Editing Miracle on 34th Street (section)

==Production==
[[File:Miracle on 34th Street trailer.webm|thumb|thumbtime=147|right|The original [[Trailer (promotion)|trailer]] for ''Miracle on 34th Street'' omitted any mention of its Christmas themes.]]
Throughout the process of getting this script accepted by the [[Motion Picture Association#Production Code Administration|PCA]], the movie underwent multiple title changes, starting as ''My Heart Tells Me'' and then progressing into ''The Big Heart'', ''It's Only Human'', and ''Meet Me at Dawn'', and finally ending with the name ''Miracle on 34th Street''. These title changes all happened within a four-month period. These title changes occurred while the filmmakers were fixing any other discrepancies that the PCA required them to fix before the production of the film could begin.<ref>{{Cite web|title=CONTENTdm|url=https://digitalcollections.oscars.org/digital/collection/p15759coll30/id/19580/rec/3|access-date=2021-10-21|website=digitalcollections.oscars.org}}</ref>

O'Hara was initially reluctant to take the role, having recently moved back to post-war Ireland. She immediately changed her mind after reading the script<ref>{{cite book| last=O'Hara| first=Maureen| title='Tis herself: a memoir| year=2005| publisher=Pocket| location=London| isbn=978-0-7434-9535-6| author2=John Nicoletti| page=139}}</ref> and came back to the United States for the film.

John Payne was on suspension at the studio and took the role to get back into work. However, it was his last film for Fox.<ref name=color/>

[[Cecil Kellaway]] turned down the role of Kris Kringle, which eventually went to his cousin Edmund Gwenn.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/dec/20/french-screen-legends-edmund-glenn | title=Philip French's screen legends | newspaper=The Guardian | date=December 20, 2009 | last1=French | first1=Philip }}</ref>

''Miracle on 34th Street'' was shot on location in New York City, with the [[Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade]] sequences filmed live while the 1946 parade was happening.<ref name="OHara Nicoletti 2005 p. ">{{cite book | last1=O'Hara | first1=M. | last2=Nicoletti | first2=J. | title=Tis Herself: An Autobiography | publisher=Simon & Schuster | series=Non fiction May 2012 | year=2005 | isbn=978-0-7432-6916-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aNhAdQK5CyMC | access-date=2019-12-09 | page=116}}</ref> "It was a mad scramble to get all the shots we needed, and we got to do each scene only once," Maureen O'Hara recalled in her memoir. "It was bitterly cold that day, and Edmund and I envied Natalie (Wood) and John Payne, who were watching the parade from a window."<ref name="OHara Nicoletti 2005 p. "/>

[[Arthur Jacobson]], assistant director, filmed the Macy's Parade on Thanksgiving morning with nine cameras simultaneously. He said he "plunked actors Edmund Gwenn and Natalie Wood in the department store cafeteria line during a weekday lunch-rush". When Maureen O'Hara requested a special police escort for a Christmas shopping spree through Macy's he said, "I know New Yorkers. They aren't going to pay any attention to you. And don't wear a bandanna around your head or dark glasses. Just be normal."<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.dga.org/Craft/DGAQ/All-Articles/1004-Winter-2010-11/On-the-Job-Arthur-Jacobson.aspx |title=Arthur Jacobson – New York to Hollywood |date=2011 |work=DGA Quarterly Magazine |access-date=2020-03-31}}</ref>

Although the film is set during the Christmas season, studio head [[Darryl F. Zanuck]], who apparently didn't like the film, insisted that it be released in May, arguing that more people go to the movies in warmer weather.<ref name="HuffPost-2015">{{cite web | title=A Weird Thing You Didn't Know About Your Favorite Classic Christmas Films | website=HuffPost | date=December 21, 2015 | url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/christmas-film-trivia_n_5671b5b7e4b0688701dbe1bc | access-date=2019-12-09}}</ref><ref name=color/> The studio rushed to promote it while keeping its Christmas setting a secret. Fox's promotional [[Film trailer|trailer]] depicted a fictional producer roaming the studio backlot and encountering such stars as [[Rex Harrison]], [[Anne Baxter]], [[Peggy Ann Garner]], and [[Dick Haymes]] extolling the virtues of the film. In addition, the [[movie poster]]s prominently featured O'Hara and Payne, with Gwenn's character kept in the background. The film opened in New York City at the [[Roxy Theatre (New York City)|Roxy Theatre]] on June 4, 1947.<ref name="Movie Time">{{cite book|last=Brown|first=Gene|title=Movie Time: A Chronology of Hollywood and the Movie Industry from Its Beginnings to the Present|year=1995|publisher=Macmillan|location=New York|isbn=0-02-860429-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/movietimechronol00brow/page/186 186]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/movietimechronol00brow/page/186}}</ref> By contrast, modern [[home video]] packaging has Gwenn and Wood dominating the imagery, with the DVD release having Kringle in his Santa Claus costume.