Around the Corner with John McGivern

t music) I am at my favorite place in the world, my condo in downtown Milwaukee. And this is my favorite time of the year. It's Christmas. This is John McGivern's Christmas Traditions. (cheerful music) (crowd cheering) Merry Christmas. Merry Christmas, Michael. Merry Christmas, John. - Merry Christmas everybody. Happy Holidays - I love it. You're the best. Merry Christmas. - Thank you, Tom. Merry Christmas. So here's a tradition I love. It's the Milwaukee city Christmas tree. It's a tradition I've known my whole life. It's a tree that is donated by a resident of the city of Milwaukee. And we are standing in front of the Christmas tree from 2019. We're here hours before the chainsaw comes to remove it. Hey John, how are you? Pretty good. (laughing) You never hear that out of your bike. No, the things I do for this show. Snow tires? Snow tires, yeah. How did this tradition start? -

John

Donated trees, John, go back to 1989. -

John

Okay. But the city had a tree long, long before then. The first one was back in 1910 and had kind of a surprising political twist. 1910 was the first year that Milwaukeeans elected socialists to their top positions. Mayor, Aldermen and Congressmen, all up and down the slate. So what did socialists have to do with the Christmas trees? Back in those years, John, there were some clergymen who suspected the socialists of being anti-religious. That was not the case. A lot of these guys believed in both God and the working class, but there was an obvious need to mend some fences. It so happened that the first socialist mayor was a guy named Emil Seidel who just loved Christmas. In the first year in office, he read a magazine story about a small town school teacher who put up a tree in her village square to cheer what she called the sojourner who could not be home for Christmas. And Seidel said, "Great idea, let's do it here." And so they did. -

John

It's really sweet isn't it? It really is. Yeah, where did they get the first tree? There was more than one. They would build a wooden platform and just cover it with hundreds of trees imported from Canada. Telephone crews would put up the scaffold because they had the ladders and electric crews would put up the lighting. So my mom remembers the city tree in front of the library on Wisconsin Avenue. Great. I remember it on the plaza by the courthouse. -

Tom

Yeah, MacArthur Square they used to call it. -

John

So has it been all over? It has been. It was on they called the Court of Honor at Central Library until the 1950s. Then it moved a couple blocks North and it was around the courthouse for a number of years, around the city center plaza, it was in front of the arena. -

John

Yeah. -

Tom

So it kind of bounced around. In 1989, it moved to Red Arrow Park and stayed pretty much in the area around City Hall ever since. It is a great tradition. It really is. - Yeah. And you think about it, John, the tree that is this year's was not even a seedling when the first one went up back in 1910, but in some ways nothing has changed. Whatever your beliefs the message is very much the same. A light shines in the darkness and it beams forth peace on Earth, good will to all. Our tree. - Our tree. Thanks, John. See you, John. So the McGivern tradition was a white pine tree that my dad would get from the Odd Lot Tree Lot on 6th and Burleigh. I used to think the trees he got were really big. Not like that one. You have any idea when that was planted? 1998. So it's 21 years old. - Yeah. And how long have you lived in the house? 20 years. So you've known that tree for 20 years? 20 years. And how did you decide to make the call and say it's time? -

Daisy

It's overpowering my house. -

John

(laughs) Is it? -

Daisy

It really is. I was like this tree is really too big for this house now. So I was like I'm calling the city to see if they want it. And I was quite surprised that came out and looked at it and then Chris came back and said, "The city wants your tree." It's a perfect tree. -

Daisy

It is. -

John

It is. You are gonna get so much sun in that house do you have any idea? (laughs) -

Daisy

I love sun. (laughs) -

John

And you'll be able to see both ways. -

Daisy

Yes -

John

Yeah. Oh Christmas tree -

Crowd

Three, two, one. (cheers) From in front of Daisy's house right off of Capitol Drive to next to City Hall in downtown Milwaukee, this is the 2019 Milwaukee city Christmas tree. And I think it's a great tradition. And I bet Daisy's thinking, that tree looks great! (upbeat music) I am on Old World 3rd Street, but when I was a kid it was called 3rd Street and this is part of my Christmas traditions. It would not be a holiday without Usinger's Sausage. So I remember this place from forever. Right. - Does everyone say that to you? (laughs) Well, you know what's funny we get letters. Like people have moved away and they said "Oh I remember when I was a kid in your store and had to sit on the cushions around the column." And I came back to Milwaukee years and years later and it's still the same. -

John

It is. -

Fritz

And that's the whole point. -

John

Yes, are there stores throughout the state? -

Fritz

No, this is the only retail store we have is on Old World 3rd Street. And that's basically because of tradition. -

