Movie Musings: Disney and More

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.