Hey, it's Brian. Before we get started, just a quick note that this episode, and the other five in this special series, discuss Santa Claus, but not in a way that younger listeners could appreciate.

If there are little ones with an earshot, save this for later. Thanks.

If John Gluck had made good on his plan to build a headquarters building for the Santa Claus Association,

Christmas in New York City would look very different from how it does today.

And it wouldn't be a stretch at all to say that Christmas itself would be different in some way. Maybe in a big way,

maybe in a small way. But having a grand, majestic building in a major American city dedicated to

all things Christmas and Santa Claus, that would absolutely have worked its way into our

collective Christmas consciousness, just as surely as Macy's and 34th Street and

Rockefeller Center have done.

Now, I'm sorry to be the one to spoil the ending, but the Santa Claus Association headquarters

building never happened.

There was no groundbreaking ceremony, no ribbon cutting.

There was never even a final decision on the location. But what there was at the time

was a breathless news media. The press went crazy over the story. They essentially were

Gluck's publicity arm, helping to promote this building. That's Alex Palmer. He's the New York

Times best-selling author of The Santa Claus Man,

on which this story is based.

Reporters sort of tripped over themselves talking up this building. It was, you know,

almost every paper in New York promoted it with big splashy stories and headlines. The

illustration of the building that had been commissioned ran in newspapers around the city, and also even movie theaters

would include little clips about the announcement.

And it's easy to see why there'd be so much attention.

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