Mrs. Shellhammer Scene
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Miracle on 34th Street
MichaelMartinDeSapio — 11 years ago(December 24, 2014 08:04 AM)
What the heck was the point of the drunk Mrs. Shellhammer scene? I mean, I know they had to establish that Kringle would be staying with Fred, and I understand that Mr. Shellhammer gave her a triple strength martini to make her "more receptive to the idea" of hosting Kringle, but even so the way the scene was handled was so jarring. Mrs. Shellhammer was not an established character in the movie, so to suddenly show her drunk and acting foolishly seemed gratuitous and pointless.
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FlushingCaps — 10 years ago(December 21, 2015 09:28 PM)
The scene was totally played for laughs. Remember that lots of movies and TV shows up through the 60s frequently had characters designed to make us laugh at the things they said and did when drunkOtis Campbell being the most famous example, along with the comedic routines of Foster Brooks next.
The two best parts were when she put the phone by her other (left) ear and for the second time, put the ear piece next to her mouth, then when she matter-of-factly stated, "We'd love to have Santa Claus stay with us!" -
nocomputer1962 — 9 years ago(January 01, 2017 01:16 PM)
One of the best things about this movie is the way that peripheral characters were allowed to shine in individual scenes. I like the drunk Mrs. Schellhammer, just like I like the window designer who is lectured by Kris in the first scene, and the drunk santa who Kris replaces, and Thelma Ritter's bit as the harried mom, and William Frawley's speech about America's Santa-industrial complex, and Jack Albertson as the opportunistic postal worker, and, well, you get the idea.