97 Fun Facts About Christmas Story

A Christmas Story won two Genie Awards in 1984, the top film prizes of which country?

Canada's Genie Awards honored it for direction and screenplay, since it was a co-production shot partly north of the border; the directing prize was a tie with David Cronenberg.

What does Ralphie tell his mother caused the injury near his eye on Christmas morning?

Ralphie blames a falling icicle; the BB had actually ricocheted off his metal target, knocked off his glasses, and he stepped on them while searching.

What "major award" does the Old Man win in a newspaper contest?

A lamp shaped like a woman's leg, fishnet stocking and all, is the prize; the 'Battle of the Lamp' ends when Mrs. Parker 'accidentally' breaks it while watering her plant.

Which of Ralphie's friends gets his tongue stuck to a flagpole after a 'triple-dog dare'?

Flick's tongue freezes to the flagpole after Schwartz's triple-dog dare; the class then refuses to tell their teacher who dared him.

Thousands auditioned to play Ralphie; when did Peter Billingsley try out?

Before anyone else: Billingsley was the first boy seen and won the director over at once, yet thousands more auditioned, Sean Astin and Wil Wheaton among them, before he got the part.

Where do the Parkers end up eating Christmas dinner after their own is ruined?

Bo Ling's Chop Suey Palace owes its name to a neon 'Bowling' sign whose W has gone dark; inside, the waiters mangle 'Deck the Halls' for the Parkers.

A Christmas Story's adult-looking-back narration style was later used by which TV series?

The Wonder Years (1988) had a grown-up Kevin Arnold narrate his boyhood just as the adult Ralphie does, a voice-over style born from Jean Shepherd telling these stories on the radio.

Which 1966 book is A Christmas Story primarily based on?

In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash (1966) collects Shepherd's semi-autobiographical stories; the film strings several of them into one 1940s Christmas.

Who is the director of 'A Christmas Story'?

Bob Clark heard one of Jean Shepherd's stories on the radio in 1968 and spent more than a decade trying to get the film made.

What grade does Ralphie's teacher give his Christmas theme about the air rifle?

The teacher marks the theme C+, a long way from Ralphie's daydream in which she swoons over his 'sheer poetry' and awards it an A-plus.

How does Mrs. Parker finally get Randy to eat his dinner?

By playing "mommy's little piggie", Randy snorts his dinner straight off the plate; the Old Man's rival plan was to pry his mouth open with a screwdriver and a plumber's helper.

Which team does the Old Man jokingly refer to as the "Chicago Chipmunks"?

The Bears are no 'terror of the midway' to the Old Man: 'more like the Chicago Chipmunks', he scoffs, a Chicago fan because the family lives just over the line in northwest Indiana.

In A Christmas Story, the Old Man proudly mispronounces which shipping warning stamped on the crate holding his 'major award'?

He sounds out 'Fragile' as 'fra-gee-lay' and decides it must be Italian, until Mrs. Parker gently tells him what the word actually says.

What gift does the department store Santa suggest to Ralphie?

Santa suggests a football; a dazed Ralphie nearly accepts before clawing back up the slide to finally ask for his air rifle.

A Christmas Story's director appears in a cameo as which character?

Swede, the neighbor who stops in the street to ask what is glowing in the window, is the director himself; all three of the film's screenwriters sneak into it.

Three of the short stories behind A Christmas Story were first published in which magazine?

Playboy ran them between 1964 and 1966, a racy first home for boyhood tales that ended up as a family holiday staple.

In Ralphie's Wild West daydream, which outlaw does he face down with his trusty air rifle?

Black Bart and his gang are the villains Ralphie holds off with 'Old Blue'; the daydream returns on Christmas morning, when he fires at his target saying, 'Okay, Black Bart, now you get yours.'

What specific type of air rifle does Ralphie desperately want for Christmas?

Daisy Red Ryder is the short form: after blurting out the wrong gift, Ralphie tells Santa he wants 'an official Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model air rifle'.

What phrase is repeatedly used to warn Ralphie about his desired Christmas gift?

'You'll shoot your eye out!' comes from his mother, his teacher, and finally the department store Santa, who says it before shoving Ralphie down the slide.

