In Miracle on 34th Street, Kris Kringle claims to represent Macy’s as its department-store Santa.
The 1947 film follows Kris after he is hired to appear as Santa Claus in Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. His insistence that he is the real Santa creates a legal and emotional dispute, especially for people who demand practical proof of his identity.
Macy’s is central to the story because the real department store allowed the film to use its name. The movie’s title refers to Macy’s flagship location on 34th Street in Manhattan, one of the best-known retail sites in New York City.
The film is often mixed up with the 1994 remake, which also uses Macy’s in its story. Gimbels appears in the original film as a rival store, but it is not the department store Kris represents. The original starred Maureen O’Hara, John Payne, Natalie Wood, and Edmund Gwenn.