We can safely report that Santa Claus is alive and well. We hear he is checking his list.

As Christmas approached in 1930, the editor of the Mesa Journal-Tribune had an idea reminiscent of the turkey incident on "WKRP in Cincinnati." (If you're too young, see the video below.)

All he wanted was for Santa to parachute from a plane and then lead a parade. Read below to see how that worked out.

From the Arizona Daily Star, Dec. 23, 1954 (the story was about the incident more than 20 years earlier):

Poor Mr. McPhee, the story followed him to the grave. From the Star, May 30, 1968:

Here is a clip of the TV show referred to above. WKRP in Cincinnati ran in the late 1970s and early 1980s.


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Johanna Eubank is an online content producer for the Arizona Daily Star and tucson.com. Contact her at jeubank@tucson.com

About Tales from the Morgue: The "morgue," is what those in the newspaper business call the archives. Before digital archives, the morgue was a room full of clippings and other files of old newspapers.

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