When Paul Long decided to retire from his career in the defense industry, he left the bright lights of the Hollywood Hills behind for the much slower paced lifestyle of Camden. What he didn't leave behind was his passion as a professional Santa Claus.
Long first played the jolly old elf during a Christmas party at Aerojet Rocketdyne in the 90's.
"The employees at Aerojet were having a Christmas party and wanted to know if anyone knew a Santa. No one did. I worked with a guy, he said 'I have a Santa Suit', " Long said," Well, I said 'I'm chubby and I have a beard'. He was, I dunno, 5 foot. He bought it for his kids and decided 'No, that won't work.' So, I did the Christmas party."
But that was just the beginning of Long's foray into the merry.
"And then another group at work asked me to do their party, and then another group. Then I got a request to do someone's wedding and it just kind of kept going from there."
Eventually Long joined the Fraternal Order of Real Bearded Santas, a group which the organizations website states, "It all began in 1994, with a group of 10 professional actors who were being featured in an Otto Versandt commercial to promote the German mail-order giant's Fall catalog-- the one with Cindy Crawford on the cover!
"During the shooting-- which lasted nearly 12 hours at Paramount Studios' famed Brownstone Street-- the actors did what actors always do: they swapped 'war stories"-- tales about their most & least favorite acting roles.
"Turned out, even limiting their conversation to SANTA-related gigs, the combined experience of these 10 was too extensive to share during the shoot-- so they decided they would get together for lunch sometime to continue the camaraderie; before long, one of them suggested that the group needed a name-- and since each had received a casting call for a "Santa with REAL Beard", they soon settled upon a rather whimsical title for their merry band:
"Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas (AORBS)".
The AORBS have regular conventions, workshops and even insurance for professional Santas, who can network and join with their bearded brothers who delight in bringing joy to children.
Long said, "In California, they go watch Medieval Times, where you eat with your hands and such and they had a whole section of a hundred or so of us chubby guys with beards. And we all cheer for the Red Knight."
Long was referring to the image of Santa in a bright red suit, but historically Santa Claus has been portrayed in a myriad of ways.
Regardless of its origins, the suit has become the prevailing iconography in regards to the elf.
Long states the suit and accessories are an industry in and of themselves, often featured at the Santa conventions he attends.
"A lot of people sold things, you know Santa belts with Santa on them and gloves that glow," he noted
"They even had a fashion show one year and my agent talked me into doing one. I used that Santa suit that I had borrowed so many times. And then the next year. Just couldn't go buy another one and give it to the guy. He didn't want one, but I was gonna go buy another one and I went to a costume shop and the first one was kind of humble $99. It had plastic spats and such and I was 'I'm gonna a little bit better suit' They showed me, back then, the $300 plus Deluxe suit," Long said.
"There's a place in California where you buy them, " Long said,"and the person who does the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade and he also does the Christmas parade in Los Angeles, I saw the one that he bought one year. It was beautiful. It had rhinestones on it."
Through his agent Long continued to do Christmas parties and school events, eventually meeting celebrities like Soleil Moon Frye of 'Punky Brewster' fame.
Eventually Paul left California to retire in Camden in 2020, but he didn't retire his love for the suit or the love of seeing the twinkle in children's eyes. He recently appeared as Santa in the Camden Christmas Parade.
"Marxy Lindseey, she is a photographer, and she needed a Santa," Long said of his first Camden gig as Santa.
He added, "I've done Ken's Discounts several times. I've done the Arkansas Museum several times. I've done Marxy's house several times. The parade was a blast."
Long said interacting with children is his favorite part of the job.
He said, "A lot of kids are surprised that the beard is real. They'll ask you if it's real. They often ask 'Where are the reindeer?' Well, I point out that there isn't any snow. So I'm driving in my little red Prius."
"Particularly, I like the little babies and the two, three and four-year-olds, because they are just so cute because they're 100% in."
Long said he's confident the importance and image of santa will last for some time to come.
"People like the idea of someone who is good and who wants to do good for them."
Courtesy photo Paul Long, a professional Santa, is seen here posing for a photo with an infant.More News
NoneThe origins of Santa Claus
Santa's origins are closely tied Father Christmas, a pre-Christian midwinter figure garbed in a wreath of holly, ivy or mistletoe.
In fact, in England Father Christmas still wears a hooded green cloak and carries a staff.
In the Netherlands, Sinterklaas most closely resembles the real life inspiration for Santa, St. Nicholas, a fourth century Greek Christian Bishop in what is now known as Turkey.
Modern interpretations of Santa owe much to a January 3, 1863 issue of Harper's Weekly, in which cartoonist Thomas Nast portrayed a rotund bearded figure complete with ruddy cheeks and a sleigh pulled by reindeer.
This image was further solidified by the Coca-Cola company when they featured him in a series of advertisements drawn by illustrator Haddon Sundblom, although Snopes notes the image of Santa was not created by the company, but had been around for a few decades before the popular advertisements.