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Here's a festive one for all you guys and girls!

During The Santa Clause, Scott and Charlie eventually land at the north pole and are greeted by an elf.

enter image description here

They watch as the elf raises 'the North Pole' from the ground, and a keypad flips out of the side.

A close up then reveals, quite deliberately, the elf typing the code 1239 into the keypad, which activates the elevator, lowering the sleigh into Santa's secret hideout.

What is the significance of these numbers?

It's unlikely they would use such a lingering shot without purpose, but the numbers don't appear to have any significance to the rest of the film, as far as I'm aware...

Is this a Christmas reference of some kind? or is there some other significance to these numbers in connection with Santa that I'm unaware of?

Are there any of Santa's little helpers out there that know?

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    December 25, 1939 - 12/39 - the introduction of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. See: historyorb.com/date/1939/december People sometimes use birthdays as PINs or passwords.
    – wbogacz
    Dec 25, 2013 at 22:26
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    @wbogacz, put it as an answer! If it's correct I can't mark it as so in the comments...
    – John Smith Optional
    Dec 26, 2013 at 13:42
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    @coleopterist you have been asked to cease rollingback by a Mod, please respect my decision, and allow me control over my own question.
    – John Smith Optional
    Dec 27, 2013 at 12:07
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    @coleopterist - I will give you the benefit of the doubt that you didn't see the comment. As stated in the meta - I don't see why you cannot keep a movie name in the title if the title remains short. A rollback war over a silly thing like this is ridiculous and simply unacceptable.
    – iandotkelly ♦
    Dec 27, 2013 at 14:29
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    It is true however that on SE there is no such thing as 'the author has the right to approve all changes' hence the scope which allows for such content disputes. However clearly the author of a post has some natural sway over the content in cases where its not a matter of strict policy. In a matter of such triviality, where there is no clear cut policy, where the title is not degraded in any way by the inclusion of the movie name I would recommend just dropping this.
    – iandotkelly ♦
    Dec 27, 2013 at 14:34

4 Answers 4

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Long shot here... Maybe the authors were interested in the idea of a code for underground worlds...

Subway lines 1239 take you through NYC to Penn Station/ 34th Street (think Miracle on 34th Street - that other movie about whether Santa is real, which is referenced in the Santa Clause at one point when the children scream "Let him go! Let Santa go!").

enter image description here enter image description here

These numbers have also been referenced elsewhere in pop culture (the Springfield subway is actually abandoned but still functional): enter image description here

Credit to John Rizzuto for MTA photo and Fox for the the Simpsons photo. Subway line 9 was a skip-stop line that ran from 1989-2005, so current photos of subway stops and maps only show 123 instead of 1239.

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  • This is very interesting, and very well researched! If these aren't to be taken as co-incidence, it seems as though there is some kind of pre-established connection between these numbers that the movie is pointing to. I wonder what it is?
    – John Smith Optional
    Dec 29, 2013 at 18:57
  • I looked for connections between the writers (Leo Benvenuti and Steve Rudnik) and the Simpsons, but so far have turned up nothing... Was hoping that by posting this much, someone else might be able to help establish such a connection. Until then, it's entertaining speculation!
    – MJ6
    Dec 29, 2013 at 19:05
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The current Walt Disney Studios, located at 500 South Buena Vista Street, Burbank, was made possible by the revenue from the 1937 release of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Walt Disney and his staff began the move from the old studio at Hyperion Avenue in Silver Lake on December 24, 1939. So 1239 (Dec '39) is when Disney moved to their permanent location.

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Disney uses 1239 a lot in their movies and things just like "we have a 2319" or the north pole code and D23 because 1923 was the year walt started the company.

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    Do you have a source for this that you could edit in to back up your answer? This is quite terse at the moment.
    – Jenayah
    Dec 25, 2019 at 16:16
  • I always thought "23-19" was intended to refer to the 23rd and 19th letters of the alphabet -> "W-S" -> "white sock" (the object the alert is about).
    – F1Krazy
    Dec 25, 2019 at 17:54
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KJV Translation Count — Total: 5x

The KJV translates Strong's G1239 in the following manner: distribute (2x), make distribution (1x), divide (1x), give (1x).

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    Sorry, I'm lost. Can you edit to explain further? What is a KJV translation? How does this relate to the question??
    – Luciano
    Dec 13, 2019 at 10:07

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