A Christmas Story
Walter Bright
of the movie, and parts of the plot, are strongly reminiscent of a
movie I saw a few years back called 'Phantom of the Open Hearth'. In
fact, the sequence with the tacky lamp seems to have been lifted
directly from the previous movie. Has anyone else noticed this? Are
the directors or script writers of the two movies the same?
m.r.leeper
Jean Shepherd is a popular American humorist. As far as I know he got
started by doing comic hour-long monologs on WOR-radio. Public radio
and a number of private radio stations also played his stuff. Most
often the the stories he told were fictionalized stories about his
youth. He took these monologs and wrote them down, first in short
stories for Playboy magazine, and then in what he calls novels, but
they are really collections of short stories. Among the books he has
written this way are IN GOD WE TRUST -- ALL OTHERS PAY CASH, WANDA
HICKEY'S NIGHT OF GOLDEN MEMORIES, and FERRARI IN THE BEDROOM. In
book form he referred to himself in the third person and called
himself Ralph. More recently he has adapted some of his stories as
plays. At least three of these plays have been done on PBS. They are
"Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories", "Phantom of the Open
Hearth," (which is probably the "movie" you are remembering), and one
about a year ago, I don't remember the title but it concerned his date
with a [gasp!] Polish girl. A CHRISTMAS STORY is his first film. It
is based on chapters in IN GOD WE TRUST. Most of these things he,
himself narrates. His voice can also be heard now on a number radio
commercials for things like ice cream. He also had a couple of
short-lived tv series on PBS including "Jean Shepherd's America." He
also is a popular on the college campus lecture circuit.
Mark Leeper
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More details on Jean Shepherd:
In addition to the books mentioned by Mark Leeper (In God We Trust - All Others
Pay Cash, Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories, and Ferrari in the Bedroom),
there is one other one: A Fist Full of Fig Newtons. They are all good. In
God We Trust is my personal favorite.
Also PBS has done two other Shepherd plays: the one about the Polish girl is
called "The Star Crossed Romance of Joesephine Cosnowski". There was another
play based largely on stuff from "In God We Trust", called "The Fourth of July
and other Great Disasters". All are good, but only the 4th... comes close
to "A Christmas Story".
Shepherd is the ultimate story teller. A 20th century Mark Twain. He best
stuff (as demonstrated in the movie) is his stories from childhood, told with
the kind of insight that bridges the gap between childhood memories and adult
experiences with children. You watch the movie simultaneously recognizing
experiences from your own childhood, and recognizing the behavior of kids
you've known as an adult.
On my rating scale "A Christmas Story" gets the highest rating.
"You'll shoot your eye out, kid."
Dave Blickstein
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Roger Klorese
Both are adaptations of the books/radio shows of raconteur Jean Shepherd.
--
... "What were you expecting, rock'n'roll?"
Roger B.A. Klorese
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