The men behind McCook's Santa Claus Lane

Santa Claus Lane in McCook, Neb. (Courtesy photo)

Note: Recently, in a discussion about McCook's Christmas Heritage, there were questions about just who was responsible for Santa Claus Lane. Today we'll look at two of those fellows. From Gazette Archives.

Carl Orrin of McCook never considered himself a creative artist, or a trailblazer in the field of commercial art, yet he was a fellow who was able to blend art with new technology to produce some stunning artistic displays, greatly appreciated by the people of our area.

As a boy growing up in McCook Carl was rarely without his pen and paper, and took pride and satisfaction in his ability to reproduce images he found on pages of magazines and books, to the delight of his fellow students. Though he was built a bit on the round side, rather than athletically inclined, he was an all-around good guy and a good sport. Dr. John Batty, a classmate of Carl's in the McCook Junior College Class of 1935, remembered that Carl yielded to peer pressure, to come out for the basketball team at MJC. Without Carl there could be no college team, since there were only five boys in the class. (The second semester three more boys enrolled in school, allowing for some substitution.)

W.K. Swanson (Courtesy photo)

Even while attending school, Orrin began to work part-time for W.K. (Swanie) Swanson, of McCook's Swanson Sign Co. After graduation he went to work full time at the sign company. After a stint in the Army during WWII, Carl came back to Swanson Sign again. During this period, after the war, Carl Orrin made his greatest contributions to the art scene in McCook.

One of Carl's finest pieces of art was made for MJC. That is the painting of the Indian Chief, which hung for many years on the wall, above the basketball court in True Hall. The subject was Chief Jack Red Cloud, son of the great Oglala Sioux Chief, Red Cloud.

Jack Red Cloud was carefully chosen to be the symbol of the MJC athletic teams. While not as well known as his father, Red Cloud, who was the scourge of the whites in the 1860s, in the Red Cloud War, Jack Red Cloud (1862-1928) was a heroic symbol in his own right. He became Chief of the Oglala Sioux at Pine Ridge Agency during the last years of his father's life. He received widespread recognition as a warrior and as an orator. Today, Orrin's large colored painting of Chief Jack Red Cloud may be seen at the College Memorabilia Room in the Von Riesen Library, on McCook College Campus.

Another Orrin contribution to McCook art is seen and appreciated each Christmas season in McCook's Santa Claus Lane. Orrin was the principal artist with Swanson Sign Company when the idea for this unique telling of the Christmas story through a series of life sized pictures, covering several blocks of the islands on Norris Avenue, came into being.

Swanie Swanson, owner of the Swanson Sign Co., was a very progressive businessman, with a fine reputation throughout the region, for creating quality, innovative signs for his customers. He was continually on the outlook for methods, materials, and ideas that would improve his product. Returning from a sign painters' convention, Swanie was intrigued with a new 3M product that he felt he might use in the sign business. When he told Carl Orrin about the product, Orrin was equally enthusiastic. An idea he had been toying with---one which would give Swanson Sign a good deal of favorable publicity, might just come about, using his art and 3M's new product.

The 3M Co. (Minnesota Mining and Manufacture) of Minneapolis started out as a sandpaper making company in 1902, and as such struggled for years with the vagaries of the carpentry business. 3M decided to hitch the company's future to the development of new technology. That proved to be 3M's secret of success, which continues to this day.

In the years of World War I, 3M brought out a waterproof sandpaper, which revolutionized paint finishing for the fledgling auto industry. Again, in 1925, the company introduced masking tape, which made the painting of two-tone cars practical.

In 1930 3M introduced its "Scotch Transparent Tape." While that product is now universally accepted, at the time it was considered something of a miracle. It replaced a semi-transparent tape, which one licked (like a stamp), This was generally used in the schools when I was in grade school---OK for a while, until its edges began to curl and darkened on the paper.

In 1939 "Scotchlite Reflective Tape" (the product that Swanson and Orrin were so excited about) was introduced to the world. This was immediately recognized for its use for reflective road signs, but before there could be universal acceptance for this use, or any use, WW II came along and artistic use of Scotchlite was put on hold till after the war.

In the early 50s Swanson Sign Co. promoted the making of a series of life-sized pictures, on plywood, which stood on the islands on upper Norris Avenue. These wooden figures and scenes were covered with the new 3M Scotchlite tape and 3M reflective paint. The figures were colorful in the daytime, and at night did not need to be lighted, as the lights from passing automobiles provided the illumination, producing a dazzlingly bright scene. In addition, the figures were arranged on the islands so that traveling to the north on Norris Avenue, viewers could follow the sequence of the biblical Christmas Story, of Shepherds, Wise Men, and Christ in the manger, through the brightly illuminated figures. Turning around on Upper Norris Avenue, viewers were treated to the secular, Santa Claus story of Christmas as they came back south.

Carl Orrin's pictures, enhanced by the brilliance of 3M Scotchlite, were a huge success from the very beginning. Merchants lined up to sponsor one of figures, and profited from the low key advertising at the bottom of their sign. In the 50s the novelty of such a pleasurable trip down Santa Claus Lane was a huge attraction and people flocked to McCook from all over the area to view the scene. The McCook Chamber of Commerce was proud and pleased at the favorable publicity to the city. Swanson Sign Co. received much acclaim from the trade journals, and even the 3M Company. The only one that failed to get much credit for Santa Claus Lane was Carl Orrin, the fellow who had done the major share of the art work, and the finishing of the figures.

Carl Orrin worked for Swanson Sign Co. for several years. He and Swanie worked well together, but he grew in his position to the point that he wanted his own sign company. To that goal he eventually left McCook, and after a stop or two along the way, he eventually did have his own sign company in Reno, Nevada---(surely one of the places in the US for a good sign man).

Dr. Batty had exchanged Christmas cards with Carl Orrin for a number of years, but had not seen Carl for a long time. Then one day, a few years ago, Carl stopped to see him, as he was passing through McCook on his way back to Reno. The two old friends had a pleasant hour or so reliving old times. Orrin had done well in the sign business, and was glad that Swanson Sign Co. was still going strong in McCook.

And Dr. Batty was pleased that he could tell his old college mate that after all these years the people of McCook were still enjoying Carl's Santa Claus Lane, thanks to the generosity of the Norma Strunk estate, and countless hours of work by the Sertoma Club and other volunteers in putting up and taking down of the displays, and providing annual maintenance--- repair and painting, which have preserved the figures (albeit, without the Scotchlite, which produced those dazzling, lighted figures and made McCook's Santa Claus Lane unique.)