[Bernard Marx]

This is a wonderful movie and great credit should go to all involved. But the real genius behind it was Jean Shepherd, author of the short stories that inspired the movie. He wrote the screenplay and performed as Narrator, a Man in Line for Santa, and the Voice of Santa.

I grew up in the late 30s and 40s and folks, that's the way it really was! I'll never forget my Granddad's unending war with the coal furnace, kids getting tongues stuck on metallic objects, the guerilla battles with bullies to and from school and my beloved Red Ryder BB gun(s) -- I owned several. I still have both eyes too and I've owned lots of real guns since.

Shepherd remembered the era with amazing detail and totally captured the mood of a time I remember with great longing and fondness.

[presidio9]

Incidently, the real "Flick" was a childhood friend of Sheppard's. He was killed in WWII. Bomber pilot.

[yarddog]

I grew up in the 50's and I too thought the movie captured the flavor of the time just about perfectly.

[LibFreeOrDie]

For fans of Shep, some of his old radio shows are available for listening online here:

http://www.flicklives.com/Mass_Back/mass_back.htm

(I'm listening to the "Christmas is Coming" show from December 13, 1965 now...)

[FreedomCalls]

Shepherd remembered the era with amazing detail and totally captured the mood of a time

His "Phantom of the Open Hearth" is pretty good too.

[cherry]

how about the way we used to look at teachers?......it seems to me that they used to command a lot of respect and awe and they mostly represented old fashioned values......

the good ol' days......

[Pietro]

"But the real genius behind it was Jean Shepherd"

Bravo!

As a young lad, circa 1971, I would tune my AM radio, in the dead of night, and listen in to WLS out of Chicago when they would play his narratives like "Phantom of the Open hearth".

The man has a catalog of Americana that is second to none.

[reegs]

Like many others, the world of Jean Shepherd was opened up to me through "A Christmas Story." I loved the movie which led to me reading all his books. Through the internet, I discovered his incredible radio career.

If you want to learn more about the greatest humorist of the 20th Century, go to "FlickLives.com" where you can access MP3s of his radio shows or get the book, "Excelsior, You Fathead! The Art and Enigma of Jean Shepherd" by Eugene Bergman.

It's not quite a biography, as little was known about Shepherd's personal life, but an interesting analysis of the man and his humor.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

I'll bet you'd enjoy reading: "In One Era & Out the Other" by Sam Levenson.

Same type of stories, but from a Jewish childhood. I love all of his books. :)

[Pelham]

Undoubtedly you remember The Tonight Show when Jack Paar replaced Steve Allen. But did you know that Jean Shepherd was NBC's first choice to replace Allen?

http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north341.html