More Than One Claus in His Contract

In the world of Santas -- yes, there is such a milieu -- Alan Katz has found his niche.

Performing a role that evolved from a Christian saint, Katz has created an alter ego of sorts he calls the “Kosher Claus,” a Santa with more chutzpah than ho, ho, ho.

Most of the time, he works regular Santa stints at shopping centers, where long lines of children wait to tell him what they want for Christmas. But at private parties and performances at local Jewish community centers, Kosher Claus emerges.

There, they may holler out for his classic tune. That would be “Oy Vey in a Manger.”

His Borscht Belt-meets-Burl Ives routine has brought a brisk workload for Katz in what could generously be called the backfield of the backfield of entertainment: the working Santa.

“I don’t have to be Christian to believe in the joy you see in a child’s eyes when they first meet Santa,” Katz said.

“That goes beyond religion. Santa is more of a spiritual icon than a religious icon. Really, he’s an icon for love.”

For the parties that request Kosher Claus -- he does not advertise this twist on Santa over his website; hosts have usually seen it themselves or heard of it -- Katz has a routine. He may wear a prayer shawl and a yarmulke.

He has also replaced his red crushed velvet Santa cap with the round black head wear, or added the top hat and coat often worn by Hasidic Jews.

Then he spins his Kosher Claus rap.

“Since Hanukkah and Christmas have almost become one holiday,” he says, “I call it Hanamas, and I’m the spokesman, Kosher Claus. We’ve created a bunch of new songs for this holiday: ‘The First Ba-gel’ and ‘Rudolph the Hasidic Reindeer.’ ”

The routine goes on as Katz talks about the star on top of the Hanamas Tree.

It’s a Jewish star all right, “a picture of Jerry Seinfeld or Barbra Streisand.”

Kosher Claus is not Katz’s only Santa character.

He is also hired to perform an “Insulting Santa” act for office parties, where he hurls put-downs at attendees in a takeoff of Billy Bob Thornton’s role in last year’s movie “Bad Santa.”

Katz said being a normal Santa Claus isn’t always enough these days -- it helps to have a shtick.

He can’t quite live off his December earnings -- a relief to his teenage daughters -- so the divorced father has a steady job as a chauffeur. He also performs singing telegrams, and appears on public access television.

On the Los Alamitos-Rossmoor public access airwaves, Katz has what he calls a talk show, “Thursday Night at the West End,” which is taped at a local dinner theater. Recently his show’s “news anchor” interviewed him as Santa. Previously, it has featured him having a mole removed.

“That show was nominated for a WAVE,” Katz said, referring to the Western Access Video Excellence awards, “but if you can believe it, I lost to a belly-dancing show.”

Despite the lack of year-round work in the Santa biz, Katz said it sure beats his old job as a loan officer in the real estate business.

“It was great money,” he said of his pre-Santa career 15 years ago, “but too much stress and no fun.”

But it led to his favorite role. He was working with an escrow company that found its Christmas party without its usual Santa, so they asked Katz to fill in. The company even bought him a red suit, which he still has today.

With more than five dozen appearances plus weekends at the Long Beach Marketplace shopping center, Katz has to drop whatever limo jobs he has from Thanksgiving on.

Last weekend, an elderly Jewish woman sat on his lap at the shopping center and got a kick out of learning that Katz was raised a Reform Jew in the San Fernando Valley.

For a party at Spago four years ago, Katz said, he was hired by one of the Oscar party organizers to do his Kosher Claus.

“It’s clearly meant to be a comedic thing; it’s not to slam one religion or another. Santa is not technically a religious icon, he’s a cultural icon,” Katz said.

And indeed, present-day Santa imagery was created not from scripture but by an artist working on a 1930s Coca-Cola advertisement.

As the sun goes down Thursday, Katz is talking as he drives his black SUV toward central Long Beach.

While he steers he also is juggling a cellphone and applying his bushy white eyebrows.

He’s en route to a Long Beach book shop called Once Upon a Story, where he was hired to read “ ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas” and visit with the children for more than an hour.

It is this part of his Santa role that he loves the most.

But it’s only one of many roles. Several years ago, he even got hired as “Bar Santa,” he said, referring to his stint at a now closed Long Beach club.

“Barwinkles hired me to dance with all the women and tell all the men they were gonna get lucky.”

And all because someone gave him the gift of a Santa suit back when George Bush senior was president and Katz’s daughters, now 17 and 13, still believed in St. Nick.

“Nobody would imagine what has happened to me, that from the gift of that Santa suit it would have turned into such a mega business.... And along with the suit I got the spirit of the holidays. Some people have a calling for the priesthood, or this or that; I have a calling to be Santa. I love it and I’ll be Santa for life.”