Expert: Jim Kason - 11/22/2008

Question
hi, I have been looking for a film about Santa Claus who owns a fancy dress shop and hires out all the Santa outfits for Christmas each person who hires the outfit is down on his luck but by the end of the film everything turns out fine

Answer
Hi Carol,

I'm pretty sure the film you're asking about was one made for TV, called "The Man In The Santa Claus Suit", starring Fred Astaire.
I think it's available on VHS (or maybe in copies recorded on DVD). Try looking on :
www.Amazon.com, under the title.  But I think, since the film is so rare,..it'll be a bit
expensive.

Here's a plot rundown that i found at Amazon:

The movie has three segments and stars Fred Astaire as Santa Claus who appears to be masquerading as several different people, a jeweler, a costume store owner, a cop, etc.

In each segmet 3 different men go into the costume store in which they all buy Santa suits. One guy is played by the guy who played Radar in the classic tv show,  MASH,.....Gary Burgdorf.  He plays a guy who is in love with his best friend and neighbor who is a beautiful fashion model.   But,  also interested in her is a jet setting millionare.

Another segment has Burt Convy as a busy man who works for a very demanding politician,.... and his work takes him away from his wife and young son who is beginning to get angry at his Dad for broken promises.

Another segement has a man who was once a successful chef ( played by John Byner)  who has fallen on hard times and is now an alcoholic and homeless.   After he finds the gun that some crooks had used in a robbery and thrown out,  he is now being chased by the crooks,.... and breaks into the house of a wealthy couple played by Harold Gould and Nanette Fabray.  Also in the house is the couple's bratty grandchildren and their butler (who if I remember correctly was also their nephew).
He tries to rob them so he can get money to get out of town and away from the dangerous criminals who are after him,... but the man and his wife realize that he isn't really a bad guy,..but is a sad broken, damaged man;.... and that desperation made him try to rob them;... so they try to help him. This couple played by Nannette Fabray and Harold Gould,.... are very funny when they keep breaking into song and dance.  It seems they are ex-Vaudville entertainers who just can't forget their days as a successful Vaudville act!  

Jim Kason