Katie's Sketchbook - Christmas at Famous-Barr 1976 - 5. Part 3 – Wonderland

Part 3 – Wonderland

Scene One: I don’t think we're in Ohio anymore…

Snow fell heavily to greet and delight the lunchtime crowds pouring out of tall office buildings and parking structures as they were getting a start on their holiday shopping. They moved amongst each other and through the white animated moisture with an almost universal thought: 'Will we have a white Christmas this year?' A few more adventurous minds – perhaps belonging to those with raucous boys at home – wondered if conditions were right to pull out the sleds, luges, and plastic toboggans this evening with plans for a Sunday morning outing to Art Hill. The tableau in the Famous window would come to real life again, as it had each and every major snowfall since the World's Fair of 1904 had given the city this perfect cold-weather playground.

In the midst of this merry throng with their wintry musing moved two happy boys from Ohio. The luminous gray plate of sky above, and the slow-motion veil of falling snow seemed to transform into frozen dots of stillness as they glided past glass-fronted building lobbies strung with holiday lights. Wreaths and garlands festooned almost every location their eyes happened to land, that is land when not stealing contented glances at one another.

They entered Famous at the entrance on Locust Street, near the corner of Sixth, and simultaneously felt the warmth of the store embrace them.

Being the good Midwestern boys that they were, while still in the vestibule, they immediately shook the snow off of their coats, and kicked heels into the curves of opposing shoes to knock out any accumulated ice from the treads.

Their hearts glowed while they slowly admired the First Floor's festive red and white themed décor and strode to the north bank of elevators to execute Cousin Sloan's meeting-up instructions.

It had been a magical morning for them, for after procuring tickets and an appointment time to visit the top of the Arch, they had wandered around the Museum of Westward Expansion[1] in awe. This subterranean space, beneath the acres of parkland above, was grandly vaulted between the angular modernist columns designed by the same architect as the Arch itself – Eero Saarinen. Here the boys gazed at stuffed buffalos, Native American teepees, full-sized Conestoga wagons of the wagon-train variety, and everything else related to the flow of humanity from the Eastern part of the nation to its far Western frontiers.

Later on, the teenagers marveled at the diagram illustrating how elevator cars could work going up a slanted elevation, like an Arch leg, but marveled even more to climb into a four-person 'cab' the size of a compact automobile, and then feel this cab both rise and rotate magically along the ethereal arc of the great monument's centenary bow.

Inside the elevator car, alone, hands had been held, kisses granted and gifted in happy return, and the experience relished in the form of tender looks and bashful grins. But at the top, the conveyance came to a smooth halt, and the boys climbed the last few steps to the observation deck with about a half-dozen other visitors.[2]

Removed from the snowfall as they had been for most of the morning, Jay and Miles rested against the carpeted incline along the walls and peered out through the rectangular porthole-type windows.

Sixty-three stories below, the city was blanketed in a cotton batting of whiteness, and more was gliding past their sky-top vantage. It took their breaths away.

Now, in the quiet and smoothly ascending elevator of Famous-Barr, the soft holiday strings must have mellowed their excited natures again, for hands re-found hands, and lips rejoined lips while their second magic chariot of the day carried them up to the wonders of the Seventh Floor.

˚˚˚˚˚

Katie stood by Sloan's side.

They had an up-close, but flanking position to see the whole thing. About fifty seats had been arrayed out in front, but many more had shown up to be entertained by the vivacious Julia Child as she presented her unflappable sense of humor and holiday-recipe demonstration. The Seventh Floor leaders of the Gourmet Food Department, along with the cooperation of the Cookwares Department, had carved out a spotlit space for the celebrity chef amid the store's gloriously polished copper pot hanging overhead. The backdrop was a series of the Gourmet Food Department's antique baker's racks from France. The bottom terraces were stocked to the brim with colorful tins of amoretti cookies and Greek olive oil. Lighter, brighter loaves of panettone and kugelhopf in holiday-hued cellophane wrappings crowned the top portions, while stack upon stacks of imported jams, conserves, boxes of chocolate, and the various biscuits and digestives of our sweet-tooth world rounded out the middle sections of the display.

