Miracle on 34th Street 70th Anniverary Blog part 2

This blog continues our tribute to George Seaton’s Miracle on 34th Street (1947) with “34 thing you didn’t know” about it. The second in our series contains the last 17 fun facts. Please feel free to comment if you’d like.

1. At the very beginning of the movie, during the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade scene, all of the cameras that were used in that scene froze and it became impossible for the crew to transition them in any way, shape, or form. So they just filmed it as positioned based on where they started. 
2. There is a scene in Home Alone (1990) where Kevin turns on the tv and sees “Miracle on 34th Street,” on the screen. Chris Columbus, who directed “Home Alone,” and its first sequel, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992) was a big fan, and directed Maureen O’Hara in her last theatrical film appearance in the dramatic/romantic comedy Only the Lonely (1991), which was released in between the “Home Alone,” movies.
3. Natalie Wood was Maureen O’Hara’s favorite child actor of all the child actors that she worked with throughout her whole career. She specifically said “I have been the mother to almost forty children in movies, but I have always had a special place in my heart for little Natalie. She always called me Mamma Maureen and I called her Natasha, the name her parents had given her.”
4. To this day, “Miracle on 34th Street,” “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and The Bishop’s Wife (1947) remain the only three Christmas movies ever to receive Best Picture Oscar Nominations. (While “Miracle on 34th Street,” and “Bishop’s Wife,” both won trophies in other categories, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” didn’t win any at all.)
5. Percy Helton, who played the drunk Santa at the beginning of the film, also played the Train Conductor in both White Christmas (1954) and The Music Man (1962).
6. Meredith Wilson, who was the composer and lyricist for “The Music Man,” adapted “Miracle on 34th Street,” as a Broadway musical entitled “Here’s Love.”
7. Edmund Gwenn’s (who played Kris Kringle) cousin, actor Cecil Kellaway, had been offered the role of Kris Kringle in the film, but declined.
8. Like Natalie Wood, Maureen O’Hara also made other films that were released the same year as “Miracle on 34th Street.” The films were: Sinbad, the Sailor (1947), The Homestretch (1947), and The Foxes of Harrow (1947). The latter two were distributed by Fox. (Rex Harrison acted in “The Foxes of Harrow,” with O’Hara and “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir,” with Wood.)
9. The working title of the film was actually called “The Big Heart.”
10. Gene Lockhart, who played the authoritative Judge Henry X. Harper in the film, had just nine years earlier played the humble and timid Bob Cratchit in MGM’s A Christmas Carol (1938).
11. While Macy’s Department Store was willing to have its name used in this film, they were unwilling to re-donate their name to the 1994 remake. Thus, the producers of the remake came up with the fictional name of Cole’s Department Store.
12. The original “Miracle on 34th Street,” was released in 1947 and the theatrical remake was released on November 18th 1994, 47 years after the original. When the remake was released, Fox offered a full refund to any audience member who didn’t enjoy the film. Roughly, 1,500 tickets were returned to the studio. 
13. Co-writer Valentine Davies was inspired to write the story for the movie as he was shopping to find a Christmas gift for his wife—while struggling through huge crowds. He wondered what the real Santa Claus would think about all the commercialization of Christmas.
14. George Seaton, who won the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for his screenplay for the film, seven years later won another Best Original Screenplay Oscar for writing The Country Girl (1954) which starred Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, and William Holden. (He also directed “The Country Girl,” earning him his only Best Director Oscar Nomination.)
15. In the film’s climatic scene, where Fred Gailey presents a bunch of mailbags to Judge Harper, there are a total of 21 mailbags in the scene.
16. Maureen O’Hara and Alvin Greenman (who played Alfred the janitor) were the last two surviving cast members of the movie. O’Hara passed away on October 24th, 2015 at the age of 95 and Alvin Greenman passed away on July 14th, 2016 at the age of 86.
17. Edmund Gwenn gained a total of 30 pounds to prepare for his role as Kris Kringle.

“Miracle on 34th Street,” is a true classic and has remained beloved by film audiences for almost three quarters of a century. It is remarkable that, at the time, Fox chief Darryl Zanuck initially loathed the film and didn’t believe that it would be a success. Today the film is neither included in AFI’s Top 100 Films, nor is it included in any of AFI’s other lists, but it is still considered a classic, primarily because of its powerful story.  

