Miracle on 34th Street (1947 Film)

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Miracle on 34th Street (initially released as The Big Heart in the United Kingdom) is a 1947 American Christmas comedy-drama film released by 20th Century-Fox, written and directed by George Seaton and based on a story by Valentine Davies. It stars Maureen O’Hara, John Payne, Natalie Wood, and Edmund Gwenn. The story takes place between Thanksgiving and Christmas in New York City, and focuses on the effect of a department store Santa Claus who claims to be the real Santa. The film has become a perennial Christmas favorite.

Miracle on 34th Street won three Academy Awards: Gwenn for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Valentine Davies for Best Writing, Original Story, and George Seaton for Best Writing, Screenplay. The film was nominated for Best Picture, losing to Gentleman’s Agreement. In 2005, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant”. The Academy Film Archive preserved Miracle on 34th Street in 2009.

Davies also wrote a short novelization of the tale, which was published by Harcourt Brace simultaneously with the film’s release.

Plot

On the morning of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, the man playing Santa Claus is drunk. An old man named Kris Kringle discovers this and indignantly complains to event director Doris Walker. Noticing that Kris resembles Santa Claus, Doris persuades Kris to play Santa in the parade himself. Kris is well received and is subsequently hired to play Santa at Macy’s New York City store on 34th Street.

The toy department head, Mr. Shellhammer, instructs Kris to recommend overstocked items to undecided shoppers. Instead, Kris directs a woman to another store to fulfill her son’s Christmas request. Impressed, the woman informs Shellhammer that she will become a loyal Macy’s customer.

Attorney Fred Gailey, Doris’s neighbor, takes Doris’s daughter, Susan, to see Santa. After hearing Kris speak Dutch to an orphan girl from the Netherlands, Susan is amazed. Doris, who has raised Susan to not believe in fairy tales, asks Kris to tell Susan “the truth”, but Kris insists that he really is Santa Claus.

Worried, Doris decides to fire Kris, but R. H. Macy, the store’s owner, promises bonuses to Doris and Shellhammer because of the positive publicity Kris has given the store. To alleviate Doris’s misgivings, Shellhammer suggests Granville Sawyer administer a “psychological evaluation”. After doing so, Sawyer is convinced Kris has a grandiose delusion and insists for Kris to be fired and put in a mental institution. Meanwhile, Susan shows Kris a magazine photo of her dream house and tells him she wants it for Christmas. Kris promises to do his best.

In the company cafeteria, young employee Alfred tells Kris that Sawyer convinced him that he is unstable simply because he enjoys dressing as Santa Claus. Kris immediately confronts Sawyer, eventually striking him on the head with an umbrella. Sawyer, outraged, brings Kris to Bellevue Hospital. Tricked into cooperating and believing Doris to be in on the deception, Kris deliberately fails his examination and is recommended for permanent commitment. However, Fred persuades Kris not to give up and represents him in court.

At a hearing before Judge Henry X. Harper, District Attorney Thomas Mara gets Kris to assert that he is Santa Claus and rests his case, asking Harper to rule that Santa does not exist. In private, Harper’s political adviser, Charlie Halloran, warns him that doing so would be disastrous for his upcoming reelection bid. Harper buys time by hearing further evidence. Fred calls Macy as a witness and gets him to admit that he believes Santa Claus exists. Macy then fires Sawyer. Next, Fred calls Mara’s own young son, who testifies that his father told him that Santa is real. Mara concedes the point, but goes on to demand that Fred prove that Kris is “the one and only” Santa Claus on the basis of a competent authority by the following day.

Meanwhile, Susan writes Kris a letter to cheer him up, which Doris also signs. When a New York Post Office mail sorter sees Susan’s letter, addressed to Kris at the New York courthouse, he suggests delivering all of the dead letters addressed to Santa Claus to Kris and freeing up storage space. As court resumes, Fred, having failed to find support from any other authority, is informed of the mail delivery; he argues that the Post Office, a branch of the U.S. federal government, has acknowledged that Kris is the one and only Santa Claus by delivering the letters. When the judge insists on seeing the letters, postal employees bring multiple heavy bags of letters to Harper’s desk. Harper dismisses the case.

