“ | Toys Are Herely Declared Illegal Immoral Unlawful and Anyone found with a toy in his possession will be placed under arrest and thrown in the dungeon | ” |
— Burgermeister Miesterburger |
“ | We Meisterburgers shall hunt them down throughout the land! Those rebels will not have one moment's peace, until they are captured again! (Laughing) | ” |
— Burgermeister Meisterburger swearing to hunt down Kringle and his family. |
Burgermeister Meisterburger is the main antagonist of Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town. He is the mayor of Sombertown and the source of its misery. In the beginning of the film, he rejects a baby Claus and sends him to the orphanage. Years later, he passes a law that declares toys to be illegal after he trips on one. This puts him at odds with Claus, or rather, Kris Kringle, when he starts delivering toys to Sombertown. He eventually succeeds in capturing Kris, the other Kringles, and the Winter Warlock, but Ms. Jessika manages to free them with the help of the flying reindeer. Meisterburger then declares the Kringles to be outlaws and vows that he and his descendants will never stop hunting them down. But as time went by, things changed. The Meisterburgers eventually died off and fell out of power, and the people of Sombertown realized how silly their laws were, while Kris, or rather, Santa Claus becomes more beloved. For all of his demands and huffing and puffing, the Burgermeister merely becomes the sand in the oyster's shell, the obstreperous irritant that produced a legend loved by children everywhere, while he becomes nothing more than a distant memory in vain.