Miracle on 34th Street 70th Anniversary Blog part 1

Last year Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) celebrated its 70th anniversary. This year, another holiday classic celebrates the same. But unlike “It’s a Wonderful Life,” George Seaton’s Miracle on 34th Street (1947) was a huge hit when it was released! It was critically acclaimed, won accolades, and remains a classic today. To celebrate, these next two blogs will be a “walk down 34th Street,” with 34 interesting facts about this treasured holiday film. Please feel free to comment if you’d like!

1. When the film’s co-writer/director George Seaton pitched the idea of “Miracle on 34th Street,” to 20th Century Fox Studio Chief Darryl Zanuck, Zanuck detested the idea and did not want to allow Seaton to make it. Seaton was determined, however, and continued to persist, so Zanuck ultimately agreed to grant the film a medium-sized budget. BUT…only if Seaton would write/direct three other film projects assigned by Zanuck unconditionally. The films were Apartment for Peggy (1948), Chicken Every Sunday (1949), and The Big Lift (1950). “Apartment for Peggy,” starred “Miracle on 34th Street,” actors Edmund Gwenn and Gene Lockhart and “Chicken Every Sunday,” starred “Miracle on 34th Street,” actors Natalie Wood, William Frawley, Porter Hall, and Percy Helton.

2. Although the film takes place in New York at Christmastime, the film had its premiere in New York on June 4th, 1947. 20th Century Fox Studio Chief Darryl F. Zanuck claimed that more people go to the movies in hotter weather.

3. Maureen O’Hara, who played Doris Walker, initially did not want to make the film. She had recently returned to Ireland after having been prevented by the United States Government, along with a great deal of other immigrants, to return to her home country due to the breakout of World War II. She reluctantly came back to America, but fortunately changed her attitude and was very delighted that she was going to make it once she read the script.

4. The film won three Oscars: Best Supporting Actor Edmund Gwenn as Kris Kringle, Best Writing, (Original Story), Valentine Davies, and Best Writing, (Screenplay), George Seaton. The film was also nominated for Best Picture, but lost to Gentlemen’s Agreement (1947). The film also received the Golden Globes for Best Supporting Actor and Best Screenplay.

5. Maureen O’Hara and John Payne (who played Fred Gailey) in the film were very close friends in real life. They made a total of four films together: “Miracle,” To The Shores of Tripoli (1942), Sentimental Journey (1946), and Tripoli (1950), where they were both directed by O’Hara’s then-husband, Will Price.

6. John Payne specifically said that “Miracle on 34th Street,” was his personal favorite of all his films. 

7. William Frawley played the bit role of Judge Harper’s friend Charlie Halloran in the film. This was just four years prior to when Frawley became best known as Fred Mertz in I Love Lucy (1951-1957).

8. In the first courtroom scene, there is a moment where Fred Gailey is interviewing Thomas Mara Jr. (played by Robert Hyatt), the son of Gailey’s prosecuting lawyer opponent. Gailey asks “junior” how he knows that there is a real Santa Claus and his now famous reply “Because my daddy told me so.” was a line the young actor came up with himself.

9. Natalie Wood simultaneously made two films for 1947. “Miracle,” and “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir,” with co-stars Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison.

10. Although there is a scene in the film where Natalie Wood’s character, Susan Walker, discovers that Kris Kringle’s beard is real, Edmund Gwenn’s “beard” was not real. Gwenn improvised his reaction in the scene when Wood pulled on it to see if it was real or not.

11. This film was the feature film debut of six-time-Oscar-nominee Thelma Ritter, who played Peter’s mother.

12. “Miracle on 34th Street,” was only the second film distributed by 20th Century Fox to be shot on-location in New York City. The first film was The House on 92nd Street (1945).

13. On an audio commentary for the film, Maureen O’Hara specifically recalled that when they were halfway through shooting the film, the entire cast and crew believed that Edmund Gwenn was, in fact, the real Santa Claus.

14. When Edmund Gwenn accepted his Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as Kris Kringle, his acceptance speech was “Now I know there’s a Santa Claus.”