Kris invites Fred, Doris and Susan to a Christmas Day celebration at the facility where he resides, the Brooks’ Memorial Home for the Aged. Susan is sad because what she asked for is not under the tree and loses faith in Kris when he admits he was unable to get her the house she wanted. However, after Kris offers Fred and Doris a route home that avoids traffic, Susan sees her dream house with a “For Sale” sign out front; Susan becomes ecstatic and runs through the house. Fred learns that Doris had encouraged Susan to have faith and suggests they get married and purchase the house. Fred and Doris then see a cane in the house that looks like a cane Kris owns. They both begin to ponder whether Kris really is Santa Claus.

Watch the movie (1947)

Cast

• Maureen O’Hara as Doris Walker
• John Payne as Fred Gailey
• Edmund Gwenn as Kris Kringle
• Gene Lockhart as the Hon. Henry X. Harper
• Natalie Wood as Susan Walker
• Porter Hall as Granville Sawyer
• William Frawley as Charlie Halloran
• Jerome Cowan as District Attorney Thomas Mara
• Philip Tonge as Julian Shellhammer

Uncredited roles

• Jack Albertson as “Al”, the post office mail sorter
• Harry Antrim as R. H. Macy
• Lela Bliss as Mrs. Shellhammer
• Jeff Corey as reporter
• Mary Field as Dutch girl’s adoptive mother
• William Forrest as Dr. Rogers at Bellevue
• Alvin Greenman as Alfred
• Theresa Harris as Cleo, the Walkers’ maid/housekeeper
• Percy Helton as drunken Santa Claus
• Herbert Heyes as Mr. Gimbel
• Robert Karnes as 2nd Bellevue intern
• Snub Pollard as mail-bearing court officer
• Thelma Ritter as Peter’s mother
• James Seay as Dr. Pierce, physician at the Brooks’ Memorial Home for the Aged

Production

The original trailer for Miracle on 34th Street omitted any mention of its Christmas themes.

Throughout the process of getting this script accepted by the PCA, the movie underwent multiple title changes, starting as My Heart Tells Me and then progressing into The Big Heart, It’s Only Human, and Meet Me at Dawn, and finally ending with the name Miracle on 34th Street. These title changes all happened within a four-month period. These title changes occurred while the filmmakers were fixing any other discrepancies that the PCA required them to fix before the production of the film could begin.

O’Hara was initially reluctant to take the role, having recently moved back to post-war Ireland. She immediately changed her mind after reading the script and came back to the United States for the film.

John Payne was on suspension at the studio and took the role to get back into work. However, it was his last film for Fox.

Cecil Kellaway turned down the role of Kris Kringle, which eventually went to his cousin Edmund Gwenn.

Miracle on 34th Street was shot on location in New York City, with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade sequences filmed live while the 1946 parade was happening. “It was a mad scramble to get all the shots we needed, and we got to do each scene only once,” Maureen O’Hara recalled in her memoir. “It was bitterly cold that day, and Edmund and I envied Natalie (Wood) and John Payne, who were watching the parade from a window.”

Arthur Jacobson, assistant director, filmed the Macy’s Parade on Thanksgiving morning with nine cameras simultaneously. He said he “plunked actors Edmund Gwenn and Natalie Wood in the department store cafeteria line during a weekday lunch-rush”. When Maureen O’Hara requested a special police escort for a Christmas shopping spree through Macy’s he said, “I know New Yorkers. They aren’t going to pay any attention to you. And don’t wear a bandanna around your head or dark glasses. Just be normal.”

