When Ginnie Grainger (Mary Steenburgen) has lost the spirit of Christmas, Gideon (Harry Dean Stanton), a Christmas angel, appears to help her regain her yuletide cheer with the help of her family in One Magic Christmas, which first decked the movie halls on this day in 1985. Various elements of realism were brought to the film, including Santa’s workshop and cottage, which were filled with actual rare toys insured for $1 million before filming. The propmasters must have shouted out with glee during one scene,
which used 20,000 actual letters to Santa from the city of Toronto’s main post office.
