You probably know him as Mr. Lahey, the tipsy trailer park supervisor from Trailer Park Boys. But perhaps you once sat on his jolly ol' lap at the mall and put in a special request for an Atari and a Lite Brite. Actor John Dunsworth reigned the red velvet chair in Halifax's West End Mall, playing Santa to the delight of kids in the late '70s and into the '80s.
In the early days of his career, Dunsworth says he didn't turn down any theatre work, from set construction and selling tickets to playing a talking horse to an unimpressed audience of teens. Nonetheless, he took pride in the role of Santa, bleaching his eyebrows white and donning both jury-rigged pillow and beard. While waiting for tots to show, he played harmonica and performed the Rime of the Ancient Mariner. (Yup, the one about the unfortunate old soul with the twinkle in his eye who shot down a friendly albatross, lost a game of dice with Death and then his entire crew croaked one by one.)
While most younguns were keen to clamber up and ask for TVs and stereos of their own, some were reluctantly frog-marched up to the imposter. "Kids would sit up there, scared shitless, only doing it because their parents were making them," he recalls. "Santa's a big, ugly, smelly creature. He's scary."
One day while on the job, Dunsworth sauntered into a bank in full Santa regalia, proclaiming it a "Ho-ho-hold up." "I got into trouble," he says, chuckling.
For a few years he also voiced Santa for a call-in show on CBC Radio. This was the preferred Santa gig, being the most actor-y and not needing the getup. "They haven't asked me to do it anymore, since a couple years ago one little kid asked me how Mrs. Claus was and I said, 'You didn't hear? Mrs. Santa has dyed...her hair. She looks wonderful!' There was a collective gasp in the room."
Despite a couple run-ins with the authorities, freelance Santa work remained a rewarding experience for the now-veteran actor. "You can see all sides of humanity there. The privileged kids and kids that are going to be stinted at Christmas and not get what they want and probably contribute to their embitterment for the rest of their lives," he says. "But all of them are stories, every person and every face you see is a separate little drama or comedy."
A note to Santa, if you're out there: For the record, John Dunsworth has done his darndest to be on your "Nice List" this year. We here at The Coast will vouch for his character.
