I have a theory about the holiday season. I think most of us--at least most of us over the age of about eight years old--don't really believe in Santa Claus. I mean the idea of a jolly, fat guy in a red suit who lives at the North Pole (a fairly uninhabitable place) with a wife and a bunch of elves, who travels on a flying sleigh pulled by reindeer... that alone is fantastically absurd. And I haven't even gotten into the more professional aspects of his life! But I do think that most of us, regardless of age, want to believe in Santa Claus. And, frankly, who wouldn't?
(Many years ago, I commented that I would like to see a "Far Side"-type cartoon of Fox Mulder's office decorated for the holiday season. On the wall behind him would be his "I Want to Believe" poster, but instead of depicting a UFO, it would have a reindeer-pulled sleigh. A friend of mine actually drew that cartoon for me that Christmas. I still have it.)
For those of us who at least want to believe in Santa Claus, we kind of have to rely on depictions of him in film and television. Over the years, we've seen a variety of actors put on the red suit and yell, "Ho! Ho! Ho!" From Kurt Russell in The Christmas Chronicles to Tim Allen in The Santa Clause, they make us actually believe in Santa Claus... if only for a couple of hours. One of my personal favourite performances was Ed Asner in Elf--in spite of his jollity, he had kind of a world-weariness about him. The fact that so few people believed in him genuinely seemed to hurt him, which actually kind of hurt me as a viewer.
But the performance of Santa in this week's film is, I think, the best. Watching it makes you want to believe in Santa even more than you probably already want to. In it, Edmund Gwenn plays a department store Santa (Macy's specifically) who is introduced to us when he saves Macy's annual Thanksgiving Day Parade by filling in for a "Santa" who's clearly too drunk to function. He goes on to work in the store, meeting children and finding out what they want for Christmas. He even does the unheard of by sending parents to other department stores to find items that aren't in stock at Macy's. He's offended by the crass commercialism of the season and just wants to make children happy.
He befriends Doris Walker (the great Maureen O'Hara), a single mother who happened to hire him for the parade. She's raised her young daughter Susan (played by Natalie Wood) to not believe in fairy tales or Santa Claus or anything else other than "reality," to keep her from being disappointed later in life. Unfortunately, this Santa Claus believes he really is Kris Kringle. In fact, his employment card at Macy's lists his name as Kris Kringle, born at the North Pole. His next of kin are even listed as Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donder, and Blitzen (which I assume must be a blow to Mrs. Claus). Before long, Fred Gailey (played by John Payne), a lawyer who is letting Kris room with him temporarily, has to defend his new roommate in court to prove that he is sane and shouldn't be institutionalized.
Edmund Gwenn put on 30 pounds to play Kris and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, making him, to the best of my knowledge, the only actor to win an Oscar for playing Santa Claus. The Thanksgiving Day Parade scenes at the beginning of the film were actually shot during the real Macy's Parade in 1946. Spectators didn't even realize it was Gwenn in the Santa suit. George Seaton not only directed but also wrote the screenplay based on a story by Valentine Davies (both of whom won Oscars for the screenplay and story respectively). Released in May of 1947 (because 20th Century Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck argued more people went to the movies during the summer), the film went on to become a holiday classic that's still beloved today. In fact, it's one of only three Christmas movies ever nominated for Best Picture--the other two being The Bishop's Wife, which was nominated the same year, and It's a Wonderful Life, which was nominated the year before. This week, please enjoy Miracle on 34th Street.
Due to mitigating circumstances, I'm submitting a bonus Film of the Week "sermon" this week. Stay tuned.
Yours in peace, love, and rock 'n' roll!
The Reverend Will the Thrill
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