10 Random Facts About ‘A Christmas Story’
It's a must watch every Christmas season, and TBS makes it easy with their marathon every year. So here are some random facts about "A Christmas Story."
- The house does still exist and it actually located at 3159 W 11th Street in Cleveland, Ohio. It was sold back in 2005 for $150,000. The movie superfan that bought the house spent $350,000 more dollars to restore the interior and exterior to the way it looked in the movie. Then in 2006 the house was opened up as a museum and gift shop.
- Despite the fact that the house is located in Ohio, the movie is actually set in 1940's Indiana.
- Jack Nicholson almost played Ralphie's dad but came with too hefty of a price tag. If he had signed on to the movie, his salary would have doubled the budget.
- Ralphie really wants a Red Ryder BB gun. So much so, he says it 28 times in the movie.
- No, Flick's tongue was not actually frozen to the pole. There was a vacuum that was used to give the illusion it was stuck.
- There are more than a few possibilities as to what year the movie takes place. If you go by the wall calendar, the year would be 1939 because it shows December 1st falling on a Friday. Ralphie's decoder ring was a 1940 "Speedomatic" model. And if you go by the conversation about the Packers and Bears, it would be 1941. The two teams met in a playoff game on December 14th, 1941.
- Flick (AKA - Scott Schwartz) went on to a career in porn.
- There were three leg lamps used in filming, and all three were broken.
- The movie was based on two books: In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash and Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories and Other Disasters.
- There were more Ralphie fantasy scenes filmed that didn't make it into the movie. Including a scene with Ralphie teaming up with Flash Gordon to fight Aliens.
One more bonus fact: The voice of adult Ralphie narrating the movie is Jean Sheperd, the author of the two books the movie is based on.