Those walking past the Manhattan Savings Bank in December 1961 were in for a treat. Peeking in the windows, passerby were treated to a sumptuous display of Christmas decorations, a singing Santa Claus and his elves, carolers, an ice rink complete with four ice skaters, and Mrs. Santa Claus making glass.
That’s right, Mrs. Claus – otherwise known as Grace Howell – “spends her days [at the bank] blowing colorful baubles and Christmas ornaments.” According to a profile in her hometown newspaper, The Scotch Plains Times, she is equally “adept at blowing the molten globs of glass into airy vases, birds, flowers, jewelry, or an intricate replica of a sailing ship.”1
Wurts Bros. 45th Street and Vanderbilt Avenue. Manhattan Savings Bank, Mrs. Santa Claus, glass blower. Source: Museum of the City of New York. X2010.7.1.10211
The Howell family of itinerant glassworkers
Grace Howell was the eldest child of Robert M. Howell and Ethel Maude Howell, two itinerant glassworkers who traveled the country demonstrating to the public. Grace’s parents taught her to lampwork as early as the age of five, and after years of practice she joined their demonstrations around the age of twelve. Her siblings, Robert Jr., Nona, and Leigh, followed in her footsteps, and by the 1930s the Howells demonstrated together as a family act. They were frequently on the road, living in a housecar with a lampworking studio attached. In the off-season they rented or purchased a home and made glass for sale.2
Howell Family of Chelmsford, 1937-1945. Collection of the Rakow Research Library, The Corning Museum of Glass, CMGL 151522.
Between performances Grace Howell completed high school, then took a break from the family business to work for a mail-order house company.3 She later became the family’s business agent, booking performances across the country.
Going solo
By 1953, and possibly earlier, Howell was demonstrating on her own, up and down the East Coast. She performed for scout troops, day camps, schools, and PTAs. “I don’t believe there is a major highway in the country, unless it was built in the last four years, which I haven’t traveled,” she told a reporter.4 She made regular appearances at fairs, craft shows, festivals, and banks. Howell worked at New Jersey-area attractions like the Gingerbread Castle and the Cannon Ball House, and appeared on television variety shows (including those of Johnny Carson and Dave Garroway). Her most recognizable appearance, however, may have been as a lampworking Mrs. Santa Claus in the window of the Manhattan Savings Bank.
Howell spent at least a decade of Decembers in New York City, demonstrating her skills to fascinated crowds. Newspaper reporter Hannah Torain wrote, “Her excellence in glass blowing is complemented by her lively wit and warmth reflected on the faces of her onlookers.” She dressed as Mrs. Claus, from the fur-trimmed hat to a pair of rosy cheeks. She didn’t need makeup for the latter either: the heat of her lampworking torch helped with that. “That kind of heat will change the color of anything, even your glassblower,” Howell quipped. “I wear a perpetual sunburn.”5
Grace Howell as Mrs. Santa Claus, 1963. Source: The Joint Digital Archives of Fanwood & Scotch Plains
Reporters who wrote about Howell often commented on her humor, and it comes through in their articles. To one writer she joked, “[I’m] only Mrs. in the month of December.”6
- Beatrice Stulz, “Plains Woman Portrays Mrs. Claus,” The Scotch Plains Times, December 12, 1963. Source: The Joint Digital Archives of Fanwood & Scotch Plains
- These homes might be anywhere in the United States. Each federal census between 1910 and 1940 records the family in a different state: Nebraska, Missouri, Arkansas, and New Jersey.
- It’s possible she took this job during the off-season to help support her family.
- “Plains Woman Portrays Mrs. Claus.”
- Hannah Torain, “Not bad for a Pennsylvania Dutch girl: Glass blowing is her forte,” The Courier-News, August 20, 1970. Source: Newspapers.com
- “Plains Woman Portrays Mrs. Claus.”
I was a student at the Milton Hershey School (MHS) in the late 1960s. We had a unique privilege of getting to work at the PA Dutch Days event each year. We unloaded the exhibitors vehicles and at the end loaded them back up. We got to know some the exhibitors during that time and one I can still remember was the glass blower (Grace Howell). Each year we had the privileged of having her for dinner at out Unit Fairway (Student Home) and I still have a glass blown item that she made.
Thank you for sharing you memory of Grace, Paul! Did you ever get the chance to watch her show? I would love to hear more.