"Miracle On 34th Street"

Tonight I watched one of the best Christmas Classics of them all, "Miracle On 34th Street" (1947), starring Edmund Gwenn, Maureen O'Hara, and little Natalie Wood in one of her first screen roles. You probably have seen the movie and know the story, but just in case you don't : Gwenn is "Kris Kringle". Yep, he swears that's his name. As the movie begins, he is walking down the street in Manhattan and happens upon the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It's just about to begin. Gwenn can see that the man playing Santa is clearly inebriated. Outraged, he demands to speak with the Parade's organiser, who just so happens to be the stunning O'Hara. During the first few minutes of the film, Gwenn has been dropping subtle hints that he is the Real Santa Claus. Now, speaking to Maureen O'Hara, he asks that she fire the drunken Santa, as the man is an embarassment to Mr.Kringle's own reputation.

But who will she replace him with? The employment agency is fresh out of Santas at this time of year.

Why, Kris Kringle of course! With his jolly face, white hair and beard, and substantial tummy, he would be the perfect man to stand in for the fired Santa. But will he do it? Has he any experience?

That's what he's been trying to tell O'Hara, if she'd only listen : that he really IS Santa Claus.

She hires him on the spot for his looks, but doesn't believe any of his nonsense. She knows there is no Santa and has brought her little daughter Natalie Wood up in the same way, to disdain silly "fantasies" and to look at the world in a realistic way. Later, Gwenn/Kringle/Santa will meet little Natalie. She will at first tell him he's really only an old man with a white beard, but as he teaches her the power of imagination - something her mother has frowned upon - her world opens up. Soon she begins to believe that Mr. Kringle might really be who he says he is.

Meanwhile, Kringle was so popular as the Macy's Parade Santa, that Mr. Macy himself wanted him to be hired as the store's Santa Claus. Soon, kids are lined up yards deep in the toy section, waiting with their parents to meet Santa. In this way, "Miracle On 34th Street" is the ultimate Department Store Santa Christmas Movie that I've been writing about recently. Little children, at least from my era and probably going back to the turn of the century, all have memories of meeting Santa in the local Bullocks or Robinson's, or Macy's. Window shopping at Christmastime is a powerful memory, looking through frosted glass at carefully arranged train sets or doll houses.

As Mr. Kringle says, "Christmas is a frame of mind", though he makes a point to also say that, even by 1947, it's become overly commercialised. This theme is explored at the beginning of the movie, until Mr. Macy sees the light in choosing to share the wealth of shoppers with other city stores. If Macy's is out of a certain toy, the shopper is referred to a store that has it in stock. This is a helpful business practice that puts the customer first. Kringle as Santa suggested it to Mr. Macy, and now he is seen by the public as having a heart instead of being just a profits-oriented businessman.

Kris Kringle is taking over New York! The kids love him, parents love him, and Mr. Macy loves him because the parents now love Mr. Macy.

But there is one man who does not love Kris Kringle. That is the store "psychiatrist", a guy with a phony degree whose job is to evaluate potential employees as to their stability. This man, a total Humbug Nerd, has deemed Kringle "delusional" from the moment they met. Seeing Kringle's  citywide popularity has driven the "store shrink" mad. Now he is on a mission to have Kringle committed to Bellvue........(the infamous psych hospital in NYC).

"The man thinks he is Santa Claus! Is he nuts"? The shrink is determined to prove it.

But Maureen O'Hara has come to love the old man. She has thawed, and she has a boyfriend (John Payne) who is a lawyer. He has been present throughout the movie, little Natalie adores him, and now he is gonna take the Kris Kringle case to court.

He is gonna prove, in front of a judge, that Kringle is indeed the Real Santa Claus. ////

Okay, this is me talking now. The review is over, but I've just gotta say, besides giving "Miracle on 34th Street" two Gigantic Thumbs Up, that you owe it to yourself to see this movie, even if you saw it last year, even if you've seen it a dozen times. Why? Because it captures the magic of Christmas from a child's point of view, and from Santa's! It takes you back to the Christmases you remember from your own childhood, and as the story unfolds you will find yourself back in that mindset and feeling that emotion of Christmas wonder that you too felt as a child. ////

That's all I know for tonight. I will see you in church in the morning. We will be singing two anthems, one being the aforementioned "Christmas Lullaby" by John Rutter, and the other is "Gesu Bambino".

Google David Archuleta's version of it with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo  :):)