View full size Cleveland Heights author Gail Bellamy published "Cleveland Christmas Memories" in November. CLEVELAND HEIGHTS -- Former Cleveland Heights poet laureate Gail Bellamy has taken another nostalgic trip down local memory lane with her latest book, "Cleveland Christmas Memories."
The author of 2003’s “Cleveland Food Memories,” Bellamy’s holiday-themed follow-up was released in November through Gray & Company, Publishers. A baby-boomer originally from Lakewood and a Cleveland Heights resident for more than 20 years, she spent 10 months collecting the 239 photographs and personal recollections that comprise the colorful soft cover.
“Christmas really embodies so many aspects of the city’s history and things we’re nostalgic about,” she said. “I’m a native Clevelander, and I wanted to look back at all the holiday food, music and traditions I loved when I was a child, and share these memories with others.”
Bellamy’s interviews include former Santa Clauses, retail window dressers, Salvation Army bell ringers and local personalities like Steve Presser, owner of Coventry Road’s Big Fun toy store, and Tom Fello of Tommy’s Restaurant, also on Coventry. She gathered the book’s plethora of historical graphics primarily from Northeast Ohio libraries and civic organizations.
“Each city has its own memories, but a lot of the ones here that people really cling to and feel nostalgic about are the downtown department stores. Each store had something that stood out and was memorable,” she said. “Higbee’s had the Silver Grille, the little stove lunches and the Twigbee shop. The May Company had its play area as well as the toy department, Santa and Christmas windows. For Halle’s it was the themed, animated Christmas display window, and, of course, Mr. Jingeling.”
Created in 1956, Mr. Jingeling was “Santa’s top elf who counted down the days from Thanksgiving to Christmas for Santa. He wore a green and gold costume with a wide black belt and carried a large key ring with all the keys for Santa’s workshop. He had white hair like Santa, but was bald on top and had no beard. He could be found between Thanksgiving and Christmas on the seventh floor of Halle’s Department Store. After Halle’s closed in 1982, Mr. Jingeling moved to Santaland on the 10th floor of Higbee’s Department Store.”
During the Christmas season, the character was featured in five-minute daily segments on the Captain Penny local children’s television series on WEWS-TV 5.
“I think part of it was that Mr. Jingeling was someone so unusual. His costume looked so different from Santa Claus’, and he had those jingling keys,” Bellamy said. “He was someone else kids could visit other than Santa. And there was the cachet of meeting someone you saw on TV, on Captain Penny’s show. Kids also loved the idea of having the souvenir keys that you could take home.”
“Cleveland Christmas Memories” is geared toward those who grew up in Northeast Ohio from the 1940s-1980s. However, Bellamy noted her latest “conversation starter” should also appeal to anyone with a strong sense of nostalgia, and an appreciation for the Christmas toys and decorations of yesteryear.
“I think nostalgia books are something people really relate to,” she said. “I think (the book) could fit into a stocking.”
“Cleveland Christmas Memories” is available through Amazon, and at Northeast Ohio retailers including Big Fun, Appletree Books and Mac’s Backs-Books.
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