Shoppers Get Fired Santa Rehired : Mission Viejo: Mall officials say 68-year-old Richard Lintz can have the holiday job back if he will try to whiten his yellowing beard.

You just don’t fire Santa.

Officials at Mission Viejo Mall learned that lesson the hard way Thursday after hundreds of angry phone calls about their decision to fire a 68-year-old Los Angeles actor playing Santa Claus because his natural beard wasn’t white enough. “People aren’t happy, let’s just say that,” said mall spokeswoman Isabel Dixon, adding that the flood of calls has persuaded mall officials to rehire Richard Lintz--if he will try new ways to whiten his beard.

But Lintz said he has been embarrassed by complaints that his whiskers were too yellow. He’s not sure he’ll accept the mall’s conditions.

Officials at the mall, where Lintz worked last Christmas season without a problem, discharged him earlier this week, saying several patrons had protested that his beard wasn’t white.

“We tried to bleach it once and it only worked a little bit and I don’t want to have to go through that mess again,” said Lintz, who was a popular Santa at the Orange County mall.

Meanwhile, a news report about Lintz’s termination has resulted in at least one new job. Radio personality Robert W. Morgan of KRTH 101.1 FM said he has hired Lintz for two appearances in December to collect toys for needy children.

“I was just outraged,” said Morgan, adding that callers deluged the station with complaints. “What could possibly be worse than Santa being out of work at Christmastime?”

Lintz said he grew his beard long a few years ago so he could play Santa, posing mostly with youngsters in holiday pictures. It’s a job that helped stretch the struggling actor’s Social Security checks.

Three days into this year’s holiday season, mall officials told him he would be let go if efforts to whiten his beard did not work.

“We didn’t have a choice,” Dixon said. “People were complaining.”

Lintz blames the yellow tone on the fact that he’s blond. He keeps the beard year-round because of the Santa jobs, agent John Hugh said. Lintz mainly goes out for parts in Westerns calling for craggy older men, Hugh said.

“He’s not willing to shave it because the Santa work is steady each year,” Hugh said. “And what’s better? A real beard or a fake polyester one?”

The vice president of SantaPlus, a business that hires Santas for malls across the country, said he hopes to resolve the dispute.

“Several salons called, saying that if we got him in their salon, they could get his beard white,” executive Rick Eggesiecker said.

Eggesiecker said he is a bit puzzled about why Santa must have snowy-white facial hair. “I’m not sure why it’s such an issue. I wish it weren’t.”

’ We tried to bleach it once and it only worked a little bit and I don’t want to have to go through that mess again. ‘