Although the film is set during the Christmas season, studio head Darryl F. Zanuck, who apparently didn’t like the film, insisted that it be released in May, arguing that more people go to the movies in warmer weather. The studio rushed to promote it while keeping its Christmas setting a secret. Fox’s promotional trailer depicted a fictional producer roaming the studio backlot and encountering such stars as Rex Harrison, Anne Baxter, Peggy Ann Garner, and Dick Haymes extolling the virtues of the film. In addition, the movie posters prominently featured O’Hara and Payne, with Gwenn’s character kept in the background. The film opened in New York City at the Roxy Theatre on June 4, 1947. By contrast, modern home video packaging has Gwenn and Wood dominating the imagery, with the DVD release having Kringle in his Santa Claus costume.

Reception

Critical reception

Miracle on 34th Street mostly received positive reviews from critics. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times said: “For all those blasé skeptics who do not believe in Santa Claus—and likewise for all those natives who have grown cynical about New York—but most especially for all those patrons who have grown weary of the monotonies of the screen, let us heartily recommend the Roxy’s new picture, Miracle on 34th Street. As a matter of fact, let’s go further: let’s catch its spirit and heartily proclaim that it is the freshest little picture in a long time, and maybe even the best comedy of this year.” A critic for the BBC called it “a clever and deeply original story, that remains true and confident in direction, while delivering considerable charm all the while.”

The film is considered by many to be one of the best films of 1947, and it has been dubbed a “Christmas classic” by several publications. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 96% based on reviews from 52 critics, with an average rating of 8.5/10. The website’s critics consensus reads, “Irrefutable proof that gentle sentimentalism can be the chief ingredient in a wonderful film, Miracle on 34th Street delivers a warm holiday message without resorting to treacle.”

The Catholic Legion of Decency gave the movie a “B”, “morally objectionable in part” rating. This was mainly due to the fact that O’Hara portrayed a divorcée in the film.

Accolades

Gwenn won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Valentine Davies for Best Writing, Original Story and George Seaton for Best Writing, Screenplay. The film was nominated for Best Picture, losing to Gentleman’s Agreement.

American Film Institute lists:

• AFI’s 10 Top 10 – #5 Fantasy Film
• AFI’s 100 Years…100 Cheers – #9

In 2005, Miracle on 34th Street was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

Home media and colorization

Miracle on 34th Street was first released on VHS and LaserDisc in 1987.

In 1985, it became one of the first full-length black and white films to be colorized. The 4½-month process was carried out by Color Systems Technology, Inc. In 1993, this version was released on VHS and LaserDisc, and was followed four years later by a “50th Anniversary Edition” on both formats, remastered by THX.

The first DVD release was in October 1999, featuring the original version alongside the original theatrical trailer and a TV spot. In November 2006, it was re-released as a two-disc “Special Edition” DVD, with disc one containing an “all new colorized version” carried out by Legend Films. The second disc had the original version and numerous extras, including The 20th Century Fox Hour‘s 1955 TV remake. Both discs also included a full-length audio commentary by Maureen O’Hara. The B&W disc has since been re-released several times, including in a pairing with the 1994 remake.

In October 2009, 20th Century Fox released the B&W version on Blu-ray with all previous extras, bar the TV remake.

In 2017, the film was restored in 4K resolution; so far this version is only available via DCP.

Remake

A 1994 feature film starred Richard Attenborough, Elizabeth Perkins, Dylan McDermott, J. T. Walsh, Timothy Shea, James Remar, Jane Leeves, Simon Jones, William Windom and Mara Wilson. It was adapted by John Hughes from the Seaton script, and directed by Les Mayfield. Due to Macy’s refusal to give permission to use its name, it was replaced by the fictitious “Cole’s”. “We feel the original stands on its own and could not be improved upon,” said Laura Melillo, a spokeswoman for Macy’s. Gimbels no longer existed by 1994 so its name was replaced by the name of the fictional “Shopper’s Express”. Alvin Greenman (Alfred in the original version) played a doorman. The 1994 remake of the film had a more serious tone than the original 1947 film had and a large portion of the plot was rewritten, although the majority of both the plot and the characters remained intact. The 1994 film also added a subtext which described concerns about religious faith.