Upon the butcher-block length of counter where she worked, the well-versed master of French cuisine had everything she could possibly need at her fingertips. A dedicated crew of 'Famousites' had even fashioned her favorite holiday 'tree.' A conical tower of filled creampuffs – a croquembouche bedecked with candy ribbons in red and white – stood ad hoc in case the master turned suddenly peckish.

Julia reigned like a monarch in repose, her hands spread flat on the resolute work surface, her upper body leaning forward as she passed an anecdote to the audience about how Monsieur Bugnard, her original cooking instructor at the Cordon Bleu, had a foolproof method for dealing with "tough old peas."

From their vantage, Sloan and Katie could see Richardson and one of his assistants on the other side. He looked cool, giving a quick smile for the pair, but the minion on the other hand seemed nervous while flipping through the leaves on her clipboard; perhaps the ebullient Julia was running over schedule. With them was the store's in-house production crew filming the event for TV commercials, commercials which Richardson would undoubtedly wrap up and put on the air by the end of the week. The message would be a simple one: people need to come down and see for themselves just how fabulous Christmas at Famous-Barr really was!

Jay and Miles sheepishly slid next to them, and with one last smile for Richardson, Sloan led this little party of youngsters onto their next adventure.

Moving away from the assembled crowd, they first passed the area where Julia would do a book signing; neat piles of her latest treatise were stacked behind and on the top of a long wooden table.

Sloan guided them towards the 'Up' escalator. "I think," he suggested to Katie, "we should give the boys a quick tour of the holiday lay of the land."

"Yes. Good idea," she affirmed with a head jiggle and a broad grin for the 'lovebirds.'

Sloan informed the boys: "You two can come back after lunch and explore on your own."

Miles eagerly agreed. "Sounds good."

They walked along the aisle, and transitioned away from the cookware and food departments into the elegant displays of Saint Louis, Waterford and Baccarat crystal, plus Limoges and other European china. The unity of theme reigned throughout, as on this level of the store, white trees, garlands, and wreaths were festooned with candy-colored decorations. Apple-green sprays of holly sprouted from the sparkling ridges of jewel-like cut crystal, and a full table setting of Spode's 'Christmas Tree' pattern dishes and servingware were interspersed with bowls of transparent sugarwork.

Seeing the way they looked at each other, Sloan figured the boys found it all good enough to eat.

They rounded the corner and boarded the escalator one by one, for starting here, the wide, high-style Art Deco polish of the chrome escalators gave way to simpler ones, but richer in character, as they were all paneled in softly glowing rosewood.

Even from the end of their four-person train, Sloan could hear Jay and Miles gasp as the horizon of the Eighth Floor came into view for them.

Toyland!

Sloan gave them all a moment to soak it in just standing at the side of the escalator landing.

Kids ran riot, tugging on their parents' hands as they pinballed from display to display.

Central to it all was a gate – a gingerbread castle with portcullis bars apparently made of fat and straight pretzel sticks. Interwoven twists of red and white garland accented the area like festive rope, and metallic red balls of a multitude of sizes looked like a skyscape of Christmas clouds, or frozen bubbles of color blown from a gigantic soap ring.

Sloan watched as first the noise and commotion of the locomotive display on one side caught the boys' attention, and then observed Jay poke 'Mikey's' elbow to direct his eye to the ten-foot high model of the Arch, which formed the matching feature on the right-hand side of the department.

In its center, however, a very distinguished guest played host to young visitors and adults alike. A human-sized Paddington Bear slowly rotated atop a round pyramidal display. On a dozen shelves stepping down from his revolving perch, hundreds of child-sized Paddingtons waited for adoptions. Just like the manifold vignettes promised by the Famous holiday windows, Christmas in Saint Louis this year would find a Bear with an Anglo-Peruvian accent under almost every tree, and peeping from around every other corner as the day's festivities unfolded.

