| “ | A toy? As I suspected, I hate toys! And toys hate me! Either they are going, or I am going! And I am certainly not going, Grimsley. | „ |
| ~ Burgermeister Meisterburger talking about toys – his most famous quote. |
| “ | We Meisterburgers shall hunt them down throughout the land! Those rebels will not have one moment's peace until they are captured again! (Laughing) | „ |
| ~ Burgermeister Meisterburger swearing to hunt down Kringle and his family. |
Burgermeister Meisterburger (German for mayor or master citizen) is the main antagonist of the 1970 Christmas TV special Santa Claus is Comin' to Town. He is the sadistic, oppressive, and abusive mayor of Sombertown who despises toys and will arrest anyone who plays with or owns a toy. He is the archenemy of Kris Kringle and Jessica.
He was voiced by the late Rankin/Bass veteran actor Paul Frees, who also voiced his toady Grimsley in the same film, Uriah Caw in Cricket on the Hearth, Kubla Kraus in Jack Frost, Jack Frost in Frosty's Winter Wonderland and Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July, as well as Aeon the Terrible and Winterbolt in the Rudolph specials, Quizzler in Mouse on the Mayflower and Boris Badenov in the Rocky and Bullwinkle series.
Personally[]
Burgermeister Meisterburger is very political to power. After he accidentally tripped over a toy duck and broke his funny bone, he developed a hatred of toys and declares them illegal (which was actually a silly law), and will arrest anyone who has a toy in his or her possession, making him a cruel and selfish person.
Despite his own law of toys, he remembers playing with a yo-yo when he was young. However, after Kris Kringle gave him one, he realizes that he's breaking his own law, throws the yo-yo and orders the arrest of Kris Kringle for making toys and delivering them to Sombertown, thus considering him an outlaw. He shows no remorse for his actions after his soldiers capture and arrested Kris, Tanta Kringle, The Kringles, Topper and Winter, also appearing gleeful when his men destroy the children's toys by burning them .
Biography[]
Meisterburger first appeared in the beginning when his right-hand man Grimsley found an infant Santa Claus and a letter was left on the front door for the Burgermeister to take care of the baby. However, Meisterburger refuses to take care of the baby and instead orders Grimsley to take him to the local orphanage. Grimsley loses the baby while doing so due to a storm, and Claus ends up rescued by animals and found by an elf family known as the Kringles, who named him Kris and raised him as their own. Several years after being taught how to make toys, a young Kris decide to set out for Sombertown so that he can give the toys to the children to lift their spirits.
Unknown to Kris and the Kringles, Meisterburger has ordered a law to be enforced forbidding toys under the threat of imprisonment after he accidentally slips on a toy duck and breaks his leg. This forces the upset children to spend their fun time doing extra chores. When Kris finally arrives to Sombertown, he’s avoided by many of the citizens and chastised by the town’s schoolteacher, Miss. Jessica who tells him about Meisterburger's law. However, Kris finds the law to be quite silly and gives Miss. Jessica a china doll that her parents didn’t get her when she was little, thereby proving his point to her. Winning Jessica over, Kris starts giving the toys to cheer up the children, which causes an angry Meisterburger to declare Kris Kringle a wanted outlaw.
Although Meisterburger orders Grimsley and his men to arrest Kris, the latter was able to safely escape due to his experiences in the woods, eventually forming a friendship with the Winter Warlock after giving him a toy train. As the months go by, Kris and the Kringle family are able to provide better ways to deliver toys with the help from Jessica, the Winter Warlock and the animals, such as going down chimneys and putting the toys in stockings near the fireplaces. Fed up with all his failures to capture him and prevent him from delivering toys, Meisterburger personally sets up a trap for Kris by capturing Topper and holding him hostage to force Kris to surrender. He also gets Grimsley and his men to arrest the Kringle family and the Winter Warlock, and has them imprisoned and the toys burned publicly in the town square, much to the children's dismay and sadness.
Satisfied and triumphant that he has finally destroyed all of the toys and put the entire Kringle family, Topper the penguin and the Winter Warlock in prison, Meisterburger contemptuously mocks Jessica when she pleads with him to release them, as he stubbornly refuses to believe that his anti-toy law is so silly to begin with. Finally seeing what a complete tyrant Meisterburger really is, Jessica manages to free the Kringle family and the Warlock by giving several reindeer the ability to fly, thanks to some magic corn that the Warlock gave to Jessica. With that in mind, the reindeer help Kris, Topper, the Kringle family and the Warlock escape into the woods, much to Meisterburger's complete anger.