Who has to be called to free the boy whose tongue is frozen to the flagpole?

The fire department has to free him: when the bell rings the other kids run back inside, and he stays stuck to the pole until the teacher asks where he has got to.

What does the Old Man sadly do with his smashed 'major award'?

Buries it in the backyard is all he can do: the house is out of glue, and he is sure his wife 'used up all the glue on purpose'.

What word does Ralphie say that gets his mouth washed out with soap?

Ralphie says 'Fudge' (really 'the F-dash-dash-dash word, the queen mother of dirty words') and blames Schwartz, whose mother is heard beating him over the phone.

What Christmas centerpiece do the Bumpus hounds devour on Christmas Day?

The Bumpus hounds devour the turkey; the narrator mourns the lost turkey sandwiches, hash, gravy and gallons of turkey soup, and the family eats out.

Which gift from Aunt Clara turns Ralphie into 'a pink nightmare', in the Old Man's words?

A bunny suit: the Old Man also calls him 'a deranged Easter bunny', and Mrs. Parker relents, so he need only wear it when Aunt Clara visits.

Where does Randy famously hide when he thinks the Old Man is going to punish Ralphie?

Under the kitchen sink is where Mrs. Parker finds Randy sobbing that Daddy is going to kill Ralphie; he will not come out, so she hands him a glass of milk and leaves him there.

Which yellow-eyed bully torments Ralphie and his friends until Ralphie finally snaps?

Scut Farkus, in his coonskin cap, terrorizes the boys with his toady in tow until a weeping Ralphie pummels him in the snow.

What popular radio program's secret message does Ralphie try to decode?

Little Orphan Annie's radio show sends the coded message; the decoder pin on screen is a genuine 1940 model, a quiet clue to the story's year.

Which city's sound stage hosted the Parker home interiors for A Christmas Story?

Toronto sound stages held the Parker home's rooms; years later the real Cleveland house used for the exteriors was rebuilt inside to match those sets.

What brand of soap goes in Ralphie's mouth after he blurts out the forbidden word?

Lifebuoy gets the worst review from the narrator, a self-styled connoisseur of soap who prefers Lux; in his revenge daydream the Old Man wails, 'I told you not to use Lifebuoy!'

Which star was considered for the role of the Old Man before Darren McGavin was cast?

Jack Nicholson was considered for the Old Man, but the modest budget could not cover his fee; Darren McGavin was cast instead.

Bundled into his snowsuit for school, what does Randy wail that he cannot do?

Put his arms down: the narrator says Randy looks 'like a tick about to pop', and his mother's only answer is, 'Well, put your arms down when you get to school.'

What was the name of Ralphie's elementary school teacher?

Miss Shields carries the name of a real teacher from the author's school days; in Ralphie's daydream she swoons over his theme, a far cry from the grade she actually gives.

What common household item was used to simulate snow during filming in Cleveland?

Potato flakes fell as snow because Cleveland was having one of its warmest winters of the century; shredded vinyl and firefighter's foam dressed the ground.

What does the adult narrator call the duck the family is served at their Christmas dinner out?

'Chinese turkey' is his name for the duck, which comes to the table with its head still on; 'It's smiling at me,' the Old Man protests.

What is Ralphie helping the Old Man do when he blurts out the forbidden word?

Changing a flat tire by the roadside, Ralphie is holding the hubcap full of lug nuts when the Old Man knocks it flying, and out comes the word.

What fictional town in Indiana is the setting for 'A Christmas Story'?

Hohman borrows its name from Hohman Avenue, a main street in the real Indiana city on Chicago's doorstep where the author grew up.

The annual 24-hour marathon of A Christmas Story begins on the evening of which day?

Christmas Eve at 8 p.m. Eastern is the start; the film had grown so popular on television that it was given a full day, twelve showings back to back.

In Ralphie's narration, what make of car was 'The Old Man' devoted to?

'Some men are Baptists, others Catholics; my father was an Oldsmobile man,' says the narrator, though the Old Man himself curses the car as a pile of junk that freezes up.

The tongue-stuck-to-the-flagpole scene was achieved using what special effect?

A hidden suction tube in the pole held the actor's tongue, so nothing was frozen; a wet tongue really does stick to cold metal, as MythBusters later showed.

