Mrs. Claus (Rankin/Bass)

Miss Jessica, better known as Mrs. Jessica Claus is the deuteragonist of the classic Rakin/Bass Holiday film Santa Claus is Coming' to Town. She is the beautiful love interest and later wife of Kris Kringle (AKA: Santa Claus). Initially she was a schoolteacher in Sombertown that followed the Burgermeister's laws and believed toys were immoral, but later she comes to the belief that the law is unfair and starts working with Kris to deliver toys to all the good kids in Sombertown whilst avoiding the Burgermiester and his guards. In doing so, she soon falls in love with Kris.
She was voiced by the late , the late , the late , the late , and .
==Appearance==
Jessica is a very beautiful young woman roughly the same age as Kris Kringle. She has fair skin, blue eyes and a slender figure. She has long ginger hair, which she usually ties into a bun, although during her song "My World Is Beginning Today", she lets her hair down.
Initially, she wears a navy blue dress with light blue frills and a matching sash, a bronze brooch/choker, and blue high heels. The dress later becomes more colorful after her musical number "My World Is Beginning Today" and turns a bright blue, with her sash and choker turning gold.
As she grows older, she and Kris both gain weight, and their hair changes to white and Jessica replaces her blue dress with a red one in a similar style as Santa's suit with a frilly white apron.
==Personality==
Jessica initially believed the laws of the Burgermiester were fair, but after meeting Kris, she began to have second thoughts. She believes kids should have toys and was willing to break the law to bring toys to the kids of Sombertown.
She is a very motherly figure to both the children and later the Kringles.
==Role==
Miss Jessica is introduced after Kris Kringle arrives in Sombertown for the first time after he shows kids washing their stockings toys (which were recently banned by order of the Burgermiester), where she is revealed to be the schoolteacher for the children in the town. She initially follows the law and believes toys are immoral and condemns Kris for bringing them to the town. However, Kris presents her a China Doll made just for her as a "peace offering", where she then has second thoughts about the Burgermiester's law and willingly hands out toys to the children.
Later on, after Kris escapes the Burgermiester and befriends the Winter Warlock, Jessica calls for Kris's help and tells him that the Burgermiester had destroyed all the toys he had brought to the children. She also tells him that the children of Sombertown have sent him letters requesting for more toys. Kris tells her that he is willing to help out, but also asks her to remind them that he knows if they've been bad or good and tells them to be good for goodness sake. Jessica is flattered by his words and kisses him.
Later, Jessica learns that after Kris outsmarted the Burgermiester several times, the latter states that he will set up a trap to capture Kris and bring an end to his criminal acts. She tries to warn Kris'sfriends about the trap, but they are all arrested for being accomplices to "Public Enemy #1". In turn, Kris and his penguin friend Topper are also captured and arrested.
Jessica begs the Burgermiester to release him, promising that they will never do their criminal acts again, but the Burgermiester refuses. She then comes to the conclusion that her whole town has turned against her and realizes deep down she cares about Kris.
After singing "My World Is Beginning Today", he asks the Winter Warlock if there is anything that can help her get Kris and his friends out of the dungeon, but the Winter Warlock only offers unless magic trinkets that have lost their magical powers, however when he presents magic feeding corn that makes reindeer fly, Jessica gets an idea. She feeds the corn to eight reindeer in the Winter Mountains and has them break Kris and his friends out of the dungeon.
After the jailbreak, the Kringles' toy workshop is burned down. Kris decides that Sombertown is no longer safe and he decides that everyone should move north to avoid being captured again. In the process, Kris grows a beard, and changes his name to Santa Claus to avoid arousing suspicion from the Burgermiester's guards. Knowing that he and Jessica are in love, he asks her to marry him, which she gladly accepts. At their wedding, which happened to fall on December 24th, Kris, Jessica and the Kringles place decorations on a group of trees and line the trunks with gifts containing the surviving Kringle toys and Kris and Jessica's wedding gifts; the Winter Warlock uses the last of his magic to light the surrounding environment, creating the first Christmas trees.
After the wedding, Kris, Jessica, and their friends travel to the North Pole and construct a castle and workshop. Knowing that he is still an outlaw, Kris only delivers toys at night. Eventually however, the Burgermiester dies and the people of Sombertown decide to get rid of the outrageous law he created.
Eventually, when Kris and Jessica start to age, Kris feels that he no longer has to make so many trips a year, so he and Jessica decide to limit his journey to one day a year: December 24th, their wedding anniversary, a decision they continue to do.
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