Miracle on 34th Street (1994 film)

Miracle on 34th Street is a 1994 American Christmas fantasy comedy-drama film directed by Les Mayfield and produced and co-written by John Hughes. The film stars Richard Attenborough, Elizabeth Perkins, Dylan McDermott, J. T. Walsh, James Remar, Mara Wilson, and Robert Prosky. It is the first theatrical remake of the original 1947 film. Like the original, this film was released by 20th Century Fox.

Plot

Prior to the Thanksgiving parade, Cole’s Department Store’s special events director Dorey Walker fires Tony Falacchi, an employee working as the store’s Santa Claus when the latter becomes intoxicated. Immediately trying to find a replacement, she spots an elderly man who had been berating Falacchi and begs him to take over; the man introduces himself as Kris Kringle. Kris does so well during the parade that he is immediately hired by Cole’s, despite his apparent belief that he is the real Santa Claus.

Kris is lauded by the children and parents who come to visit him, and his unusual proclivity to direct shoppers to other stores where toys can be bought more cheaply is turned into a successful marketing campaign for Cole’s. The sudden turnaround of Cole’s, which had only recently survived a hostile takeover bid by Victor Landberg, enrages executives at rival firm Shopper’s Express, who are led by Jack Duff.

Dorey has persuaded her six-year-old daughter, Susan, that Santa Claus does not exist, and is concerned by Kris’s influence on her. Dorey’s neighbor, attorney Bryan Bedford, does his best to convince Susan to believe. While being babysat one night by Kris, Susan shares with him her Christmas wish: she would like a dad, a house pictured in the Cole’s Christmas catalogue, and a baby brother. Kris asks if she would begin to believe in Santa if she got all those things, and Susan agrees that she would. The same night, Bryan proposes to Dorey, who rejects his offer and leaves.

Landberg and Duff realize that Kris believes himself to be Santa Claus and lead a plot to destroy his credibility. Duff and his fellow executives pay Falacchi to antagonize Kris in the street and feign an injury when Kris raises his walking stick, leading to Kris’s arrest. Bryan provides Kris with legal support and arranges for a court hearing where Kris can make his case. Dorey convinces the chairman of Cole’s to show solidarity with Kris, drumming up support from the public. At the court hearing, prosecutor Ed Collins makes the case that Kris is mentally unfit for society, allowing him to state to the court that he is the real Santa Claus.

The night before Christmas Eve, Judge Henry Harper privately confides to Bryan that despite Kris’s genuine goodwill, he feels constrained to declare him insane, unless a miracle happens. The next morning, just before he can announce his ruling, Susan approaches the judge with a Christmas card containing a $1 bill. On the back, the words In God We Trust are circled. The judge realizes that if the US Department of Treasury can put its official faith in God on US currency with no required standard of evidence, then the people of New York can place their faith in Santa Claus in the same way. Judge Harper dismisses the case, declaring that Santa is real, existing in the person of Kris Kringle.

Following the court case, Dorey and Bryan are maneuvered by Kris into realizing their true feelings for each other, and are married in a small ceremony after the Christmas Eve Midnight Mass at St Francis Church of New York.

On Christmas morning, Susan wakes to the news of the marriage and is elated to find that she has received one part of her Christmas wish. Together, Susan, Dorey, and Bryan drive out to the catalogue house and find that Kris – who has now departed ‘overseas’ – has arranged for them to purchase it, which they can now afford due to the size of Dorey’s Christmas bonus.

With two of Susan’s wishes fulfilled, Dorey asks her what the third one was, and she triumphantly announces that it was a baby brother. Dorey and Bryan both look at each other, shocked, before glancing down at Dorey’s stomach and sharing a kiss.

