45 Fun Facts About Miracle on 34th Street

In the 1947 film, who plays Kris Kringle?

Edmund Gwenn, born in London in 1877, won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor as Kris Kringle and later appeared in Hitchcock's The Trouble with Harry (1955).

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.

Which actress plays Doris Walker, the Macy's events director and Susan's mother?

Maureen O'Hara plays Doris Walker; she had just returned to Ireland after the war and was reluctant to come back for the role, and she received an honorary Oscar in 2014.

The young Susan Walker is played by which future star of Rebel Without a Cause and West Side Story?

Natalie Wood, born Natalia Zakharenko in San Francisco in 1938, was eight during filming and went on to Oscar nominations for Rebel Without a Cause and Splendor in the Grass.

What is the name of the lawyer neighbour who defends Kris in court and courts Doris?

Fred Gailey, the young attorney who lives across the hall from Doris and Susan, takes Kris's case, wins the hearing, and wins Doris by the end.

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

Kris speaks Dutch to the girl, an orphan newly arrived from Holland, and sings with her; Doris has raised Susan not to believe in fairy tales, so this 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?

Fred calls the District Attorney's young son, who testifies that his father told him Santa is real; 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?

The film never says outright whether Kris is Santa, and the cane is the closest it comes to an answer.

Which actor plays Judge Henry X. Harper, who must rule on whether Kris is sane?

Gene Lockhart, the Canadian-born character actor who had played Bob Cratchit in the 1938 A Christmas Carol, plays Judge Henry X. Harper, who must decide whether Kris is sane.

Which actor plays the store psychologist Granville Sawyer?

Porter Hall, who had played the train witness Mr. Jackson in Double Indemnity (1944), plays Granville Sawyer, the fussy store psychologist whose complaint gets Kris sent to Bellevue.

Who directed the 1947 film and won an Oscar for its screenplay?

George Seaton directed and won the Academy Award for Best Screenplay; Valentine Davies won a separate Oscar for the original story, which he also published as a novella with Harcourt Brace.

The parade scenes were filmed live during the real Macy's parade of which year?

The parade footage was shot during the actual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on November 28, 1946, which meant each shot could be attempted only once as the floats went by.

Studio boss Darryl F. Zanuck insisted the Christmas film be released in which month of 1947?

Zanuck insisted on a May 1947 release because he believed more people went to the movies in warm weather, so the trailers hid the film's Christmas setting entirely.

The film opened in New York City on June 4, 1947, at which theatre?

It opened at the Roxy, the huge 1927 movie palace on Seventh Avenue at 50th Street that served as 20th Century-Fox's New York showcase until its demolition in 1960.

Under what title was the film originally released in the United Kingdom?

In Britain the film was released as The Big Heart, since distributors thought '34th Street' would mean nothing to their audience.

How many Academy Awards did the 1947 film win?

It won three Oscars, for Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Story and Best Screenplay, out of four nominations; its only loss was Best Picture.

The 1947 film lost the Best Picture Oscar to which other 20th Century-Fox film, about antisemitism?

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.

The film was made on a budget of roughly how much?

The film was made for about $630,000 and returned roughly $2.65 million in US rentals, more than four times its cost.

In which year was the film selected for preservation in the US National Film Registry?

The Library of Congress selected it for the National Film Registry in 2005, alongside Toy Story and The French Connection, as culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.

Why did the Catholic Legion of Decency rate the 1947 film 'morally objectionable in part'?

The Legion objected because Doris is a divorcée, and divorce shown without condemnation was still a delicate subject on screen in 1947.

The residence for the aged where Kris lives at the start of the film is called what?

On his Macy's employment card Kris gives his address as the Brooks Memorial Home for the Aged in Great Neck, Long Island, whose physician Dr. Pierce later vouches that he is harmless.

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.

Macy's rival in the film held its own Thanksgiving parade in which city, four years before Macy's?

