Home > Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

In 1897, Dr. Philip O'Hanlon, a coroner's assistant on Manhattan's Upper West Side, was faced with a minor family crisis. His eight-year-old daughter, Virginia, had begun to doubt the existence of Santa Claus, her friends telling her he was fictional.

Dr. O'Hanlon told her to write to the Sun, a prominent New York newspaper at the time, assuring her the paper would tell her the truth. While he was possibly passing the buck because he could not bear to tell his daughter that Santa Claus was a myth, he unwittingly gave one of the paper's editors, Francis Pharcellus Church, an opportunity to rise above the simple question, and address the philosophical issues behind it.

Church was a war correspondent during the American Civil War, a time which saw great suffering and a corresponding lack of hope and faith in much of society. Although the paper ran the editorial in the seventh place on the editorial page, below even an editorial on the newly invented "chainless bicycle", its message struck a chord in the hearts of people who read it. More than a century later it remains the most reprinted editorial ever to run in any newspaper in the English language. Although many have doubted whether Virginia, rather than her father, actually wrote the letter to the editor, noting that a young girl would not refer to children her own age as "my little friends", the message contained in the response is considered as pertinent today as in 1897.

The story of Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus was freely adapted by Bill Melendez (the producer of the Peanuts TV specials) into an Emmy AwardThe Emmy Awards are United States television production awards, similar to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment. There are two types of Emmy Awards, the Daytime Awards and the Primetime Awards. The National Academy of Television Arts & Sci-winning 30-minute animated TV special in 19741974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). Events January-February January 5 Dungeons & Dragons officially released. February 4 Patricia Hearst, the 19 year old granddaughter of publisher William Randolph Hearst, is kidnapped, starring the voices of Jim BackusJim Backus ( February 25, 1913 July 3, 1989) was a radio, television and movie actor, and voice actor. Among his most famous roles are the voice of Mr. Magoo, the rich Herbert Updike of the Alan Young radio show, Joan Davis' husband, a domestic court judg and Jimmy Osmond . While this TV special very loosely based on the facts has been largely forgotten and has not attained the legendary status of Backus' Mister Magoo's Christmas CarolMister Magoo's Christmas Carol ( 1963) was the first episode of a TV animated series entitled The Famous Adventures of Mister Magoo. It was produced by the UPA animation studio in its fading days, as the studio found it could not adopt well to the rigours, it is still seen as one of the rare gems of television that can touch a viewer's heart.

The story was also adapted to a TV movie in 19911991 like 2002, is a palindromic year. It also has the same calendar as 2002, including Easter on March 31. It is a common year starting on Tuesday. Events January January 2 Sharon Pratt Dixon is sworn in as mayor of Washington, DC becoming the first blac.

See also: Christmas storiesThe yearly holiday of Christmas has inspired many writers and producers to create fictional Christmas stories that try to capture the "spirit" of Christmas in the form of a modern-day fairy tale. Over the years, a large number of fictional Christmas stori