[Publib] The story of Santa's childhood

[Michael Bell]

A Finnish movie website ("Christmas Story" [2007]) mentions a story
similar to yours:  

"In the Christmas Story, the familiar figure - called Nikolas in the
movie - starts off life as an orphan. After he loses his parents and
sister, he is taken in by foster families in his home village. As a
skilled craftsman, he begins carving gifts for other children and
leaving them outside their doors on Christmas night. Eventually Nikolas
finds a permanent home with a hermitlike cabinetmaker, further improves
his craftsmanship - and the rest, as they say, is history. . . .

During the early planning stages, director Wuolijoki and screenwriter
Marko Leino tried to get themselves into the Christmas spirit, partly by
watching American Christmas movies. Then they found an American
storybook from the 1930s that spun a tale of Santa Claus's childhood.
This became an inspiration for the two writers, and the basis of their
story. "It was not enough by itself, but it reinforced the idea that the
theme was worth making into a movie," says Wuolijoki.

http://www.digipaper.fi/bluewings/5782/index.php?pgnumb=38

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0772176/

Cheers!

Michael


----------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael E. Bell, Ph.D., MSLS
Reference Librarian
Anastasia Island Branch Library
St. Johns County Public Library System
(904) 209-3730
mbell at sjcfl.us
http://www.sjcpls.org



-----Original Message-----
From: publib-bounces at webjunction.org
[mailto:publib-bounces at webjunction.org] On Behalf Of April Szuch
Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 4:00 PM
To: Publib at webjunction.org
Subject: [Publib] The story of Santa's childhood

I have a reference question that I'm working on about Santa. That's
fitting, actually, because as I write this it's snowing and blowing
outside the library. Anyway, the patron heard a story on the radio in
the 1970s, just before Christmas. It went something like this:

As a boy, Santa built a dollhouse for his crippled little sister,
Santina. He was so good at it that the children in the town asked him
to make them toys too. They helped him figure out what animals to use
for pulling the sleigh (reindeer).

She doesn't remember what radio station she heard it on or whether it
was read from a book or maybe just made-up. But she has been telling
the story to her kids for years and would love to know its origins.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? She has already checked with some
national radio stations, but they didn't find anything. I asked
Fiction_L and haven't heard much yet. I found some other versions of
how Santa became the toy man, as well as a children's story set in
Sicily about a crippled girl named Santina, but they don't quite fit
the request.

-- 
April Szuch
Assistant Reference Librarian
Natrona County Public Library
Casper, Wyoming


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