John

Mail order, is that huge business for you guys? -

Fritz

Right, yeah we do a lot of mail order. Now the old term is mail order. I'm old. Right, now it's e-commerce. Is that what it is? Right, so we have a catalog business and then also we have our annex, which we opened next door, and that has our pre-assembled gift boxes. People can just pull up, come in, we'll set you up, (whoosh) and go. And we have all our strong carry-out folks. -

John

Hey carry-out folks. Oh, she's like do not take a picture of me. (laughing) -

John

I know that even as we speak there are boxes being put together and you told me that you may need some help. We need all the hands we can get, so we got you. Yeah? (laughs) You look so excited. (laughs) It's not just sausage thrown in a box. When you get a gift from Usinger's, it's a gift. - It's all wrapped. Right, these are hand wrapped in foil paper. The first step is the components themselves. Crackers first. Then the hickory sticks are gonna go in there. -

John

Right behind the crackers. -

Frits

Right. And then we're gonna add some of our parchment. And then we're gonna add our elfin explanations. And then we're gonna add salami and our summer. John, you can add the knife. And then we're gonna add our two cheeses. -

John

How many 30s will go out this store this season do you think? Well, you're talking a lot and we're not getting a lot done here. So I'm going to say there's probably gonna be about six or seven thousand, something like that. Oh my lord. (laughs) Somewhere in that neck of the woods. Six or seven thousand 30s. Yes, right. I was hired for the day. Doing quite well. I've done three. Out of the 6000. (laughs) Well we're having a review at the end. There's a written review to score your performance. -

John

Don't you love Fritz? So I just came directly from Usinger's to Ma Baensch's to pick up some herring. Because if there's not sausage and herring on my Christmas table, people will be upset. Okay, I will be upset. Because the tradition continues. We had a tradition in our house growing up that my father would give my mom a box of chocolate covered cherries for Christmas. My father passed and my sister thought it would be a great thing to continue that tradition, so she gave my mother a wrapped box of chocolate covered cherries. My mother opened it up that Christmas and she said, "I've always hated these." (laughs) The tradition, we had no idea. But I think it was a bad box of chocolate covered cherries, because I have tasted these, my mother has tasted these, and now my mother wants these for Christmas. So I'm going to go get my mom her Christmas present. That's what I'm gonna do. So Buddy Squirrel, just so you know, I've known Buddy Squirrel my whole life. I've known him my whole life too. Yeah. Well, it's been around 103 years right now and it was started by Joseph and Lottie as Polish immigrants when they came over. Small on Mitchel Street opened up a little store to grow to this 70,000 square feet we have here today. -

John

Buddy Squirrel's line one? -

Scott

Line one is Buddy Squirrel. -

John

Okay. -

Scott

It is the heart of the company right now. All you're doing is picking them, turning them upside down. This is one of our signature products here that we run on the average a year of over, I wanna say, 50,000 pounds. (laughs) -

John

50,000 pounds of -

Scott

Turtles, tads. You guys know as turtles, we call them tads. They're caramel pecan clusters. Now it goes through the curtain of chocolate. -

John

A curtain of chocolate. Look at them. -

Scott

Yeah, I know. And not all of them are exactly the same. No, they're not but believe it or not they are all within like a gram and a half. Is that right? Yeah. -

John

How many of these are you gonna make today? -

Scott

We're gonna run 1800 pounds and that will be about 20,000 pieces or better. -

John

Today. -

Scott

Today, yeah. They didn't see me take one off the line. And what's your secret when it comes to tads? -

Scott

I would have to say the caramel. -

John

The caramel? -

Scott

The caramel. -

John

That is a vat of caramel made by Buddy Squirrel that is being put on to roasted pecans. This is delicious looking to me. Can I get a spoon? -

Scott

All of our methods here are all artisan, what we do. Everything is batch and not continuous at this point. We will continue to make traditional products for as long as we can hold the market, we have the consumers to buy 'em. That is heaven right there. I don't know if I can have the rest of it. I'll force myself. Merry Christmas, Mom. I'm here at one of my favorite places, Antiques on Pierce. I'm here to fulfill another McGivern tradition and that is to buy an ornament wreath, a vintage ornament wreath. One, two. It's so good with the stainless, isn't it? -

woman

It is. Suzi Dixon is the artist that I use every year. Three. We're really excited to talk to you. I'm so excited to be here. (laughs) How long have you been doing this and who taught you? No one taught me. I've been doing it for about seven years. I just wanted to use the ornaments instead of throwing them out. Four. Five. Six. All vintage and a lot of them are broken and a lot of them are faded, but they are out of the landfills and into my living room. (laughs) -

