A Christmas Story turns 40!

Get out your leg lamps, one of America’s favorite holiday movies will soon be on televisions everywhere!  I cannot believe this movie is 40 years old.  I remember that I lived on base in Page Manor at Wright-Patterson AFB and we walked a couple of blocks to the theatre near there to see the movie.  We were young and poor and working on restoring a 1940’s radio we got at the thrift store for a family Christmas gift, so this movie was especially timely since it is set in the 1940’s and Ralphie listened to the radio everyday to get the secret code from the Little Orphan Annie radio show.    

This sleeper film was originally released before Thanksgiving in 1983, enjoyed only moderate success, and was out of the theaters by Christmas.  The setting was the late 1930’s or early 1940’s  in a fictional town in Indiana and based on Jean Shepherd’s book of short stories, In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash.

The film didn’t become terribly popular until purchased by Ted Turner in the late 80’s and he ran it on all of his cable stations including a 24-hour marathon in 1997.  This exposed the film to a huge audience who fell in love with the story of little Ralphie and his dream of receiving a Red Ryder BB gun.  He was always trying to convince his parents, teacher and ultimately Santa that he just had to have one, only to be told “you’ll shoot your eye out”!

Other popular scenes include Ralphie’s friend Flick being dared to stick his tongue to a flagpole on a cold day at the playground.  Perhaps folks could relate to this story as the children, the parents, or to fond memories of school days or of just being a kid at Christmas time. 

The movie starred Peter Billingsley as Ralphie, Darren McGavin as his father and Melinda Dillon as his mother.  Jean Shepherd narrated the movie and this style of narrated childhood inspired the television series, The Wonder Years.  Peter Billingsley was a child actor who was most recognized as “Messy Marvin” in Hersheys Syrup commercials.  He went on to become a producer of films such as Iron Man and The Breakup!

In December, 2004, fan Brian Jones, an entrepreneur from California who made tons of money making “the famous leg lamp” from the movie, purchased the house in Cleveland Ohio that was used as the outdoor shot for Ralphie’s house.  He purchased the house for $150,000 on eBay and restored the house to the way it appeared in the movie although the interior shots were actually filmed on a sound stage in another state.  He was able to obtain many original props from the movie and later bought the house across the street to turn into a museum and house his collection. People sure do love this movie!  Lines snaked down the street and around the block the day of the grand opening.

There is a lot of information on the internet including fun facts about the movie and the museum that I think you would love to read so check it out on your favorite search engine.  Also, if you love vintage things and bygone eras, you will love this movie if you haven’t already seen it.  Happy Collecting!

Jillinda Falen has been buying and selling antiques for over 39 years and is a licensed REALTOR and estate liquidation specialist.  You can contact her through the Houston Home Journal or via email at jcfalen@gmail.com

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