''Miracle on 34th Street'' (1947) is a best-selling

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...

Valentine Davies Valentine Loewi Davies (August 25, 1905 – July 23, 1961) was an American film and television writer, producer, and director. His film credits included ''Miracle on 34th Street'' (1947), ''Chicken Every Sunday'' (1949), ''It Happens Every Spring ...

, based on the story he wrote for the 1947 film with the same name, which earned him an

Academy Award for Best Story The Academy Award for Best Story was an Academy Award given from the beginning of the Academy Awards until 1956. This award can be a source of confusion for modern audiences, given its co-existence with the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenpl ...

. After having written the story for the film, Valentine Davies did a

novelization A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent of ...

of it, which was published as a 120-page novella by Harcourt Brace & Company in conjunction with the film release. The inspiration for the story, about a disillusioned woman, her skeptical daughter and a mysterious man who believes he is the real Santa Claus, came when Valentine Davies was standing in line at a big department store during the Christmas season.TCMDb article about the production of ''Miracle on 34th Street''
Retrieved 2012-12-23 Davies took his story idea to writer and director

George Seaton George Seaton (April 17, 1911 – July 28, 1979) was an American screenwriter, playwright, film director and producer, and theatre director. Life and career Early life Seaton was born George Edward Stenius in South Bend, Indiana, of Swedish des ...

, who turned it into a screenplay that he titled ''The Big Heart''. 20th Century Fox Studios loved the script and production started in October 1946, with the film then having the working title ''It's Only Human''. In March 1947, the filming was finished and the film went into post-production. Shortly before the release, in June 1947, the film was given the final title of ''Miracle on 34th Street''. Davies' story has since been the basis of a number of other productions, and has become a favorite Christmas play for a number of American theatrical companies. Some of the adaptions are: * CBS-TV's 1955 ''Miracle on 34th Street'' is an adaptation by John Monks, Jr. and stars Teresa Wright and Thomas Mitchell * NBC-TV's 1959 ''Miracle on 34th Street'' is an adaptation by Harry Miles Mulheim and stars Mary Healy and Ed Wynn * A Broadway 1963 musical, ''

Here's Love ''Here's Love'' is a musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson. Based on the 1947 film ''Miracle on 34th Street'', it tells the tale of a skeptical young girl who doubts the existence of Santa Claus. When the real Kris Kringle i ...

'', which is an adaptation by Meredith Willson that starred Janis Paige and Laurence Naismith * CBS-TV's 1973 ''Miracle on 34th Street'' is an adaptation by Jeb Rosebrook and stars Jane Alexander and Sebastian Cabot * 20th Century Fox's 1994 ''Miracle on 34th Street'' is an adaptation by John Hughes and stars Elizabeth Perkins and Richard Attenborough

Notes

1947 American novels American novellas American children's novels Christmas novels Harcourt (publisher) books Miracle on 34th Street Novels based on films 1947 children's books Christmas children's books Santa Claus in fiction {{1940s-child-novel-stub