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At the Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade, the actor playing Santa Claus is discovered to be drunk by a whiskered old man. Doris Walker, the no nonsense special events director, persuades him to take his place. He proves to be a sensation and is quickly recruited to play Santa at the main store. While he is successful, Doris learns that he calls himself Kris Kringle and he claims to be the actual Santa Claus. Despite reassurances by his doctor that he is harmless, Doris still has misgivings, especially when she has cynically trained herself, and especially her six-year-old daughter, Susan, to reject all notions of belief and fantasy. And yet, people, especially Susan, begin to notice there is something special about Kris and his determination to advance the true spirit of Christmas among the rampant commercialism around him and succeeding in improbable ways. When a raucous conflict with the stores cruelly incompetent therapist, Granville Sawyer, erupts, he finds himself held at Bellevue where, in despair, he deliberately fails a mental examination to ensure his commitment. All seems lost until Doris neighbor, Fred Gailey, reassures him of his worth and agrees to represent him in the fight to secure his release. To achieve that, Fred arranges a formal hearing in which he argues that Kris is sane because he is in fact Santa Claus. What ensues is a bizarre hearing in which peoples beliefs are reexamined and put to the test, but even so, its going to take a miracle for Kris to win.
One of Doris Walkers responsibilities at Macys is to organize the famed annual Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade, which marks the official start of the Christmas season. She is a realist, that attitude toward life due to her own failed marriage not being the fairy tale she envisioned it would be. She has taught her impressionable six-year-old daughter, Susan, the same thing. Susan does not believe in make believe or the "fantasies" associated with Christmas, such as Santa Claus. At the last minute, Doris is forced to hire a replacement Santa for the parade, not knowing anything about him besides him looking the part. He is such a success that she hires him to play Santa in the main store for the remainder of the Christmas season. It isnt until he becomes an invaluable addition to there, including coming to the positive attention of Rowland H. Macy himself, that Doris learns that he calls himself Kris Kringle and truly does believe he is the real Santa Claus. At this point, Susan, witnessing things she cant explain rationally, begins to wonder if he is who he says he is. To protect herself and the store, Doris, without telling Kris what she is truly doing, makes him go through a psychological evaluation through the stores therapist, Granville Sawyer, who wrongly believes hes Gods gift to his profession. Because of their antagonism toward each other, Granville tries to have him committed, which leads to court proceedings as to his sanity. Doris neighbor, Fred Gailey, who is attracted to her, takes his case, in part to be close to her, but also to help him who he believes is just a kindly and harmless old man. Freds defense is to prove that Kris is Santa Claus. In the process, he wants more than anything to make both Doris and Susan believe in faith, for Doris again and for Susan the first time in her life.
Edmund Gwenn
Kris Kringle
Maureen O'Hara
Doris Walker
John Payne
Fred Gailey
Gene Lockhart
Judge Henry X. Harper
Natalie Wood
Susan Walker
Porter Hall
Granville Sawyer
William Frawley
Charlie Halloran
Jerome Cowan
Dist. Atty. Thomas Mara
Philip Tonge
Julian Shellhammer
Jack Albertson
Post Office Mail Sorter Next to Lou
Harry Antrim
Mr. R.H. Macy
Sam Bagley
Courtroom Spectator
Arline Bletcher
Courtroom Spectator
Lela Bliss
Mrs. Shellhammer
Walden Boyle
Judge's Clerk
Kevin Burke
Child on Santa's Lap
Dorothy Christy
Secretary
Dick Cogan
Department Store Head
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