Jonathan Meath

Last updated
Jonathan Meath
Jonathan G Meath portrays Santa Claus.jpg
Meath as Santa Claus in 2010
Born (1955-09-16) September 16, 1955 (age 70)
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Education Phillips Academy (1974)
Alma mater New York University (1979)
Occupations
Years active
  • 1980s–present (television career)
  • 2007–present (as Santa Claus)
EmployerAndanzura
Children Amelia Meath
Awards
Website meathmedia [4]

Jonathan Meath (born September 16, 1955) is an American television producer and director. [5] [6] He was senior producer of the television game show Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? [7] He also was a producer of The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss [6] [8] and the 1990s' remake of Zoom. [9] [10] In addition, he is notable for having a dual career as a professional Santa Claus. He made numerous appearances in various media as Santa, including on Good Morning America , [11] at Radio City Music Hall with The Rockettes, [11] [12] [13] on the cover of Boston Magazine , and on a Delta Air Lines' pre-flight safety demonstration. [14] He was described by National Public Radio [15] [16] and Time as a "top Santa". [14]

Contents

Television career

Meath attended Phillips Academy and graduated in 1974 with the school's first co–educational class. [8] He graduated from New York University in 1979. During the 1980s Meath worked at CBS, Business Times, The Creative Establishment, MTV Networks and Greenwood Productions in various capacities.[ citation needed ] During 1996–1998, he produced shows for the Jim Henson Company called The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss . He produced for PBS 295 half-hour episodes of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? , as well as 80 episodes of Zoom .

Career

Meath, whose beard and hair went white early in life, [17] noticed that children sometimes called him "Santa". He is slightly overweight — he has described himself as an "organic Santa" [11] — and his wife bought him a red suit. [13] He attended schools to learn the craft of being a Santa. [11] [18] He appeared in parades. [19] He is a professional vocalist. [12] In 2012, he appeared as Santa at Radio City Music Hall for the Christmas Spectacular show in New York City. [11] [14] Meath uses his real beard but conditions it with a "shimmer-like shampoo known as Cowboy Magic, and uses hair gel for his mustache. [20] His role as Santa was described in numerous publications. [12] [16] [17] In 2009, he appeared in a thirty-second television commercial spot for the Boston Red Sox baseball team. [14]

Personal life

Meath has one child and lives in Newburyport, Massachusetts. His mother was activist and historian Mary Stewart Hewitt. [21] He is the great great grandson of businessman and sportsman John Malcolm Forbes and the great great great grandson of railroad industrialist John Murray Forbes. [21] Through this, Meath is distantly related to John Kerry. Meath's daughter, Amelia Randall Meath, is a member of the bands Mountain Man [22] and Sylvan Esso.

Awards

YearResultAwardCategoryNotes
2005Won Carnegie Medal Excellence in children's videosFableVision's The Dot [2] [23]
Nominated Daytime Emmy Outstanding Pre-School Children's SeriesPaz [24]
2001NominatedOutstanding Children's SeriesZoom [25]
2000NominatedZoom [26]
1997Nominated Emmy Outstanding Children's Program The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss [1] [25]
1996NominatedDaytime EmmyOutstanding Children's SeriesWhere in the World is Carmen Sandiego? [25]
1993Won George Foster Peabody Award Excellence for overall showWhere in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

References

  1. 1 2 "Jonathan Meath". Primetime Emmy Award Database. 1997. Retrieved 2010-11-14.
  2. 1 2 "Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Children's Video winners, 1991 to present". Association for Library Service for Children. 2005. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
  3. ↑ "Awards for Jonathan G. Meath". IMDb Internet Movie Database. 2001. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
  4. ↑ Jonathan Meath (2010-11-13). "Jonathan Meath". MeathMedia. Archived from the original on 2010-10-30. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
  5. ↑ "Famous Folks from Cambridge". The Boston Globe and Boston.com. 26 March 2012. Archived from the original on June 13, 2012. Retrieved October 17, 2012.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  6. 1 2 Liam Murphy (2009-10-23). "Jonathan Meath '74 Pursued Children's Television Production After Cultivating His Interests at PA" (PDF). Phillips Academy. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-12-09. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
  7. ↑ "Carmen Sandiego's Great Chase Through Time". allgame. 2010-11-13. Archived from the original on 2014-11-15. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
  8. 1 2 Liam Murphy (October 26, 2009). "Jonathan Meath '74 Pursued Children's Television Production After Cultivating His Interests at PA". The Philippian. Archived from the original on August 9, 2011. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
  9. ↑ "Jonathan Meath". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-11-03. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
  10. ↑ "Jonathan Meath". Yahoo! TV. 2010-11-13. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Alex E. Weaver (December 7, 2012). "'The Harvard of Santa Schools': Tracking Kris Kringle to the Classroom". BostInno. Retrieved December 12, 2012.
  12. 1 2 3 Rich Whittle (December 12, 2007). "Swingin' Santa Finds Singing's Big Business". Boston Herald. Archived from the original on 2010-12-23. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
  13. 1 2 Mary Ann Georgantopoulos (December 23, 2007). "Miracle on Mass. Ave.: City Santa takes suit seriously". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
  14. 1 2 3 4 Olivia B. Waxman, Dec. 09, 2013, Time Magazine, These Are the 11 Best Santas in the U.S. – And where to find them, Accessed Dec. 10, 2013
  15. ↑ Win Rosenfeld (December 25, 2007). "America's Next Top Santa". National Public Radio. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
  16. 1 2 "Santa in town for May Day parade". Seacoastonline.com. April 24, 2008. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
  17. 1 2 "Why Should We Believe in Santa?". 2011-10-12.
  18. ↑ Santa Glen, secretary (October 2010). "Minutes of meeting". San Diego Chapter of F.O.R.B.S. Archived from the original on 2010-10-22. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
  19. ↑ Edward B. Colby (December 3, 2009). "Town in the spirit: Dedham Square to be filled with song, shopping". Dedham Transcript. Archived from the original on July 21, 2011. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
  20. ↑ Billy Baker (December 11, 2012). "Real or fake beards? Santas split hairs". Boston Globe. Retrieved December 12, 2012.
  21. 1 2 "Mary Stewart Hewitt". Monadnock Ledger-Transcript. January 10, 2010. Archived from the original on February 21, 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-14.
  22. ↑ Lester, Paul (2010-06-07). "New Band of the Week: Mountain Man". The Guardian.
  23. ↑ "FableVision Recognized as 2005 Carnegie Medal Co-Recipient". FableVision Fable Flash. 2005. Archived from the original on 2011-07-10. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
  24. ↑ "32nd ANNUAL DAYTIME EMMY AWARD NOMINATIONS". NATIONAL TELEVISION ACADEMY. March 2, 2005. Archived from the original on November 22, 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-14.
  25. 1 2 3 "Outstanding Children's Series". Internet Movie Database. 2001. Retrieved 2010-11-14.
  26. ↑ "Outstanding Children's Series". Internet Movie Database. 2000. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
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