The rival's Philadelphia store staged the city's first Thanksgiving parade in 1920, four years before Macy's began its own in New York; the chain closed for good in 1987.

In the 1994 remake, who plays Kris Kringle?

Richard Attenborough, the Oscar-winning director of Gandhi, had just played John Hammond in Jurassic Park (1993) the year before.

The 1994 remake replaces Macy's with a fictional store called what?

Macy's declined to let its name be used in the remake, so the store became the fictional C.F. Cole's, with a made-up discount chain standing in for its rival.

Which writer-producer, famous for Home Alone, co-wrote and produced the 1994 remake?

John Hughes, the writer-producer behind Home Alone, co-wrote the remake's screenplay and produced it; Les Mayfield, who had made Encino Man, directed.

Which child actress, also seen in Mrs. Doubtfire and Matilda, plays Susan in the 1994 remake?

Mara Wilson plays Susan Walker; she had been Robin Williams's youngest daughter in Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) and went on to the title role in Matilda (1996).

Instead of the mail sacks, the 1994 remake's 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.

The 1994 remake earned about $46m worldwide on a budget of roughly how much?

The remake was budgeted at about $28 million and took roughly $46 million worldwide, opening against the far bigger Christmas hit The Santa Clause.

Which composer of The Music Man wrote the 1963 Broadway musical Here's Love?

Meredith Willson wrote Here's Love's book, music and lyrics himself; it opened at the Shubert Theatre in October 1963 and ran 334 performances.

Which 1951 song pairs in counterpoint with 'Pine Cones and Holly Berries' in Here's Love?

'It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas', the composer's own 1951 hit, is sung in counterpoint with 'Pine Cones and Holly Berries'; licensing companies have since billed the show as Miracle on 34th Street: The Musical.

Who played Kris Kringle in the 1959 television adaptation?

Ed Wynn, the veteran vaudeville comedian later seen as Uncle Albert in Mary Poppins (1964), played Kris Kringle in the 1959 television version.

The 1973 TV movie version starred Sebastian Cabot as Kris alongside which Emmy-winning actress as Doris?

Jane Alexander, who had won a Tony for The Great White Hope, plays Doris; David Hartman played the lawyer and Roddy McDowall the psychologist.

Who plays Charlie Halloran, the adviser who tells the judge that ruling against Santa is electoral suicide?

William Frawley plays the political fixer Charlie Halloran; four years later he became 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.

The film's story is set between which two holidays in New York City?

The story runs from Thanksgiving morning, when Kris joins the parade, to Christmas Day, when Fred and Doris drive Susan past the house she wished for.

Which company carried out the 1985 colorisation of the film?

Color Systems Technology produced the 1985 colour version, one of the first feature-length colorisations and a flashpoint in the debate 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; Dorey turns him down at first, and they marry quietly after Christmas Eve midnight mass once the court case is won.

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.

What is the name of the District Attorney who prosecutes Kris in the 1947 film?

District Attorney Thomas Mara, played by Jerome Cowan, rests his case the moment Kris claims to be Santa, and ends up demanding proof that Kris is the one and only.

In the 1994 remake, executives of which fictional rival chain pay a drunk ex-Santa to provoke Kris?

Shopper's Express, the discount chain run by Victor Landberg, pays the drunk ex-Santa to goad Kris into striking him with his cane, and the staged assault gets Kris arrested.

Which actor turned down the role of Kris Kringle in 1947, whereupon it went to his cousin?

Cecil Kellaway, the South African-born character actor of The Postman Always Rings Twice, declined the part, which went to his cousin instead.

Who played Kris in the 1955 one-hour television version made for The 20th Century Fox Hour?

Thomas Mitchell, Uncle Billy in It's a Wonderful Life, played Kris in the 1955 version, later rerun as 'Meet Mr. Kringle'; Macdonald Carey and Teresa Wright played the lawyer and Doris.