Miracle on 34th Street
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This Miracle on 34th Street trivia quiz has 74 free questions with answers and covers the 1947 classic and everything that grew from it: Edmund Gwenn's Kris Kringle, Maureen O'Hara and a nine-year-old Natalie Wood, the drunk parade Santa, the fire engine at Gimbels, the umbrella and Mr. Sawyer, the competency hearing, the mail sacks and the cane in the dream house. It also covers how the film was made and sold, from the real 1946 Macy's parade footage to Darryl Zanuck's decision to release a Christmas film in June, its three Oscars and its place in the National Film Registry, and then the 1994 remake with Richard Attenborough and Mara Wilson, the television versions and Meredith Willson's Broadway musical. It is written for holiday movie nights, Christmas trivia parties and classic-film fans who can quote the courtroom scene. Easy questions cover the story most people know; the hard ones ask about the budget, the Catholic Legion of Decency and who directed the 1955 TV version. Every answer has been checked against a reliable source and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
30 of 74 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In the 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street, who plays Kris Kringle?
Edmund Gwenn
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.
Q 02How does Kris end up in the red suit at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade?
The hired man is drunk
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.
Q 03In the 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street, which actress plays Susan's mother, Doris Walker?
Maureen O'Hara
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.
Q 04Which child star plays the sceptical Susan Walker in the 1947 film Miracle on 34th Street?
Natalie Wood
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.
Q 05Why does Kris deliberately fail his mental examination in Miracle on 34th Street (1947)?
He thinks Doris betrayed him
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.
Q 06What convinces Susan that Kris might really be Santa, when she watches him with a little orphan girl?
He speaks Dutch to her
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.
Q 07Which branch of the federal government does Fred cite in court as recognising Kris as Santa Claus?
The Post Office
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.
Q 08Which witness at the hearing testifies that Santa Claus is real because his own father told him so?
The DA's young son
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.
Q 09What do Fred and Doris spot inside the house Susan wanted for Christmas in the final scene?
A cane like Kris's
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.
Q 10Why does Judge Harper hesitate to rule against Santa Claus in Miracle on 34th Street (1947)?
He is up for re-election
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.
Q 11After testifying in Miracle on 34th Street (1947), what does Mr. Macy do to store psychologist Granville Sawyer?
Fires him
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.
Q 12George Seaton directed the 1947 Miracle on 34th Street and won an Oscar for which other job on it?
Writing the screenplay
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.
Q 13How did Miracle on 34th Street (1947) film its parade scenes?
Live on the day
Q 21Why did the Catholic Legion of Decency rate Miracle on 34th Street 'morally objectionable in part' in 1947?
Doris is a divorcée
Doris is a divorcée, and the Legion's B rating came with a one-line objection: 'Reflects the acceptability of divorce.'
Q 22Where is Kris living when Miracle on 34th Street (1947) begins?
A home for the aged
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.
Q 23Which figure's arrival traditionally closes the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade?
Old St. Nick
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.
Q 14Darryl F. Zanuck opened the Christmas film Miracle on 34th Street in warm weather, arguing what?
Audiences were bigger then
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.
Q 15In Miracle on 34th Street (1947), Macy's Santa shocks his bosses by sending shoppers to which real arch-rival store?
Gimbels
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.
Q 16Under what title was Miracle on 34th Street first released in the United Kingdom?
The Big Heart
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.
Q 17Accepting his Oscar for Miracle on 34th Street, the actor who played Kris Kringle said he now knew what?
There's a Santa Claus
'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.
Q 18Miracle on 34th Street lost the Best Picture Oscar for 1947 to which fellow nominee, another Fox film?
Gentleman's Agreement
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.
Q 19Which character actress made her screen debut in Miracle on 34th Street (1947) as a mother Kris sends elsewhere?
Thelma Ritter
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.
Q 20In 2005 Miracle on 34th Street joined which American honour roll?
National Film Registry
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'.
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.
Q 24The rival store in Miracle on 34th Street held its own Thanksgiving parade in which city, four years before Macy's?
Philadelphia
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.
Q 25In the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street, who plays Kris Kringle?
Richard Attenborough
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.
Q 26The 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street replaces Macy's with a fictional store called what?
Cole's
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.
Q 27Which filmmaker co-wrote and produced the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street?
John Hughes
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.
Q 28Which child actress plays Susan in the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street?
Mara Wilson
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.
Q 29In the 1994 remake of Miracle on 34th Street, the judge is persuaded by the words printed on what?
A dollar bill
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.
Q 30Which holiday hit opened a week before the 1994 Miracle on 34th Street?
The Santa Clause
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.