Watch the movie (1994)

Cast

• Richard Attenborough as Kris Kringle
• Elizabeth Perkins as Dorey Walker
• Dylan McDermott as Bryan Bedford
• J. T. Walsh as Ed Collins
• James Remar as Jack Duff
• Mara Wilson as Susan Walker
• Robert Prosky as Judge Henry Harper
• Jane Leeves as Alberta Leonard
• Simon Jones as Donald Shellhammer
• William Windom as C. F. Cole
• Katherine Narducci as the mother
• Mary McCormack as Myrna Foy
• Alvin Greenman as the doorman
• Allison Janney as a brazen woman shopper in Cole’s Christmas Shopping Center
• Greg Noonan is credited as Cmdr. Coulson, though the character is addressed as Col. Colson
• Byrne Piven as Dr. Hunter
• Peter Gerety as a cop
• Jack McGee as Tony Falacchi
• Jennifer Morrison as Denise
• Horatio Sanz as an orderly
• Ron Beattie as a priest
• Joss Ackland as Victor Landberg (uncredited), the owner of a competing store who is eager to see Cole’s go out of business so he can buy out the facility and extend his market

Various newscasters portrayed by Rosanna Scotto, Joe Moskowitz, Lester Holt, Susie Park, and Janet Kauss

Production

In November 1993, it was announced John Hughes would be writing and producing a remake of Miracle on 34th Street for 20th Century Studios for release during the 1994 Holiday season. Voicing his motivations for the remake, Hughes stated he wanted to explore the concept of Kris Kringle coming back to modern times while also carefully handling such a cherished classic. Later that month, Les Mayfield was hired to direct the film. Fox had previously sought out Mayfield to direct John Hughes’ produced Baby’s Day Out, but due to a contract with Disney wasn’t able to accept According to Richard Attenborough, Mara Wilson‘s character of Susan Walker was written as a boy in Hughes’ initial draft. Much of the filming took place in Chicago.

The New York City based Macy’s department store declined any involvement with this remake, saying “we feel the original stands on its own and could not be improved upon”, despite the fact Macy’s allowed their name to be used in prior remakes in 1955, 1959, and 1973. This led to the production creating the fictitious “Cole’s” as its replacement which despite the name change was analogous to Macy’s including filming the Cole’s parade at 77th Street and Central Park West which is the starting point for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and 34th Street only has one major department store, Macy’s. Gimbels had ceased operations in 1987; hence it was replaced by the fictional “Shopper’s Express”.

Release

The film had its premiere at Radio City Music Hall on November 15, 1994 with a 30-minute stage show with scenes from The Radio City Christmas Spectacular featuring The Rockettes as well as a performance from Kenny G.

Reception

At the box office, the film opened at #8 with $2,753,208 and eventually finished with $17,320,136 in North America and $46,264,384 worldwide.

Despite unimpressive box office, the film had a successful run on home video where thanks to 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment‘s strategy of lowering their price in comparison to other family oriented home video releases, Miracle on 34th Street sold an estimated 8 million videocassettes on its debut on home video with estimates of roughly four to-five times its box office gross.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 60% based on reviews from 35 critics, with an average rating of 6.2/10. TV Guide called the film “curiously depressing”, while Desson Howe of The Washington Post said, in contrast to the 1947 version, “[it] will not be found on television (or its computer equivalent) half a century from now.” Its supporters included Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, who gave the film “two thumbs up” on their show. Michael Medved of Sneak Previews said “This is the new holiday classic America has been waiting for.”

Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of “A” on an A+ to F scale.

Soundtrack

Track listing

In other media

There are numerous remakes of the movie, as well as a Broadway musical.

Radio

Lux Radio Theatre aired a one-hour adaptation of the movie on three occasions: on December 22, 1947, which starred the original cast including Natalie Wood; on December 20, 1948, without Natalie Wood’s participation; and on December 21, 1954. There were also two broadcasts on Screen Directors Playhouse: as a half-hour play on December 23, 1949; and then as a one-hour play on December 21, 1950. All of these adaptations had Edmund Gwenn reprising his screen role.