Jay slowly folded his arms while he contemplated the revolving Ursus. In another moment, he shifted the weight of his torso so it fell to be on his other leg. "I wonder why his face had two tones on it."

"Just lucky, I guess," Miles retorted, playfully knocking his shoulder against his boyfriend's.

"It's because he's a special kind of bear," Katie informed them. "He's a 'spectacled bear' from South America."

"But…" stammered Jay. "I don't see any glasses on him."

"Sill!" the girl exclaimed. "That's his species name, but on the other hand…" she had to admit "…he would look cuter with a pair of eyeglasses."

Sloan rounded up the group and started pushing at their lower backs. "Later – you can all come back later and discuss his wardrobe."

He laughed and kept them all moving towards the 'Up' escalator.

On Nine, the straw and red ribbon theme of the Main Floor was back in full force.

Sloan pointed to a festive signboard positioned near the top of the moving steps. Its central wooden shaft was candy-striped in red and white and topped by a mica-flecked ball.

"Looks like the North Pole," Jay observed as he grabbed ahold of the snowball finial.

"Read that sign for me, Jay." Sloan suspected the boys had overlooked the message for the sake of the messenger.

Miles' boyfriend read it silently, then turned to the others, reciting from his short-term memory, and in disbelief, "Holiday Petting Zoo...?"

Katie piped up with a staunch "Yep," and they all followed the sign's frosty arrow.

Through the stacks of Persian carpets and Chinese silk rugs, the little crew of wonderland sightseers came to a portal.

It was the façade of a crimson structure with ivory-colored trim on window sashes and the bold diagonal braces of wide doors. Glancing up, they saw the designers had even provided the multi-pitched dormer of a classic hayloft roof. Icicles hung from this, and snow with plenty of sparkle dusted the tops of window and door frames.

"Santa's Barn" – they read the sign in hushed anticipation as they passed under it and through the main entry. Inside, straw underfoot muffled the sounds of excited children; the lights were a bit dim, and uniformed female Famous-Barr attendants in blousy red tops with white collars and cuffs led smaller kids into various penned areas for the actual petting/feeding experience. On the wall of each stall flickered another straw wreath with an electric kerosene lamp and tin reflector.

Jay and Miles stepped up to one of the larger enclosures where a young brother and sister were being shown by a smiling African American 'Famousite' how to bottle-feed and stroke a black and white Holstein calf.

Jay observed, "Judging by his size, I bet he's less than a week old."

Kids excitedly frolicked in the enclosure with the pygmy goats, and while the boys chatted and moved on to view the burro and the Shetland pony respectively, Sloan realized they were without their youngest cohort. He let the boys go on, and quietly walked up to where the beautiful twelve-year-old with the long dark hair was standing.

Her lovely green eyes were rapt, watching a pair of young sisters stroke an angora rabbit on the lap of another smiling Famous-Barr attendant.

"I'll bring you back here later, Katie. Maybe I can get a carrot stick or two from the employee café, and you can feed her."

Far from expecting it, the look she turned on Sloan was not a happy one; it looked profoundly moved, but the instantaneous sighting of it was interrupted by the girl launching herself into a forceful hug around Sloan's waist.

"Thank you," she murmured, and the man soothed her hair to acknowledge her expression of gratitude.

While in the embrace, the girl must have spotted something amazing, for Sloan pulled away from her once she gasped. Her arm rose up to point at the narrow end of the 'barn.' There, under a brighter set of spotlights, a special animal was rotating its head so little hands could scratch all the best 'feel-good' spots between its antlers. The sign hanging above the stall was like a piece of fabric upon which presumably Mrs. Claus herself had embroidered "Blitzen."

Gathering the troops again, they all had a brief tour of the rest of the stables, and regrouped just outside the barn gates.

Miles spoke first, testifying to the amazement they all felt. "An in-store petting zoo…and nine-stories in the air!"

"Yeah," Jay chimed in agreement. "I've never seen or heard anything like it."

Katie assumed the confident air of one in the know. "Boys, you'll only find it at Famous-Barr – that's for sure."

