2016 January 21

Wiki activity

(“I-Juca-Pirama,” Public Domain Super Heroes) Added original publisher, literary appearance section and link to first appearance online.

F. de Paula Brito

Public domain literary appearance

“Y‐Juca‐Pyrama,” Ultimos Cantos, by Gonçalves Dias, 1851. (Internet Archive) {But it should have been Ultimos cantos: Poesias.}

(“Santa Claus,” Public Domain Super Heroes) Added appearances, and descriptions of them and others; removed Twain’s “Letter from Santa Claus” because it was not published until 1931.

… (although other Arctic or Subarctic locations are sometimes specified, like Iceland or Lapland) …

The 1892 play Santa Claus’ Daughter portrays Santa Claus as a king, “Ruler of the Kingdom of the North Pole,” where he lives with his wife and daughter in a “Snow Castle” or “Snow‐palace” and has a “dude” (dandy) of a male secretary named Gussie de Smythe who prepares the annual directory of gift recipients. The kingdom is defended by “Amazons” composed of a band of “Snow‐fairies” with their own queen, as well as personifications of the holidays Independence Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year.Santa Claus is said to be hundreds of years old and that “one of the conditions of [his] becoming immortal and the Christmas Saint” is his not being allowed to leave the North Pole but once a year. …

• “Up on the House Top” (song), by Benjamin Hanby, 1864.

• The Slav’s Poetical Views of Nature, vol. 2, by Alexander Afanasyev, 1867. …

• “The Frost Fairies,” Birdie and His Fairy Friends: A Book for Little Children, by Margaret T. Canby, 1873. Santa Claus does not appear in the story but is said to be the neighbor of Jack Frost (who lives “far to the North”) and is the intended recipient of a large gift of Jack’s gold and gems, although it never reaches him. (Reproduced online)

• The Snow Maiden (play), by Alexander Ostrovsky, 1873. …

• The Snow Maiden (opera), by Nikolai Rimsky‐Korsakov, 1882. …

• “The Frost King,” by Helen Keller, The Mentor, vol. 2, no. 1, Jan. 1892. Santa Claus does not appear in this retelling of “The Frost Fairies” (above), but is likewise said to be the neighbor of King Jack Frost (who lives “far to the North”) and is the intended recipient of a large gift of Jack’s treasure, although it never reaches him. (Internet Archive)

• … Santa Claus’ teen daughter Kitty, feeling isolated living at the North Pole, requests that her father bring back a man for her, so on his annual flight, he kidnaps a crass Irishman in the hopes that, after meeting him, his daughter will no longer want any man from the world of mortals. …

• Mrs. Santa Claus, Militant: A Christmas Comedy (play), by Bell Elliott Palmer, 1914. Mrs. Santa Claus waits for Mr. Santa Claus (whom she calls “Jolly”) to take a nap and then steals his sleigh and attempts to deliver the Christmas presents herself. (Google Books)

• The Snow Maiden (1952). According to Wikipedia, it had been listed on the Roskino Web site as being in the public domain. (YouTube) …

• Wikipedia (“Up on the House Top”)

(“Mrs. Claus,” Public Domain Super Heroes) Added literary appearances, internal link.

Public domain literary appearances

• “A Christmas Legend,” by James Rees, 1849.

• “Goody Santa Claus on a Sleigh Ride,” by Katherine Lee Bates, 1889.

• Santa Claus’ Daughter: A Musical Christmas Burlesque in Two Acts …, by Everett Elliott and F. W. Hardcastle, Ames’ Series of Standard and Modern Drama, no. 309, 1892.Santa Claus is portrayed as a king, “Ruler of the Kingdom of the North Pole,” where he lives with Mrs. Santa Claus and their daughter in a “Snow Castle” or “Snow‐palace.” (Mrs. Santa Claus should logically be the queen but she is not described as such.) The kingdom is defended by, among others, a female personification of Christmas, a separate character from Mrs. Claus/Mother Christmas. (Internet Archive)

• Mrs. Santa Claus, Militant: A Christmas Comedy, by Bell Elliott Palmer, 1914. Mrs. Santa Claus gets tired of making toys in Iceland while Mr. Santa Claus (whom she calls “Jolly”) gets all the credit, so she waits for him to take a nap and then steals his sleigh and attempts to deliver the Christmas presents herself, mixing some of them up due to her inexperience. The final gifts are delivered to a squalid New York City tenement where Mr. Santa Claus catches up to her and declares that she shall ride with him every Christmas thereafter. (Google Books) …