I just watched this movie (and the 1994 version) for the first time, and I don't understand what Santa is doing in New York in the first place. Especially close to Christmas, shouldn't he be in the North Pole supervising things??
shareHe delegates authority.
He's taking the knife out of the Cheese!
Do you think he wants some cheese?
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He had elves running things till it was time to deliver all the gifts
Well in 1947 the allies had just defeated Hitler (1945) and New York represented the "state of modern man" since most of the industrial trading nations were trying to rebuild the very infrastructure of their countries from the aftermath. New York also represented modern man's cynicism so Santa had to jumpstart his agenda and give people something to believe in right there in the Big Apple.
shareHe was there to see the Rockettes Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall.
shareBecause Kris wanted to observe humanity's general opinion of him. New York City was ideal for this because he'd be able to find every imaginable type of person. As far as I'm concerned, even in the 1940s, NYC was one of the most sought out cities on the planet.
Kris surely prepared sufficiently to "run the show" remotely from where he lived, first in Great Neck and then NYC. Otherwise, he must have had a 2nd In Command take over.
As Kris himself says, lately he's been worried about our attitude toward Christmas. It seems we're all so concerned with making things go faster, fly higher, etc., that Christmas and he are getting lost in the shuffle. But as he finds out (and as we know), the meaning of Christmas may be beleaguered, but it isn't lost at all.
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