109-year-old Santa Rosa man appears in Ripley’s Believe It or Not! video

Art Janssen, born in Santa Rosa in 1909, appears in a Believe It or Not! video and is in the Christmas parade to air on the CW Network on Friday night.|
CHRIS SMITH
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Editor's Note: Art Janssen died Friday afternoon at 109. Press Democrat columnist Chris Smith will write about Janssen and his incredible life for his upcoming Sunday column.

His 15 minutes of well-deserved fame continues for Santa Rosa's oldest man, 109-year-old Art Janssen.

Just weeks after Janssen appeared in the Hollywood Christmas Parade as a guest of Ripley's Believe It or Not! he stars in new a video produced by Ripley Entertainment, Inc.

The Hollywood parade will be broadcast at 8 p.m. Friday on the CW Network.

Ripley Entertainment invited Janssen to ride in its parade entry because the company, which operates the Believe It or Not! museums and other attractions, is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the comic strip by Santa Rosa native Robert Ripley, which features odd and astonishing and even freakish facts and phenomena from around the world.

The people from Ripley Entertainment found it amazing that a 109-year-old man born in Robert Ripley's hometown would help them celebrate the anniversary by riding in their parade entry.

Janssen was roundly cheered as he rode in a classic Rolls-Royce convertible during the parade, held on the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

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