What was the name of the department store where Ralphie and Randy visited Santa?

Higbee's, the real downtown Cleveland department store, let the crew film inside, which is why the production chose Cleveland for its exteriors.

Which comic-strip hero did Ralphie team up with in a deleted fantasy scene?

Flash Gordon: in a daydream that was filmed and then cut, Ralphie and his air rifle helped Flash take on Ming the Merciless.

Which toadie tags along with A Christmas Story's yellow-eyed bully?

Grover Dill is the bully's 'crummy little toady' on screen, but in the book he is the bully himself: the fight comes from a chapter called 'Grover Dill and the Tasmanian Devil'.

The secret radio message Ralphie finally decodes turns out to be a commercial for what?

The message is 'Be sure to drink your Ovaltine'; Ralphie storms out of the bathroom muttering about the crummy commercial.

In the Old Man's prize contest, what is the name of the Lone Ranger's nephew's horse?

Victor comes from Mrs. Parker, not the Old Man: he reads the puzzle question aloud, she answers at once, and when he asks how she knew she says, 'Everybody knows that.'

Which on-screen actor from A Christmas Story was the only one to return for its 1994 sequel?

Tedde Moore alone returned on screen, again as Ralphie's teacher; eleven years on, the child actors had outgrown their parts and the whole Parker family was recast.

What does Santa use to send Ralphie back down the exit slide after he finally blurts out his wish?

His boot sends Ralphie over the edge, right after Santa crushes his hopes with a bored 'Merry Christmas. Ho, ho, ho.'

How many "smelly hound dogs" does the narrator claim the Bumpuses keep next door?

At least 785 is the narrator's count, and the pack ignores every other human on earth except the Old Man.

According to the narrator, what does the Old Man weave while doing battle with the furnace?

'He wove a tapestry of obscenity that as far as we know is still hanging in space over Lake Michigan,' says the narrator of the furnace battles.

What was Peter Billingsley mistakenly given to chew while filming Ralphie's cowboy daydream?

Real tobacco, handed over because the script said the character chews it, left Billingsley dizzy and sick; mashed raisins did the job for the brown spit instead.

Which actress played Mrs. Parker, Ralphie's mother, in A Christmas Story?

Melinda Dillon was already a two-time Oscar nominee when she took the part; decades later, retired from acting, she gave the 2022 sequel her blessing.

The Old Man's actor had earlier starred as a monster-hunting reporter in which 1970s TV series?

The Night Stalker cast Darren McGavin as Carl Kolchak, a Chicago reporter chasing vampires and werewolves; the creator of The X-Files later called it a tremendous influence.

Who played Ralphie's little brother Randy?

Ian Petrella was cast just before filming began; decades later he spent a winter as a guest tour guide at the restored Parker house in Cleveland.

Before playing Ralphie, Peter Billingsley was famous as which Hershey's syrup ad character?

Messy Marvin made Billingsley so familiar from Hershey's ads that the director feared he was 'too obvious' a Ralphie and auditioned thousands of other boys before casting him.

Which critic re-reviewed A Christmas Story in 2000 with top marks?

Roger Ebert gave it three stars out of four in 1983, then came around: in 2000 he wrote it up as one of his 'Great Movies' and raised it to four.

A Christmas Story opened in theaters a week before which holiday?

It opened November 18, 1983, six days before Thanksgiving, and had largely left theaters by Christmas despite good reviews.

Which institution added A Christmas Story to its National Film Registry?

Library of Congress named it to the registry in 2012 as 'culturally, historically or aesthetically significant', high praise for a comedy that had left most theaters before Christmas 1983.

Which cable network first ran A Christmas Story as a 24-hour marathon?

TNT could loop the film for a full day because Ted Turner had bought MGM's old film library, this title included; sister channel TBS later took the marathon over.

A Christmas Story's fictional town is a stand-in for which real Indiana city where the author grew up?

Hammond is where the author grew up, on a real Cleveland Street; the Parkers' street borrows its name, a coincidence given that the film was shot in Cleveland.

Which dinner does Ralphie's brother Randy refuse to eat, grumbling that he hates it?