Sloan chuckled and offered validation for what she had just said. "Well, you won't see this later on when we visit Stix, and I doubt any other store in the world has a holiday petting zoo either."

Miles asked, "And they don’t charge to get in?"

"No, they don’t," Sloan confirmed. "They want every kid to have access. In fact, I've seen a schedule floating around with all the school field trips that are coming by."

"Whoa," Jay intoned with a short breath.

Katie informed the boys matter-of-factly, "It's a Saint Louis thing – even the museums are free – everybody gets the good stuff, no matter how much they make."

Sloan chuckled and placed his arm around her shoulder. "Our Ms. Orlean is justifiably proud of her city."

"I can see why," said Miles.

"Yeah," confirmed Jay, and then mellowed his tone as he spoke to his partner. "Hey, elskede, we'll have to come back this afternoon and wait in line to get our picture taken with the reindeer."

"Why's that?" Katie asked.

Jay laughed. "To see if my horse, Gulliver, will get jealous."

Miles rolled his eyes and patted his boyfriend on the chest, hard. "Well, what difference does it make – he's already jealous of me!"

They all laughed, and Sloan guided them back towards the 'Up' escalator. "The wonders are not over yet, boys. We still have to visit the main attraction!"

Knowing the young men were likely to get distracted, Sloan climbed on first and was ready to steer them away from the glitz and sparkle of the Electronics Department, which lived right at the top of the moving stairway.

Once landed on the new floor, he latched onto the teenage shoulders and guided their bodies in the direction of the 'Up' escalator, even though their heads and necks were still craned back to glimpse the color TVs, stereos, 8-track players, and on and on. "Later, boys," Sloan told them in a 'let them down easy' tone.

The remainder of Ten proved much less interesting to his guests from Ohio, for they didn't seem to want to browse furniture or mattresses, barely batted an eye towards the kitchen counter displays or Interior Design Studio, and only smirked quietly to one another with elbow-pokes at the name of the hip, new hair salon – Canned Ego. For his part, Sloan peeked in to get a glimpse of that cute dark-haired stylist…Charley…somebody.

Katie cleared her throat. Sloan glanced down and felt a flush of heat rise from his collar. The young man stuffed his embarrassment down, and leaned over to inform the girl, "Well, your father thinks he's cute too."

After he stood erect again, she pursed her lips and shook the long straight hair on her head slowly. "Boys," she murmured in 'what'cha gonna do' resignation.

They rounded the corner and Sloan waited for everyone else to board the escalator.

Again, Sloan was not disappointed; he heard Jay nearly gasp at the total transformation of the Eleventh Floor.

They huddled again near the top landing, looking around as wide-eyed as any kid who just set foot into a North Pole toy workshop.

Before them was the Victorian-style façade of an entire yuletide village: every frosty windowpane with a lit candle, every door to miniature abode with a wreath, every chimney top smoking with cotton tendrils to the sky, and every roof tile was a candy drop of some colorful description. While his young party scanned the details in silent wonder, Sloan offered up the name of this place in hushed respect: "Santaland."

Katie, knowing more than these three from Ohio anyway, explained: "This store has always had a magical space where kids and parents could be entertained while in line to visit Santa."

Stepping inside, their vision had to adjust to the dimmer light. Like a maze wandering along at least half the length of the building, velvet ropes sectioned off animatronic scenes – as one corner was turned, new sights and sounds awaited.

The crowds of kids with parents in tow were thick, so they entered the beginning and looked around. Sloan heard some drumbeats, and noticed a brightly-dressed 'Little Drummer Boy' turning and making the children nearby him beat along with imaginary 'air drums.'

"I feel like I'm at the Disneyland of Christmas," exclaimed Jay.

"Exactly," confirmed Miles.

Katie expounded more matter-of-fact wisdom: "Boys, that's exactly where you are."

Part 3 – Wonderland

Scene Two: The Better Piece of Chocolate

The elevator ride from the Eleventh to the First Floor had been filled with excited chatter as Jay and Miles reviewed all the spots they'd return to in the store to explore on their own.

