 First edition | |
| Author | Stephen V. Masse |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Crime novel |
| Publisher | Good Harbor Press |
Publication date | 2008 |
| Publication place | United States |
| Media type | Print (paperback) |
| Pages | 203 pp |
| ISBN | 0-9799638-0-X |
| OCLC | 179795203 |
A Jolly Good Fellow (2008) is a novel by American author Stephen V. Masse.
A fake charity Santa Claus plots to kidnap the eleven-year-old son of a State Representative, but the plot goes topsy-turvy when the boy decides to run away from home by hitchhiking.
Two weeks before Christmas in Boston, Duncan Wagner, a lone down-and-outer who has been living in self-imposed exile for several years, kidnaps Gabriel Booker, the eleven-year-old son of State Representative Winthrop Booker. Wagner takes the child to his apartment and ties him to a chair in front of the television, then leaves for work as a self-employed charity Santa Claus. When Wagner returns to his apartment, Gabriel is no longer in the chair. Thinking the boy has fled, Wagner goes into his room and finds him sleeping on the bed.
In spite of a lingering edginess, the two grow more cordial toward each other. Wagner locks Gabriel's ankle to a long chain to make sure he doesn't run away. Gabriel hounds Wagner to supply him with Christmas decorations and other goodies to help pass the time. Wagner awkwardly complies. Gabriel turns out to be a vegetarian. And a bed wetter.
After a day, Wagner makes a ransom demand for one hundred thousand dollars from Representative Booker. Almost immediately the missing child case turns into an Amber Alert and dominates news headlines.
One night Wagner, bothered by the clinking sound of the chain, unlocks Gabriel's ankle in order to have a decent sleep. In the morning, Gabriel is gone and with him, all Duncan's charity money. Duncan goes to town in his Santa suit, hoping to elude hordes of police he is sure will swarm to his apartment. While in town, he helps a street artist, Martina, whose purse is being rifled by a pair of thieves. He realizes Martina has an eye for his Santa character, though he also realizes that by kidnapping Gabriel, he has imprisoned himself as well.
Back at his apartment there are no police. Later on, Gabriel shows up in disguise after spending the day exploring Boston and buying money orders with Duncan's cash. The friendship is solidified, although the ransom deal seems to be going sour...
The real story is the relationship between Duncan and Gabriel, which takes surprising but endearing turns.
Father Christmas is the traditional English name for the personification of Christmas. Although now known as a Christmas gift-bringer, and typically considered to be synonymous with Santa Claus, he was originally part of a much older and unrelated English folkloric tradition. The recognisably modern figure of the English Father Christmas developed in the late Victorian period, but Christmas had been personified for centuries before then.
Christmas Eve on Sesame Street is a Sesame Street Christmas special first broadcast on PBS on Sunday, December 3, 1978.
Zazie dans le Métro is a French novel written in 1959 by Raymond Queneau, and his first major success.
A Life Less Ordinary is a 1997 British romantic black comedy film directed by Danny Boyle, written by John Hodge, and starring Ewan McGregor, Cameron Diaz, Holly Hunter, Delroy Lindo, Ian Holm and Dan Hedaya. The plot follows two angels who are sent to Earth to help make a disgruntled kidnapper (McGregor) and his hostage (Diaz) fall in love.
Ransom is a 1996 American action thriller film directed by Ron Howard from a screenplay by Richard Price and Alexander Ignon. The film stars Mel Gibson, Rene Russo, Gary Sinise, Delroy Lindo, Lili Taylor, Brawley Nolte, Liev Schreiber, Donnie Wahlberg and Evan Handler. Gibson was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor. The film was the 5th highest-grossing film of 1996 in the United States. The original story came from a 1954 episode of The United States Steel Hour titled "Fearful Decision". In 1956, it was adapted by Cyril Hume and Richard Maibaum into the feature film, Ransom!, starring Glenn Ford, Donna Reed, and Leslie Nielsen.
Steve Owen is a fictional character from the BBC soap opera EastEnders, played by Martin Kemp. He first appeared on 28 December 1998. Introduced by series producer Matthew Robinson, Steve was a shady businessman who originally came into Albert Square to buy the local Market Cellar club – which he then renovated and later renamed the E20. He soon became one of the show's primary villains when the character's first major storyline saw Steve killed his old flame Saskia Duncan during the opening night of his E20 nightclub on Valentine's Day 1999, after which he frames his DJ employee Matthew Rose for the crime, which leads to Matthew enacting revenge on Steve.
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus is a 1902 children's book, written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by Mary Cowles Clark.
The Husband is a novel by the best-selling author Dean Koontz, released in 2006. Focus Features, in conjunction with Random House Films, has announced that a film adaptation has been greenlit.
