Telephoning to Santa Claus

In Short

This brief, lighthearted Christmas dialogue centers on two preteen girls, Esther and Mabel, sitting in a parlor on Christmas Eve. Envying friends who received lavish gifts by writing letters, Esther decides to use a long-distance telephone setup to contact Santa Claus Land directly. She pesters Mrs. Santa Claus with escalating demands for skates, a muff, and oversized candy canes, ignoring warnings that she will ruin their chances of a visit. The play has endured as a charming, whimsical artifact of early twentieth-century holiday entertainment for young performers.

The Story

The play opens on Christmas Eve in a sitting room where ten-year-old Esther and Mabel discuss the impending arrival of Santa Claus. Esther laments that she stayed awake all night last year only to be tricked by the silent visitor, while Mabel marvels at how fast Santa must travel to visit every child. Hearing that previous friends secured ponies, carts, and bicycles simply by stating their wishes, Esther hits upon an idea inspired by a real long-distance call her cousin once made to New York. If people can talk across great distances, she reasons, they can surely reach Santa Claus Land.

Mabel fetches a chair for Esther to stand upon near a box rigged up as a telephone, complete with an electric bell and a separate receiver placed a few feet away. Esther rings the bell and asks an invisible operator to connect them. When Mabel reports that someone answers, Esther speaks directly to Mrs. Santa Claus. She learns that Mr. Santa Claus has already departed on his global journey and cannot be intercepted. Undeterred, Esther begins placing a direct order for specific holiday gifts, asking for a muff, a pair of skates, and enormous candy canes.

As the dialogue progresses, Esther's persistence crosses into annoyance. Mrs. Santa Claus communicates through Mabel that they are bothering her while she bakes Christmas pies, warning that Santa might skip their town entirely if they do not behave. Mabel grows increasingly frightened, begging Esther to stop ringing and worrying that their father will walk in and get angry. Esther ignores these warnings, stamping her foot and ringing the bell with mounting impatience. She shouts repeated demands into the mouthpiece for her muff, skates, and candy canes as big as a house.

The dramatic climax arrives right on cue with the physical properties of the stage setup. As Esther demands her gifts and declares she is mad at Mrs. Santa Claus, a trapdoor in the telephone box trips open. A pair of skates tied to a muff drops out onto the platform. Both girls drop their roles, seize the unexpected presents, and joyfully celebrate that they have successfully gotten their wish before exiting the stage together.

How It Unfolds

• The holiday wish — Esther and Mabel discuss past Christmases and the wonderful gifts other children received by telling Santa what they wanted.
• The clever scheme — Inspired by a real long-distance telephone call to New York, Esther decides they should call Santa Claus Land directly.
• The invisible connection — Esther stands on a chair and rings the makeshift telephone box while Mabel holds the receiver to listen to Mrs. Santa Claus.
• The growing annoyance — Mrs. Santa Claus repeatedly warns the girls to stop bothering her because she is busy making pies and Santa has already left.
• The final demand — Ignoring Mabel's frightened pleas to stop, Esther angrily shouts her demands for skates, a muff, and oversized candy canes.
• The sudden delivery — A mechanical trapdoor trips open, dropping the requested skates and muff right onto the floor to the girls' absolute delight.

The People

Esther is a spirited, strong-willed, and impatient girl who refuses to let holiday traditions pass her by passively. She wants a muff, skates, and massive candy canes, and she is willing to bend the rules and harass the supernatural household to get them. Standing obstacles include Mabel's nervous cautions, the reported absence of Mr. Santa Claus, and Mrs. Santa Claus's growing irritation. Esther ends up completely triumphant, proving her stubborn persistence pays off when her gifts literally drop from the sky.

Mabel acts as Esther's cautious, rule-abiding companion who helps set up the telephone experiment. She wants to see Santa Claus and share in the excitement, but she fears the consequences of angering adults or supernatural figures. Standing in her way is Esther's reckless disregard for protocol and Mrs. Santa Claus's repeated scoldings. Mabel ends up relieved, frightened, and ultimately thrilled when the scheme succeeds despite her warnings.

Mrs. Santa Claus serves as the unseen maternal authority figure at the other end of the line. She wants peace and quiet on Christmas Eve so she can finish her holiday baking and manage her husband's departure. Standing in her way are the two persistent girls who keep ringing her up. She ends up exasperated, threatening punishment before the theatrical mechanics override her protests.

In Its Own Voice

This is Christmas Eve, Mabel, and I suppose that Santa Claus has his pack all made up, and is off with his reindeer to visit all the good little boys and girls all over the world.

Esther sets the seasonal mood by outlining the magical logistics of Christmas Eve to her friend.

Hello, Mrs. Santa, will you please send some one after Mr. Santa, and tell him that we are two good little girls, and we want a muff and a pair of skates, and some candy canes as long as your arm.

Esther escalates the telephone call from a simple greeting into a direct, demanding holiday shopping list.

Oh, Esther, oh, Esther! She says to stop that ringing!!

Mabel relays the increasingly desperate warnings coming through the receiver as Mrs. Santa Claus loses her patience.

What It's Really About

The play explores the delightful intersection of modern technology and age-old folklore. Written during the early expansion of domestic telephone networks, it uses the wonder of long-distance communication as a metaphor for bridging the gap between childhood desire and magical fulfillment. Beneath its playful dialogue, the story touches on themes of persistence, rule-breaking, and the delightful fantasy that children might actively negotiate with holiday authorities rather than passively wait for judgment. It examines how children perceive power structures, transforming distant mythical figures into reachable neighbors who can be pestered into compliance.

Why Read It Today

Readers interested in the history of amateur theatricals, vintage holiday customs, or early twentieth-century children's literature will find this short script immensely charming. Reading it feels like flipping through a yellowed community theater pamphlet from a simpler era, offering a humorous glimpse into how children's entertainment was staged over a century ago.

Modern readers should approach it with historical context regarding its period attitudes and simple, melodramatic structure. The dialogue relies on broad, classic tropes of childhood stubbornness and features very simple staging directions that require a bit of DIY mechanical ingenuity, such as rigging a box with a trapdoor and a hidden string of skates. Those who appreciate quaint holiday nostalgia, historical curiosities, or brief plays suitable for young performers will find it a delightful, fast-paced read that captures the timeless, demanding greed of childhood Christmas wishes.