PBS’ ‘Remember the Magic’ revisits beloved Dayton’s holiday shows

Just as “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and “The Grinch” go into heavy rotation, a new documentary from Twin Cities PBS adds local flavor to the holiday-movie repertoire.

Premiering on Dec. 17 at 7 p.m. on TPT, “Remember the Magic: A Look Back at the Dayton’s Holiday Shows,” revisits Minnesotans’ annual pilgrimage to see storybook tales brought to life at Minneapolis’ premier department store.

For more than half a century, the free holiday shows produced by Dayton’s (and later Macy’s) were unlike anything else in the country. The immersive displays, featuring animatronic figures and elaborate sets, were created largely by artists from the community. Drawing more than half-a-million visitors in peak years, the changing exhibitions became an enchanting holiday tradition for generations of Minnesotans.

TPT’s retrospective, narrated by performer Kevin Kling, goes behind the scenes with the crew that transformed the eighth-floor auditorium into an annual fantasy wonderland. Archival footage and photos show vignettes from “The Wizard of Oz,” “Nutcracker,” “Cinderella” and other fantasy tales. The documentary also features holiday show superfans who acquired the figures after Macy’s sold the store and who continue the collective reminiscence.

“People were going to keep those memories for their entire lives,” one longtime holiday-show artist told the documentarians. “We wanted to make magic.”

For decades, Dayton’s anchored downtown Minneapolis’ retail scene. In the 1960s, its holiday window displays and Santa station evolved into full-blown exhibits that transported visitors to “Santa’s Enchanted Forest” or “Dickens’ Village.”

The film takes viewers through the yearlong process of designing and producing a show. A maze-like layout of scenes was rendered in a 3-D model. Crews built and painted sets. Artists sculpted the figures’ faces with lifelike expressions and outfitted them with costumes and mechanics. Scenes were enlivened with music, lighting and even optical illusions.

Two now-deceased icons of the theater world, Jack Barkla and Jack Edwards — known to the crew as “The Jacks” — were the creative forces behind the affair. The Jacks, known for their work on Dayton’s annual spring flower show and Minneapolis’ Holidazzle parade, minded every detail of the holiday displays, down to the figures’ jewelry and hand-knit sweaters. When Barkla was told the “Oz” flying monkeys were perhaps too frightening, he was said to have responded: “If we haven’t made anyone cry, we’re really not doing our job.”

The holiday-show crew compared the meticulous productions to Disney theme parks, minus the rides and pricey entrance fees. It was Dayton’s “gift to the community,” as one superfan put it. (Of course, execs hoped the crowds might also shop the department store’s wares, or at least buy a gingerbread cookie. And a 1980s show based on a character they’d developed, called Santabear, spawned a craze of collectible stuffed animals.)

In 2001, Dayton’s was rebranded as Marshall Field’s, but continued the shows. When Macy’s bought the chain a few years later, the corporation cut costs by repeating the theme “A Day in the Life of an Elf” nine years running. Macy’s argued that repeating strengthened the tradition, but longtime show visitors chided the company for being cheap. Some gave feedback along the lines of: “Ugh, this again? We came all the way from Iowa!”

After Macy’s closed its downtown Minneapolis store, in 2017, the eighth-floor auditorium went dark. All the holiday-show figures scattered.

Some were sold in Macy’s going-out-of-business sale. A few private collectors display them outside their residences, including those currently exhibited at 1887 Saunders Av. in St. Paul.

Other places to see the Dayton’s/Macy’s holiday figures include Duluth’s massive Bentleyville light display, where repurposed department-store elves wrap gifts, play guitars and pop popcorn. In Virginia, Minn., Canelake’s Candies holiday-show window displays include several confectioners and Santa in a reindeer-drawn sleigh. A few Twin Cities-based institutions, including the Minnesota Historical Society and Hennepin Theatre Trust, also own characters they have set up in the past for public viewing.

But TPT’s film is the most comprehensive way to revisit those nostalgic decades of holiday shows. And perhaps to snuggle up on the couch with a Santabear and share that special chapter in the city’s history with the next generation.