Declaring the Kringle family and the Warlock as wanted outlaws, Meisterburger swears that he and his soldiers will hunt them down throughout the land to have them either recaptured or killed. However, the Kringle family and the Warlock moved to the North Pole, during which Kris grows a beard and uses his original name "Santa Claus" to avoid any unwanted attention. He even builds a new workshop at the North Pole and marries Jessica, who goes by the name Mrs. Claus.
As the years go by, Santa and his friends perpetually continue making toys and delivering them to Sombertown and Meisterburger and his forces eventually died off, dissolved, disbanded and fell out of power, as the townspeople finally realize how silly Meisterburger's laws were and praise Santa as a legend and his picture of himself was disposed of replacing it with the picture of Santa Claus. For all of his demands and huffing and puffing, Meisterburger merely becomes the sand in the oyster's shell, the obstreperous irritant that produced a legend loved by children everywhere, while he himself becomes nothing more than a distant bad memory.
Personality[]
Burgermeister Meisterburger is portrayed as the defamatory, opprobrious, argumentative, fun-loathing and vituperative mayor of Sombertown, who takes pride in making the citizens sad and miserable. He’s very nasty, contemptuous and disdainful, and he hates toys (although he did briefly enjoy the yo-yo Kris gave him for a short time before being told by Grimsley that he is breaking his own rule_ and after he breaks his leg from tripping on a toy duck while walking out of City Hall, he issues a law declaring toys "illegal, immoral, unlawful and anyone found with a toy in his possession will be placed under arrest and thrown in the dungeon. No kidding!". This makes the children of Sombertown even more miserable than ever and they are forced to do chores instead of playing. He’s also shown to be very censorious and sarcastic towards others.
Quotes[]
| “ | Toys are hereby declared illegal, immoral, unlawful, and anyone with a toy in his possession will be placed under arrest and thrown in the dungeon. No kidding! | „ |
| ~ Burgermeister Meisterburger on his "law". |
| “ | I will do I should have done a long time ago. I will set a trap for that bothersome Kringle! His next visit to Sombertown will be his last! | „ |
| ~ Burgermeister Meisterburger plotting to capture Kris Kringle. |
| “ | Children of Sombertown, you will never, never play again! | „ |
| ~ Burgermeister Meisterburger as he destroys the toys by setting them on fire, much to the children's sadness. |
Trivia[]
- The character of Burgermeister Meisterburger is likely a caricature of militaristic German society and has some basis in real German leaders, such as Adolf Hitler or Wilhelm II. His title of Burgermeister indicates that he is the mayor (possibly hereditary) of a German-speaking city or city-state.
- Burgermeister Meisterburger wears a medal pinned on his Lederhosen, He is even seen wearing this medal over his pajamas
- Burgermeister Meisterburger is one of the few Rankin-Bass holiday special villains not to be redeemed even though Kris attempts to, although he almost redeemed himself similar to Winter Warlock when Kringle gives him a Yo-Yo, reminding him of how he used to play with toys until he remembers that he banned toys and rejects the chance of redemption, making him a hypocrite. He is also one of the few Rankin-Bass villains not to receive any comeuppance (other than quietly dying offscreen, which is stated by the special's narrator, S.D. Kluger).
- It is unknown how the Burgermeister died as his death wasn't shown on screen, but it can be implied that he simply died of old age and his lineage died with him due to his lack of any heirs, presumably due to his known hatred of children and that some of them may have been arrested.
- Burgermeister Meisterburger is one of the most evil holiday special villains, as he burned down children's toys and destroyed the Kringle's home.
- Unlike the Abominable Snow Monster and Professor Hinkle who redeemed themselves by Santa Claus when Bumble lost his teeth but got a job as a tree decorator, while Hinkle apologized for his obsession towards his old hat, which he later earned a new hat. Meisterburger did not redeem himself, but almost had for the yoyo if Grimsley did not interfere.
- Billy Bletcher was considered to voice Burgermeister Meisterburger.
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