44 Fun Facts About Miracle on 34th Street

In the 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street, who plays Kris Kringle?

Edmund Gwenn made the part his own, returning to play Kris five more times on radio between 1947 and 1954; Hitchcock later cast him in The Trouble with Harry.

How does Kris end up in the red suit at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade?

Kris finds the hired man is drunk and complains to Doris Walker, who puts him in the suit on the spot; he does so well that Macy's hires him for the store.

In the 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street, which actress plays Susan's mother, Doris Walker?

Maureen O'Hara had only just got back to Ireland after the war when Fox summoned her; reluctant at first, she changed her mind once she read the script.

Which child star plays the sceptical Susan Walker in the 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street?

Natalie Wood was eight and won acclaim in the part; she went on from child stardom to adult stardom in Rebel Without a Cause and West Side Story.

Why does Kris deliberately fail his mental examination in Miracle on 34th Street (1947)?

He thinks Doris betrayed him: tricked into the examination, Kris believes she was in on Sawyer's scheme and gives up, until Fred persuades him to fight his commitment in court.

What convinces Susan that Kris might really be Santa, when she watches him with a little orphan girl?

He speaks Dutch to her, an orphan from the Netherlands; Doris has raised Susan not to believe in fairy tales, so it is the first crack in her scepticism.

Which branch of the federal government does Fred cite in court as recognising Kris as Santa Claus?

The Post Office delivered sacks of letters addressed to Santa Claus to Kris at the courthouse, and Fred argues that a federal agency has thereby recognised him as the one and only Santa.

Which witness at the hearing testifies that Santa Claus is real because his own father told him so?

The DA's young son takes the stand and says his father told him Santa Claus is real, so the prosecutor concedes the point rather than contradict himself in open court.

What do Fred and Doris spot inside the house Susan wanted for Christmas in the final scene?

A cane like Kris's is leaning inside the empty house, and Fred, fresh from his courtroom win, begins to wonder whether the old man really is Santa Claus after all.

Why does Judge Harper hesitate to rule against Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street (1947)?

He is up for re-election, and his adviser Charlie Halloran warns that such a ruling would be disastrous at the polls, so Harper buys time by hearing more evidence.

After testifying in Miracle on 34th Street (1947), what does Mr. Macy do to store psychologist Granville Sawyer?

Fires him: called as Fred's witness, Macy admits under oath that he believes in Santa Claus, then sacks the psychologist whose scheming put Kris in court.

George Seaton directed the 1947 Miracle on 34th Street and won an Oscar for which other job on it?

Writing the screenplay: Seaton adapted a story by Valentine Davies, who won a separate Oscar for it and turned it into a short novel published as the film came out.

How did Miracle on 34th Street (1947) film its parade scenes?

Live on the day, Thanksgiving 1946: Macy's let the cameras in on condition the parade never stopped, so every shot had to be caught in a single take.

Darryl F. Zanuck opened the Christmas film Miracle on 34th Street in warm weather, arguing what?

Audiences were bigger then, Zanuck reasoned: more people went to the movies in warm weather, so Fox's campaign never let on that it was a Christmas film and the posters kept Kris in the background.

In Miracle on 34th Street (1947), Macy's Santa shocks his bosses by sending shoppers to which real arch-rival store?

Gimbels was Macy's real rival, a block from its Herald Square store; 'Does Macy's tell Gimbels?' was already a national catchphrase for rivals who share nothing, which is what makes the Santa's advice so shocking.

Under what title was Miracle on 34th Street first released in the United Kingdom?

The Big Heart had been Fox's working title, one Darryl Zanuck said he was 'crazy about', before the studio settled on Miracle on 34th Street; British cinemas got the older name.

Accepting his Oscar for Miracle on 34th Street, the actor who played Kris Kringle said he now knew what?

'Now I know there's a Santa Claus,' he told the audience. Though he plays the central role, his award was for Best Supporting Actor, one of the film's three Oscars from four nominations.

Miracle on 34th Street lost the Best Picture Oscar for 1947 to which fellow nominee, another Fox film?

Gentleman's Agreement, Elia Kazan's drama starring Gregory Peck as a reporter posing as Jewish, took Best Picture for 1947, so 20th Century-Fox won either way.

Which character actress made her screen debut in Miracle on 34th Street (1947) as a mother Kris sends elsewhere?

Thelma Ritter, unbilled, plays the weary shopper who vows to become a regular Macy's customer; three years later All About Eve brought the first of her six Oscar nominations.

In 2005 Miracle on 34th Street joined which American honour roll?

The National Film Registry took it in 2005, beside Toy Story and The French Connection: quite an honour for a film the Legion of Decency had once rated 'morally objectionable in part'.

Why did the Catholic Legion of Decency rate Miracle on 34th Street 'morally objectionable in part' in 1947?

Doris is a divorcée, and the Legion's B rating came with a one-line objection: 'Reflects the acceptability of divorce.'

Where is Kris living when Miracle on 34th Street (1947) begins?

A home for the aged: Kris lives at the Brooks Memorial Home, whose doctor, Dr. Pierce, assures Macy's that his Santa delusion is harmless and suggests he lodge nearer the store.

