Mr. Jingeling Keeps Cleveland's Christmas Spirit Alive

Editor's Note: This story originally published in our December 2025 issue, "A Very Cleveland Holiday." Read the rest of those stories of nostalgia and cheer.

Don Beck has been portraying Mr. Jingeling for the past five years, but this summer was a first for him.

Like many baby boomers, Beck ran home as a child to watch the character’s appearance on Captain Penny during the holiday. And no trip to Halle’s department store was complete without a visit to the seventh floor and Mr. Jingeling — the keeper of the keys, who helped Santa when he was locked out of his workshop one year.

Beck jumped at the chance to portray the character — even if it meant shaving his beard — and has made many appearances. But this summer was the first time he’d been asked to show up in his green suit with his familiar keyring at a celebration of life.

“This person enjoyed Mr. Jingeling so much, he was invited to his celebration of life,” Beck says. “It really was fun. Celebrations of life should be happy, and this one was. It’s an example of how much Mr. Jingeling means to people.”

And nearly 70 years later, the character is not just finding an audience, but continuing to build one.

Every city used to have its own department store. Big cities would have two or three. And a lot of them created their own character for the holidays. Horne’s in Pittsburgh had Christopher Candycane. Marshall Field’s in Chicago had Uncle Mistletoe and Aunt Holly. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer became so well-known that his department store origins — at Montgomery Ward — have been obscured.

And Cleveland had Mr. Jingeling. Initially supposed to be a one-off at Halle’s, he proved so popular in his 1956 introduction that he became an ingrained part of the holidays. When Halle’s closed, he lived briefly at Higbee’s. The character continued after that store gave up the ghost, but had a much lower profile until 2020, when he debuted with a limited schedule before a full launch the following year. “It was right after COVID,” Beck says. “Cleveland was ready for him to come back.”

Mr. Jingeling made appearances at Kringle’s Inventionasium in Tower City and could be found at a variety of events throughout Cleveland, including the annual festival at the I-X Center and at Severance Hall. He continued to hand out keys to kids, now a little prettier and more durable than the paper keys kids got in the 1950s and 1960s.

Ever since Mr. Jingeling joined the local holiday scene, multiple generations have bonded with the character.

“He’s got the fans who watched him on Captain Penny, and he’s finding a place in the hearts of kids today,” says Jimmy Langa, the creative director for Mr. Kringle & Company, which oversees Mr. Jingeling’s appearances. “There’s a great bonding experience where they see their parents and grandparents are as excited as they are.”

Langa says there are further plans for Mr. Jingeling, including a doll and a Mr. Jingeling Suite at Gervasi Vineyard Resort & Spa in Canton. Mr. Kringle also owns the rights to Twigbee, the plush bear that was Higbee’s mascot in the 1980s. The company has plans to bring that figure to a new audience in the future.

Even after generations, Mr. Jingeling’s still Santa’s right-hand man, Beck says.

“He’s an important guy to know,” Beck says, “if you want to be on the nice list.”

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