Meatloaf, 'double beetloaf' in Randy's words, goes uneaten while the Old Man threatens to feed him by force; the narrator adds that his mother had not eaten a hot meal herself in 15 years.

Why did A Christmas Story's prop makers have to custom-build Ralphie's dream air rifle?

No real one had a compass or a sundial in its stock: those features belonged to a different air rifle, so the version Ralphie describes had to be specially made for the film.

The cowboy Ralphie's air rifle is named after originated in what medium in 1938?

A newspaper comic strip by Fred Harman introduced the cowboy in 1938 and ran until 1965; the BB gun that carries his name has outlived the strip by decades.

Characters from which 1939 MGM film march in the Christmas parade in A Christmas Story?

The Wizard of Oz characters hint that the story is set around 1939 or 1940; the parade was shot at about 3 a.m. to keep modern towers out of the picture.

The Parker house exteriors were filmed in which Cleveland neighborhood?

Tremont's house was bought years later by a fan of the film, who rebuilt its rooms to match the movie and opened it to visitors in 2006.

A fan bought the house seen in A Christmas Story through which website?

eBay is where the house was listed; Brian Jones bought it with money from his company selling replicas of the Old Man's 'major award', then restored it as a museum.

Under what title was the 1994 sequel originally released in theaters?

Released as It Runs in the Family in 1994, it grossed well under $100,000 in a tiny run and was retitled My Summer Story for video.

Who played the Old Man in the 1994 sequel to A Christmas Story?

Charles Grodin took over as the Old Man opposite Mary Steenburgen; after years of delays the original cast had grown too old for their parts.

Which Culkin brother played Ralphie in the 1994 sequel to A Christmas Story?

Kieran Culkin played Ralphie, and his real-life brother Christian Culkin played Randy, keeping the Parker boys in the family.

Which actor played the Old Man in A Christmas Story 2, the 2012 direct-to-DVD sequel?

Daniel Stern, one of the burglars in Home Alone, took the role; Peter Billingsley had no part in the film and has said he has never watched it.

What is the grown-up Ralph struggling to become in A Christmas Story Christmas?

Novelist is the dream: Ralph has taken a year off work to write his first book, and one publisher after another turns the overlong manuscript down.

In A Christmas Story Christmas, what does Mrs. Parker ask Ralph to write after the Old Man dies?

His obituary defeats Ralph until the story of his favorite Christmas pours out instead; his wife slips the piece to the local paper, which prints it.

Who took over the role of Mrs. Parker in A Christmas Story Christmas, the 2022 sequel?

Julie Hagerty, the flight attendant of Airplane!, stepped in; the original Mrs. Parker had retired but gave the film her blessing, and died less than two months after its release.

In A Christmas Story Christmas, what job does Ralph's old yellow-eyed bully now hold?

Police officer: he catches Ralph breaking into a tavern but drives him home, saying their childhood fight set him on a better path.

Which baseball team's trade of 'Bullfrog' has the Old Man fuming in A Christmas Story?

The White Sox swap Bullfrog, 'the only player they've got', for a utility infielder called 'Four Eyes' Shottenhoffer, and the Old Man cannot believe it.

On which streaming service did A Christmas Story Christmas premiere in 2022?

HBO Max got the sequel because its corporate parent owns the original film through the old Turner library; from 2023 it also aired on cable straight after the 24-hour marathon.

In A Christmas Story Christmas, what does Ralph 'borrow' from a friend's closed tavern?

A tree-topper star: the family's own had fallen and shattered with every shop already shut, so Ralph breaks in, leaving a note.

Which songwriting duo wrote the score for 'A Christmas Story: The Musical'?

Benj Pasek and Justin Paul wrote the score, replacing an earlier Kansas City version; they went on to Dear Evan Hansen and the lyrics of La La Land.

Who played the adult narrator in the 2012 Broadway run of A Christmas Story: The Musical?

Dan Lauria was a fitting choice: he is best known as the father on a TV series that borrowed the film's grown-up narration device.

Which network aired the three-hour 'A Christmas Story Live!' in December 2017?

Fox aired it live on December 17, 2017, but only about 4.5 million tuned in, against roughly 12 million for the network's Grease: Live in early 2016.

Who played Ralphie's mother in A Christmas Story Live!, the 2017 TV musical?

