About "A Christmas Story"
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The kids are now settled in
school. They have finally given in to the fact that their teacher is
really not the fire-breathing dragon they thought he or she was. When
they came running home from school that first day, loaded down with
new books and the assignment to cover them all for the next day, they
told horror stories about their teachers. Now the teachers are “okay,
I guess” and just give too much homework, cutting into their playtime.
Of course you give them the same lecture that your parents gave you
about the importance of education and they are probably thinking the
same thing you thought at the time – “Yeah, yeah, can I go out to play
now?” |
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Back to School |
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Trains are out - Playstation is in |
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Times have changed, but
kids really haven’t. The toys are different now, the Lionel Trains
have been replaced by Playstation. Record players are replaced by
computers with chat rooms and playing MP3s. Skates no longer fall off
your shoe halfway down the block – they ARE the shoe. Baseball cards
have taken a back seat to Yu-Gi-Oh cards and never find their way onto
the spokes of your bicycle held firm with a clothes pin. Kids on the
other hand still manage to find mischief at every turn, and continue
to want more than they get. The clothes get torn, the knees get
skinned, and there is still the occasional black eye, compliments of
the local bully. |
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This is why “A
Christmas Story” now celebrating its 20th anniversary,
has become the new 'holiday classic' in recent years. Both the parents
and the kids can relate to this movie. The timeless events that unfold
can be shared by both as if they were occurring just yesterday. They
bring back memories of childhood to the adults and seem like everyday
events to the kids. What kid today doesn’t break out in a fistfight
with another or dare his friend to do something he shouldn’t? The ‘old
man’ may not be fighting the furnace or sporting a leg lamp, but he
does have his car to bark at, or a sports trophy he wants to display
in the most unlikely places. |
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Timeless Events |
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When I was your age... |
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Many
people don’t realize how much we look back and recount our days as
feckless youths. We are always saying to our kids, “When I was your
age…” or “I remember the time when I had one of those.” Even in
conversations with friends or associates at work a conversation will
seldom pass in which we don’t ‘look back’ at earlier times. |
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Jean Shepherd,
who wrote “A Christmas Story” also narrated it and played a
cameo role in the department store scene where Ralphie and Randy go to
see Santa. He was the man who says to Ralphie, “Hey kid, the line
starts back there”. The movie is based on Shepherd’s book “In God We
Trust All Others Pay Cash” first published in 1966. It was a
collection of short stories which were originally published in Playboy
Magazine. But many of these weren’t put into print until they told to
an audience first. Shep, as fans refer to him, had a radio show on WOR
in New York from 1955 to 1977. In the early years he would be on the
air for four and a half hours every night, then he was on Saturdays
and Sundays before finally settling into a forty-five minute Monday to
Friday format in 1961. In 1964 this was expanded to Saturday nights
where he did a 2 hour live broadcast at the Village Limelight in New
York. |
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Jean Shepherd writer and narrator plays a cameo
role along with his wife and producer Leigh Brown |
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Jean Shepherd at his WOR microphone in the 60's
Photo copyright Fred W McDarrah |
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Over these radio years he
would enter the studio, sit down behind the microphone and talk,
sometimes talking about trips he took to Australia, the Middle East,
and even Peru where he spent time in the jungles living with a tribe
of headhunters. At other times he would talk about people, what made
them tick, how the world was changing, and quite often he would tell a
‘kid’ story. He would always start out saying ‘I was this kid see…”
and then tell a story about him and his friends Flick, Schwartz and
Bruner. Stories like how they almost got shot stealing melons from a
melon patch, or how they got Flick to stick his tongue to a flag pole
in the dead of winter, going through garbage dumps, chasing after
girls, working as mail boy at the steel mill. The stories were
endless. He also liked to tell stories about his days in the Army when
he was in the Signal Corps like the time someone put a buzz bomb in
the radar unit. |
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No matter what topic he
talked about, it always captured your attention. You may not give a
hoot that the chief export of Bolivia is tin, but when Shep told it to
you, it was something you suddenly wanted to know. All throughout the
New York listening area, kids would hide their little transistor
radios under their pillows at night just to secretly listen to him
after their bedtime. They would lay in the dark snickering at his
stories, only to have their mother yelling from the living room, “What
are you laughing at? Get to sleep!” |
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The Transistor Radio
and Pillow
The only way to listen! |
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Night People and their book |
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He developed a following
of loyal listeners back in the 50's which he referred to as his "Night
People", that would go out and perform a ‘milling’ in front of a store
or an empty lot. Just go there and stand – waiting. He once had his
listeners going to book stores asking for a book called “I, Libertine”
by Frederick Ewing. There was no such book, having been invented by
Shep and his listeners. It soon was in such demand that Ballantine
books agreed to publish it and the book was written hastily by Shep
and Theodore Sturgeon.
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When director Bob Clark
(“Porky’s”) first read “In God We Trust All Others Pay Cash”,
he knew that he wanted to do a movie based on it. He contacted Jean
Shepherd and expressed his interest in doing a movie from the book,
but it took almost ten years to happen. Studios weren’t interested,
but when his movie “Porky’s” became a hit, he had the leverage
needed to get MGM to allow him to make “A Christmas Story” in
exchange for doing another Porky's movie. |
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In God We Trust
All Others Pay Cash |
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Cleveland filming locations
"Today" photos courtesy Robert Butler |
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Filming
began in January 1983 in Cleveland Ohio where the local department
store, Higbee’s, was re-decorated for the Christmas season to the
amazement of the patrons. Outside the weather was not being
cooperative and Cleveland was having a mild winter. This required the
crew to provide their own snow for the exterior shots – made from
potato flakes, shredded vinyl and fire fighter’s foam. Other filming
took place in Toronto Canada and St Catharines, Ontario, Canada.
Filming was completed in March of 1983. |
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The movie was slated for
release on November 20, 1983 and opened on 886 screens. On opening
weekend it grossed $2,072,473 and had a total gross of $19,294,144, a
far cry from that year’s leader “Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the
Jedi” which grossed $309,125,409. MGM was betting on it’s
release of “Yentl” for the holiday season and did not promote ACS
substantially. |
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Opened November 20, 1983 |
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The long road to
success |
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A new 2 disc DVD will join the other versions |
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It wasn’t until it came
out on video and began to be shown on television during the holidays
that the movie was ‘discovered’. It has been available in letterbox
and pan and scan formats on laser disc and in the pan and scan format
on VHS and DVD. This year, a new 2 disc DVD version will be released
by
Warner Home Video featuring the
widescreen version along with cast interviews, trailers and many other
features. |
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Even the toy market gets
into the spirit with the introduction of a complete line of items from
action figures to tree ornaments - yes, even the famous leg lamp is
being offered in two sizes.
NECA
- National Entertainment Collectables Association - is handling
the line. They've been around since 1996 and specialize in high
quality licensed collectibles. |
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For the first time - toys
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Broadway
Books has released "A Christmas Story" in hardcover.
The movie was based on the book "In God We Trust - All Others Pay
Cash" by Jean Shepherd with some ideas from his 2nd book "Wanda
Hickey's Night of Golden Memories and Other Disasters". This new
release combines the chapters from both books into one. |
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Sponsers and
Links |
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Google |
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Amazon.com |
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