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Jonathan Meath

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jonathan Meath
Meath as Santa Claus in 2010
Born (1955-09-16) September 16, 1955 (age 69)
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
EducationPhillips Academy (1974)
Alma materNew York University (1979)
Occupations
Years active
  • 1980s–present (television career)
  • 2007–present (as Santa Claus)
EmployerAndanzura
ChildrenAmelia Meath
Awards
Websitemeathmedia[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]

Television career

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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

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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

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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

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Year Result Award Category Notes
2005 Won Carnegie Medal Excellence in children's videos FableVision's The Dot[2][23]
Nominated Daytime Emmy Outstanding Pre-School Children's Series Paz[24]
2001 Nominated Outstanding Children's Series Zoom[25]
2000 Nominated Zoom[26]
1997 Nominated Emmy Outstanding Children's Program The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss[1][25]
1996 Nominated Daytime Emmy Outstanding Children's Series Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?[25]
1993 Won George Foster Peabody Award Excellence for overall show Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?

References

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  1. ^ a b "Jonathan Meath". Primetime Emmy Award Database. 1997. Retrieved 2010-11-14.
  2. ^ a b "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. ^ a b 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. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c d e Alex E. Weaver (December 7, 2012). "'The Harvard of Santa Schools': Tracking Kris Kringle to the Classroom". BostInno. Retrieved December 12, 2012.
  12. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b Mary Ann Georgantopoulos (December 23, 2007). "Miracle on Mass. Ave.: City Santa takes suit seriously". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
  14. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b "Santa in town for May Day parade". Seacoastonline.com. April 24, 2008. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
  17. ^ a b "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. ^ a b "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. ^ a b c "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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