Mr. Bingle

Mr. Bingle was originally conceived by Emile Alline, an employee of Maison Blanche, in 1947. He worked as a display manager and became aware that other department stores had mascots around Christmastime, such as Montgomery Ward's Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and pitched the concept of a similar mascot to Maison Blanche executives Lewis and Herbert Schuartz. Originally referred to as "Snow Doll," his name would quickly be changed to Mr. Bingle following a naming contest held among the employees of Maison Blanche, with the name being chosen by Lewis as it shared the initials of the store. Mr. Bingle shared the initials of his home, "M.B.", as the store was often called, and this similarity was used heavily in marketing the character, even being referenced in his theme song.[2]

The rights to the character would shift hands along with it's parent company, being bought out by Goudchaux's, Inc. of Baton Rouge, owned by Hans and Josef Sternberg, and becoming known as Goudchaux/Maison Blanche. This company would continue to operate under the original Maison Blanche name before eventually being bought by department store giant Dillard's in 1998, who continue to promote and sell merchandise of the character as of 2021.[3] Mr. Bingle continues to be incredibly popular in New Orleans, with a dedicated community of followers.[1] The character of Mr. Bingle also made appearances outside of the commercial setting for charitable purposes, visiting sick children at the Children's Hospital of New Orleans and even visiting the White House.

The design of Mr. Bingle is that of an anthropomorphic snowman. Unlike traditional snowmen, there is no coal attached to his body, and his facial features are represented by small blue and red buttons with a small black line for a mouth. He is always shown wearing a sugar ice cream cone on his head, representing a hat, and traditionally holds a peppermint candy cane in his right hand. Traditionally, he doesn't wear clothing, aside from red ribbon with bells at the tips tied around his neck, but much of his merchandise features him in costume, differing in design based on the year he is sold. His last defining traits are holly wings that come out of his back, and the year of sale stitched on his left foot. A tag featuring his story is usually attached to his wings or one of his hands, and some designs do not feature a mouth.[4]

Mr. Bingle became best known in puppet (or marionette) form at the Canal Street Maison Blanche, puppeteered by New York puppeteer Edwin "Oscar" Isentrout (who also played the voice of Mr. Bingle). He had previously done puppetry not far from the store, on Bourbon Street, where he would do shows with vaudeville marionettes performing striptease in-between performances from exotic dancers. Isentrout often travelled around the United States of America with a marionette troop before buying a bus ticket to New Orleans, although he maintained his nightclub engagement, making it hard to perform the puppet shows at Maison Blanche. He would seek the assistance of two teenagers named Ray Frederick and Harry J. Ory, who had achieved some local success with their own marionette act. The three created many characters that would accompany Mr. Bingle and Santa Claus, such as a bear aptly named "Bingle Bear" and a rabbit named "Bingle Bunny," but neither would achieve the same level of success as the snowman. Isentrout portrayed Bingle as a childlike character, making him get into all sorts of hijinks and forcing Santa Claus to help him get out of whatever situation he was in. [5] These puppet shows occurred each day for the few weeks leading up to Christmas for about 15 minutes at a time, and were a favorite of local children, with adults even coming by to watch the shows. Mr. Bingle would sometimes be forced to break the fourth wall and tell the adults to move so that the children could get a good look at the show. Mr. Bingle also appeared in musical radio and television commercials, many of which were fully animated. The puppet shows ended in 1985 when Isentrout died.[3]

The character would appear on television on the New Orleans channel WDSU, where he would be accompanied by real actors in his puppet form, similar to Sesame Street. This show would air from Thanksgiving to the night before Christmas.

Mr. Bingle also appeared in Memphis, Tennessee, at the department store Lowenstein's, which was also owned by Mercantile Stores[11] Mercantile acquired MB a few years before itself being acquired by Dillard's. The Mercantile chain used Mr. Bingle in Christmas advertising nationwide at various regional department stores owned by Mercantile. As of November 2014, Mr. Bingle merchandise was still widely available.[4]

• Al Shea
• Companions of Saint Nicholas
• Saving Mr. Bingle, by Sean Patrick Doles, New Orleans Stories, 2004. (A work of fiction.) ISBN 0-9758996-0-0
• Canal Street: New Orleans' Great Wide Way, by Peggy Scott Laborde & John Magill, Pelican Publishing Company, 2006. ISBN 978-1-58980-337-4
• New Orleans Television, by Dominic Massa, Arcadia Publishing, 2008. ISBN 978-0-7385-5404-4
• Maison Blanche Department Stores, by Edward J. Branley, Arcadia Publishing, 2011. ISBN 978-0-7385-8817-9