Santa Will Suit Mall Just Fine After All

Maybe they were moved by the spirit of Christmas. Or maybe it was the phone calls from hundreds of angry customers threatening to take their business elsewhere.

Reeling from a public relations nightmare that even the Grinch couldn’t dream up, Mission Viejo Mall officials on Friday rehired the 68-year-old Los Angeles man who was fired from playing Santa Claus because his whiskers weren’t white enough.

Richard Lintz, who plays St. Nick each year to supplement his Social Security checks, will return to the mall today at 9 a.m., where he will coax children to sit on his lap, smile for the camera and spell out their Christmas wish list.

“I can’t wait,” Lintz said. “I’ve been missing it. I miss the kids.”

Lintz was fired Tuesday, just three days into his job, because mall officials said his natural beard was too yellow. Lintz tried cosmetics to whiten his blondish beard, but when that didn’t work to the satisfaction of mall officials, he was fired.

Since then, the mall has been flooded with hundreds of phone calls from outraged customers, according to mall officials.

Mall officials on Thursday said Lintz would be rehired if he agreed to try to whiten his beard again. Lintz wasn’t sure he was willing. With 23 days left until Christmas, mall officials Friday blinked and said he could have his old job back, yellow whiskers and all.

“We don’t care what it looks like. We just want him back,” mall spokeswoman Isabel Dixon said.

But Peggy Lents, a spokeswoman brought in to handle the controversy for SantaPlus, a firm that hired Lintz and others to play Santas for malls, couldn’t pass up a chance at damage control.

“I just want it to be made clear that we’ve always loved Richard,” Lents said. “Our attitude is, ‘Gold is beautiful.’ ”