The repair

Santa arrived with the animation drive out of true — gears and arm axes were misaligned so the motion did not run cleanly — and his yellow-tint wire glasses were bent. We opened the suit to access the motor and linkage, realigned the gears and axes so the arm wires track correctly, repaired and reseated the glasses, tidied the costume and padding, and deep cleaned the figure. He was reassembled and tested so the candle lights and the animation runs smoothly again.

About this item

This standing Santa with a lighted candle and yellow-tint wire glasses matches late-1980s animated holiday display figures in the Motionette style. The workshop short for this repair attributes the piece to Vivendi, circa 1988–1990 — an era when several makers sold plug-in Santas with moving head and arms and an illuminated candle. Typical examples stand about 18–24 inches tall on a black plastic base, wear a red velvet-style suit with white faux-fur trim, a black belt with gold buckle, and molded boots. Construction is a molded plastic chassis under the costume, with wire arm armatures driven by a motor and gear linkage. Similar contemporaries include Telco Creations “Motionettes of Christmas.” Identification here follows the Vivendi attribution from the repair video plus construction and costume style.