Mrs. Santa Claus (1996)

Neglected by her husband during the pre-Christmas rush, Mrs. Claus (Dame Angela Lansbury) takes the reindeer and sleigh out for a drive, only to end up stranded in the multicultural ... See full summary »

Director:

Terry Hughes

Writer:

Mark Saltzman

Stars:

Angela Lansbury, Michael Jeter, Terrence Mann

Won 1 Primetime Emmy. Another 7 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Angela Lansbury	...	Mrs. Santa Claus
Michael Jeter	...	Arvo
Terrence Mann	...	Augustus P. Tavish
Lynsey Bartilson	...	Nora Kilkenny
Bryan Murray	...	Officer Doyle
David Norona	...	Marcello Damaroco (as David Noroña)
Debra Wiseman	...	Sadie Lowenstein
Charles Durning	...	Santa Claus
Rosalind Harris	...	Mrs. Lowenstein
Grace Keagy	...	Mrs. Brandenheim
Linda Kerns	...	Mrs. Shaughnessy
Chachi Pittman	...	Izzy (as Chachi Pittmann)
Sabrina Bryan	...	Fritzie
Bret Easterling	...	Emilio
Mitchah Williams	...	Henry

Storyline

Neglected by her husband during the pre-Christmas rush, Mrs. Claus (Dame Angela Lansbury) takes the reindeer and sleigh out for a drive, only to end up stranded in the multicultural neighborhood of Manhattan's Lower East Side of the early 1900s.

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Plot Keywords:

character name as title | mrs. santa claus character | santa claus character | three word title | original music | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Musical

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Certificate:

G

Did You Know?

Trivia

Upon completion of exterior Universal Studios' New York street filming, the company moved to the distant Valencia business warehouse valley district, to a warehouse converted into a stage, where interior sets were built. The first set filmed was Santa Claus' interior workshop. Santa's office set, which sat adjacent to the workshop, filmed after the workshop set area was finished filming. To expand the office set, the left wall, (with double doors leading into the workshop), had to be re-set in the middle of the workshop set. Charles Durning (Santa Claus) had an extreme weight problem which didn't allow him gracefully to move around the set. Durning's scenes were performed as he sat at his desk, with Mrs. Santa Claus (Dame Angela Lansbury) charting her Christmas Eve sleigh route on a standing easel map adjacent the fireplace. After this set was filmed, the exterior of the main workshop entrance was filmed. The sleigh and the "pack of live reindeer" were positioned in the foreground area of the exterior set façade. Evergreen pine trees and shrubs dressed the façade, which trailed off to each side, where black duvyteen drops masked the stage walls. Reverse angles were filmed with the black drops as background, with overhead snow drop-boxes shaking particles of plastic snow swirling in the air, assisted and/or directed with giant wind machines. Reindeer wranglers worked the herd to move off stage with the sleigh in tandem for Mrs. Santa Claus' departure. The sleigh loaded with tons of toys, dolls, games, cookies, and fruitcakes, and assorted treats, matching what had previously been filmed in the "effects bluescreen stage" adjacent to the Van Nuys Airport.

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Goofs

A street Santa is seen several times in a red Santa suit. Santa didn't wear a red suit until 1930 when he was used in a Coca-Cola advert.

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Quotes

Arvo: Not even one little ho, ho, ho?
Santa Claus: [sadly and quietly] Ho.

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Connections

Featured in Biography: Angela Lansbury: A Balancing Act (1998)

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Soundtracks

The Best Christmas Of All
Music and Lyric by Jerry Herman
Performed by Angela Lansbury and Charles Durning

User Reviews

Cute,Enjoyable,& even Tactful to different faiths.

Angela Lansbury does another good lead role in a TV film as she does any film.Mrs. Clause is not being paid attention to by her husband Santa at The North Pole and so she decides to take a trip of her own as a good cause for Christmas and for shortly before Christmas comes.Yes as My Mom,Mary E.(Garvey)Baer & I do agree it's very cute & even interesting as to how Mrs.Clause influences all of the people upon arrival & even before she does how all of the people are dancing & singing in the streets & including the Jewish People outside of their Synagogue & how she inspires them as well.Also in doing so it shows how even though faiths are different people are still all the same inside. It's also a very good follow up of the time in history in which it's placed in US History as well as in the streets of Brooklyn in 1910. Including how Mrs. Lowenstein had said "I must say I enjoy the festivities even more than I should." Then in addition to this how one woman on Avenue A is demonstrating how women aren't allowed to vote & of which is why even though she's Jewish she had proposed a Christmas toast because admittedly she has the biggest mouth on Avenue A and it makes her cause good for a number of good things as well.It was on Dec.25,1999 that I worked on my first Christmas ever & it was at a Movie Theater & I had even enjoyed working on it even more than I had anticipated that I would.

Truthfully, Stephen "Steve" G. Baer a.k.a. "Ste" of Framingham,MA.USA

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 December 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mrs. Santa Claus

Filming Locations:

Hayvenhurst Studios - 7017 Hayvenhurst Avenue, Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hallmark Entertainment, Corymore Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

90 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby (as Dolby SurroundTM)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1