SHOW NOTES: A Christmas Story (1983)

Synopsis

A Christmas Story is presented in a series of vignettes, with narration provided by the adult Ralphie Parker. As a 9-year-old boy living in Northwest Indiana around the late 1930s, all Ralphie wants for Christmas is a Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle. Ralphie’s request is rejected by his mother, his teacher Miss Shields, and a disgruntled Santa at Higbee’s store, all of whom insist Ralphie will shoot his eye out.
On Christmas morning, Ralphie receives some presents that he enjoys, but is disappointed not to find the rifle among them. Ralphie’s father (“The Old Man”) directs him to one last box hidden in the corner, which proves to contain the rifle. Ralphie eagerly hurries outside to try it out, but when he shoots at the metal target he has set up, the BB ricochets and knocks off his glasses. Ralphie accidentally steps on and breaks the glasses while trying to find them; he makes up a cover story about an icicle falling from the roof of the garage and hitting his eye, which fools his mom and keeps him from getting into trouble.
That night, Ralphie goes to sleep with the gun by his side, as his adult self reflects that it was the best Christmas present he had ever received or would ever receive.

Actors & Crew

Peter Billingsley (Ralphie Parker) – born 1971 in NYC, one of five children. Billingsley’s first acting role was when he was 2 in a 1973 Geritol commercial. He went on to star in about 120 television advertisements throughout the 1970s and early 1980s. He was best known for a series of commercials for Hershey’s chocolate syrup in which he portrayed the character Messy Marvin. Billingsley was a spokesman for the young-astronaut program and was present in 1986 at launch pad 39B of the Challenger. Billingsley served as executive producer on director Favreau’s Iron Man feature film; he also acted in the film playing William Ginter Riva, a scientist who works for Obadiah Stane; he reprised the role later in 2019 in the film Spider-Man: Far From Home.^[18] Billingsley, Favreau, and Vaughn appeared in Four Christmases (2008). Couples Retreat (2009) starring Favreau and Vaughn was Billingsley’s first major film as director.
Melinda Dillon (Mrs. Parker)-was an American actress. She was nominated for a 1963 Tony Award for her Broadway debut in the original production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her roles in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Absence of Malice (1981). Dillon began as an improvisational comedian and stage actress. Four years later, Dillon co-starred with John Lithgow in the Bigfoot comedy Harry and the Hendersons. 1990s: taking roles in the superhero film Captain America, the Barbra Streisand drama The Prince of Tides, the low-budget Lou Diamond Phillips thriller Sioux City, the comedy To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar, and the drama How to Make an American Quilt. Dillon died on January 9, 2023, at the age of 83.
Darren McGavin (Mr. Parker)McGavin began his career working as a set painter for Columbia Pictures. By 1954 he was originating roles on Broadway. Was raised in Spokane Washington, but was boarded out, ran away and ended up in the SF area, attended College of the Pacific in Stockton, CA and was rejected from military service due to bad knees. His first starring role was opposite Kathryn Hepburn in Summertime and Burt Reynolds in Riverboat – which was short lived due to Darrin and Burt not getting along.Later works inclukded A Christmas Story and Billy Madison, where he played the title characters father. He passed away in February of 2006.
Ian Petrella (Randy Parker) – is best known for the role of Randy Parker in the 1983 film A Christmas Story. He reprised the role in the 2022 sequel A Christmas Story Christmas. From November of 2010, to the first week of January 2011, he served as a guest tour guide at the A Christmas Story House in Cleveland, Ohio. He currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio, working in animation and puppetry.

Filming

Shot in Cleveland, OH & Ontario, Canada.

Director Bob Clark reportedly sent scouts to twenty cities before selecting Cleveland for exterior filming. Cleveland was chosen because of Higbee’s Department Store in downtown Cleveland. Since Higbee’s was exclusive to northeast Ohio, the department store referred to in Shepherd’s book and the film is most likely Goldblatt’s, located in downtown Hammond (with the Cam-Lan Chinese Restaurant three doors down on Sibley Avenue). Until they connected with Higbee’s, location scouts had been unsuccessful in finding a department store that was willing to be part of the film. Higbee’s vice president Bruce Campbell agreed to take part in the project on the condition he be allowed to edit the script for cursing. Ultimately, Higbee’s was the stage for three scenes in the film:

The opening scene in which Ralphie first spies the Red Ryder BB Gun in the store’s Christmas window display. Higbee’s was known for its elaborate, child-centered Christmas themes and decorations, with Santa Claus as the centerpiece.
The parade scene, filmed just outside Higbee’s on Public Square. The parade was filmed late at night (3 a.m.) because during the daytime the newer Erieview Tower and Federal Building were visible from the Public Square, as was the BP Tower, which was under construction at the time.
Ralphie and Randy’s visit to see Santa, which was filmed inside Higbee’s. The store kept the Santa sleigh that was made for the film and used it for several years after the film’s release. Higbee’s became Dillard’s in 1992 and closed permanently in 2002.

In addition to the scenes involving Higbee’s, the exterior shots (and select interior shots where Ralphie lived, including the opening of the leg lamp) of the house and neighborhood, were filmed in the Tremont section of Cleveland’s West Side. The house used as the Parker home in these scenes has been restored, reconfigured inside to match the soundstage interiors, and opened to the public as “A Christmas Story House“. Appropriately, the fictional boyhood home of Ralphie Parker is on Cleveland Street, the name of the actual street where Shepherd grew up.

Fun facts:

In August 2011, Zack Ward, who played Scut Farkus in the film, sued Warner Bros. and Enesco over merchandising for the film after the company authorized a figure resembling his character from the film without his permission.^[131] It was revealed that when he signed on to play that character, he did not receive any merchandising rights because of a mishap with his contract.^[131] The lawsuit was dropped in January 2012 after Warner Bros. revealed that the figurine showed a “generic face” that has been used on them since 2006 and that the statute of limitations had run out.^[132. In December 2012, Ward sued Warner Bros. again over his image after attending the annual Christmas Story charity fundraiser convention in Cleveland in November 2010, where a fan handed him a Christmas Story board game, playing cards, and calendar showing his face.^[133] The lawsuit was settled three days later
Jean Shepherd plays the man standing in line at Higbees waiting for Santa
Peter was the first to audition for the role. They auditioned over 3,000 actors for the role.
Peter was able to keep The Red Ryder BB gun, the pink bunny suit and Ralphie’s broken glasses.

Numbers

Release November 18, 1983

Budget: $3.3mil

Gross: $19.2mil ($2mil opening weekend)

In December 1984, the film was re-released for a brief second theatrical run, coinciding with its home video release.

On December 24, 2007, AOL ranked the film their #1 Christmas film of all time. IGN ranked the film the top holiday-themed film of all time. In 2012, a Marist Poll named the film the favorite holiday film in the US. In 2019, a poll commissioned by Tubitv and conducted by Onepoll also ranked the film Best Holiday Movie Ever. A Christmas Story received a nomination for Best Digital – Comedy, and won Best Digital – Animation/Family at the 2023 Golden Trailer Awards.
Roger Ebert initially gave the film three stars out of four,but later awarded the film four stars and added the film to his “Great Movies” list. He suggested that the film only experienced modest success because holiday-themed films were not popular at the time.
Vincent Canby‘s mostly negative The New York Times review complained that “the movie’s big comic pieces tend only to be exceedingly busy. Though Mr. Billingsley, Mr. Gavin [sic], Miss Dillon and the actress who plays Ralphie’s school teacher (Tedde Moore) are all very able, they are less funny than actors in a television situation comedy.