Miracle On 34th Street - Plot

Plot

Kris Kringle is indignant to find that the person (Percy Helton) assigned to play Santa in the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is inebriated. When he complains to event director Doris Walker (Maureen O'Hara), she persuades Kris to take his place. He does such a fine job that he is hired to be the Santa for Macy's flagship New York City store on 34th Street.

Ignoring instructions to steer parents to goods that Macy's sells, Kris directs one shopper (Thelma Ritter) to another store for a fire engine for her son that Macy's does not have. She is so impressed, she tells Julian Shellhammer (Philip Tonge), head of the toy department, that she will become a loyal customer. Kris later informs another mother that archrival Gimbels has better skates for her daughter.

Fred Gailey (John Payne), an attorney and neighbor of Doris, is babysitting the young divorcee's six-year-old daughter Susan (Natalie Wood) and takes her to see Kris. In a touching scene, Susan observes as Kris speaks in perfect Dutch with an orphaned immigrant girl who does not know English. When Doris finds out, she asks Kris to tell Susan that he is not really Santa Claus, but Kris surprises her by insisting he is.

Doris decides to fire him, worried that he is delusional and might harm someone. However, Kris has generated so much good publicity and customer goodwill for Macy's that a delighted R. H. Macy (Harry Antrim) promises Doris and Julian generous bonuses. To alleviate Doris's misgivings, Julian has Granville Sawyer (Porter Hall) give Kris a "psychological evaluation". Kris easily passes the test but antagonizes Sawyer by questioning Sawyer's own psychological health.

The store expands on the marketing concept. Anxious to avoid looking greedy by comparison, Gimbels implements the same referral policy throughout its entire chain, forcing Macy's and other stores to respond in kind. Eventually, Kris accomplishes the impossible: Mr. Macy shaking hands with Mr. Gimbel (Herbert Heyes).

Pierce (James Seay), the doctor at Kris's nursing home, assures Doris and Julian that Kris's delusion is harmless. Meanwhile, Fred offers to let Kris stay with him so he can be closer to work. Kris makes a deal with Fred – he will work on Susan's cynicism while Fred does the same with disillusioned Doris, still unhappy about her failed marriage. During one visit with Susan, Kris learns that the child's Christmas wish is to live in a beautiful house with a swing in the back yard, based on a drawing that she shares with him. Despite a moment of uncertainty, Kris promises Susan that he will do his best to fulfill her wish.

Kris learns that Sawyer has convinced a young, impressionable employee, Alfred (Alvin Greenman), that he is mentally ill simply because he is generous and kind-hearted (Alfred plays Santa Claus at his neighborhood YMCA). Kris confronts Sawyer and raps him on the head with the handle of an umbrella. Doris and Julian only see the aftermath; Sawyer exaggerates his injury in order to have Kris confined to Bellevue Mental Hospital.

Tricked into cooperating and believing Doris to be part of the deception, a discouraged Kris deliberately fails his mental examination and is recommended for permanent commitment. However, Fred persuades Kris not to give up.

To secure his release, Fred gets a formal hearing before Judge Henry X. Harper (Gene Lockhart) of the New York Supreme Court. Ordered by Mr. Macy (who is determined to stand behind Kris "even if he failed twenty examinations") to get the matter dropped, Sawyer pleads with Fred not to seek publicity. To Sawyer's dismay, Fred thanks him for the idea. As a result, Judge Harper is put in an awkward spot – even his own grandchildren are against him for putting Santa Claus on trial (when it was actually a hearing) for lunacy.

Fred quits his job at a prestigious law firm to defend Kris and has a falling out with Doris, who calls his resignation an "idealistic binge" over some "lovely intangibles." He replies that one day she might discover that they are the only worthwhile things.

At the hearing, District Attorney Thomas Mara (Jerome Cowan), whose wife accused him of "persecuting" (rather than prosecuting) Santa Claus, gets Kris to assert that he is in fact Santa Claus and rests his case, believing he has prima facie proven his point. Fred stuns the court by arguing that Kris is not insane because he actually is Santa Claus – and Fred will prove it. Mara requests the judge rule that Santa Claus does not exist. Harper is warned privately in chambers by his political adviser, Charlie Halloran (William Frawley), that doing so would be disastrous for his upcoming reelection bid. The judge buys time by deciding to hear evidence before ruling.

Fred calls R.H. Macy as a witness. Mara pointedly asks if he really believes Kris to be Santa Claus. Macy starts to equivocate, but when Mara asks him point-blank, Macy remembers the expressions on the faces of small children upon seeing Kris and firmly states, "I do!" On leaving the stand, Macy questions Sawyer whether he got his psychology degree from a correspondence school, then fires him. Fred then calls Mara's own young son to the stand. Thomas Mara, Jr. testifies that his father had told him that Santa was real and that "My daddy wouldn't tell me anything that wasn't so. Would you, daddy?" Outmaneuvered, Mara concedes the point.

Mara then demands that Fred prove that Kris is "the one and only" Santa Claus on the basis of some competent authority. While Fred searches frantically, Susan, by now a firm believer in Kris, writes him a letter to cheer him up, which Doris also signs. A mail sorter (Jack Albertson) sees that Susan's letter is addressed to the New York County Court House and realizes that the post office could clear out the many letters to Santa taking up space in its dead letter office by delivering them to Kris.

Kris is uplifted by Susan's letter. Fred learns that Kris has received over 50,000 pieces of mail. He presents Judge Harper with three letters addressed to "Santa Claus", which the U.S. Post Office has just delivered to Kris. Fred asserts that the post office qualifies as a competent authority and that by delivering the letters to Kris is acknowledging that he is in fact the Santa Claus. Mara challenges Fred by recalling the post office's dead letter office, which normally would contain thousands of such letters at that time of the year. When Harper demands that Fred produce "further exhibits", the judge finds his bench inundated with 21 bags of letters, all presumably from the dead letter office. Declining to dispute the Post Office's "legal recognition" of Kris as Santa Claus, Harper dismisses the case. Afterwards, Doris invites Kris to dinner, but he reminds her that "It's Christmas Eve!"

On Christmas morning, Susan is disillusioned because Kris was apparently unable to get her what she told him she wanted most. As they are about to leave, Kris gives Fred and Doris a route home that avoids traffic. Along the way, Susan is overjoyed to see the house of her dreams (exactly matching the drawing she had given Kris earlier) with a For Sale sign in the front yard. Fred learns that Doris had encouraged Susan to have faith, and suggests they get married and purchase the house. He then boasts that he must be a great lawyer, since he managed to do the seemingly impossible. However, when they notice a cane leaning against the fireplace that looks just like the one Kris used, he wonders aloud to Doris, "Maybe I didn't do such a wonderful thing after all."