84 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 12.14
ay back in
1823, when
Clement Moore
wrote the poem
"A Visit from
St. Nicholas"
(which every good girl and
boy now calls "'Twas the
Night Before Christmas"), his
description of the "jolly old
elf " was a frst. Red clothes,
rosy cheeks, cherry of a nose,
white beard. "One thing that
all Santas have in common is
that they want that wig to be
white. No gray, no silver —
SANTA'S
LITTLE HELPER
By Jon Lee Cope
Photo by Ted Tarquinio
"Wig master" Heather
Fleming fulflls the wishes
of Kris Kringle wannabes.
design
Architecture
but just like Clement Moore
described," says Heather Flem-
ing, a 35-year-old wigmaker
who runs the Custom Wig
Co. out of the basement in
the Beechmont home where
she lives with her photogra-
pher husband, Ben Marcum.
Tough Fleming has made
wigs for impersonators of Elvis
and Marilyn Monroe and a
legion of Tolkien-like hobbits,
Santa Claus is her best-seller.
"A wig is someplace between
a prop and a costume," she
says. "You never want anyone
W