Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Starring Maureen O'Hara, Natalie Wood, Edmund Gwenn, John Payne, William Frawley, Gene Lockhart, Jerome Cowan, Thelma Ritter, Percy Helton, and Porter Hall. Directed by George Seaton. Kris Kringle is indignant to find that the person assigned to play Santa in the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is intoxicated. When he complains to event director Doris Walker, 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 to another store for a fire engine for her son that Macy's does not have. She is so impressed she tells the 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, an attorney and neighbor of Doris, is babysitting the young divorcee's six-year-old daughter Susan and takes her to see Kris. 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.