quote:For me, and I imagine for many others, watching this movie has become a wonderful Christmas season tradition.
egg-zactly!
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quote:For me, and I imagine for many others, watching this movie has become a wonderful Christmas season tradition.
quote:Originally posted by laming:
Allan Miller quoted:quote:"Ralphie, a young boy growing up in the '40's, dreams of owning a Red Rider BB gun."
Where did you get that quote Allan? Is that on the DVD cover? If so, then like many books-to-films, the book content/era was tampered with again for the making of the film.
quote:Originally posted by CH:
For those of you looking to see what the Dept. 56 A Christmas Story buildings look like. I have a complete? set on my Christmas layout.
quote:But if he was shot down over Italy, then the earliest it could have been was 1943; most likely it would have been in/after July of 1943 when they invaded Sicily. Operation Torch, the invasion of North Africa, was in November of 1942 and the Americans were on the western half of the campaign in N. Africa, a good 600+ miles from Sicily. Even with drop tanks, American fighters couldn't reach that far. If they flew to interdict supplies brought in for the Axis, I doubt if they flew that far east until after Montgomery had defeated the Afrika Corp in mid 1943. BTW, Jimmy Doolittle was the American Army Air Force commander in Torch.
And the last thing the Americans wanted was to put an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean. It was still a Nazi pond until very late 1943.
quote:Originally posted by Allan Miller:
It doesn't matter the least bit, people! It's not based on a real-life historical event from any specific period. It's an entertaining fantasy film and a fictitious representation of the type of life events that any of us in the "senior" category can easily relate to.
quote:It's not based on a real-life historical event from any specific period. It's an entertaining fantasy film and a fictitious representation of the type of life events that any of us in the "senior" category can easily relate to.
quote:Originally posted by J. Motts:
Good Morning and Merry Chirstmas Everyone. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I'm watching the movie The Christmas Story, you know the one they run non-stop from Christmas Eve thru Christmas Day. I love this movie as it brings back a lot of memories of when I was a young lad about the same age as the guys in the movie. I can remember going to the depatrment stores here in town and seeing the large window displays with the Lionel trains running all around and then you could mosey on over to the toy department and see the Lionel display layouts that they would have up and running for the Christmas season. Unfortunately, my dad never gave me a Lionel train set for Christmas, he was into HO scale himself and so I got Atheran HO train sets for my trains. My uncle at my grandmothers house, had what I always wanted and we would play with them all night and day. We must have run the wheels off of them, but it was such a great time.
My question to the members is simply can you all tell me what trains were represented in the shots shown in the movie at the beginning? I'm sorry I'm not all that familiar with all the early train sets and locomotives and cars that were avilable during those time back in the late 40's and early 50's. I'd like to try and see if I could find some of those. What do you guys suggest I look for?
Thanks for your help, it is most appreciated.
J. Motts
sptrainnut
TCA 12-67009
quote:Originally posted by rex desilets:
I second that.
My Christmas story exactly parallels Ralphie's except that for me it was a Lionel train set-especially the part about not finding it under the tree; after the "orgy of unbridled avarice" ended my Dad asked me if I'd gotten what I wanted. Well, not exactly, upon which he pointed to a large box stuck back in a corner: the Lionel steam turbine set. Most memorable Christmas ever (I was eight).
quote:Originally posted by Allan Miller:quote:By now I thought one of yinz car experts would have set the date by recognizing Ralphie's family automobile. What year was their car?
Kind of hard to date things by the year the Ralphie family car was made. Years ago, people didn't buy a new car every couple of years or so. They held onto the family wheels for a good number of years and weren't stuck in that latest-and-greatest rut that you see so often followed today and in recent times.
quote:Originally posted by J. Motts:
My question to the members is simply can you all tell me what trains were represented in the shots shown in the movie at the beginning? J. Motts
sptrainnut
TCA 12-67009
quote:Originally posted by Allan Miller:
"The movie's fictional BB gun, described as the "Red Ryder carbine-action, two hundred shot Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing which tells time", does not correspond to any model in existence nor even a prototype; the Red Ryder featured in the movie was specially made to match author Jean Shepherd's story (which may be artistic license, but was the configuration Shepherd claimed to remember). However, the "Buck Jones" Daisy air rifle, immediately above the Red Ryder in the Daisy line, did have a compass and sundial in the stock, but no other features of the "Red Ryder" model. The guns and a stand-up advertisement featuring the Red Ryder character appeared in a Higbee's store window in the film, along with dolls, a train, and Radio Flyer wagons."
quote:Originally posted by david1:
To be honest i have watched the movie twice and i just don't get it. I grew up in the 50's and the movie does nothing for me. I would rather watch the likes of Srooge w/ Alastir syms (not spelled correctly) Holiday inn w/ Bing crosby, The polar express and a Charlie Browns Christmas. I tried watching the Christmas story again this year and could watch less then a third of the movie before i got bored. Oh well plenty of others to watch.
Dave
quote:We had a spirited debate at the office last week about "A Chrstimas Story" and folks seem to fall into two camps, i.e., those that love the flick and others who don't. Not much in between. We also concluded that there's a bit of gender influence at work as most of the guys give it a thumbs up and the women did not.
quote:Originally posted by Allan Miller:
Obviously a whole lot of folks like and/or relate to the movie or you wouldn't see it aired non-stop during every Christmas season, and you wouldn't see the many ancillary products made (I have a leg lamp on my desk at home).
quote:Originally posted by Allan Miller:
...(I have a leg lamp on my desk at home).
quote:I will report any interesting "discoveries" here.
quote:Originally posted by johnstrains:
And it should be noted, the "neighbor" who walks up to admire the the Major Award is Bob Clark. None other than the film's director making a cameo!
quote:Originally posted by CSXJOE:
Supposedly his first name is unknown, but in the street scene where he is admiring his Major Award, a neighbor walks up and calls him Mark.
quote:"The exact date the movie represents can be seen on the decoder disc Ralphie uses in the bathroom. You have to freeze frame it on a DVD player. It says 1938 or 1939."
quote:If you look closely during the infamous tire changing scene, you can see some boats in the background. They look like the type of craft you'd see on the Great Lakes. And they are! That scene, among others in the movie, was filmed in St. Catherines, Ontario right next to a ship canal.
quote:This has been a very fun thread.
Just think: We've learned what trains were used, cameo appearances by previously unknown (to us) personalities, the years of mfg'er concerning the cars that were involved... all sorts of fun stuff! Even some anecdotal recollections by forum members of their own versions of Christmas Story they've lived!
quote:The Little Orphan Annie Radio show ran from 1931 until 1942. Ovaltine was the sponsor until 1940 when Puffed Wheat Sparkies became the sponsor. The decoder rings started in 1935 and ended with 1940. Here is an article about the decoder rings. It says the decoder ring used in the movie was the 1940 version.
quote:Originally posted by Allan Miller:
The film is, as I noted earlier, designed to evoke nostalgic feelings in a wide-ranging audience, and especially those who can relate to similar situations in their own lives, be they from the 30s, 40s, or 50s.
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