HOLIDAY HOUSE CALL DR. CHRISTMAS SPECIALIZES IN DECOR.

Byline: Brent Hopkins Staff Writer

If snarled strings of tree lights get you down and your efforts at decorating your home for the holidays fizzle, call ``Dr. Christmas,'' who for $3,000 to $70,000 can create a wonderland old St. Nicholas would admire.

With a clientele that includes Hollywood celebrities, hotel magnate Barron Hilton and even Ronald and Nancy Reagan, the Burbank firm's Bob Pranga and Debi Staron know how to do Christmas right.

From hanging antique lights and tree decorations for a party catered for friends and families to festooning a mansion with Santa, reindeer and singing elves to set the scene for a party for hundreds, Dr. Christmas is prepared to provide season's greeting with the hassle.

``We'll spend as much of your money as you like,'' Staron said with a chuckle.

``It usually goes back to your childhood, either what you had then, or what you didn't have. If you were deprived as a kid and have the opportunity when you make some money in Hollywood, why not?

``It's the spirit of Christmas - sure it costs money, but it's a nice thing to do for people.''

For Pranga and Staron, Christmas doesn't come but once a year - it is the year. They started in the Christmas decoration business 17 years ago and developed a wealthy clientele over the years along with a warehouse filled with decorations.

Now, they're making merry year-round renting out props to the entertainment industry the rest of the time.

Since last summer's launch of the prop-rental portion of the firm, Dr. Christmas has kept busy with holiday episodes of ``Days of Our Lives,'' ``Ally McBeal'' and ``The Ellen Show.'' It also anticipates picking up movie work when winter pictures begin shooting in January and catalog gigs when advertising photo shoots get under way in July.

Sure, it's an unusual line of work, Pranga concedes, but one that has served him well. With clients' bills running at astronomical levels for decoration, and movie studios filling his coffers for the new prop business, the holidays prove to be perpetually lucrative.

``My friends laugh at me, but Christmas is something you can depend on,'' Pranga said en route to a decoration spot. ``No matter what the situation is with the economy, or what's going on in the world, Christmas still happens. It's bigger than all that.''

On the decoration side, things are going very strongly. Pranga and Staron still deck the halls of longtime clients for a more reasonable price - beginning at $3,000.

Prices vary dramatically, as do the extent of services rendered. Pranga still gussies up his longtime clients' more-modest houses for nothing more than a home-cooked meal. For those with the money, he'll install multiple trees, provide rare ornaments, string yard after yard of lights - on par with Macy's famed Herald Square display, Pranga says.

Once the season closes, he returns to take everything down, inventory it and put it away until next December. And he's on call, 24 hours a day throughout the whole month, hence the doctor moniker.

The firm's clientele now skews toward the rich and famous. To these fans, dropping many thousands on their Christmas display isn't quite such a foreign notion.

That's how actor Martin Mull sees it. Though initially skeptical of having someone else handle his ornament work, Mull became quick to sign up for Dr. Christmas' full-coverage plan.

``Last year, we did such a bad job on the tree, we had to go at it with garden shears to chop the lights off,'' he recalled, not-so-wistfully. ``It feels a little strange at first, like you don't have enough spirit by doing it yourself, but the fact of the matter is that they come in with so much Christmas spirit, it feels like when I was growing up.''

The major selling point to Mull, featured on ``The Ellen Show'' as Mr. Munn, was the convenience. Dr. Christmas comped him the service this year, but he plans on returning next year as a paying customer.

``There are so many aspects of Christmas that are a pain in the backside - parking, shopping, trying to figure our what the hell to buy Uncle Al and Aunt Harriet,'' Mull said. ``If trimming the tree is one of those things, that gives you a bad taste in your mouth right from the get go. It's nice not to have to worry about it.''

And though the greater economic scene is a tough one this year, Dr. Christmas has seen big business. By attracting a local celebrity following, the company can endure even the worst times handsomely.

Here in La-La Land, economic guru Jack Kyser said, Christmas entertaining has an entirely different feeling. Having a shabby little tree with a few cheap-o ornaments simply will not do in the world where glittering premiers abound.

``With the entertainment industry, you may not want to spend $70,000 on your Christmas tree, but you have to keep up appearances,'' Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp., said.

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

(color) Debi Staron and Bob Pranga of Burbank's Dr. Christmas have made holiday decor an art and a year-round business.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News

Box:

Hall-Decking Hints

SOURCE: Dr. Christmas