I triple dog dare you to read this article! From tricks they used to save money to problems with filming, here are 10 fascinating facts about A Christmas Story (Granted it's a bit early, but if the stores can do Christmas early why can't I?).
#10: A book and author referenced
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| Adaptionception! |
Believe it or not, this all time classic movie was based off of a book. Specifically, it was based off of Jean Shepherd's "In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash", a series of short stories from which several of the movie's most famous scenes are derived from. Jean Shepherd himself shows up in the movie both as the narrator and as one of the people at the department short that Ralphie visits.
#9: Tongue on the vacuum pole
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| There's only one correct way to do this: DON'T! |
We all remember the scene where the kid gets his tongue stuck to the flagpole, right? Well, it turns out the flagpole wasn't actually frozen. Instead, it there was a hole where the kid puts his tongue and a tiny vacuum inside the pole to simulate his tongue freezing to it.
#8: Don't shoot your eye out!
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| This could've easily gone much worse! |
Ralphie's glasses weren't originally supposed to break in the scene where he plays with his Red Ryder BB Gun. That was an accident that the staff decided to incorporate into the story. Ralphie's actor, Peter Billingsley, has kept these broken glasses along with the bb gun and the pink bunny pajamas as souvenirs.
#7: Flash Gordon
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| If only... |
There was originally a scene where Ralphie imagined himself teaming up with Flash Gordon to battle Ming The Merciless, using his trusty Red Ryder BB Gun. Even though this scene went unused, Flash and Ming's names still pop up near the end of the credit sequence.
#6: There's more?!
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| I'm just as surprised as you! |
Believe it or not, this movie is part of a movie and television series called "Parker Family Saga". Like "A Christmas Story", these were based off of Jean Sherperd's radio shows and books, including the aforementioned "In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash".
#5: What year was this?
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| Little bonus fact: That bar of soap is actually wax. |
Even though the movie is set in the 1940s, it's never shown or stated exactly what year it takes place in. To complicate things, the movie features props and references from all sorts of years. Just to name a few: This movie references the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz" several times. Ms. Shields' drawer of confiscated pranks includes a pair of chattering teeth, which wasn't invented until 1949. And finally, on Christmas morning the Parkers listen to songs from Bing Crosby's 1945 album "Merry Christmas".
#4: Extra Extra! Read all about it!
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| Either he's an airplane fanatic or he's the Red Baron that Snoopy's always fighting! |
Some of the people in the movie aren't actors, but rather locals in the Cleveland Ohio area that the producers decided to put in the movie. These include Santa, his elves and the weird boy with goggles that Ralphie meets at the department store.
#3: They did what?!
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| Here's something you could never get away with these days! |
During the scene where Ralphie imagines himself shooting robbers with his Red Ryder BB Gun, he was given actually chewing tobacco instead of gum. Thankfully, this was most likely his last time chewing the stuff, as he said it made him sick.
#2: The Leg Lamp
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| Now that's a Christmas centerpiece! |
There are several factoids about the famous leg lamp. For one, it's odd design was based off of an old ad for Nehi soda. Second, there was no plug for the thing. Third, there were three of them made for the movie, sadly all of them were broken during filming.
#1: Museum sweet museum
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| If you're old middle school teacher never took you to this place, I'm so sorry! |
Several years after the movie's release, the Parker's house where the movie was filmed was refurbished and turned into a museum. Not only was the interior decorated to look like it did during the film, it also has various references to scenes of the movie, even script and picture for the aforementioned unused Flash Gordon scene.
The Christmas memories are just flooding back, aren't they? If you know of any facts I missed or believe I fudged something up, leave your thoughts in the comments section. Thanks for reading and have a merry Christmas and/or happy Fourth of July!
