20 facts you might not know about 'A Christmas Story'

Jean Shepherd was one of those slice-of-life short story writers. The movie “A Christmas Story” is based in part on some of the stories in his book “In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash.” Oddly for a fairly family-friendly movie, a couple of the stories adapted for the film were originally published in “Playboy.”

Given that a lot of the script is adapted from Shepherd’s writing, it makes sense that he would be reading it, right? The voice of adult Ralphie, the narrator of the film, is Shepherd himself.

The movie is credited to three writers. Shepherd, of course, and also director Bob Clark who we will get into momentarily. The other writer is Leigh Brown. How did they find her? It wasn’t hard, as Shepherd and Brown were married.

Bob Clark has an insane filmography. He directed two “Porky’s” movies and two “Baby Geniuses” movies! Not only that, before directing “A Christmas Story” he had directed “Black Christmas” which is considered one of the first American slasher movies.

Shepherd, Brown, and Clark can all be seen in the film. Brown is playing a woman waiting in the Santa line. Shepherd plays the guy who directs Raphie and Randy to the back of the line. Clark, meanwhile, plays Swede, Parker’s neighbor that “The Old Man” talks to about his leg lamp.

Shooting on “A Christmas Story” began in early 1983. This was after Clark had spent quite some time trying to get his adaptation of Shepherd’s stories going. He has said that it took him 10 years to finally get to make the movie. Weirdly, “Black Christmas” came out in 1973. Apparently, Christmas was really on his mind back then.

Ralphie’s dad referred to as “The Old Man” in the movie, ended up played by Darren McGavin. You may also know him as Kolchak from the cult TV show “Kolchak: The Night Stalker.” However, Clark has said that they were considering Jack Nicholson of all people for the role. Clark was happy with McGavin, though, and cast him in a few of his films after “A Christmas Story.”

When a movie is casting a lead child role, oftentimes they cast a long net. Indeed, “A Christmas Story” auditioned a reported 8,000 kids for the role. Clark liked Peter Billingsley early, but thought he might be too obvious a choice and kept looking. Future stars like Sean Astin and Wil Wheaton auditioned. Eventually, Clark ended up casting Billingsley anyway.

Scut Farkus is the infamous bully that Ralphie and his friends have to deal with. He’s played by Zack Ward, who continued acting into adulthood. If you recognize him, it may be as Christopher Titus’ brother Dave on his sitcom “Titus.”

The movie takes place in Anytown, USA, or specifically Hohman, Indiana. This is not a real town. Inspired by Shepherd’s hometown of Hammond, Illinois, the name “Hohman” was taken from a street in Hammond.

Clark needed to capture that Midwestern flair for his film. Over a dozen cities were considered, but ultimately they shot the film in Cleveland, Ohio. A big reason for that was the fact Downtown Cleveland had a Higbee’s department store, which is where the Santa scenes were set. Some filming was also done in Ontario, Canada.

The year the action of “A Christmas Story” is happening is a mystery to all of us. Clark and Shepherd had settled on it being set in the “late-‘30s, early ‘40s” but did not get any more specific than that. Thus, we have a time frame, but no year is ever mentioned in the movie.

The Old Man loves his leg lamp, but all Ralphie wants is a Red Ryder BB Gun. However, the gun he wants doesn’t exist in real life. That is to say, the Red Ryder brand never had the compass and the sundial that Ralphie’s BB gun has. This configuration never really existed.

“A Christmas Story” was made for only $3.3 million, so it was not a pricey movie to make. Thus, it was able to turn a profit. However, when it was released in theaters it was not all that popular. “A Christmas Story” made a mere $20.6 million. It did have one big fan, though. Roger Ebert gave it four stars.

Shooting those scenes in Canada paid off for “A Christmas Story.” It made the movie eligible for the Genie Awards, which is Canada’s answer to the Oscars (for Canadian productions). The film won two Genies, with Clark winning for Best Director and the movie also winning Best Original Screenplay.

For a movie that didn’t make much of a splash in the box office, “A Christmas Story” has become a truly beloved movie. AOL and IGN have named it the best Christmas/holiday movie ever. Additionally, a 2012 Marist Poll to find the favorite holiday film also landed on “A Christmas Story” as the most popular.

You can probably thank the Turner corporation for the rise in the movie’s popularity. Once they bought the rights, they started showing it on TNT, TBS, and TCM quite often. Eventually, in 1997 TNT aired their first 24-hour “A Christmas Story” marathon for the holidays. Nowadays both TNT and TBS do an annual 24-hour marathon. Apparently, it still lands for people. In 2019, 13 of the 25 most-watched cable programs on Christmas day were airings of “A Christmas Story.”

In 2012, a musical adaptation of the movie was done on Broadway. It proved critically popular but only lasted for a couple of months. To be fair, it is a seasonal story. That was good enough to earn it a few Tony nominations. They adapted the musical to television for one of those live musical things, but that got poor reviews.

In 1994, Clark and Shepherd joined forces against for “It Runs in the Family,” a sequel to “A Christmas Story” that adapts more tales from Shepherd’s book. However, none of the original cast returned save for Tedde Moore, who plays the teacher, Miss Shields. Kieran Culkin actually played Ralphie. This time, the movie was a huge bomb. When they released it for home video, it was retitled “My Summer Story.”

Perhaps owing to the popularity of the Christmas marathons, they made “A Christmas Story 2” in 2012. However, it is not based on Shepherd’s writing at all. Also, it’s directed by Brian Levant, the man who helmed movies like “Beethoven” and “The Flintstones.” Ralphie is now 15 and wants a car, while Daniel Stern plays The Old Men. It ended up going direct-to-DVD and generally got bad reviews.