Maya Rudolph took the Mother role, and fellow SNL alum Ana Gasteyer played Mrs. Schwartz, a character who is only an offended voice on the phone in the film.

Which actor narrated as the adult Ralphie in A Christmas Story Live!, the 2017 TV musical?

Matthew Broderick narrated as the adult Ralphie; his father James Broderick had played the Old Man in the 1976 PBS Shepherd adaptation The Phantom of the Open Hearth.

Mrs. Parker's actress was cast on the strength of her similar role in which Spielberg film?

Close Encounters of the Third Kind brought her an Oscar nomination as a mother whose little boy is taken by aliens; here she is a mother at war with her husband's 'major award'.

Which hit 1981 teen comedy gave its director the clout to make A Christmas Story?

Porky's made so much money that its director could at last make the film he wanted, a Christmas tale about a boy and a BB gun that studios had shown little interest in.

Which 1974 slasher did the director of A Christmas Story make years before his holiday classic?

Black Christmas (1974) has a killer phoning sorority sisters from inside their own house; it proved durable enough to be remade in 2006 and again in 2019.

Which A Christmas Story cast member sued Warner Bros. in 2011 over a figurine of his character?

Zack Ward, the film's bully, found his contract had never granted merchandising rights; the suit was dropped within months, after the studio argued the figurine's face was generic.

The actor who played the boy stuck to the flagpole had just co-starred with Richard Pryor in which comedy?

The Toy cast Scott Schwartz as a spoiled rich kid who 'buys' Richard Pryor as a plaything; a year later he was the one at everyone's mercy, stuck to a flagpole.

Who played Ralphie's friend Schwartz in A Christmas Story?

R. D. Robb played Schwartz, who issues the triple-dog dare; Robb returned to the role 39 years later in A Christmas Story Christmas.

A Christmas Story's narrator once got radio listeners to ask bookstores for which nonexistent novel?

I, Libertine drew so many requests that Theodore Sturgeon wrote a real novel to Shepherd's outline, and Ballantine published it under the hoax's invented author.

After his mouth is washed out, Ralphie fantasizes about suffering what fate from the soap?

Ralphie pictures himself going blind from 'soap poisoning' and turning up at the door with a cane and dark glasses, while his guilt-stricken parents wail.

The narrator says the line for Santa stretched all the way to which Indiana city?

Terre Haute gets two mentions: besides the Santa line, the Old Man, dreaming about what his own prize might be, recalls a guy there who won a whole bowling alley.

How does Mrs. Parker steer the Old Man away from Ralphie's fight at the dinner table?

By talking about football: she mentions the fight in passing, says she gave Ralphie a talking to, then asks about Sunday's game, a kindness he never forgets.

Ralphie's elementary school is named after which U.S. president?

Warren G. Harding Elementary was the author's own school: he took its name, and that of a teacher he had there, straight from his childhood.

Into which magazine does Ralphie slip an ad for his dream BB gun, hoping his mother will find it?

Look is his mother's magazine, and Ralphie tucks the ad inside so that she will be 'cleverly trapped' into reading a sales pitch for the gun.

The Cleveland department store seen in A Christmas Story was rebranded in 1992 under which chain's name?

Dillard's had bought the chain with a partner in 1987 and put its own name on the doors five years later; the downtown flagship closed for good in 2002.

The Cleveland building that hosted A Christmas Story's Santa scenes reopened in 2012 as what?

A casino moved in after Ohio voters legalized casino gambling in 2009: the Horseshoe opened where children once queued for Santa, and was later renamed the Jack.

Which song in A Christmas Story was only written in 1951?

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas dates from 1951, a decade after the story; the director and author wanted the era left vague, 'amorphously late-'30s, early-'40s'.

Which frequent collaborator of Peter Billingsley co-produced A Christmas Story Christmas with him?

Vince Vaughn produced it through his Wild West Picture Show; the two have been friends since a 1990 TV special for teenagers in which Billingsley played an athlete on steroids.

Peter Billingsley makes an uncredited cameo in which 2000s Christmas comedy?

Elf has Billingsley as Ming Ming, the head elf in Santa's workshop; by then he had moved behind the camera, and he was also one of the film's producers.