| Sometimes a movie-maker really gets it right and | | | | breakfast nook and didn't eat at a table except on |
| produces a film for all time. It requires a brilliant script, | | | | special occasions, but the rest of the kitchen was |
| a dream cast, a gifted director and an outstanding | | | | the almost exactly the same. It was great to see |
| photographer and technical staff. Put them all | | | | the old appliances again. My earliest childhood memory |
| together and you can produce magic. Bob Clark and | | | | was of a Tide box and sure enough, there it was |
| Gene Shepherd did just that in The Christmas Story. | | | | sitting on Mrs. Parker's counter. My Dad didn't swear, |
| All the more surprising when you realize that Bob | | | | so he wasn't like Mr. Parker, but I sure knew men in |
| Clark had also produced the Porky's movies.It's hard | | | | the neighborhood who were like the character Darrin |
| to say that A Christmas Story is better than It's a | | | | McGavin played. And my mother was as sweet as |
| Wonderful Life, Frank Capra's masterpiece with | | | | Melinda Dillon, Ralphie's mother. The school looked |
| Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed. Wonderful Life has | | | | exactly the same as Cooper Elementary, where I |
| always been one of my favorite movies. Good ole | | | | attended. Ralphie's machinations to get a bb-gun |
| George Bailey was an example for us all. How could | | | | were similar to the lengths I went to get a pair of |
| anyone resist someone who had gone through so | | | | Roy Rogers cowboy boots. The only difference was, |
| much undeserved hard luck to triumph in the end? | | | | I never got them. I had talked Grandma into buying |
| Stewart himself considered it to be his favorite | | | | them for me, but my Mom stepped in and messed |
| movie. Even so, I found it increasingly difficult to | | | | up my plans. I really knew deep in my heart that |
| watch it as time went by. The movie was | | | | Grandma couldn't have afforded to spend the $15 to |
| incomplete. I kept wanting to see George and Uncle | | | | buy them.Ralphie and his friends talked exactly the |
| Billy pay a visit on Old Mr. Potter to get their money | | | | same way I remember us talking. I never issued a |
| back.Apparently I wasn't the only one. Saturday Night | | | | triple-dog-dare, but I sure knew what it meant. I |
| Live once had a great skit that dealt with just that. | | | | even remember someone sticking their tongue on an |
| In the black and white vignette, George and Billy | | | | iron railing. We even had a neighborhood bully like |
| storm Potter's house and dump him out of his | | | | Skut Farkas. His name, believe it or not, was Clem |
| wheelchair to make him produce the cash. I know | | | | Klingelhut. Funny and sweet as the movie was, there |
| that George never would actually do such a thing, | | | | was enough vinegar to keep it from cloying. The |
| but I still enjoyed seeing it happen. As great as the | | | | mean Santa Claus and his slide were one of the high |
| the cast and story were, though, what I always liked | | | | points of the entire show.My son and I watched the |
| most about the movie was the setting. The old cars | | | | movie together, laughing all the way through. I |
| and storefronts and the inside of the Bailey House | | | | immediately started talking it up to all my friends and |
| always brought back warm memories of the way | | | | even treated one of my customers to dinner and a |
| things were when I was a kid.Bob Clark created the | | | | viewing. None of them had heard of the movie, but |
| same effect in A Christmas Story, which was set in | | | | all of them agreed it was one of the most enjoyable |
| 1940s Gary, Indiana. From the first shot, with the | | | | movies they had ever seen, and mostly for the |
| children standing in wonder in front of a department | | | | same reasons that I liked it so much. Most of them |
| store toy window, I was transported back to my | | | | wouldn't go so far as to say it was better than |
| childhood. My folks would bring me downtown to see | | | | Wonderful Life, but I thought so. It was far less |
| the toys in the Dayton's Department store window. I | | | | depressing. And I didn't leave the theater wishing |
| was dazzled. I remember I had to wear a clunky | | | | mean old Mr. Potter hadn't gotten away with his evil |
| snow hat, but I never pressed my nose against the | | | | deed.John Anderson is a giant fan of nostalgia, a |
| store window, I was too afraid of germs, but boy | | | | movie buff from his earliest ages. He is also the |
| did I take my time taking it all in.Ralphie's house was | | | | author of The Cellini Masterpiece, published under the |
| right out of my neighborhood, too. We had a | | | | pen name of Raymond John. |