A Christmas Story (1983)

A Christmas Story mini lobby card set image courtesy Heritage Auction Galleries

Director Bob Clark and MGM/United Artists delivered the humorous A Christmas Story to movie theaters in 1983. Darren McGavin plays the Old Man, with Peter Billingsley as the wide-eyed youngster who covets a Daisy Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas.

Jean Shepherd’s In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash

A Christmas Story is based on the 1966 short story collection In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash by noted American humorist Jean Shepherd (1921-1999). Shepherd, who also worked in both radio and television, is perhaps best known for his 1956-77 stint on New York City radio station WOR.

Bob Clark Directs A Christmas Story

Jean Shepherd, Leigh Brown and Bob Clark penned the screenplay for Christmas Tree Films and MGM. Clark (Black Christmas, Tribute, Porky’s) also directed.  Paul Zaza and Carl Zittrer created the original music score. Holiday songs heard in the film include “Deck the Halls,” “We Wish You a Merry Christmas,” “Jingle Bells” and “Santa Claus Is Coming to Town.”

Darren McGavin (Mr. Parker or the Old Man), Melinda Dillon (Mrs. Parker) and Peter Billingsley (Ralphie Parker) head the fine cast. Other players include Ian Petrella (Randy Parker), Scott Schwartz (Flick), R.D. Robb (Schwartz), Tedde Moore (Miss Shields), Yano Anaya (Grover Dill), Zack Ward (Scut Farkus), Jeff Gillen (Santa Claus), Les Carlson (Tree Man), Jim Hunter (Freight Man), Patty Johnson (Head Elf), Drew Hocevar (Male Elf), David Svoboda (Goggles), Dwayne McLean (Black Bart), Helen E. Kaider (Wicked Witch), John Wong (Chop Suey Palace Owner), Johan Sebastian Wong (Waiter #1), Fred Lee (Waiter #2) and Dan Ma (Waiter #3).  

Jean Shepherd provides the film’s amusing narration. Director Bob Clark makes a cameo appearance as Swede, the Parkers’ none-too-bright neighbor who admires the Old Man’s novelty lamp.

A Christmas Story Filmed in Cleveland

Budgeted at $4 million, A Christmas Story was primarily filmed on location in Cleveland, Ohio, with additional scenes shot in Canada. Toronto’s Magder Studios served as the picture’s in-house production facility.

The Parker house, along with Higbees Department Store at 200 Prospect Avenue, were located in Cleveland. Ralphie’s school, on the other hand, was “played” by Central Senior Public School in Lindsay, Ontario, Canada.

A Christmas Story: Ralphie and the Red Ryder BB Gun

A Christmas Story opens in grand fashion, with titles etched in holiday script, ringing bells and a stirring rendition of “Deck the Halls.” Ably narrated by Jean Shepherd, the movie centers on nine-year-old Ralphie Parker, whose one desire for Christmas is “a Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-Shot Lightning-Loader Range Model Air Rifle with a Shockproof High Adventure Combination Trail Compass and Sundial set right in the stock.” Whew!

Ralphie’s pursuit of “The Holy Grail of Christmas Gifts” is but one drama in the Parker household. Others include Ralphie’s continuing problem with a school bully, Mr. Parker’s fascination with a novelty lamp in the shape of a gartered woman’s leg, and the family’s emergency Christmas dinner at Chop Suey Palace.

A Christmas Story Opens in the United States and Canada

A Christmas Story opened in both the United States and Canada on November 18, 1983.

“There are a number of small, unexpectedly funny moments in A Christmas Story, but you have to possess the stamina of a pearl diver to find them,” reported Vincent Canby of The New York Times in his review titled “Home in Indiana” (11/18/83).

“The movie’s high point comes at Christmastime, when Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) goes to visit Santa Claus. Visits to Santa Claus are more or less standard in works of this genre, but this movie has the best visit to Santa I’ve ever seen,” offered Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times (12/15/83).

“Children will love it, but adults may cringe in embarrassment. They know better than Santa that America was never so innocent and untroubled, even in the days of Oxydol’s own Ma Perkins. Doesn’t Jean Shepherd know there was a war going on at the same time? It was in all the papers,” observed Rex Reed of the New York Post in his review titled “‘Christmas Story’ is kiddie korn” (11/18/83).

Film Analysis

A Christmas Story is the cinematic gift that keeps on giving. Set in December 1940 in fictional Hohman, Indiana, this slice of Americana provides a charming look back into a bygone era.

The laughs come hard and fast in this yuletide comedy. One revolves around little Randy Parker, who is so bundled up by his mother that he eventually totters and collapses in the snow, unable to get up because of the huge mass of clothing that encases his tiny body.

Other memorable scenes include Ralphie’s battle with bully Scut Farkus, hapless Flick’s unfortunate “triple-dog dare” oral encounter with a frozen flagpole, the Old Man’s run-in with the Bumpus hounds, and the snowy white Christmas that eventually greets the family.

A Christmas Story is holiday hilarious, with all concerned delivering the gift of laughter in what narrator Jean Shepherd nostalgically describes as “lovely, glorious, beautiful Christmas, around which the entire kid year revolved.”

A Christmas Story Trivia

• After using “the F-dash-dash-dash word,” Ralphie is given a bar of Lifebuoy soap to stick into his dirty mouth.
• Mr. Parker is described as “an Oldsmobile Man.”
• Ralphie’s grade on his “What I Want for Christmas” essay: C+.
• The blatantly commercial message as decoded by Ralphie’s Little Orphan Annie pin: “Be Sure to Drink Ur Ovaltine.”
• Ralphie and his classmates study the George Eliot novel Silas Marner.
• Ralphie’s Christmas present from Aunt Clara: a pink bunny costume.
• The Old Man is thrilled with his Christmas presents: a can of Simoniz and a blue bowling ball.

A Christmas Story Box Office, Bob Clark’s Death, Tourist House, DVD

• A Christmas Story grossed $19,294,144 at the American box office.
• Director Bob Clark (1939-2007), along with his 22-year-old son Ariel Hanrath-Clark, was killed in a head-on crash with a drunk driver in Pacific Palisades, California, on April 4, 2007.
• Fans can visit the original A Christmas Story house at 3159 W. 11th Street, Cleveland, Ohio 44109. Tel: (216) 298-4919.
• On DVD: A Christmas Story Full-Screen Edition (Warner, 2007).

“You’ll shoot your eye out, kid,” the department store Santa warns after hearing of Ralphie’s Red Ryder BB gun wish.

And the kid nearly does…