15. The film has received numerous re-adaptations throughout the years. It was first re-adapted in 1955 by Fox as a television series, with Thomas Mitchell from “It’s a Wonderful Life,” as Kris Kringle. There were also two made-for-television movie adaptations in 1959 with Ed Wynn as Kringle and in 1973 with Sebastian Cabot as Kringle. Fox readapted the film theatrically in 1994 with Sir Richard Attenborough as Kris Kringle, Elizabeth Perkins as Dorey Walker, Dylan McDermott as Brian Bedford and Mara Wilson as Susan Walker. Sadly, none of the remakes were quite as successful as their original predecessor.

16. There is a scene in the film where Kris Kringle speaks Dutch to a little Dutch girl with no subtitles shown on screen. The English translation for the Dutch spoken in that scene is Santa is asking what the little girl wants for Christmas and she replies nothing because Santa already got her the wonderful gift by being adopted by her new mother.

17. Alvin Greenman who played the young janitor, Alfred in the film also makes a cameo as the doorman named Alfred in 1994 remake.

“Miracle on 34th Street,” is a film that depicts that there truly is a Santa Claus, or it rather just depends on how you look at it. Furthermore, it’s a beautiful reminder that although we do live in a very realistic world, the world is full of mysterious, controversial things that no one fully understands or has ever been able to fully explain. But what we don’t realize too easily is that faith in those things provides the motivation that everyone needs to have good attitudes towards the crudeness that real life often brings and to not grow up feeling like depressed, cynical failures. As they say in the film “Faith is believing in something when common sense tells you not to,” or in other words we should all carefully balance common sense with faith in our lives.

That’s the first half of our “walk down 34th Street”—more to come in next week’s blog.  

Adam Driver: Slacker to Star Wars

Has curly hair, towering height,….and a mischievous grin. Adam Driver has gained fame playing unreliable, lazy, slacking, goof-offs, but it has taken him all the way to a three-time-Emmy-nominated role as Adam Sackler, the love interest to Lena Dunham’s Hannah Horvath on Girls (2012-2017) and Jason Bateman’s youngest brother in This Is Where I Leave You (2014). 

Right now, he has become known throughout the world as Kylo Ren, one of the latest villains created especially for the new Star Wars (2015-2019) trilogy produced by Walt Disney Pictures. Adam Driver definitely has a promising future ahead of him in motion pictures, though he also has gotten off to a remarkable start, having worked with several of Hollywood’s best directors and appearing in television, and theater too.

Adam Driver was born on November 19th, 1983 in San Diego California. He developed an interest in acting, appearing in plays in high school. After 9/11, he enlisted in the Marines, where he served for two years and eight months, but after breaking his sternum, he was medically discharged. As a result of his service, however, he created the AITAF (Arts in the Armed Forces), a non-profit organization that performed theater for every branch of the military both in the United States and abroad.

Later, he attended University of Indianapolis, but ultimately decided to move to New York to study Drama at Juilliard. In 2010, he appeared on Broadway in two different plays called The Retributionists and Mrs. Warren’s Profession. He also made appearances in television shows like The Unusuals (2009) and Law & Order (1990-2010) before winning the role of Adam Sackler in “Girls.” Prior to getting that role, Adam Driver also had bit parts in the movies J. Edgar (2011) directed by Clint Eastwood, and in Touchstone’s Lincoln (2012) directed by Steven Spielberg. During his time on “Girls,” he also made the romantic-comedy What If (2013) opposite Daniel Radcliffe and “This Is Where I Leave You.”

Believe it or not, Adam Driver was not Disney’s first choice to play Kylo Ren in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015). Academy-Award-Winner Eddie Redmayne auditioned for the part and so did Lee Pace. (Michael Fassbender and Hugo Weaving were both also considered). Finally, Driver was cast, though he had to fly back and forth between New York and London to film both “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” and Seasons 3 and 4 of “Girls.” Although he did enjoy portraying the character of Kylo Ren, he disliked his character’s mask, because it affected his vision during filming. Despite that, he never broke character throughout filming and even kept the mask on when cameras weren’t rolling. “The Force Awakens,” was also a reunion for Adam Driver and Oscar Isaac who plays Poe Dameron in “The Force Awakens.” Driver previously worked with Isaac in Inside Llewyn Davis (2013), which was co-written, co-produced, and co-directed by Ethan and Joel Coen. Both Driver and Isaac will be reprising their roles in Disney’s upcoming Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017). In between both “Star Wars,” movies, Adam Driver also made Silence (2016) starring opposite Andrew Garfield and directed by Martin Scorsese and Logan Lucky (2017) starring opposite Channing Tatum and directed by Steven Soderbergh.

