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The 26th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (1952) | The 27th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (1953) | The 28th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (1954) | 
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The 27th Annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was held on November 26, 1953, in New York City, and was shown to viewers live on NBC that same day from 11 a.m. to 12 noon. EST. It was hosted by Merrill Mueller and Dave Garroway. The lineup featured 6 giant character balloons, 11 floats, clowns, marching bands, a host of guest stars, and the one-and-only Santa Claus.
Parade Lineup[]
Listed below are the various Parade units that appeared in the 1953 line of march. Each unit is listed in several categories and sub-categories, in addition to the unit's sponsor.
Terms for Parade unit status: Bold indicates a new Parade unit, Underline indicates a unit that was brought back after an absence, Italics indicates a removed Parade unit, and * indicates a retired Parade unit.
Balloons[]
- Dachshund* (Macy's) - 4th time
Toy Soldier(Macy's) - 3rd time- Crocodile* (Macy's) - 6th time
- Spaceman (Macy's) - 2nd time
- Hobo Clown* (Macy's) - 4th time
- Goldfish with Pinkish Fins (Macy's) - 1st time
- Mighty Mouse (Terrytoons) - 3rd time
Floats[]
- American Eagle* (Macy's) - 6th time
- Casey Jones Express* (Macy's) - 3rd time
- Lil' Bo Peep* (Macy's) - 1st time
- Space Ship* (Macy's) - 1st time
- Peter Pan* (Macy's) 1st time
- Circus (Macy's) - 1st time
- Queen of the Flower Show* (Macy's) - 1st time
- Swan Lake* (Macy's) - 1st time
- Queen of Hearts (Macy's) - 1st time
- White Christmas* (Macy's) - 1st time
- The North Pole* (Macy's) - 1st time
- Santa's Workshop* (Macy's) - 1st time
Specialty Units[]
- NYPD Mounted Unit - 27th time
- Howdy Doody Car - 1st time
- Wendy the Mechanical Elephant* - 1st time
- Ol' Bessie* - 1st time
- Knights of the Round Table* (MGM) - 1st time
Marching Bands[]
- Sewanhaka High School Marching Band (Floral Park, NY)
- Bergenfield High School Marching Band (Bergenfield, NJ)
- Ferko String Band (Philadelphia, PA)
- Hawthorne Caballeros Drum and Bugle Corps (Hawthorne, NJ)
Guest Stars[]
- Sid Caesar & Imogene Coca (American Eagle)
- Wally Cox (Casey Jones Express)
- Celeste Holm (Lil' Bo Peep)
- Buffalo Bob Smith, Howdy Doody, & Clarabell the Clown (Howdy Doody Car)
- Roy Rogers
- William Boyd as "Hopalong Cassidy"
- Brandon deWilde (Space Ship)
- Martha Raye (Peter Pan)
- Steve Allen (Circus)
- J. Fred Muggs
- Miss Marge Wilson (Queen of the Flower Show)
- Gabby Hayes
- Faye Emerson (Queen of Hearts)
- Eddie Fisher (White Christmas)
- Santa Claus (Santa's Workshop)
Trivia[]
- This was the first parade to be nationally telecasted by NBC.
Incident[]
- The Toy Soldier balloon deflated overnight and was replaced by the Crocodile.