Which figure's arrival traditionally closes the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade?

Old St. Nick, Santa Claus on his sleigh float, has closed the Macy's parade nearly every year since the first one in 1924, marking the start of the Christmas season.

The rival store in Miracle on 34th Street held its own Thanksgiving parade in which city, four years before Macy's?

Philadelphia saw the rival's store stage the first such parade in 1920, with some 50 of its own employees marching in costume; the parade outlived the store and is America's oldest Thanksgiving parade.

In the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street, who plays Kris Kringle?

Richard Attenborough had spent 14 years behind the camera, winning Oscars for Gandhi, before Jurassic Park lured him back to acting in 1993; Kris Kringle was his next role.

The 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street replaces Macy's with a fictional store called what?

Cole's stood in because Macy's refused its name, saying the original 'stands on its own and could not be improved upon'; a made-up discount chain plays the rival.

Which filmmaker co-wrote and produced the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street?

John Hughes, the writer-producer of Home Alone, filmed the parade in New York, then moved the whole production to Chicago, his adopted home town; Les Mayfield directed.

Which child actress plays Susan in the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street?

Mara Wilson, fresh from Mrs. Doubtfire, won a part that the first draft had written for a boy, as her Kris Kringle co-star told Variety; Matilda followed in 1996.

In the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street, the judge is persuaded by the words printed on what?

Susan's card to the judge holds a dollar bill with 'In God We Trust' circled; if the Treasury can put its faith in God, he reasons, New York can put its faith in Santa Claus.

Which holiday hit opened a week before the 1994 Miracle on 34th Street?

The Santa Clause had opened seven days earlier and went on to about $190 million worldwide; the remake debuted at under $3 million and finished near $46 million.

Which Broadway songwriter turned Miracle on 34th Street into the 1963 musical Here's Love?

Meredith Willson, of The Music Man, wrote the book, music and lyrics himself; Here's Love opened at the Shubert in October 1963 and is now licensed as Miracle on 34th Street: The Musical.

Here's Love pairs 'Pine Cones and Holly Berries' with which older hit?

'It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas', the composer's own 1951 hit, got a second life in the 1963 show, sung together with the newly written 'Pine Cones and Holly Berries' as one number.

Which Mary Poppins actor played Kris Kringle in NBC's live 1959 version of Miracle on 34th Street?

Ed Wynn, Uncle Albert in Mary Poppins, was a vaudeville clown newly turned serious actor: the year he played Kris also brought him an Oscar nomination for The Diary of Anne Frank.

In Miracle on 34th Street (1947), Sawyer has Kris committed to which real New York hospital?

Bellevue's psychiatric wards were so well known that its name became New York slang for an asylum; Fred has to go there to talk Kris into fighting his commitment.

Who plays Charlie Halloran, Judge Harper's adviser, in the 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street?

William Frawley had made more than 100 films when, four years later, with movie offers drying up, he was cast as the grouchy landlord Fred Mertz on I Love Lucy.

Which Macy's toy-department head first panics at Kris's policy of sending shoppers to rival stores?

Mr. Shellhammer, the toy department head, panics when Kris sends a shopper elsewhere, then beams as she vows to be a Macy's customer for life; R. H. Macy adopts the policy storewide.

Miracle on 34th Street is set between which two holidays in New York City?

Thanksgiving and Christmas bracket the story: it opens on the morning of Macy's parade and ends on Christmas Day, when Susan spots the house she wished for.

In 1985 Miracle on 34th Street became one of the first classic films to undergo which controversial process?

Colorization: a computer-tinted version appeared in 1985, one of the first for a full-length feature, and it helped stir film purists into an uproar over altering black-and-white classics.

In the 1994 remake, Susan's third Christmas wish, revealed only in the final scene, is what?

Susan's third wish is a baby brother; her other two, a father and the house from the store catalogue, have just come true, so the adults glance at Dorey's stomach and kiss.

In the 1994 remake, who plays Bryan Bedford, the lawyer neighbour who proposes to Dorey?

Dylan McDermott plays Bryan Bedford, who wins Kris's case and then marries Dorey in a small ceremony after Christmas Eve midnight mass.

Which actor, fresh off a studio suspension, defended Kris in court in his last film for Fox?

John Payne played the defence lawyer in his final film under his 20th Century-Fox contract, leaving the studio in 1947; he later starred in the TV western The Restless Gun.

In Miracle on 34th Street (1947), Sawyer tells young janitor Alfred he is unstable because he enjoys doing what?

Playing Santa Claus at his local YMCA is all it takes: Sawyer's verdict on the gentle teenager is what makes Kris lose his temper and rap the psychologist on the head.

In the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street, which fictional rival chain pays a disgraced ex-Santa to provoke Kris?

Shopper's Express, a discount chain, pays the sacked Santa to goad Kris in the street and fake an injury when he raises his walking stick, which gets Kris arrested.

In Miracle on 34th Street (1947), what does Fred give up in order to defend Kris?

His law-firm job: Fred quits to take the case, and Doris, who has no faith in his chances, accuses him of being unrealistic; he retorts that one day she will find life's 'lovely intangibles' are what matter.