Posted on 12/05/2008 11:11:43 AM PST by qam1
Fans of the holiday classic “A Christmas Story” are celebrating the film’s 25th anniversary with a convention and trips to the house where the movie was made.
The 1983 film, an adaptation of Jean Shepard’s memoir of a boy in the 1940s, was set in Indiana but largely filmed in Ohio. The movie starred Peter Billingsley as Ralphie Parker, a young boy determined to get a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas.
The film was a modest theatrical success, but critics loved it. It eventually joined “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “Miracle on 34th Street” as a Christmas classic.
“It’s a film about being a kid and looking back,” said Brian Jones, who owns the house where the movie was shot and the neighboring museum dedicated to the film.
About 4,000 fans attended the recent convention at Cleveland’s Renaissance Hotel, where they met some of the film’s actors, watched documentaries made about the film, and saw the original 1938 fire truck from a famous scene in the movie involving a child’s tongue stuck to a frozen pole.
“It is unbelievable that a movie has touched the lives of millions of families,” said Phil Gillen, son of the late actor Jeff Gillen who played the movie’s worn-out Santa Claus. He traveled from Miami with his family to attend the convention....
(Excerpt) Read more at kansascity.com ...
We found it at a local Hallmark store. I had to decide between it and a Star Trek TOS communication that flipped open and made that sound they did in the TV show.
You can be honest with us here...I'm guessing you did it at least twice ;-). Seriously though, thanks for the interesting link. I never knew there were new decoder rings each year. Do you know if they all operated off the same cipher, or if those were changed every year as well? (i.e. could you use a 1936 decoder ring for a message that was broadcast in 1936?). Seems to me you'd want to change it every year in order to sell new ones.
In any case, it was a real stinker. None of the original actors, IIRC, were involved. Darren McGavin’s role was played by Charles Grodin, Mary Steenburgen played the mom, and Ralphie and his little brother were played by a couple of the Culkin brothers. Pee-YEW!
Yep, that one sucked. Somewhat better was The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters. The only big casting mistake was Ralphie (Matt Dillon!). That film actually predates A Christmas Story by a half-year or so. It's worth a look, if you can find it (maybe on BitTorrent download), if only for the Dago Bomb segment.
I was there too, and the movie is a must every Christmas. A couple of scenes that brought back memories:
1) The Little Orphan Annie decoder. I drank Ovaltine until I was sick of the stuff - I even ate it dry. All to get the labels so I could send for my Captain Midnight decoder ring which clued you in on coming events - it was the REAL thing - no commercials. I was the only kid on the block with it and, for a while anyway, I was a GOD!
[Sidebar] I was listening to Mandrake the Magician, and boy, he was in a spot that there was NO WAY he could escape. I'm on pins and needles and suddenly the announcer breaks in with the news that Pres. Roosevelt has died. OK, OK, sorry he's gone, but how did Mandrake escape? Alas, from then on there was nothing else but that guy Roosevelt and I never did learn what happened to Mandrake. However, he was back as usual the next week. One of Life's Mysteries I guess.
2) Ralphie becoming a connoisseur of soap bars after saying The Mother of All Curse Words - and the reaction of Schwartz's mother when she heard her child had taught it to Ralphie. In those days you were more scared of your parents than the police, as Instant Justice was applied when you violated any of the norms. NO psychoanalysis - just THE STRAP or the back of my Old Man's hand.
And my God, they even had Christmas parades! How Un-Politically Correct can you get?
The "Leg" lamp? My brother got me a night light version of it for my birthday. The wife HATES it, so it stays in the far part of the house and spreads a golden glow near my computer room every night. (sigh)
Thanks for all the info! Interesting true “trivia”. Well, I guess I reaasoned pretty well about it. I didn’t even pay much attention to the cars, which is 1 of my fortes and something I’m always checking to figure out what year...
As far as him making a “composite” story, that’s fine and believable; but making a story like this you put it into 1 year.
Of course, sounds like Mr. Shepard’s year should’ve been more like 1929!
This movie does bring back memories for me. Memories from the mid 1980s when this movie was still somewhat new and fresh. But now it's old and tired and it's time for it to be put on the shelf like the old Donny & Marie show.
There is also something about this movie that is a little off. Like that scene in the department store where they are lined up to see Santa Claus and the very weird girl waiting behind the main character has that creepy smile. Then when you get to the top of the slide (to see Santa), some equally weird people dressed as elves flash the same kind of creepy smiles as they force the main character down the slide.
Anyway, the Chevy Chase movie "Christmas Vacation" is more up my alley. That still hasn't gotten old. Especially the scene where Chevy is putting up the Christmas lights to the horror of his yuppie neighbors. Being a lifelong resident of Massachusetts, I am absolutely surrounded by Christmas-hating yuppies like the ones portrayed in that movie and I love to get my house all decked out just to annoy the hell out of them.
You are too young to understand.
What am I missing?
Not much. It is sort of vulgar in a cutsie way. I think this film is an either like it or it leaves one cold. I am left cold and interestingly, so is the rest of the family.
I guess then I won't recommend one of our family's favorite Christmas Shows - A Wish for Wings that Works (Opus, Bill the Cat, etc.)
Don’t then.
We all have different opinions.
“I feel sorry for anyone who thinks this movie is worth watching”
Bah Humbug!
However, there have been others who wrote follow-ons to Jean Shepherd's "A Christmas Story" about the Parker Family -- basically, further adventures. I've seen them - and If I'm not mistaken, are yet available for purchase via VHS -- these are well-done: The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters, and The Phantom of the Open Hearth. Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss
My family's favorite was "Fourth of July and Other Disasters". The boys are now older... We have laughed till it hurt, this was so well done, and embodied the time and age and spirit, IMHO, of "A Christmas Story".
Bookwise, I can also recommend Mr. Shepherd's "Fistful of Fig Newtons".
THIS ---->The Endless Street Car Ride into the Night, and the Tinfoil Noose<-------- I read in 1976. And, it perfectly PERFECTLY encapsulated being a young guy, trying to figure it all out, and on his first date, after being prodded by all his friends, his family, even the neighbors. This story of Jean Shephard's is my favorite of his.
I’ve never experienced a “white Christmas.” It rained during the one Christmas that I spent in snow country.
‘I’ve never experienced a “white Christmas.”’
That’s OK. Neither did Jesus.
Irrelevance is the art of the confused. Kamna Karamchandani
I think I’m with you. We’re both humorless curmudgeons. :-)
The lamp!
“You used alltheglue....ON PURPOSSSSE!!!!”
I can’t stand the TNT version of ACS. It’s pan and scan, not letterbox, meaning the outer third of each scene is chopped off.
TCM showed it in its full letterbox version, and that a joy to watch!
I especially love the scene where Ralphie beats up the bully...good for him!
Ed
Good job! It only took you 17 hours to find that quote!
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