Sloan had told them to visit Six as well, for that was where the Trim-A-Tree and Han-Ah-Ca Corner Departments were. Plus the Christmas wrappings and bows on Five, the Xmas Gift Bazaar on Three, the Holiday cards on One – and then Sloan gave up, realizing the nearly million square feet of Famous were an entire holiday feast for the senses. The boys would need a week to see it all.

Now, as they headed out the main entrance on Seventh Street, Sloan himself had that feeling of being a kid again return full force.

The snow fell heavily, but the sparkling entrance and well-lit windows of the Tiffany-like jewelers of Mermod-Jaccard-King directly across the street glistened through the wall of descending whiteness.

Gathering his troops, while they pulled mufflers and collars closer to their chin lines, Sloan guided them north, along the row of Famous windows, and towards the great department store's longtime rival, Stix, Baer and Fuller.

As they approached the corner of the building, Famous-Barr pulled them back for one last look, for at the intersection of Seventh and Locust resided the double-fronted main display of the entire store – the unpretentiously named 'Corner Window.'

Music drew them first, then seeing the crowd of eager little hands and noses pressed against the acres of plate glass drew their little party in like a magnet.

Paused as they were, the snow delightfully dusted the tops of their heads and arms, Jay, Miles and Katie looked on to a scene that almost made them gasp in unison.

A placard held in the hands of a childlike angel invited spectators to 'Visit Santa's Barn & Petting Zoo, 9th Floor.' And here in the window was a stunning recreation of the petting zoo upstairs, only all the animals were animatronics: Blitzen presided from his bannered stall and shook his head gaily while he blinked and opened and closed his mouth; the Forest Park rabbits with their mufflers and stocking caps reappeared here hoisting up a large baby bottle for the calf to suckle from; while the angora bunnies leapt across Santa's lap as he sat on his throne in the center of all of the activity. Around him, the burro and Shetland pony rocked and swayed merrily from their stable berths, apparently laughing with Blitzen at the antics of the pygmy goats who gamboled and bounded up and down in the manner of carrousel horses as they circled the entire barn, around the back of Santa, and then out in front of the children's eyes and reaching hands.

Standing right next to Saint Nick, indeed with a furry paw on Santa's shoulder, was a full-sized Paddington Bear – the bear of the hour.

Sloan re-organized his holiday troops, pulling up his own collar and his sense of juvenile delight, and headed everybody to cross the street when the signal allowed. Once more they were headed towards Washington Avenue, and Stix.

The block-long stroll was traversed quickly, as the three younger people chatted excitedly about the Corner Window, Santaland, and all the other sights they had seen on a mere escalator ride from the Seventh to the Eleventh Floors.

Approaching the new corner, they could make out the tall red-brick building from the early nineteen-hundreds looming just ahead. With its abundant Eastlake-style ornamentation, and impressive classical cornice deeply overhanging the entire block from twelve stories in the snowy air, it was an impressive structure. At sidewalk level, the glow coming from Stix's holiday windows, and also the invitingly lit portal of the store on Washington near the Seventh Street intersection, beckoned appealingly. They made a dash for it, and paused in the fifteen-foot-high, modern glass and aluminum-frame vestibule to shake off their snow.

"This store," Katie explained for Miles and Jay's benefit. "Has ten floors, covers the whole block too, but is not as nice as Famous."

The boys exchanged a 'we'll be the judge of that' glance and nod.

Stepping inside, the noise and bustle of the shopping crowd reinvigorated them, and Sloan suddenly remembered the features of the First Floor he wanted to show his cousin and Miles' boyfriend. Both were in the eastern half of the structure, so that's where he headed them. One was the Jetsons-style bank of escalators, installed at the height of 50s space-age modernism, and complete with TV test-pattern terrazzo floors boldly on the diagonal.[3] The other feature was 'The Clock.' Once installed on the exterior corner of their original 1890s location, it now announced the time from The Grand Leader – the store's one-time commercial nickname – while mounted from a grand position above the main bank of elevators.