John

And now they're into my living room. -

Suzi

Into your living room right. (laughs) Seven. Eight. Nine. -

John

I think they're beautiful and can I tell you -

Suzi

Thank you. -

John

Anybody who comes through the house over the holidays is blown away by the work. -

Suzi

That's so good to hear. Yeah. - Because it is a lot of work. And there's always an ornament somewhere on that wreath that they will say, "I remember that -

Suzi

Sure. from when I was a kid." (laughs) Ten. And this year, 2019 eleven. Where do you find all this? -

Suzi

Everywhere I go. To rummage sales, estate sales, church sales, and I buy a ton of them right here at the mall. -

John

So you need the ring? You need the garland? -

Suzi

Mm-hmm. Then you start gluing. And there's a system to gluing it. What you want to do is you wanna put the bigger ones all the way around. Okay. Like that, huh? -

Suzi

Yep, there you go. You go through some glue. Oh, boy. Yeah. A little bit more. Great. And then get your finger out of there. Okay. -

Suzi

Just about perfect. And then smaller ones on the inside and then you build up from there. Is this too small? Yeah, a little bad for fill. And then your middle is for special ones. And one of these. -

John

The specialty ones are the hardest, huh? -

Suzi

Well that's when you have to lay it out. (glass breaks) -

John

I hated that one. -

Suzi

(laughs) I know. I'm so glad we didn't put that one on. (laughing) Now I can have it all laid out and I can decide I can't stand this. -

John

So far this one's good, isn't it? -

Suzi

I like it. -

John

I do too, yeah. Don't tell Suzi I do have a fake one. Guess where I keep it? (toilet flushes) We're in front of the Pabst Mansion on Wisconsin Avenue and I think that the Pabst family traditions were not so different than what the McGivern family traditions were. It's just that they had a bigger house and a lot more money, 'cause obviously that's not a duplex. (gentle music) How many rooms in the house? -

Pamela

64 rooms in this house. -

John

And how many are decorated? -

Pamela

Every single one of them. -

John

No! -

Pamela

Every single one. Every bathroom, every foyer, landing. Everything is decorated. The Pabst family back in the day would not have had a house this decorated. Not in the least. Not in the least. Not in the least. It would be very isolated to the dinner table and the music room where they had their tree. And this is where you would've spent their Christmases. So Captain Pabst's last Christmas, 1903, what do you get your father who has everything, who lives in this beautiful house? You get him a brown Jersey cow. A cow? And you bring it into this room. Is that right? - Yes. That's what he got for Christmas? Yes yes. Was he so happy? He was, he was. I don't think Mrs. Pabst was too crazy about it. -

Jodi

For our purposes, we just think the house looks beautifully decorated in the holidays, and we want to invite guests from all over into the mansion to experience that. -

John

Here we are close to Christmas. -

Jodi

That's right. -

John

And it's really beautiful. How many designers does it take to do this? How much planning does it take to do this? Well, there's a lot of planning. So I always start in July. So it's like Christmas in July here. You start with your planning. We work with anywhere from about 10 to 12 decorators each year depending on how many rooms each one will take on, that sort of thing. So you get this real interesting feel as you walk through each room changes design. So Jodi, just a tour of the bathrooms would be worth the visit, I believe. I believe you're correct. Some of them are going to be like whoa, this really modern. But when you read the story of what they were looking to do in that space. Maybe they were inspired by the Mrs. Pabst story or the granddaughter. So the tall tree, Mrs. Pabst, the white tree, Elizabeth, and then the small tree over here, the granddaughter Elsbeth. That makes sense. Yeah, that was really their inspiration. I think it was a great idea. -

John

So do you have any idea how many lights -

Jodi

Oh goodness. it takes to put this on? -

John

How many Christmas ornaments? How many bulbs? -

Jodi

I would have no count, but I can tell you this year we have 27 trees in the house. -

