When the popularity of television starting spreading like wildfire in the late 1940s, the movie studios considered it an enemy to be conquered at all costs. By the mid-50s, however, it was obvious that the new medium was here to stay and some of the savvier studios, like Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox, decided that, if you can’t lick ‘em, join ‘em.

The 20th Century Fox Hour was an hour-long anthology show combining original stories with adaptations of their films. The Miracle on 34th Street (originally broadcast on Dec. 14, 1955) was, of course, based on the beloved 1947 Oscar-winning holiday classic. Robert Stevenson, formerly one of Britain’s finest filmmakers, directed and John Monks Jr. adapted George Seaton’s screenplay, which was based on Valentine Davies’ story, into a 45-minute script (one hour of airtime minus commercials).

Although the TV version doesn’t surpass the original, it comes a lot closer than subsequent remakes. The TV cast almost equaled the film’s cast: Thomas Mitchell as Kris Kringle (the Edmund Gwenn role), Macdonald Carey as Fred Gaily (the John Payne role), Teresa Wright as Doris Walker (the Maureen O’Hara role), Sandy Descher as Doris’ daughter Susan (the Natalie Wood role), John Abbott as Dr. Sawyer (the Porter Hall role), Dick Foran as D.A. Thomas Mara (the Jerome Cowan role), Ray Collins as Judge Harper (the Gene Lockhart role) and James Flavin as Charlie Halloran (the William Frawley role). One of the castings was actually an improvement; the role of Doris’ fussbudget co-worker Mr. Shellhammer had been rather blandly played in the movie by Philip Tonge. In the TV version, the role is wonderfully played by the great Hans Conreid (best remembered as Uncle Tonoose on The Danny Thomas Show and the host of Fractured Flickers).

The familiar plot is unchanged: Macy’s Department Store’s Santa Claus insists that he is the real Kris Kringle. He befriends and plays Cupid to Fred, an up-and-coming young lawyer, and Doris, an assistant manager at Macy’s. He is especially drawn to Susan whom Doris, still bitter over her divorce, has brought up not to believe in fairy tales or Santa Claus.

Everything is going along fine until Dr. Sawyer, a pretentious, self-aggrandizing neurotic who is on Macy’s payroll to administer intelligence tests but insists on playing psychiatrist, accuses Kris of being a menace to society and has him committed to Bellevue Hospital. Fred agrees to represent Kris in court at his sanity hearing, but his chances of prevailing are slim to none.

However, when the U.S. Post Office delivers letters to Kris that are addressed simply to “Santa Claus” (the “miracle” of the title), Fred quotes Federal law stating that it is a crime to knowingly deliver mail to someone who is not the proper recipient and that, by delivering the letters to Kris, the United States government has officially recognized his client as “the one and only Kris Kringle.” Judge Harper, who has been dying to drop the case like a bad habit, instantly declares that, if the government recognizes Kris as the real Santa Claus, he will not dispute it. Case closed!

But it doesn’t end there. As those who have already seen the movie know, there’s one more absolutely sublime plot twist, but far be it from me to spoil it for those who have never seen it.

The 20th Century Fox Hour: The Miracle on 34th Street can be viewed for free on-line at YouTube and is available from Amazon.