A Timely Something, For All You Trivia Buffs!!!!!!!!!!!

                                     Does anyone out there instantly recognize this house????  I have to say, if I were just shown this photo, I am not so sure I would.  But knowing what I do, it's apparent right away.  Let me give you some info.

                                      Three people (John Payne, Maureen O'Hara, and a nine-year-old Natalie Wood) are driving through a suburban neighborhood.  Natalie, as Susan Walker, having been disillusioned, is trying to reaffirm her belief in Santa Claus.  Suddenly, she sees something, and a look akin to panic comes over her face.  "Stop! Stop the car, Uncle Fred!" she cries hysterically.  Then, she gets out in front of a house, and runs up the steps, Payne and O'Hara behind her.

                                          You've got it!  It is the famous climax to the 1947 classic, "Miracle On 34th Street."  And, yes, that is, indeed, THE VERY HOUSE, pictured above, which means Fox must have done some location shooting for the film; I always wondered.  Now, this photo is as of 2,007.  I don't know if it stands today, but, first, who expected it to be real, in the first place????????????

                                            Its address is 24 Derby Road, in Port Washington, Long Island--a very moneyed community, now, darlings!!!!!!!!!  I had always thought they were in Levittown, hailed as the birthplace of American Suburbia.

                                              It always amazed me that this was what Susan (Natalie's character) wanted to badly--a suburban house!!!!!!!! When I watched the film as a child, I always wanted the reverse--I wanted Susan and her mother's apartment in Manhattan--where they could see the MACY'S Thanksgiving Day Parade right from their window!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                But once I discovered this, I just had to let all my girls know!!!!!!!!! So, there it is!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I guess some may now be trekking out to Port Washington. I haven't done that since 1997, when I trekked out there, on my own, to witness a stage production of "The Bad Seed." But that's another story!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Actually, I wanted to audition for Rhoda!!!!!!!!!!)

                                                   Not only did Susan's dream come true in the movie, it turned out to be an actual house, not something on the back lot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                                    Miracles DO happen, darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!