John

27 trees. On average, each tree, depending on the size, takes anywhere from 800 up to probably 2,000 lights, depending on the size of it. Number of ornaments, pfft! it is different every single year. So there is a reason to come back every single year to visit the Pabst at the holidays. These are decorations that are very reminiscent of the decorations of my youth. Like this is something the Kleismet's would have had on their front porch. And around all of these they would've had those outdoor lights. Remember those outdoor lights back when we were kids? Like people my age. Like, they were those really huge lights that if you touched it would burn your hands, your fingers would blister. It would be like "Oh those are hot lights, yeah." Oh those were the good old days, weren't they? So my parents would load us into the station wagon and we would go down Wisconsin Avenue to look at all the holiday lights. And we would park the car and look at the windows at Boston store and Gimbels. Now this is what they do. They do something called the Jingle Bus. You go down Wisconsin Avenue and look at the chandeliers that are up and down the avenue. Then you come in downtown Milwaukee there are three parks that are so festively lit for the holidays. We're standing in Cathedral Square, which is called Community Share Park, Or you can see Seidler Park, which is called Holiday Hearth Park during the holidays. Or over to Pier Marquette, which is called Polar Park. Yeah, Jingle Bus is much like, I guess, my dad's station wagon. It's all about looking at the holiday lights. It's a great tradition. So I just decorated my Christmas tree. There are eight strands of 100 lights, so 800 lights on my Christmas tree. Guess how many lights are involved with Miller Holiday Lites? 750,000 lights! That would take longer than an afternoon. Lots of lights. But I love 'em. -

Kindra

We put a lot of effort into making this really special for people and it's really the tradition that people have come to know and expect and we wanna keep helping them bring that to their families. Yeah, here we are at Plank-Road Brewery. This is the house, Miller House, right here. That's right. Yeah, it's been here for a long time and it's certainly front and center part of the show. Isn't it? - It is, yeah. So is this the oldest part of the property? -

Kindra

This is a replica of Frederick Miller's original brewery house. The caves of course are the oldest part of Miller Valley. What's the process of getting this ready for Miller Lites? -

Kindra

Several months of hanging lights, planning, getting music chosen, and putting all those lights and sounds together in time with that music. So there's a lot of preparation and work that we do Clearwing Productions to make this happen. (gentle music) -

John

Is it fun? -

Kindra

Oh, I love it. -

John

I bet it is. -

Kindra

It's probably the most fun that I have throughout the year is really making this come to life, because I know how important it is to people and I want to do it right. (upbeat music) -

John

It's unbelievable. Miller Holiday Lites, it's a tradition! We're in Cedarburg today. Santa's here. Guess where he's at? He's at Santa's Workshop. I'm going to say hi to Santa. He better remember me. -

Santa

Ho, ho, ho. It's John McGivern. I'm so excited. Hi Santa. - Hello John. Hi Mrs. Claus. How are you? - Hi, how are you John? It's so good to see you guys. (laughing) -

Santa

You too. -

John

Do you remember me as a little kid? I do. Santa, you do? I do, you were always a good boy John. You were. I don't know if this Santa's right. Can we talk about how important this tradition is for kids of all ages? -

Santa

It brings magic to everybody. -

John

It does. -

Mrs. Clause

All we have to do is show up, which is really great. -

John

That's nice. -

Mrs. Clause

Yeah. A candy cane. That's for me? It's for you, John. And the magic continues, doesn't it? Yes it does. Thanks, Santa. Yeah you're welcome, thank you. Merry Christmas. -

Mrs. Clause

Merry Christmas to you too. So Santa's workshop in downtown Cedarburg is what generations of kids will remember when they're my age. But when I was a kid, you know what I remember so clearly? A place called the Kooky Cooky House in Capitol Court Mall. And I'm here with my friend Gino. How are you? - How are you, John? 'Cause you remember it as well as I do. Remember it? I kept things like this with me (laughing) so people never forget it. You have a big wallet, don't you? I do. (laughs) How great is this? Yes. -

John

I love that you are the expert of all things Kooky Cooky House. Well, my grandma lived at 62nd and Capitol and we would see that giant tree. Remember the giant Christmas tree? -

John

Of course. -

Gino

And we would go there all the time to the Kooky Cooky House. And you walked in there was a robot that moved back and forth with his controls. There were gingerbread men mixing. There were boxing gloves kneading the dough. An iron going across that flattened the dough. Then there was the cutting department that cut the dough. Then the marking department that put the eyes, nose, three buttons. And then they went into an old-fashioned oven. And that was the experience. And then at the end, there he was. Santa. -

John

Santa. -

Gino

Yep. And as a kid it was like I can't believe Santa lives in Milwaukee and he lives in a cookie house! (laughing) I mean, come on. With robots made cookies. - Robots. Yes. - Yeah. -

Gino

They were able to make that in the '50s. I couldn't find anyone to recreate it. It took 15 years before we finally found the right people at Discovery World. And one guy, Wally Comans, was able to make it come back. Then we had an artist who did all the replicas of what it looked like. We had slides that showed every panel and without that we wouldn't have been able to do it. And I hope it becomes a tradition here as well. -

