I’m dreaming of socially responsible corporations

I watched “Miracle on 34th Street” three times over the weekend. I love the film, not because it’s a Christmas classic, but because it is, to my mind, one of the great social statements on American culture.

The plot of the 1947 film goes like this: The Santa Claus who traditionally ends the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade is found drunk by the real Santa Claus, who, for reasons unknown, is living in a Great Neck retirement home. The real Santa, played by Edmund Gwenn (who won a supporting-actor Oscar for the role), gets roped into playing the fake Santa in the annual parade.

Got that?

After the parade, Macy’s hires the real Santa to sit with children at its flagship store in Herald Square. Reluctantly, he agrees. The real St. Nick cannot tell a lie. When toys are out of stock or overpriced at Macy’s, he sends them to competing stores, including –– heaven forbid! –– archrival Gimbels. Santa believes children should get what they want for Christmas, and that big businesses like Macy’s should put kids’ happiness above profit.

Santa is deemed insane –– until customers show their support for him by declaring their undying loyalty to Macy’s. R.H. Macy, who is driven by profit, is ecstatic. Long story short, Santa winds up in the psych ward at Bellevue, until his lawyer friend Fred Gailey (played by John Payne) gets him out and, in a court of law, proves that Santa Claus is, in fact, the real Kris Kringel.

The film, to me, says that making a profit can go hand in hand with doing the right thing. By treating customers with honesty and integrity, Macy’s succeeds in the end.

I attended a holiday party last week at Carlyle on the Green at Bethpage State Park, at which I sat beside a gentleman whom I’ve known for more than a decade. As is often the case, he wanted to critique my column.

The man, who is of considerable intellect, said that he noted an implicit anti-corporate bias in my columns. He said I focus considerable energy on social issues, which he said he believes to be a product of my upbringing during the 1970s, a time of social upheaval.