Jonathan Meath | |
---|---|
Meath as Santa Claus in 2010 | |
Born | (1955-09-16) September 16, 1955 (age 69) Baltimore, Maryland, U.S. |
Education | Phillips Academy (1974) |
Alma mater | New York University (1979) |
Occupations |
|
Years active |
|
Employer | Andanzura |
Children | Amelia Meath |
Awards |
|
Website | meathmedia |
Jonathan Meath (born September 16, 1955) is an American television producer and director. He was senior producer of the television game show Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? He also was a producer of The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss and the 1990s' remake of Zoom. 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, at Radio City Music Hall with The Rockettes, on the cover of Boston Magazine, and on a Delta Air Lines' pre-flight safety demonstration. He was described by National Public Radio and Time as a "top Santa".
Television career
Meath attended Phillips Academy and graduated in 1974 with the school's first co–educational class. 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. 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
Meath, whose beard and hair went white early in life, noticed that children sometimes called him "Santa". He is slightly overweight — he has described himself as an "organic Santa" — and his wife bought him a red suit. He attended schools to learn the craft of being a Santa. He appeared in parades. He is a professional vocalist. In 2012, he appeared as Santa at Radio City Music Hall for the Christmas Spectacular show in New York City. Meath uses his real beard but conditions it with a "shimmer-like shampoo known as Cowboy Magic, and uses hair gel for his mustache. His role as Santa was described in numerous publications. In 2009, he appeared in a thirty-second television commercial spot for the Boston Red Sox baseball team.
Personal life
Meath has one child and lives in Newburyport, Massachusetts. His mother was activist and historian Mary Stewart Hewitt. 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. Through this, Meath is distantly related to John Kerry. Meath's daughter, Amelia Randall Meath, is a member of the bands Mountain Man and Sylvan Esso.
Awards
Year | Result | Award | Category | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
2005 | Won | Carnegie Medal | Excellence in children's videos | FableVision's The Dot |
Nominated | Daytime Emmy | Outstanding Pre-School Children's Series | Paz | |
2001 | Nominated | Outstanding Children's Series | Zoom | |
2000 | Nominated | Zoom | ||
1997 | Nominated | Emmy | Outstanding Children's Program | The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss |
1996 | Nominated | Daytime Emmy | Outstanding Children's Series | Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? |
1993 | Won | George Foster Peabody Award | Excellence for overall show | Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? |
References
- ^ "Jonathan Meath". Primetime Emmy Award Database. 1997. Retrieved 2010-11-14.
- ^ "Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Children's Video winners, 1991 to present". Association for Library Service for Children. 2005. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
- "Awards for Jonathan G. Meath". IMDb Internet Movie Database. 2001. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
- Jonathan Meath (2010-11-13). "Jonathan Meath". MeathMedia. Archived from the original on 2010-10-30. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
- "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) - ^ 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.
- "Carmen Sandiego's Great Chase Through Time". allgame. 2010-11-13. Archived from the original on 2014-11-15. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
- ^ 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.
- "Jonathan Meath". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-11-03. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
- "Jonathan Meath". Yahoo! TV. 2010-11-13. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
- ^ Alex E. Weaver (December 7, 2012). "'The Harvard of Santa Schools': Tracking Kris Kringle to the Classroom". BostInno. Retrieved December 12, 2012.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Mary Ann Georgantopoulos (December 23, 2007). "Miracle on Mass. Ave.: City Santa takes suit seriously". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
- ^ 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
- Win Rosenfeld (December 25, 2007). "America's Next Top Santa". National Public Radio. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
- ^ "Santa in town for May Day parade". Seacoastonline.com. April 24, 2008. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
- ^ "Why Should We Believe in Santa?". 2011-10-12.
- 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.
- 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.
- Billy Baker (December 11, 2012). "Real or fake beards? Santas split hairs". Boston Globe. Retrieved December 12, 2012.
- ^ "Mary Stewart Hewitt". Monadnock Ledger-Transcript. January 10, 2010. Archived from the original on February 21, 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-14.
- Lester, Paul (2010-06-07). "New Band of the Week: Mountain Man". The Guardian.
- "FableVision Recognized as 2005 Carnegie Medal Co-Recipient". FableVision Fable Flash. 2005. Archived from the original on 2011-07-10. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
- "32nd ANNUAL DAYTIME EMMY AWARD NOMINATIONS". NATIONAL TELEVISION ACADEMY. March 2, 2005. Archived from the original on November 22, 2010. Retrieved 2010-11-14.
- ^ "Outstanding Children's Series". Internet Movie Database. 2001. Retrieved 2010-11-14.
- "Outstanding Children's Series". Internet Movie Database. 2000. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
External links
- Jonathan Meath at IMDb
- Video about making candy canes on YouTube
- Jonathan Meath on NPR as Santa
- Santa JG website
- Santa JG on Facebook
- Meath as Santa in airline's inflight safety video on YouTube see 2:19