Whispered Wishes & Merry Memories of the Bresee’s Mr. & Mrs. Santa Claus

By Mark Simonson

Santa Claus will soon be coming to town. So be good, for goodness’sake!

Santa’s getting ready to make the SIMONSON “rounds.” Jolly ol’Saint Nick works hard for years from the North Pole, but eventually he retires, leaving his work to a new Santa.

Oneonta’s own Santa and Mrs. Claus from holidays gone by were not your ordinary Christmas couple. I barely remember the big guy from the city’s “Santa Central,” otherwise known as Bresee’s Oneonta Department Store, but between 1946 and 1959, he and his missus talked with a lot of kids, and not just from Oneonta.

This Santa, alias Clark Chaplayne, got his annual gig, then did amazing things the rest of the year in the North Pole. Seriously. He’d rest a few days after the big “delivery,” come back to his second home in Otsego County and commute between here and the North Pole — as in North Pole, New York at Santa’s Village. Mrs. Claus also had her own story.

Mrs. Santa was Mary Barnes Chaplayne. In addition to seeing children at the store, Mary and Clark had a local radio show on WDOS where they chatted with children, live.

Making Merry

Before his days on the sleigh listening to youngsters’ wish lists, Chaplayne had rougher rides as a cabin boy aboard the USS Maine during the Spanish-American War of the 1890s. The ship sunk in the Havana harbor. Less hectic

Photo courtesy of The Bresee Family Bresee’s Oneonta Department Store, as it appeared in the early 20th century.

Daily Star file photo

Mary Barnes Chaplayne, seen at her 100th birthday celebration in Otego in December 1990.

December 21 is “Mary Elizabeth Barnes Day”

Photo courtesy of Jerry Reed

Santa, sometimes known as Clark Chaplayne, is seen in this undated photo with Jerry Reed, then a Schuyler Lake resident.

times were ahead in show business.

The Chaplaynes arrived upstate as former vaudeville performers from New York City, still with “acting” ambitions. As residents of Worcester, during the “off-season,” they performed at the Adirondack North Pole, following a job Clark was hesitant to take.

On Mary’s 95th birthday in December 1985, in a Daily Star article from that month, she recalled coming home to her Worcester residence following a day in Oneonta, just after World War II, and telling Clark that Bresee’s was looking for a Santa Claus. At first he scoffed. Being in vaudeville and excelling in the works of Shakespeare, the job didn’t interest him.

Mary’s recollections, as reported in the Star, read:

“‘He said Shakespeare would turn over in his grave to see me playing Santa Claus,’ Mary said. ‘But I intrigued him because I dared him to go, just to do something different. All my life I have been doing something different, since I jumped out of the cradle.’

“When he got the job, his wife decided there should be a Mrs. Santa by his side. Fred Bresee said, ‘No, we’ll get along without a Mrs. Santa,’ but I followed him all around the store. He finally decided to give me a try. Years later, he told me, ‘I am awfully glad you talked me into that.’”

Mary recalled how she gave cookies to children visiting the store, and if Santa was out, she told the children he was busy and talked to them herself. She demonstrated toys from time to time, but as she said, “Most of all, we just loved the children.”

After Clark passed away in 1959, Mary stayed in the area following her retirement as Mrs. Santa. She celebrated her 100th birthday with fellow residents at Garden View Manor in Otego on Dec. 21, 1990, as reported in The Daily Star.

Part of Mary’s celebration was having lunch at the Bresee’s Department Store restaurant, the Health Bar. During lunch, then-Oneonta Mayor David Brenner proclaimed the day “Mary Elizabeth Barnes Day,” urging Oneontans to remember, “There really is a Mrs. Santa Claus.”

A Sack Full of Stories

Jerry Reed, who grew up in Schuyler Lake, remembers him well. For Jerry (pictured in the photo, top right), it was quite a trek for the family to come to Oneonta to see Santa. For Adrienne Matteson-Silvernail, then of Franklin, it was also challenging. Bad weather, and having to travel down Oneonta Mountain, or as many Oneontans call it, Franklin Mountain, wasn’t always easy. Jerry lives near Utica now, and Adrienne in Greene, but they have fond memories of coming to see Santa and take in the spirit of the season in downtown Oneonta.

Photo courtesy of The Bresee Family

An undated view of Bresee’s toy department.

Esther and Wilmer Bresee, once longtime Oneonta residents, said Clark and Mary meant so much to everyone. Wilmer was a store manager. Esther said Mary, as Mrs. Santa, had a high-pitched voice and a most infectious laugh. Clark Chaplayne was a very large man, and those wrinkles and white beard were totally real. Esther recalled how both went to the store’s beauty salon to be dressed up daily and the beards and white hair whitened even more. Matching their appearance, the Santa store display was always decorated lavishly and memorable to many kids and parents, the latter grateful to the display for the chance it offered to sneak away for a few moments of holiday shopping.

Esther heard a lot of funny Santa stories from around the store over the years, but the best ever was a child telling Santa, “I’ve got something I bet you don’t have.” Santa, falling for it, asked, “What’s that, kid?” The reply? “The mumps.”

All in a day’s work, sometimes.

After many of those children grew up, they brought the next generation to see the Bresee’s Mr. and Mrs. Santa and though the Santa tradition continued long after Clark and Mary closed their holiday season careers, the Chaplaynes were a hard act to follow.

Photo by Mark Simonson

Some Christmas decor and other Bresee’s memorabilia is seen for sale at an auction at Oneonta’s Lettis Auction House in December 2003.