Adam Driver has become almost ubiquitous in the entertainment industry despite a young career. No doubt he will go on to much more success, but will probably remain most often recognized as Kylo Ren. (Whether or not he will be in Star Wars Episode IX (2019) remains to be seen.) Whatever he does next, his track record so far indicates that it will be great!

Cuba Gooding Jr.: Show Me The Disney!

“Show Me The Money!” is the trademark line spoken by Cuba Gooding Jr., in his Oscar-winning performance as Rod Tidwell in Jerry Maguire (1996). But Cuba Gooding Jr. has starred in a variety of popular films and television shows: comedies, dramas, biopics, and even two films for the Walt Disney Studios. Through every role he has played he brings a boundless amount of energy, along with a good sense of humor.

Cuba Gooding Jr. was born in The Bronx, New York on January 2nd, 1968. His parents, Cuba Gooding Sr. and Shirley Sullivan were both singers of two different groups (Gooding Sr. for “The Main Ingredient,” and Sullivan for “The Sweethearts.” His family relocated to Los Angeles when Gooding Jr. was four years old. At the age of six, his father unfortunately abandoned the family. As Gooding Jr. and his siblings (two brothers and one sister) were raised by their mother, they consistently were changing schools throughout different parts of California. Gooding Jr. attended four different high schools. Amidst the chaos, he did well in school and became class president for three of the four high schools where he attended. Although he was a good student, he was interested in pursuing a career in entertaining like his parents.  

He originally began his career as a breakdancer, performing with Lionel Richie at the closing ceremony of the 1984 Summer Olympics. He was also a backup dancer for Paula Abdul but he decided to pursue acting after high school. As a result, he was fortunate enough to earn guest spots on Hill Street Blues (1981-1987), Amen (1986-1991), and MacGyver (1985-1992). He made his film debut in Eddie Murphy’s Coming to America (1988) and starred in the film Sing (1989) before landing his first leading role in Boyz in the Hood (1991). The success of this film led to him also having roles in A Few Good Men (1992), Lightning Jack (1994), and Outbreak (1995). Then, in 1996, his big hit (which reunited him with “A Few Good Men,” co-star Tom Cruise. After “Jerry Maguire,” Gooding also had a small part in As Good as it Gets (1997), which was co-written, co-produced, and directed by “Jerry Maguire,” producer James L. Brooks.      

In 2001, Cuba Gooding Jr. was cast in the role of Dorie Miller in Touchstone’s Pearl Harbor. The very next year he played Ted Brooks in live-action Disney comedy Snow Dogs (2002). Two years after that, he was the voice of Buck the Horse in Home on the Range (2004). In between “Snow Dogs,” and “Home on the Range,” Cuba Gooding Jr. starred in the biopic Radio (2003), based on the true story of James Robert “Radio” Kennedy and his friendship with Coach Harold Jones (played by Ed Harris in the film). In 2002, Cuba Gooding Jr. made Boat Trip with Roger Moore. Interestingly, Moore thought Gooding would be a good successor to Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, but that did not work out. In 2007 he starred in both Norbit and Daddy Day Camp.

More recentlty, Gooding Jr. made his Broadway debut in a revival of the play The Trip to Bountiful opposite Cicely Tyson and Vanessa Williams. He also played Civil Rights Movement Attorney Fred Gray in Selma (2014) and received a Primetime Emmy Nomination for playing O.J. Simpson in the miniseries The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (2016).

Cuba Gooding Jr. has had a career that spans almost 30 years. He has created many characters on stage and screen but will forever remembered as the football-playing Rod Tidwell, and his famous quote: “Show me the money!”