"Miracle on 34th Street" is the

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...

episode, broadcast November 27, 1959, of the American color

anthology television series An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a differ ...

''NBC Friday Night Special Presentation'' which showcased drama, comedy and musical entertainment (produced by TV veteran

David Susskind David Howard Susskind (December 19, 1920 – February 22, 1987) was an American producer of TV, movies, and stage plays and also a TV talk show host. His talk shows were innovative in the genre and addressed timely, controversial topics beyond th ...

) and occasional news special reports, while alternating once per month with ''

The Bell Telephone Hour ''The Bell Telephone Hour'' (also known as ''The Telephone Hour'') is a concert series that began April 29, 1940, on NBC Radio, and was heard on NBC until June 30, 1958. Sponsored by Bell Telephone as the name implies, it showcased the best in c ...

'' musical series, also in color, in the 8:30–9:30 pm time slot from September 11, 1959 until June 17, 1960.

Plot

The story takes place between Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day in New York City, and focuses on the impact of a department store Santa Claus who claims to be the real Santa.

Cast

Ed Wynn Isaiah Edwin Leopold (November 9, 1886 – June 19, 1966), better known as Ed Wynn, was an American actor and comedian. He was noted for his ''Perfect Fool'' comedy character, his pioneering radio show of the 1930s, and his later career as a d ...

as Kris Kringle *

Peter Lind Hayes Peter Lind Hayes (born Joseph Conrad Lind Jr.; June 25, 1915 – April 21, 1998) was an American vaudeville entertainer, songwriter, and film and television actor. Early life Hayes was born in San Francisco, the son of Joseph Conrad Lind Sr., a ...

as Fred Gaily * Mary Healy as Doris Walker *

Orson Bean Orson Bean (born Dallas Frederick Burrows; July 22, 1928 – February 7, 2020) was an American film, television, and stage actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He was a game show and talk show host and a "mainstay of Los Angeles’ small ...

as Dr. William Sawyer *

Loring Smith Loring B. Smith (November 18, 1890–July 8, 1981) was an American vaudeville, stage, film, radio and television actor, frequently of broadly comic and gregarious characters who enjoyed a 65-year career in every aspect of the entertainment bu ...

as Mr. Shellhammer *

Hiram Sherman Hiram Sherman (February 11, 1908 – April 11, 1989) was an American actor. Biography Hiram Sherman was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His father, Clifford Leon Sherman, worked in the art department of ''The Boston Globe''. He made his Broa ...

as R. H. Macy *

Susan Gordon Susan Lynn Gordon (July 27, 1949 – December 11, 2011) was an American child actress who appeared in films and numerous episodes of television programs such as ''The Twilight Zone'', ''My Three Sons'', and ''The Donna Reed Show''. Life ...

as Susan Walker *Lawrence Weber as Mr. Mara *John Gibson as Judge Harper *Joey Walsh as Al, post office employee * Arnie Freeman as Lou, post office employee *William Post, Jr. as Mr. Gimbel *Shirley Eggleston as Peter's mother *Frank Daly as the bailiff *William Griffis as first Santa Claus

Production

Casting

The movie stars

, a recent

Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture The Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Motion Picture is a Golden Globe Award that was first awarded by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association in 1944 for a performance in a motion picture released in the previous year. The formal ...

nominee for 1956's ''

The Great Man ''The Great Man'' is a 1956 American film noir drama film directed by and starring José Ferrer. The screenplay was written by Ferrer and Al Morgan, Morgan's novel of the same name the source material. It was loosely based on the controversial ...

'' and soon-to-be

Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor The Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor is an award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given in honor of an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a supporting role while worki ...

nominee for that year's production of ''

The Diary of Anne Frank ''The Diary of a Young Girl'', also known as ''The Diary of Anne Frank'', is a book of the writings from the Dutch-language diary kept by Anne Frank while she was in hiding for two years with her family during the Nazi occupation of the Netherl ...

''. Co-starring with Wynn were married actors and musical entertainers

and Mary Healy who frequently performed together. Between 1949 and 1951 they were regulars on four TV shows and, during their prime decade, the 1950s, were seen almost continuously. Ten months after this broadcast, a sitcom built around their personal life, ''Peter Loves Mary'', was on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

's schedule for the 1960–61 season. Their marriage lasted 58 years, from 1940 until Hayes' death in 1998. Also in the cast, playing the befuddled psychiatrist, was equally frequent TV performer

, a regular, at the time, on the quiz show '' Keep Talking'', and child actress

who, earlier that year, had worked on episodes of two other live TV series, ''

Playhouse 90 ''Playhouse 90'' was an American television anthology series, anthology drama series that aired on CBS from 1956 to 1960 for a total of 133 episodes. The show was produced at CBS Television City in Los Angeles, California. Since live anthology dr ...

'' and ''

Goodyear Theatre ''Goodyear Theatre'' (also known as ''Award Theatre'' and ''Golden Years of Television'') is a 30-minute dramatic television anthology series telecast on NBC from 1957 to 1960 for a total of 55 episodes. The live show was directed by many notable ...

'' as well as in two theatrical films, ''

The Man in the Net ''The Man in the Net'' is a 1959 American film noir starring Alan Ladd and Carolyn Jones. The taut drama was directed by Michael Curtiz. The supporting cast features Diane Brewster. Plot Commercial artist John Hamilton (Alan Ladd) and wife Lind ...

'' and ''

The Five Pennies ''The Five Pennies'' is a semi-biographical 1959 film starring Danny Kaye as jazz cornet player and bandleader Loring "Red" Nichols. Other cast members include Barbara Bel Geddes, Louis Armstrong, Harry Guardino, Bob Crosby, Bobby Troup, Susan G ...

''.

Broadcast

Presented the Friday after Thankgiving, the live broadcast of ''Miracle on 34th Street'' was directed by William Corrigan.

Recording

The broadcast was long believed to have no surviving copies, but a kinescope was discovered at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

where it was shown in December 2005. Susan Gordon who played Mary Healy's daughter and was ten at the time of the broadcast, attended the screening.Details regarding the Library of Congress screening of ''Miracle on 34th Street''
/ref> She was 56 and died six years later at the age of 62. Mary Healy lived to be 96 and died in 2015.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Miracle On 34th Street 1959 films 1959 American television episodes 1959 drama films 1950s fantasy films American children's fantasy films American children's films American Christmas films American drama films Remakes of American films Films set in department stores Films set in New York City Miracle on 34th Street Santa Claus in film Santa Claus in television 1950s English-language films 1950s American films