It
all began in 1994, with a group of ten 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
ten 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)".
THIS IS HOW IT ALL STARTED:
OTTO to
FORBS
A Pictoral
History of the RBS Phenomenom
In the late
summer of 1994, German mail-order giant Otto Versandt was planning its Winter
sales campaign...
Their catalog, featuring Cindy Crawford, was ready to go:
.jpg)
So they decided to shoot a
TV commercial:
web.jpg)
Sorry for the
quality-- this is the only remaining copy (CLICK
to view)
...word went out to casting agents
throughout the Southwest
that Santas were needed;
ultimately, 10 actors were found who
were also professional Santas,
and
the “Brownstone Street” set at Universal Studios was booked for
a single day in September.
Tom
Hartsfield, selected as the Principal Santa, was shown sitting
in his sleigh contentedly thumbing through the Otto Versandt
catalog,
while the other nine Santas
scrambled around,
bumping into each other as they
delivered huge piles of wrapped presents
up and down the street depicted in
the set.
The shoot began at 3pm, and wasn’t
over until 5am the next day
—so there was plenty of time
between the shots for the Santas to get to know one another.
One of them had
brought a camera,
and
as he snapped candid behind-the-scenes photos,
he promised to provide copies for
the other Santas.
At one point, Santa Ed Murphy
suggested that they should get together for “a lunch or
something”
—but they all agreed that, with
the Christmas Season rapidly approaching, they should probably
wait .
During subsequent breaks in the
shooting,
it was agreed that they would meet
for lunch on the third Sunday of the following January,
at the world-famous Northwoods Inn
in La Mirada, CA.
Hartsfield and Murphy were joking
with Santa Jim Lewis that the group ought to have a name;
since the casting call stipulated
actors with “real beards” who portrayed Santa,
they wanted to keep that in the
group’s title.
When Tom Hartsfield coined the
phrase, “Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas”, the name
stuck instantly!
When they gathered for that very
first “Founders Luncheon”, only nine of the ten were able to
make it.
Nonetheless,
the klatch was an outstanding success; a good time was had by
all of the Santas,
—and
to a man, they agreed that they would do it all again the
following year!
By
January 1998, a few of the Santas had shared their little secret
with OTHER Santas whom they knew, and the Founders Luncheons
slowly began to grow…
...and
grow...
...and
GROW...
...and
GROW...
...and
GROW...
...and
GROW...
Well, you get the idea...
My
first & only group shot: That's me in the back row center, just
to the right of the black hat, wearing a vest & sunglasses.
As
AORBS videographer, I left the scrum after a few photos, to
capture some video before the group broke up-- as luck would
have it, I wasn't in the shot which was finally chosen...
(CLICK
HERE to watch video of the group shot)
When
we met onboard the Queen Mary, I was Master of Ceremonies and
due to technical difficulties, found myself unable to leave the
stage as my fellow Santas met for the annual group shot.
The good news is that we were able to resolve the problems, and
nobody ever knew how close we came to disaster that year!
(BTW: Diva Claus and
Elves Heather & Holly WERE able to attend the group shot:
CLICK HERE to watch a short video clip...)
Again,
as AORBS videographer, I had to duck out after a few shots to
capture the video-- and AGAIN, the photo selected did not
include me...
(CLICK
HERE to watch Santa Group video)
This year we also had a Mrs.
Claus scrum:
(CLICK
HERE to watch Mrs. Claus Group video)
Two
months later, these Jolly Jents of the Orange County Chapter
decided to change their name and the
FRATERNAL Order
of Real Bearded
Santas
was
born!!!
And THAT is how a
small group of guys became the
Titans of the Christmas Community!