepreneur.
Oh, gingersnap!
Melted snowball!
Mother Nature! Oh, my goodness!
My very first adult business was
a Baskin-Robbins franchise.
I was actually the national distributor
for Taser when it first came out.
I have owned a window-washing company,
a home-cleaning business,
I'm a trained mediator,
divorce coach and arbiter...
The "Naughty and Nice" list.
...and I have been Santa.
And there's other things I've done.
I just don't remember them all.
[ Snoring ]
-Come on, girls.
Come on. Come on.
We came down to work with Rick
in Northern Lights Santa School.
They contracted with us to come out
and bring reindeer for a photo op,
and that's what we're doing.
Probably we're gonna be all day.
Georgia Reindeer has the only herd of reindeer
in the entire state.
Don't step no closer, Santa.
Back up, Santa. Don't press her.
We've got, oh, 18 or 20 camels, one giraffe,
3 zebras, 12 reindeer, 2 capybaras, a dozen kangaroos.
-Hey, how you doing?
Here. Oh, this one's not happy?
-They're all happy. -[ Chuckles ]
Last time, I could kiss 'em.
I was Rick for many years.
And Rick, he's a good guy,
but Rick, he can be judgmental, and Rick can get angry.
[ Chuckling ] But Santa doesn't do that.
It's okay, sweetie. You know what?
'Cause I don't know you, either.
And I really, really, really try to be Santa,
because being Santa makes you a better person -- just does.
I'm not trying to eliminate Rick,
but I certainly would much rather be Santa.
-When you speak with him, he focuses on you,
so that you feel like
you're the only person on the planet.
-Santa is a nonjudgmental person.
If you rob a bank, Santa will come visit you in jail.
He won't bring you presents, because you robbed a bank.
[ Indistinct conversations ]
-He teaches you how to become the character.
Or you become Santa. You know?
[ Camera shutter clicks ] -In October of 2011,
I made the transition to be Santa all year 'round.
And the reason I know the date is
because my parents passed away three weeks apart.
Judaically, when you lose both your parents,
you're considered an orphan.
So, I was 59.
And it's strange when someone says,
"You know you're an orphan."
Well, it was a lot to lose one parent.
It was overwhelming to lose two.
-It is the custom that when the parent dies,
for 30 days, you cannot shave
and cannot take a haircut.
And that's what he did.
-I just stopped shaving.
At 59, I had an almost-solid-white beard.
The moment of change
was in a Home Depot store.
This little boy is holding on
to the side of his daddy's shirt.
And he's leaning forward
and looking at me like a deer in headlights.
And when I turned around,
I knew he thought I was Santa.
It turned on a light switch.
He gave me Santa.
[ Piano plays soft classical music ]
♪♪
I'm Santa Rick. -I'm Santa Jumbo.
-Santa Ron. -Santa Rance.
-Santa Caesar. -Santa Lenny.
-Santa Sam.
-We are the Northern Lights International Santa Academy
Abominable Dance Troupe.
[ Cheers and applause ]
[ "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy" plays ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
-Yeah, it's a whole subculture.
-Hey, Santa, do you speak Elf?
-Oh, I do.
[ Speaking Elf ]
-[ Speaking Elf ]
-Yes. That means, "I love Mrs. Claus."
[ Both chuckling ]
[ Soft classical music plays ]
-Yeah, I-I like a man dressed up as Santa.
It keeps me in business.
♪♪
I guess. Let's keep it good and clean.
You're gonna get me in trouble, Mister.
[ Laughs ]
[ Camera shutter clicks ]
♪♪
-I was calling to get information from you
about your process works for Santa pictures.
-We're very short on Santas this year.
So we are always looking for Santas.
How you doing, today? You got a second?
Well, wait, who's that in the back?
Open up, let him out, let him out.
I need to see this man.
Your beard is starting to turn white.
-[ Laughs ]
-You could be a professional Santa's helper.
-Okay. -Check out the website.
-Okay. -Thank you very much.
-Thank you.
-Santa Rick keeps us busy, keeps us educated,
and keeps us progressing.
-Our school emphasizes
the need for everyone.
-Where's Santa? -Hello!
You have grown so much this year!
-Mm-hmm.
-So, we have the only special-needs workshop
at any Santa school,
because that's what Santa does.
[ Chanting in Hebrew ]
♪♪
-So, a mensch is a Yiddish word
that really means "human being."
And it's really the highest compliment
that one Jew gives another.
What makes Rick a mensch is
just the amount of caring that he shows other people.
-He is a role model of how to live,
how to treat others,
how you can do anything you want,
and still be a God-fearing, religious person.
-[ Singing in Hebrew ]
♪♪
So, last March, I found out
I had stage-4 cancer in both legs.
I think it was a week later, I started getting chemo.
[ Continues singing ]
Hi. This is Santa Rick.
Just beginning my chemo.
See, there's my tube
that goes from my port.
Hello. It's Friday, April 17th.
It's Day 2 of Round 1 of chemo.
It's Saturday, April,
and it's the 25th, which is Day 10.
I just got out of the shower.
Hair loss is just, all of a sudden,
coming out like crazy.
Day 39, and as you can see,
I look a little rugged.
[ Chuckling ] So, here I am...
Egghead Rosenthal.
Santa Egghead. [ Chuckles ]
That's it.
♪♪
-When I learned first that he had the cancer,
the first thing I did was to pray for him.
-It was very serious.
And this man never lost his spirit.
-When I would, like, go for a walk down the street
with my wife,
the neighbor children would still call me Santa.
My persona...
just took over their consciousness.
And they saw the beard, even though it wasn't there.
I think that was the greatest compliment of all.
Okay, so, today is the last day of my chemo.
Here goes the alive bell.
[ Bell rings ] -Whoo-hoo!
-It's very important for Rick to continue
doing what he's doing for a long time to come.
I don't know that anybody could fill his shoes
just the way he does it.
[ Military drums play ]
-In a minute, we're just gonna start throwing snowballs.
-Are you ready? Here we go.
[ Man singing operatic music ]
-Being a Santa is like being part of a huge family.
-I've been told by four different people
that they love me.
And I didn't solicit that.
-I have met tall Santas, short Santas,
skinny Santas, fat Santas.
All of them have the exact same reason for being here --
bringing the magic of Christmas to children.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-What's it like when a child realizes Santa is not real?
-What did you just ask me?
-[ Chuckles ]
-You think Santa is not real?
[ Cheers and applause ] I'm real. I'm Santa.
The guys we train -- they're real.
They're Santa.
The Mrs. Clauses are real.
Santa is the iconic guy
who's always optimistic
and who helps others to be idealistic
and optimistic and full of hope.
[ Laughter ] -Aww.
-We live in a very agitated world now,
more than ever before.
And we're all human, including Santa.
-He's human.
But Santa is a jolly soul.
And we're not necessarily jolly all the time.
You got to learn to find that in you,
'cause it's there.
It's my opinion
that people have survived since the beginning of time
because we have imagination,
which gives us hope,
which allows us to believe
that there's a bright tomorrow.
Things are gonna get better.
I'm gonna get rid of this cancer.
I'm gonna get a better job.
Oh, you only twirl that direction?
-Whatever the purpose is we have in life
that God gave us, I think, is predetermined.
But I think the way we get there
is our choice.
I think God put me here --
and I mean this --
to make people happy.
If you talk to any child,
they will tell you Santa is real.
♪♪
And he is.
And you're doing an interview with him!
Ho ho ho! That's pretty cool.
[ Up-tempo music plays ]
♪♪