John

It meant a lot to us as kids. And what greeted us, Right. - I could cry. Everywhere all over the mall were these signs that he pointed you there. And it was Gingerbread Fred. Gingerbread Fred. - Yes. Look at him. Yep. You're the best, Merry Christmas. Thank you, Pal. Merry Christmas. When I think of my Christmas traditions, I can't help but think about this place that we're standing in front of today. Saints Peter and Paul Church on the corner of Cramer and Bradford. We would go to High Mass every Christmas morning. We had to go to Mass before we opened our gifts from Santa. So as a kid, you would sit in that pew and think through that whole High Mass and it was a long one. Those High Masses were long. You'd think, "Oh, when's this going to end? "I just wanna go back to the Santa gifts." Saints Peter and Paul Church. We're at Aggie's Bakery on Greenfield and West Dallas. If you were to be here on Christmas Eve morning around 10 o'clock you will find me in a line that usually goes from here to the door. I'm picking up my Yule log. -

Rachel

Christmas is a great time. The Yule log is an absolute tradition for that time of year. -

John

Yes. It's a beautiful piece to add to your table and all above that it's delicious. And you decorate the Yule logs that I pick up every Christmas Eve. Absolutely. I'm so excited to meet you just so you know. -

Rachel

We have four cake decorators right now and the number cakes that these four put out is actually amazing. Walk me through a Yule log assembly. -

Brian

They all start as a quarter of this sheet cake size. -

John

So I'm gonna fill my bag? -

Brian

Have you held a piping bag before? Unsuccessfully, just so you know. -

Brian

Unsuccessfully. You're not Aggie. I'm not Aggie. Who is Aggie? Aggie actually is the previous owner of this business. She started the business in 1977. We haven't changed any of her beloved recipes. -

John

You haven't? -

Rachel

We have not. We're not only honoring her legacy, but adding to it with our own recipes as well. And this goes on top? Right on top. Oopsie. I broke mine. (shushes) Trim off a little angled piece. Okay. And we're gonna place that right on top of the rest of the cake. Look at that. Perfect. Now we're just gonna cover Don't lie to me. (laughs) These two are killing me. Isn't that so sweet? We've got the roasted turkey and the feathers turkey. And then we have some other fun cakes. These are quick cakes that people can come and pick up any time that they're ready. Why does mine have a, It's a Yule lump. (laughs) That's what we'll call it. (laughs) It's a Yule lump. If you like frosting, you're going to like mine! Do you do a big wedding business here? We have a huge You do? wedding business here. -

Rachel

In the height of our wedding season, we do about 25 to 30 weddings a weekend. That's wild. Not bad. (laughing) You know what? (laughing) It's a ski hill. If you see any problem areas that you wanna hide, you can add a little snow there too. Oh okay. There it is. (laughs) -

Rachel

You cannot come to this place and be sad. The second you walk in you see the filled cases you start thinking about what you're going to get next. It's a great time, especially at Christmas. It's kind of sad, but those flowers really help. Yours looks gorgeous. Very nice. - Well thank you very much. -

Rachel

You just can't go wrong with cake. Cake is good. (laughter) It is. - I completely agree. This is the discounted one. And it's not a day old, it's just made by somebody who had no idea what he was doing. (laughs) So those are my Christmas traditions. And my hope is that no matter what you celebrate, that you are able to gather with those that you love most and acknowledge and embrace those traditions that are yours. Because that's what this season is really all about. So Michael, no official in this episode. So you are the official. Excellent, thanks. So this is the deal today. You have 30 seconds to tell us about your Christmas traditions and why they are important, and Michael McGivern, our official of this episode, you can start right now. So we start Christmas Eve at your house, which is a great tradition, My tradition too, yeah. and thank you for that. And then my favorite, I have to tell you, most important one is my family then comes over Christmas morning. Grandkids, my kids Katie and Matthew and their spouses. And we have breakfast and then like it started here on Bartlett Avenue, I read The Giving Tree to our kids. So many years ago now. So many years ago and I've continued that tradition and it gets tougher and tougher every year when I realize that I'm the tree, John. (laughing) But it's really fun. Before anybody opens a gift - Five, I read the Giving Tree - Four, Three, and it's a really good tradition. -

John

Two, -

John

One, great tradition. (laughter) You people! You are just so not supportive! (rattling) (nervous laughing) Nine seasons John and our first holiday episode. It's great, isn't it? It really is. We wouldn't be able to do this without the financial support of our underwriters. So underwriters, thank you so much. Thank you very much. (gentle music) -

Narrator

The Greater Milwaukee Foundation's Ernest C. & Florence M. Schocke Fund and by the David A. & Nancy E. Putz Fund. The Greater Milwaukee Foudation, inspiring philanthropy, serving donors, and strengthening communities now and for the future. -

Narrator

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Narrator

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