These days of holiday cheer, yards are filled with animated decorations. With the growth of electronics (or maybe it’s the shrinkage, since the hardware gets smaller and smaller), it’s pretty inexpensive to get the type of decor that you might have found only at Disney World just a few decades ago.
That’s whether it’s giant inflatables, illuminated from the inside, or figures that are as animated as any “Pirates of the Caribbean” character on the “ride with the wildest crew to ever sack the Spanish Main.”
Animated decorations for Christmas years ago were pretty much reserved for department stores or retail spaces. Even the “city- bought” decorations like the old “Santa and Sleigh” that used to cross Hamilton Street in downtown Dalton didn’t move, they just lit up. We have a new one down there now, but it’s not nearly as elaborate as the old one and is there to remind those of us who remember the old one as much as it is to bring cheer during the season.
You can go online or to the big home improvement stores and they are going to have all kinds of elaborate decorations you can take home, put up in the yard, impress your neighbors with, and then try and figure out where you’re going to store them come January. In some cases, they jump up and down or spin, although sometimes the “less is more” works for me.
A buddy has some deer made out of woven branches and twigs painted white, illuminated only by small, white lights, and all they do is raise their heads every little bit as if looking around, just like real deer. Pretty, serene and at night they make it look like there’s been a dusting of snow.
Another friend has a series of light special effects he projects on his house and in his trees. Giant snowflakes fly across the house, and a million pinpoint sparkles shine on the trees. It’s kind of “Vegas,” if you know what I mean. I’m not sure how I feel about it. It gets your attention for sure. But then so does the big, inflatable dragon wearing a Santa cap in his neighbors’ yard. Sheep, camels and cows … sure, but was there a dragon at the manger? Did I mention they live in Atlanta? Just saying.
A fortunate stewardDuring the course of several newspaper articles over the years and a Town Crier from a few Christmases back you may remember that I’m the very fortunate steward of one of my favorite animated Dalton Christmas decorations, the Collier Drugstore Animated Santa Claus. For as long as I can remember we would go by there during the holidays and there he would be, smiling, turning and waving. This was way before Disney World and so seemed a mechanical Christmas miracle to a little kid.
When Dan Collier, the pharmacist and owner of the business, retired, through a series of events that makes a pretty good Christmas story on its own I ended up with it. The great thing was Dan and his wife Jessie Lee lived across the street from us, so every Christmas after he retired he could look in my window and see his old pal Santa waving at him. If you remember that Santa, or would like to check him out, he’s in the window of BDH Insurance downtown on Hamilton, a couple of doors down from The Fantasy Factory comic book store.
That’s Christmas magic!If the Collier Santa is my favorite, a close runner up is the “Flying Santa” that was in the Brookwood neighborhood for years and who’s made a return this year. I remember him in the 1970s but he predates that by a good bit.
Information was sent into the newspaper and ended up in the Town Crier’s inbox and so I got to learn the whole story about this Santa that amazed me and, of course, confounded me as to how it worked.
My memory is of a large, two-dimensional Santa pictured with a sack of toys on his back. He would light up at the bottom of a hill and then glide magically through the trees up to the house on the hill. Once there, the light would go out as if he had snuck into the house to fill stockings and leave gifts under the tree. After a short time, he would light up again at the bottom of the hill and repeat his journey through the air. Now that’s Christmas magic! Here’s the story as it was told to the Dalton Daily Citizen by Doug Jones.
In the 1950s Dalton High School student Bucky Jones, as an industrial arts project, first made the Santa Clause. Santa made his public premiere the Christmas of 1952, so he may have come to life in the spring or fall of 1952.
The teacher was Mr. Bill Herring who helped Bucky with the plywood cutout. Then classmate Neil Edwards painted Santa, bringing him to life on the wood.
He was first displayed as a non-moving, but big, decoration the Christmas of 1952 at 601 Greenwood Drive. But Santa doesn’t stand still in real life. As a matter of fact, he travels faster than anyone, so Bucky wanted to get him mooooving.
The next year, Christmas 1953, Bucky wanted Santa to go up to the roof. He built a track out of 2” X 4” boards that made a ramp to the top of the house. One rope pulled him up and then he free-wheeled back down. Bucky’s mom reported that the entire house shook when Santa was on the move. Good thing for her, Bucky didn’t include eight reindeer with the display.
In 1964 the Jones family moved to a new house in the Brookwood neighborhood. Their mid-century modern house, made of wood so that it blended into the landscape and with optimistic futuristic angles, was located on top of a wooded hill. Far below the house was a ravine/small creek, and with that much room to play with, Bucky’s vision grew. He would have Santa travel from the bottom of the hill where the ravine was up through the woods and to the third story of the house.
Bucky’s 1964 tech included the addition of lights fitted into orange juice cans, which were controlled by a mercury switch. They turned on as Santa went up and then the switch flipped so Santa snuck back down in the dark to reappear for another trip from the bottom.
A mercury switch is a type of electrical switch that has a small amount of liquid mercury in it and when it tilts one way it comes into contact with the electrical posts, completing the circuit. When the mercury goes away from the posts, the electricity can’t bridge the gap, hence, on with the mercury, off without the mercury.
To get Santa to move, Bucky used a motor from a washing machine. It turned at a slow, steady rate for Santa’s flight up the hill, but to get him back down Bucky rigged it to go into “spin cycle.” That way Santa spent most of his time lit up, flying up to the house, and entertaining the folks who came to see him.
In the late 1980s the motor was replaced with a DC motor with controllable speeds. New lights were added and, like a lot of celebrities, Santa had “a little work done” with a paint touch-up.
Santa’s runs up the hill came to a stop in the late 1990s. The creek bank kept eroding, and eventually the tree Santa was attached to fell over, breaking the cable and losing the anchor spot for the pulley. The cables were stowed, the electric motor mothballed and Santa got a rest as he returned to stationary status on a basement wall. For about a quarter of a century he’d been holed up … while his legend grew.
When you’re a kid, if there’s something around, especially Christmas after Christmas, you think it’s always going to be there, but alas, that’s rarely the case. At some point in the late ’90s or early 2000s I went by to check on Santa but he wasn’t there. He became a story told by those who had been there and had seen him to those who hadn’t.
Santa’s back!
That Santa, a highlight of the neighborhood and the season, was greatly missed. But that old Christmas magic does its thing sometimes and guess what? Santa’s back!
This year, Bucky’s son Doug Jones and his buddy Tim Thornton worked together to get Santa up and going again. With new guide and drive cables, anchors and lighting, Santa was spotted Dec. 8 on his old mission to get to the third floor of the house, as well as bring good cheer to all who pass and spot him as he makes his flight through the woods again. I don’t know about you, but I think I’ve had a lot more Christmas wishes come true than I’ve ever had from blowing out candles on a cake.
To see Santa on his Christmas flight in Brookwood you can spot him near the corner of Elaine Way and Swann Drive. Merry Christmas from the Town Crier and Santa!