SHORT TAKES : John Goodman to Play Santa
From Times Wire Services
NEW ORLEANS —
Actor John Goodman has agreed to become the first celebrity Santa Claus in a Christmas parade down Canal Street.
“We hope this will be the beginning of celebrity Santas every year,” said Mickey Barthelemy, wife of Mayor Sidney Barthelemy and president of Christmas in New Orleans Inc., the nonprofit group sponsoring the Dec. 9 parade.
The blue-collar husband on the hit sitcom “Roseanne” has been a frequent visitor to New Orleans since first visiting on a fraternity junket in 1972. He says he hopes to own a home in the city one day.
Goodman met his wife, Annabeth, in New Orleans while he was working on the movie “Everybody’s All-American” in 1987. The couple married there about a year ago.