Sloan's plans were thwarted, for while on the way, the boys became hopelessly distracted by the holly garland and wreaths framing the entrance to Stix's holiday Chocolate Bazaar.

Stepping inside, an entire European emporium was reproduced down to the smallest detail. Great clear canisters with acorn finials held jam-centered hard candy from Germany, mounds of French tins boasted violet-scented pastilles from Flavigny, and row upon row of bonbons inhabited the lit shelves of enclosed display counters. There were a multitude of varieties, and true luxury exists as choice, not quantity.

Presiding over it all was a life-size little girl done out of modeling chocolate. With her crimson-striped nightshirt, freckles, short red hair and wonky tinfoil halo, she played an unlikely guardian angel over all the treats from her high perch behind the central glass counter; she looked good enough to eat. Sloan recognized her as Stix, Baer and Fuller's holiday mascot from the late 40s through the 60s. She was called Santa's Best Friend – or SBF, for short, which were also conveniently the initials of the store – and the young girl had a whole story about being awakened by Santa's visit and then transported on Christmas Eve by the jolly old elf to see the holiday splendor at Stix.[4]

Miles was led to the chocolate trays under glass before him like a hypnotized sleepwalker; Jay quickly followed to safeguard Miles' self-control and spending limits. There they were greeted by a smiling attendant, and she pulled out a tray to offer a sample.

Katie and Sloan lingered by the entrance, and the man mused silently while he glanced down at the young artist's glossy black hair that she'd have a lot to add to her sketchbook from today's activities.

She glanced up at him. "You know what feature of this store I like the best?"

"No…" Sloan forced through his smile. "Tell me."

"The awnings."[5]

The man's grin faded, for although they were furled today due to the snow, he could appreciate what she meant, for they were undeniably chic. Dark, dark blue, almost to the point of being charcoal-black, they had a scalloped front edged with white trim; every other scallop featured the store's trademark in white, and the center of the main fabric above sported one large logo too – a stylized tree done in attractive cursive sweeps up from the trunk to end in branches curving under one another. Nowhere on these sun protectors appeared the name of the store, for with a trademark as distinct and elegant as theirs, none was needed. It was no wonder that Famous' main rival was known for understated luxury. Sloan liked that, and apparently Katie was tuned in to it as well. "I know what you mean," the 'Famousite' confirmed with a hand going to her shoulder.

They watched a contented Jay and 'Mikey' in silence for a moment. The boys were sampling while the uniformed girl helping them was trying to keep up with how many of these and how many of those to place on her customer's tray. Although the selections were already multitudinous, Jay was reaching for the back pocket where his wallet lived. Apparently, the sight of his boyfriend happy and plied with chocolate was all the young man needed to procure his own supreme bliss.

Katie ventured an unsolicited opinion. "This Euro chocolate may be good, but I think the candy shop at Famous is better."

Sloan smiled and could not have agreed more. "I have an idea: get some here, and box from Famous-Barr, and let your dad do a blind-folded, side-by-side comparison."

She turned her wily emerald-green brilliance up to him. "I won't be doing that, silly."

Sloan was taken aback. He thought it was a clever idea, even if on the crafty side of things. "And why not…?"

"Dummy," she said plain as day. "You give him the chocolate – you do like my dad, don’t you?"

The young man from Ohio was honest with both of them. "Very much."

"Then show him!" She began to chuckle softly. "Everybody loves to get sweets from their sweet. Let Jay and Miles show you how it's done."

Sly girl; and here Sloan thought he was being the crafty one. She knew exactly what she was doing, and if Sloan hadn't known Richardson's character as well as he did, he would have suspected a mastermind behind this 'time with Katie' business. But, truth to tell, the pretty little mastermind was probably looking at him right now.

"So, Missy Sagacious – you're saying your father likes me as well?"

She intoned very softy: "Dummy… He's head over heels for you. The real question is, how do you feel about me and him as a set package...?"