Although it plays fast and loose with the facts of the story Yes Virginia There Is A Santa Claus is a wonderful apocryphal tale of how a little girl's letter to the New York Sun was answered with the most famous newspaper editorial in history.

The story is told along two tracks. The first is the story of the struggling O'Hanlon family with Papa Richard Thomas fired from a job on the docks after a brawl with some nativist bigots. It's going to be one bad Christmas for the O'Hanlon family if he doesn't find work soon. Thomas has two children, one of them Virginia O'Hanlon is played by Katherine Isabelle and she's been given the word by some of her more worldly wise peers that there ain't no such a thing as Santa Claus.

When Thomas after reading an editorial in the Sun remarked that this was a paper with a good policy young Isabelle writes to the Sun and wants them to settle the question, is Santa Claus real or not? Because Papa has said the Sun would be the arbiter of that decision.

The second track of the story is movie tough guy Charles Bronson who plays Sun editor Frank Church. Church is a heavy drinker ever since his wife passed away. Out of friendship and loyalty publisher Edward Asner has kept him on the staff.

This film is wonderful family viewing at the Yuletide season. The message of the editorial then and now is that we can see Santa Claus in all of us in the smallest random acts of kindness we do. Belief in the concept is what separates us from the beast. People disappoint a lot, but the concept of Santa Claus brings out the best in us.

So watch the film, maybe an old children's tale might seem to have some merit after all.

I'm glad I ran across this film on DVD at a local library, otherwise would probably not have ever known about it. Richard Thomas was an obvious choice for the role of an out of work family man trying to make ends meet, while the surprise of the picture is the casting of tough guy Charles Bronson in the role of a down and out newspaper columnist, still mourning the death of a wife and daughter a year after it occurred. There are depressing aspects to the story, though they form a backdrop to the more inspirational outcome of Francis Church (Bronson) coming to terms with his life and realizing that he still has something to contribute to his newspaper and the world at large. Little moments in the film stand out, like eight year old Virginia O'Hanlon (Katharine Isabelle) agonizing over the existence of Santa Claus, and a postman's good will in offering her a stamp to mail her inquiring letter to The New York Sun. Rounding out the main cast is Ed Asner in the role of the paper's editor, much more sympathetic in the role than he was in the Seventies on 'The Mary Tyler Moore' show, and later his own series, 'Lou Grant'. It's a heartwarming picture in many respects, although the ending brings the entire cast together to the O'Hanlon doorstep in a somewhat unbelievable manner. By that time however, you'll believe in Santa Claus, making the film a wonderful holiday experience.

In 1897, the New York Sun newspaper ran a short article in its editorial section that has become famous. The heading read, "Is There a Santa Claus?" It was in response to a short letter written by eight-year-old Virginia O'Hanlon of New York City. The article printed the letter and then, with rhetorical questions and prose, answered it. "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus," penned Sun editorial writer Francis Church.

This is a TV movie about that event. The essential details are true, and the main characters are real. But the story in this film is mostly fictional. Yet it works to make a fuller and more meaningful plot; and, therefore, a better Christmas movie.

The film was shot in British Columbia, Canada. The scenes and settings seem to be authentic for 1890s New York or any North American city at the time. The cast has some big name actors and others - all of whom give very good performances. Katharine Isabelle is superb as Virginia O'Hanlon. Tamsin Kelsey is especially good as Evie O'Hanlon, wife of James. She plays an Irish immigrant woman who keeps a bright outlook for her small brood, in spite of the hard times.

The portrayal of hard times for immigrants adds some meat and meaning to the story. Richard Thomas plays Virginia's father, James. He and his friend, Donelli, spend cold days looking for work after being fired as dockworkers. The story gives a light portrayal of the ethnic tensions of the time. During the immigration of many Irish, Anglo-Protestants resented their competition for jobs. And, neighbors in tenement apartments help one another, by sharing food. A Jewish landlady widow, Mrs. Goldstein (played by Lillian Carlson) cooks too much brisket for just herself, so she begs the O'Hanlon's to take it off her hands.

Charles Bronson is very good in his role as Francis Church. But the character he plays was not the real Francis Church. Here, Church has been drinking heavily since losing his wife and daughter a year earlier. The film doesn't say, but it's implied it was a disease or epidemic. That's another nice touch in showing that aspect of history in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The real Frank Church was in his 50s and had covered the Civil War more than 30 years earlier.

It's true that Church didn't want to write the editorial, and didn't want his name associated with it. Only many years later was his authorship of the article made known. Even then, one wonders, because Church was supposedly an atheist. Yet he wrote in that editorial, "No Santa Claus! Thank God! He lives, and he lives forever." That's hardly something an atheist would write, and it's not very likely that he would have had to write that.

Edward Asner plays another real person well -- Edward P. Mitchell, the managing editor. Other reporters and people on the Sun staff are fictional. Yet Colleen Winton plays Andrea Borland very well, and Shawn Macdonald plays the copy boy, Teddy, very well.

The biggest fictional aspect was Virginia's family and where they lived. They weren't likely to be living in tenement housing as in the film. Virginia's dad, James, was a doctor. At the time, he was a coroner's assistant in Manhattan.

In the movie, the editorial in response to Virginia appeared in the sun around Christmas Eve. But the actual date it was printed was Sept. 21 - three months before Christmas. In later years, Virginia explained that around her birthday in July as a child she would begin to wonder what she would be getting for Christmas. So, she wrote her letter in July. And, the Sun editors didn't do anything with it for several weeks. And no one knows why they didn't wait until Christmas to publish it.

Even then, the article wasn't considered anything special at the time. But readers remembered and asked about it in subsequent years. So, more than 10 years after its first publication, the Sun again printed the article just before Christmas.

The story about the famous letter and Sun newspaper editorial is an endearing one. And the filmmaker's embellishment of the story helps make "Yes Virginia" a wonderful Christmas movie and look at history.

Here are a couple favorite lines from this film.

Andrea Borland, "Did you like my story on the Vanderbilt ball?" Edward Mitchell, "I printed it, didn't I?" Andrea Borland, "Well, half of it." Edward Mitchell: "That was the half I liked."

Mrs. Goldstein, "As my dear dead Saul used to say, 'It isn't a silver lining what makes the coat. It's the person wearing it.'"