REALITY ON 34TH STREET:
Playing Santa Does Strange Things to a Man. What It Did to Bob Rutan Was Even Stranger.: Bob Rutan is legendary among the tight-knit fraternity of Macy’s Santa Clauses. Like many of these men, playing Santa changed Bob. Profoundly. His story is one of struggle and failure, heartbreak and grace and—yes—the magic of Christmas (David Gauvey Herbert, Dec 4, 2025, Esquire)
Bob learned the ropes. Don’t pester kids about eating vegetables. Go light on the rouge or risk looking like a drunk. Nix the loud “ho ho ho,” because the sound carried into the other cottages, destroying the illusion of Macy’s and the One True Santa. And if a patron gets aggressive—and they sometimes did—do not physically engage unless a child, or an elf, is in peril.
Based read in conjunction with Mick Herron’s Usual Santas