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Stories
Keeping It Real
Re: Doug Duda (MBA 1985); By: Julia HannaTopics: Career-Career ChangesEntertainment-GeneralSociety-Civil Society or Community
Keeping It Real
Re: Doug Duda (MBA 1985); By: Julia HannaTopics: Career-Career ChangesEntertainment-GeneralSociety-Civil Society or Community
Keeping It Real
MAGIC MAN:
“Then there you are…it’s as if you just got out of the sled after a very easy trip from the North Pole.” (Photo by HollenderX2)
One day in 2018, Doug Duda (MBA 1985) was walking up Eighth Avenue. “A guy grabbed me from behind, which is never a welcome sensation in New York City,” he admits. “It was another guy with a white beard.” The man asked Duda to join Real Beard Santas of America, LLC—and a new career was born. A theater major in college, Duda, 72, has been a chef, restaurant-industry consultant, and star of A&E’s The Well-Seasoned Traveler. Now his datebook for November and December begins filling up in June.
Duda had grown his beard on a whim, at his daughter’s request. “I wasn’t hoping I’d be discovered,” he says. “But the more I did this work, the more intrigued I was. It felt age-appropriate emotionally and in every other way.”
The economics of playing Santa vary widely. Duda holds a SAG card and has done a commercial for Monday Night Football. He’s also played Santa pro bono. Whatever the context, he loves the human interaction: “It’s very person-to-person—and your costars are the kids and their families. You’re creating an experience together, which is invaluable.”
Duda chews cinnamon-scented gum and uses evergreen soap to get in the mood. He’s also careful to maintain the holiday’s mystique: Santa arrives at his engagements in a sled, not a car. “I’m always surprised when someone says, ‘Yeah, there’s plenty of parking out front.’ I’m rooting for the kids in this. I don’t want anything to suggest that Santa drove to this event in a Kia Sedona.”
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