It was adapted for Australian radio in 1954 as There is a Santa Claus with a script by Morris West.

Theatre

A 1963 Broadway musical version, entitled Here’s Love, was written by Meredith Willson.

The novella was adapted into a stage play by Will Severin, Patricia Di Benedetto Snyder and John Vreeke in 2000. It is a favorite in many community and regional theaters during the Christmas season. The characters’ names are those used in the novella, and the stage setting is distinctly late 1940s. Production rights are held by Samuel French, Inc.

Television

A 1955 one-hour television adaptation of the movie starred Thomas Mitchell as Kris, Macdonald Carey as Fred, Teresa Wright as Doris, and Sandy Descher as Susan. This version did not show the drunken Santa at all. Titled The Miracle on 34th Street, it originally aired as an episode of The 20th Century Fox Hour. It was later re-run as “Meet Mr. Kringle”.

Ed Wynn played Kris in a 1959 television adaptation of the movie. Also featured was Orson Bean. It was broadcast live and in color on NBC the day after Thanksgiving. NBC made a kinescope of the program, probably for broadcasting opening night on the West Coast. The copy was in a large collection of kinescopes donated by NBC to the Library of Congress and later unearthed by Richard Finegan, who reported his experiences in the December 2005 issue of Classic Images.

A 1973 television version featured Jane Alexander, David Hartman, Roddy McDowall, Sebastian Cabot as Kris (without his natural beard; he was forced to shave and wear a false beard for the role), Suzanne Davidson, Jim Backus, David Doyle and Tom Bosley. It was adapted by Jeb Rosebrook from the George Seaton screenplay, and directed by Fielder Cook. Mrs. Walker’s first name is changed to Karen in this version. This would prove to be the final version in which the department store was Macy’s. David Doyle, who played R. H. Macy in this version, had played Mr. Sawyer in the original Broadway cast of Here’s Love 10 years earlier.

Miracle on 34th Street (1973 film)

Miracle on 34th Street is a 1973 American made-for-television Christmas comedy-drama fantasy film directed by Fielder Cook. It is the third remake of the original 1947 film. Like the original, this film was produced by 20th Century Fox. Additionally, the New York City-based Macy’s department store allowed their name to be used in this film, unlike the later version.

Plot

When an old man spies the department store Santa Claus getting drunk before taking part in the Macy’s Thanksgiving parade, he immediately complains to Karen Walker, the parade director. She fires her Santa, and the old man, who is named Kris Kringle, volunteers to take his place for the children’s sake. Kris does so well that he is hired to be the store’s main Santa for the holidays. At the same time, Karen’s daughter, Susan, an intelligent but cynical six-year-old, meets her new neighbor, Bill Schafner, a lawyer, and decides to try and hook him up with her mother.

Kris, to the horror of Mr. Shellhammer, sends customers to other stores if they cannot find what they are looking for. The public embraces his actions as a goodwill marketing campaign and sales skyrocket, leading the profit-obsessed Mr. Macy to pursue the campaign. However, Karen and Shellhammer learn that Kris believes himself to actually be Santa, a fact they frantically try to hide from their boss.

The store’s psychiatrist, Dr. Sawyer, initially takes Kris on as a fascinating case study, but Kris’s belief that it is Sawyer who has the problem makes him an enemy. Kris finds a kindred spirit in the janitor, Alfred, who gets joy out of dressing as Santa at the local YMCA every year. He also learns that Susan has been raised to not believe in Santa Claus or possess an imagination, two things he intends to correct. Susan herself is further convinced of his authenticity because he has a real beard and speaks Spanish to a young girl who does not speak English.

