Too-White Beard Signals a Fake Santa
* Re “Ho! Ho! Huh? Santa Fired From Job at Mall” (Nov. 30): Would the customers whining about the less-than-snowy-white beard of Santa Richard Lintz please explain this to me?
Recalling my youth, revisiting the department-store Santas I once queried, I distinctly remember the phony too-white beards, the smooth thirty-something faces, the hastily applied globs of glue and the dismissive attitude when I had overlapped my welcome.
What a child’s delight to visit a real old man, with crinkled face, twinkling eyes and genuine magic. As for the beard, the whiter the phonier. Children leaving Lintz’s lap know they just visited the “real” Santa!
The ultimate giveaway? His beard, of course.
KRIS OLSEN
Irvine
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