LOCAL LETTERS TO SANTA: CIRCA 1900
Appeals for gifts and more echo down the decades
TEditor's note: They came from as near as Rensselaer and as far as Chenango County. The Times-union ( hyphenated then) seemed to have been the destination for some errant letters between children and the North Pole. The gifts these children wanted were different than the gifts desired today, but the hope and belief seem very familiar. So, here is a sampling for your holiday pleasure (spelling errors lovingly included).
Printed in the Dec. 24, 1900, issue of the Times-union he following letters received at The Times-union office during the past few days addressed to Santa Claus, care of The Times-union, could not be delivered to him personally as he had left his home in the far North, with his reindeers, and they are therefore published in these columns tonight in order that Santa Claus will see them on his arrival to-night. Here are the letters just as received:
Dear Santa Claus,
please I want a doll for I am a very good girl. Miss Mary Cunningham, 141 Sheridan av.
Dear Santa Claus.
I thought I would write you a few lines saying that I want a story book and a gold ring and a pair of gloves. As I could not think of anything else I will close my letter.
Miss Irene Gorman, 69 Fourth av.
Dear Santa Claus
I thought I would write you a few lines telling you what I would lik for Christmas. A pair of shoes, a pair of stockings, a pair of mittins, pencil tablet, a pair of boots. And a box of paints, a pencil box, and handchief, and a ruler, horse and wagon and a train of cars. I will be very much pleased if I get them.
John Donovan.
Dear Santa
Please send me fire engine, pair leggings, a game, and to my sister a doll, picture book pair shoes and rubbers. Good by.
Howard Carr, 18 Miller st., Norwich, N.Y.
Dear Mr.santa Claus Please send me play toys. My mamma says that you are poor this year, but I do want toys, a doll, table, set of tin dishes, china set, gold ring, pair shoes, handkerchiefs. Please bring mamma a new wrapper and table cloth and slippers. And Grandma warm slippers, and aunt Jule a pocket book. I would also like a go cart.
Eva Chandler, 13 Harrison av., Rensselaer.
Dear Santa Claus
As Christmas will soon be here again and you will be making your great trip around the world in your wonderful sleigh I hope you will have a nice night with plenty of beautiful snow so that your swift reindeers can get around to every one not forgetting anyone in the clear moonlight. I would love to ride around with you, while other girls and boys are round asleep. I hope you won’t forget to stop at my house. It is number 493 Boardway, Rensselaer. You will fine two stockings hanging in the stting room — one for my brother and one for me. Please leave me a doll’s cradle and some candy, and a box of written paper. Now dear Sany I will go to bed wishing yew a merry christnms and a Happy new year.
From yew little friend, Grace Chamberlain.
My dear Santa Claus
Will you please give me a set of dishes and a pair of rubbers. I wrought to you
Dec. 15, 1900 ad in the Times-union. last year for some toys and you did not send us anything. Will you pleas send me these to thing this year? I have two sister and two Brothers — don’t forget them.
Mary Agnes Broader, Ravena, Albany Co.
Dear Santa Claus
Will you please send me a doll and carriage, and a doll bed rooning set and tabbarking hat. Also some things for my sister Lillie.
Yours affectionately, France L. Lane, 937 Broadway.
Dear Santa Claws
I want a nice big doll and a carriage and a little Bible to take to sunday school.
Your friend, Margaret Welch. Dear santa claus
I thought I wold write yow a few lines saying that I am glad Christmas is coming. I want a boy doll a sailor and a cow that shakes her head, and a story Book, and a row of soldiers, and a hook and Ladder, as I cannot think up anything else I think I sholl clos my letter.
Edward Gorman, 69 Fourth av.
Dear Old Santa Claus
I have a dear little brother 2 years old and a little sister 5 years old and they want many things for Christmas. My brother wants a box of tools, horse and wagon, jack in a box, Hook and Ladder, and organ grinder. My little sister wants a doll, doll’s trunk, doll’s piano, set of dishes, doll’s bed, doll’s bureau. And do not forget me. I am 9 years old and would like a watch, a chain and purse Some good books and some games and a small Morris chair box of paints and a painting book. Good bye old fellow. I hope you will bring us all we ask for.
Mary Hogan, 113 South Hawk st.
“Kajillionaire”: Writer-director Miranda July (“The Future,” “Me and You and Everyone We Know”) continues her singularly empathic look into offbeat lives, this time following a family of Los Angeles grifters. Residing in an office space next to a soap factory, complete with overflowing bubbles they must scrape off the walls as a daily chore, parents Robert and Theresa (Richard Jenkins and Debra Winger) and daughter Old Dolio (Evan Rachel Wood) commit forgeries and cons just to barely get by.
After an unintended run-in with the landlord and the family needing rent money fast, Old Dolio concocts a scheme in which the family will fly to New York and back, parents pretending not to know their daughter upon return, and find an accomplice to take Old Dolio’s luggage so she can blame the disappearance on the airline and collect a travel insurance check. But as her parents find their target, the posh Melanie (Gina Rodriguez), she quickly charms them into including her in future endeavors.
And Old Dolio, who pretends to be a mother and attends early childhood seminars in her spare
time, is unsettled by the family addition.
With her loose long hair and tracksuit, a monotone voice and difficulty expressing “tender feelings,” Wood’s Old Dolio is mesmerizing, her slow movements and drawl a juxtaposition to her neuroses. She desperately wants to know what it’s like to feel parented, and her want is the heartbeat of the film.
As always, July offers her characters an almost primal sense of humanity in what some parents can ultimately give their children, what they can’t, and the importance of finding one’s own chosen family in the meantime.
Also new on DVD
A “The War with Grandpa”: A grandson (Oakes Fegley) seeks revenge on his grandfather (Robert De Niro) for stealing his bedroom.
A “The Craft: Legacy ”: Reboot/ sequel of 1996’s “The Craft” follows group of teenage witch friends who discover how to use their powers. Stars Cailee Spaeny, Zoey Luna, Gideon Adlon and Lovie Simone.
A “Jiu Jitsu”: Jiu-jitsu fighters confront an alien invasion. Stars Alain Moussi, Nicolas Cage and
Raymond Pinharry.
“The Shop Around the Corner ”: 1940 comedy follows bickering co-workers who have unwittingly fallen in love with each other as pen pals. Stars James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan.
A “It Happened on 5th Avenue”: In this 1947 comedy, a drifter ( Victor Moore) invites an unknowing evicted veteran (Don Defore) to move into the New York townhouse in which he’s squatting.
A “The Place of No Words”: Father-son drama explores mortality after a young boy asks about the existence of an afterlife. Stars Mark Webber, Teresa Palmer and Bodhi Palmer.
Digital HD
“Yellow Rose”: A young Filipina singer in Texas (Eva Noblezada) grapples with following her dreams of becoming a country star amid family woes. Look for it on Blu-ray Jan. 5.
Dec. 27
A “Welcome to Chechnya”: Documentary follows Chechen activists in support of the LGBTQ community amid government-led torture and executions.