Through their friendship with Kris, who becomes Bill’s roommate, Bill becomes closer to Karen, who is overworked and looking for companionship, and Susan begins to learn the value of imagination. She eventually asks Kris to get her a new house for Christmas to prove that he is Santa, and later for help in ensuring Bill becomes her new father. Kris eventually passes the word on to Bill, who arranges for a real estate contract for Karen for a similar house and insists she buy the house for Susan’s sake.

Sawyer antagonizes Kris to the point that Kris throws a pie in his face in the lunchroom. Reluctantly, Karen agrees to allow Sawyer to evaluate him again. After Kris helps Alfred with his yearly Santa Claus routine, Dr. Sawyer confronts him and lies to Kris and tells him that Karen believes him to be a menace. In light of this, Kris deliberately fails every one of his tests at Bellevue, leading to the hospital recommending his commitment.

Kris reveals to Bill that he intends for Bill to get him off, making Bill realize that Kris wants to prove to the world that he is Santa Claus. Bill agrees, and a commitment hearing begins. Judge Henry Harper and D.A. Thomas Mara reluctantly move forward despite the terrible press it is giving their political ambitions.

During the hearing, Mr. Macy is placed on the stand and, contemplating the bad publicity if he declared his own Santa a fraud, he says he believes in Kris and fires Sawyer. Similarly, Harper and Mara are eventually pressed to declare that Santa Claus is real, but the D.A. demands that Bill prove Kris is the one and only Santa Claus.

Bill and Karen are about to give up when Susan gives Bill a letter to pass on to Kris, and Bill realizes that hundreds of children write to Santa every year. He quickly manipulates the court to recognize the authority of the Postal Service, and arranges for the post office to deliver all of Santa’s mail to the court. Harper dismisses the case in Kris’s favor (and quietly slips a letter of his own into the pile).

At the celebration at the memorial home, Susan loses faith in Kris when she does not get her house. However, on the way back into New York, Bill and Karen drive past the house she asked for, leading Susan to rush inside and find it even has the swing she asked for. As Karen and Bill discover Kris’s distinctive cane, they realize he made the arrangements and declare their love for each other.

Cast

• Sebastian Cabot as Kris Kringle
• Jane Alexander as Karen Walker
• David Hartman as Bill Schaffner
• Roddy McDowall as Dr. Henry Sawyer
• Suzanne Davidson as Susan Walker
• Jim Backus as Horace Shellhammer
• Barry Greenberg as Alfred
• David Doyle as R.H. Macy
• Tom Bosley as Judge Henry X. Harper
• James Gregory as Deputy District Attorney Thomas J. Mara
• Roland Winters as Mr. Gimbel
• Liam Dunn as Mr. Tucker
• Conrad Janis as Dr. Pierce
• Ellen Weston as Celeste
• Jason Wingreen as Halloran
• Burt Mustin as Roy

Production

Though Sebastian Cabot was known for having a beard at the time the film was made, he instead shaved it off and wore a false beard for this role due to the make-up artists failing at whitening his natural beard. Notably, the dialog in which Susan discovers his beard is real is still kept.

Natalie Wood, who played Susan in the original film, was originally offered the role of Karen Walker, with the idea that her real life daughter would play Susan and Robert Wagner, her husband at the time, would play Bill Schaffer. Wood declined due to concerns over her daughter being too young to start acting.

The film was very clearly shot during the summer as many outdoor shots depict lush, green trees.

Critical reception

In The New York Times, Howard Thompson wondered why a network would bother to remake a seasonal favourite like the original movie, but opined “it has matched the Hollywood film very nicely…Norman Rosemont’s expansive production has real seasonal gleam.” The reviewer praised a “winning cast,” especially Sebastian Cabot: “charming,” although “No Santa, of course, could match the gentle whimsey of the late Edmund Gwenn in the movie,” concluding that “Two good “Miracles” should make the season merrier.”

Puppets

In 2012, the flagship Macy’s Department Store at Herald Square in New York City featured a 30-minute puppet version of the story within its Santaland display, featuring the voices of Broadway stars Brian Stokes Mitchell and Victoria Clark.

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