Mister Jingeling

Max Ellis

Santa Claus is the man. You can't touch Santa. And since no one owns him, no one can corner the market on his business. Yes, Coca-Cola comes close to having a registered trademark on St. Nick, and good for them. But they can't tell you or anyone else what to do with him. And he can't sell cigarettes or booze. At least not anymore. At least not in America. 

Rankin and Bass did a decent job of adding ancillary characters, though all the best ones are from the original Rudolph special (Hermie, the Misfit Toys, the Abominable Snowmonster, et al.) And there's Heat Miser. After that it gets kind of pathetic. Baby New Year? Little Drummer Boy? Really? Do you have any of those ornaments on your tree?

Before I get too far afield, I am not talking about Christmas characters in general. I am not talking about Scrooge or Jesus, I mean people who are next to Santa.

This one's mine, and it is a treasure.

Now, how many American cities can say they have their own, personal assistant to Santa Claus? One - that's right, I said it, Cleveland, Ohio. Mr. Jingeling is the official "Keeper of the Keys" to the North Pole. He is the guy who carries all the keys, to every single lock in Santaland. And you know what they say, the more keys you have, the more important you are.

Jingeling received this position when Santa lost his own key to the Treasure House of Toys, and fashioned a new one for the Big Man. He was created by Chicagoan Frank Jacobi as a promotional event for Halle's Department Store in 1956. He began making appearances on Captain Penny, performed by local actor Max Ellis (seen at top.) For live appearances on the 7th floor of Halle's, he was portrayed by off-duty Cleveland police officer Tom Moviel, carrying real prison keys.

He is best known, however, as played by WEWS producer Earl Keyes (nice one, huh?) who took on the role in 1965 both on television and at Halle's, and kept the copyright to the character when Halle's went out of business in 1982. I saw him on TV during the holiday season's of my youth, providing bumpers to afternoon cartoons on Channel 43, shilling for Halle's.

Keyes died in 2000. But his legend lives on.

Captain Penny

By far the greatest Cleveland children's television star was Captain Penny, whose program (sponsored by Bosco chocolate syrup) debuted on WEWS in 1954. Through the years the Captain (performed by Ronald A. Penfound) presented Three Stooges, Little Rascals and Rocky & Bulwinkle shorts, and was assisted by a corral of supporting characters, including Jungle Larry & Safari Jane, as well as station agent Wilbur Whiffenpoof (program director Earl Keyes) and the heard but never seen Mister Nickelsworth.

Captain Penny ended every program saying, "You can fool some of the people some of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool Mom." He also made sure to remind kids, following any Stooges short, to "not try this at home."

This is all before my time. I know of Jungle Larry from a set of View Master reels and postcards that still remains stashed away at my folks house. However, I was touched to learn about the Pooch Parade, which featured animals from the APL that were available for adoption. What a good idea!

During the 1956 holiday season, Earl Keyes would portray a new character on the Penny program, Mr. Jingeling. But more on him later.

The show lasted until 1972. Ron Penfound, a chronic smoker, died of lung cancer in 1974.

Sources:
Hi There, Boys and Girls: America's Local Children's TV Shows (Hollis Tim)
TV Acres.com
Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
Wikipedia