Call Me Claus is a 2001 American Christmas comedy television film directed by Peter Werner and starring Whoopi Goldberg and Nigel Hawthorne. The movie involves Santa Claus (Hawthorne) who needs a replacement Santa after serving his 200-year reign. He decides on Lucy Cullins (Goldberg), an eccentric, grouchy shopping network executive, who hires him to promote Christmas decorations and presents on the network. The film premiered on TNT on December 2, 2001, and was also released on VHS and DVD by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment. The film has since been reran on Lifetime, Freeform and The Hallmark Channel.
The Secret World of Santa Claus is a Canadian French children's animated television show. It is syndicated to several countries worldwide, including Teletoon in Canada, and Super RTL in Germany, and is generally seen every December during the holiday season. On December 25, 1999, Christmas Day, The Secret World of Santa Claus marathon took place from 6:00am to 7:00pm. As of 2013, it has been released on 2 DVDs from Cinedigm in the US.
Christmas Evil is a 1980 American slasher film written and directed by Lewis Jackson and starring Brandon Maggart. The plot follows a deranged man obsessed with Santa Claus who eventually goes on a murderous rampage dressed in a Santa Claus suit. Since its release, it has gained a cult following, including praise and repeated viewings by director John Waters.
Erak's Ransom is the seventh novel in the continuing Ranger's Apprentice series by Australian author John Flanagan. The book was released in Australia on 1 November 2007 and in the United States on 5 January 2010. It is set between book four in the series, Oakleaf Bearers, and book five, The Sorcerer of the North.
Jack Frost is a 1979 Christmas, Winter and Groundhog Day stop motion animated television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. It is directed by Jules Bass and Arthur Rankin Jr., written by Romeo Muller, narrated by Buddy Hackett, and starring the voices of Robert Morse, Debra Clinger and Paul Frees. The special premiered on NBC on December 13, 1979, and tells the tale of Jack Frost and his adventures as a human. It airs annually on AMC as part of its Best Christmas Ever programming block.
Pinocchio's Christmas is a 1980 Christmas stop motion television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions that is a holiday adaptation of the 1883 novel The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. The special premiered on ABC on December 3, 1980. It aired annually during the Christmas season on Freeform and as of 2018 airs on AMC.
"A Kidnapped Santa Claus" is a Christmas-themed short story by American writer L. Frank Baum; it has been called "one of Baum's most beautiful stories" and constitutes an influential contribution to the mythology of Christmas.
Rainbow Kids is a 1991 Japanese comedy film directed by Kihachi Okamoto and starring Tanie Kitabayashi and Ken Ogata. The film won several Japanese film awards, including Tanie Kitabayashi who won awards for Best Actress at Kinema Junpo Awards, Mainichi Film Concours, and the Japanese Academy Awards.
Teen Titans Go! vs. Teen Titans is a 2019 American animated direct-to-video superhero comedy film that serves as a crossover between the television series Teen Titans Go! and the original Teen Titans, both of which are adapted from the DC Comics superhero team of the same name. It is also the second film of both the Teen Titans Go! series and the regular Teen Titans series, after both Teen Titans Go! To the Movies (2018) and Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo (2006). The film premiered at Comic-Con on July 21, 2019, followed by a digital release on September 24, then followed by a DVD and Blu-ray release on October 15. The events of the film take place during the fifth season of Teen Titans Go! and after the finale of the fifth season of Teen Titans. The film premiered on television on Cartoon Network on February 17, 2020.
The Philadelphia Eagles Santa Claus incident was an incident that occurred during halftime of an American football game in the 1968 season of the National Football League (NFL) between the visiting Minnesota Vikings and the Philadelphia Eagles. The game itself is referred to as The Santa Claus Game.
The Santa Clauses is an American Christmas fantasy comedy television series created by Jack Burditt for Disney+ and based on The Santa Clause film series. Serving as a sequel to The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006), Tim Allen, Elizabeth Mitchell, Eric Lloyd, and David Krumholtz all reprise their roles from the film series. Jack Burditt serves as showrunner and executive producer. It premiered on November 16, 2022. In December 2022, The Santa Clauses was renewed for a second season which premiered with two episodes on November 8, 2023.
In 1975, Samuel Bronfman II, the 21-year-old heir to the Bronfman family trust then worth $750 million, was kidnapped after a gathering in Yorktown Heights, New York, and held for ransom. His kidnappers were caught and the ransom recovered, but the defendants' attorneys mounted a defense that argued Bronfman had been a co-conspirator, and the abductors were only convicted of extortion, not kidnapping. The defense attorney confessed in 2020 that he had been aware the defense was a lie and that Bronfman had been an innocent victim.