Posted on 12/22/2007 8:43:09 AM PST by paul in cape
1. "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" (Late 14th century).
Full of make-believe and festivity, this wonderful narrative poem possesses a Mozartean lightness and wit. Luckily, several modern versions, particularly those by W.S. Merwin and Simon Armitage, deftly replicate much of the feel and rhythm of the Middle English original.
2. "The Pickwick Papers," by Charles Dickens (1837).
No Victorian novel re-creates the cheery holiday spirit better than these bustling misadventures of kindly Mr. Pickwick, his Cockney valet, Sam Weller, and their friends (including the "fat boy" who famously whispers: "I wants to make your flesh creep").
3. "The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle" by Arthur Conan Doyle (1892).
Christopher Morley--the 20th-century American journalist and founder of the celebrated Sherlockian society, the Baker Street Irregulars--once called this "a Christmas story without slush." Originally collected in "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" and sometimes available as a stand-alone title, "The Blue Carbuncle" opens two days after Christmas, when the now married Dr. Watson visits cozy 221B Baker Street to wish his old friend "the compliments of the season."
4. "The Box of Delights" by John Masefield (Macmillan, 1935).
Just before Christmas, English schoolboy Kay Harker is traveling home by train to Tatchester. En route, he encounters a mysterious Punch-and-Judy showman, who asks him to take a message--"The wolves are running"-- to an old woman who wears a certain strange ring.
5."A Christmas Story" by Jean Shepherd (Broadway, 2003).
Set during the Depression in an Indiana steel town, "A Christmas Story" is the funny, nostalgia-laden tale of Ralphie Parker's quest for the greatest of all Christmas presents: a Red Ryder carbine BB gun.
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No love for “Gift of the Magi” by O Henry?
The author forgot Luke.
I was always under the impression it was set in the late 40's - early 50's, but certainly post-war.
My all time favorite “It’s a Wonderful Life” with
Jimmy Stewart. Marlo Thomas’ version was a mess.
I owned a theatre for a while and di this as a
musical (Joseph Robinette wrote it). If you ever
get the chance to see this or be in it... do it.
Merry Christmas... Jo
Another excellent choice.
“We’re no Angels”, Humphrey Bogart, Aldo Ray & Peter Ustinov.
These things are opinions I must suppose for O’Henry’s “Gift of the Magi” is the absolutely most perfect story and well-written as is O’Henry’s wont.
I consider the short story my own genre of the pen but I must bow to the likes of O’Henry.
All I can see, leave out “The Gift of the Magi” as the all time best Christmas story is to not know what Christmas, and love, is all about.
It’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
It’s a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American film produced and directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story “The Greatest Gift” written by Philip Van Doren Stern.
[... Its a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American
film produced and directed by Frank Capra and
based on the short story The Greatest Gift
written by Philip Van Doren Stern...]
Sorry. I meant, the musical version we did
was written by Joseph Robinette.
Thx for clearing that up for me.
‘’
u
Post #10. “Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.” -Matthew 18:4
“I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”- Luke 18:17.
The movie was made here in Ohio (Cleveland area) and the setting was early fifties, according to the guy who now owns the house that was the set for the movie. He said that the movie was released in 1983. The old house was completely remodeled, down to every last detail of rugs, dishes, plumbing, light switches and fixtures, furniture and more. It’s now a museum dedicated to the movie, and they sell “Leg Lamps.”
Don’t forget. Guns are bad.
I go for the classics myself...Die Hard and Die Hard 2 :)
The Wizard of Oz was released in 1939.
1939? Well, I think I mis-remembered what I heard on the radio (not at all unlikely). I haven’t seen that movie (A Christmas Story) for quite a while.
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