Jonathan Meath
| Jonathan Meath | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | Jonathan Meath September 16, 1955 Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
| Residence | Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Andover (1974) |
| Alma mater | NYU (1979) |
| Occupation | TV producer, Santa |
| Years active | c. 1980s-present (television career) 2007-present (as Santa Claus) |
| Employer | Andanzura |
| Home town | Harrisville, New Hampshire, U.S. |
| Weight | 250 lb (113 kg) |
| Awards | Peabody Award Emmy nominations[1] Carnegie Medal 2005[2][3] |
| Website | meathmedia[4] |
Jonathan Meath (born September 16, 1955) is an American TV producer based in Boston who is notable for children's television production.[5][6] He was Senior Producer of the TV game show Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?[7] He produced Zoom[8][9] and The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss.[6] He co-founded a production company called Andanzura.[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 ABC's Good Morning America show,[11] and at New York's Radio City Music Hall with The Rockettes.[11][12][13] He appeared on the cover of Boston Magazine as Father Christmas. He was described by National Public Radio[14][15] and Time Magazine as a "top Santa",[16] and appeared as Santa in a major airline's in-flight safety video.[16]
Contents
Television career
Meath attended Phillips Academy and graduated in 1974 with the school's first co–educational class.[10][10] As a student he directed his friend and classmate Dana Delany in a video. He graduated with honors 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. During 1996–1998, he produced twenty 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 as Santa Claus
Meath, as he got older and his hair began to whiten, 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][17] He appeared in parades.[18] 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][16] According to one source, Meath uses his real beard but conditions it with a "shimmer-like shampoo known as Cowboy Magic, and uses hair gel for his mustache.[19] His role as Santa was described in numerous publications.[12][15] In 2009, he appeared in a thirty–second television commercial spot for the Boston Red Sox baseball team. Sometimes the task of being Santa requires physical exertion:
<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />
When he’s not listening to children’s wish lists...you can find him "training" for the momentous Christmas sleigh ride by swimming, running, and flying down a two-story tall slide made out of ice at the hotel’s ice sculpture exhibit.
— report in Time Magazine, 2013[16]
Charity work
Meath promoted charity events such as the Red Sox's "Jimmy Fund Fundraiser" (2008), the Nature Center in New Canaan, CT, and the Dana–Farber Children's Clinic (2009).[20] As Santa, he visited children who are cancer patients in hospitals.[20] In addition, he supports the non–profit performing group Revels and has sung as a tenor on two of their CD albums.
Personal life
Meath has two children and one grandchild and lives in Cambridge, 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 alternative folk band Mountain Man[citation needed] and Sylvan Esso.
Awards
| Year | Result | Award | Category | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Won | Carnegie Medal | Excellence in children's videos | FableVision's The Dot[2][22] |
| 2005 | Nominated | Emmy (daytime) | Outstanding Pre-School Children's Series | Paz[23] |
| 2001 | Nominated | Emmy (daytime) | Outstanding Children's Series | Zoom[24] |
| 2000 | Nominated | Emmy (daytime) | Outstanding Children's Series | Zoom[25] |
| 1997 | Nominated | Emmy | Outstanding Children's Program | |
| 1997 | Nominated | Emmy | Outstanding Children's Program | The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss[1][24] |
| 1996 | Nominated | Emmy (daytime) | Outstanding Children's Series | Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?[24] |
| 1993 | Won | George Foster Peabody Award | Excellence for overall show | Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? |
Additional source for awards: Phillips Academy website[26]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "twsNovM22" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 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, "...lobby of Radio City Music Hall last year, where he posed for numerous pictures with the Rockettes. ... if you’re flying ... see him putting an oxygen mask on himself before putting one on his elf in the holiday edition of the airline’s in-flight safety video..."
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 20.0 20.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 24.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
