Meet Mr Kringle Part Two of Five (Miracle On 34th Street The Cliffe Notes Version)

Or at least, that's the name of what this teleplay was but there is no mistaking that it's the Cliff Notes version of Miracle on 34th Street. Back in the fifties, a TV was in it's infancy, networks often had trouble providing original programming for the growing medium. You know, the same problem they have these days.

It wasn't unusual to take a film teleplay and adapting it for televison which generally meant cutting enough out of the script to fit the show into an hour format (less after commercials.) It originally aired as part of the 20th Century Fox hour in 1955. In fact, this was nominated for an Emmy for best screenplay adaptation.


Theresa Wright fills in for Maureen O'Hara, Thomas Mitchell takes over for Edmund Gween, MacDonald Carey takes over for John Payne and Sandy Descher takes over for Natalie Wood. If you've ever seen the movie Them!, you'll recognize Sandy as the traumatized little girl who yells THEM! And they bring it all home in just under an hour.
Note: Use the video links to maneuver between parts. Because of a youtube glitch parts were uploaded out of order.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Merry Christmas
• Happy Holidays

[Glinkaism1]

@Fiftiesflashback Quite right! Cheers!

[TheStanbabe]

Dear Christmas Fellow,the actor..who played Mr.Gimbell in the original 1947 movie version of the story..is the same actor to play the character again in this first tv adaptation of Mr.Davis' tale.

[TheStanbabe]

Dear D4 That's Terease Wright..not Jan Clayton playing "Doris Walker"in this first tv version of"Miracle On 34th Street".

[Fiftiesflashback]

McDonald Carey & Theresa Wright were co:stars in SHADOW OF A DOUBT, plus Hans Conried...that's a lot of stage & screen talent! Of course, one can never compare a beloved classsic to it's remake, but I think this falls short because of the fast forward style of television. It is great TV for it's era & superb for TV today. Add another hour and a big budget and you would have had a great film, different but great. Just as all the Dollys in Hello Dolly on B'way brought something else to the role.

[livingdeaddude1]

ty so much christmasfellow for posting this tv adoptation of The Miracle of 34th Street. This is one of my fav holiday movies. It's a shame NBC had to replace showing it each year. To me it's just not Thanksgiving without this film...

[D4g4marc4]

This version is just not as good as the original movie but it is interesting to see early tv stars like Jan Clayton (Lassie) and McDonald Carey of soap opera fame and Thomas Mitchell of Gone With the Wind movie. They tried the best they could with the same lines but it does not have the charm and originality of the other cast from 1947.

[Paywacket]

Thanks so much for posting this wonderful movie. Since I live in an Arab country, I cannot get these great classics.