A Christmas Story ~ Lost in Adaptation 

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As someone who has never liked A Christmas Story, finding out that they’re a bunch of separate short stories that were put together makes SO much sense to me.

It's possible the family was supposed to look unhappy during the Chinese restaurant scene. We'll never know because Melinda Dillon shrieked when she saw the duck and then burst out laughing, setting the kids off as well. They had not been told what the dish would look like, so all the reactions you see there are genuine. The whole thing turned out so well it was kept in the film.

The fact that it’s a very episodic movie is why I think it played so well in marathon during the holidays. You rarely get a lot of time to sit down and watch TV while doing all the frantic Christmas prep and entertaining so you only get to see bits and pieces of the movie but you don’t feel like you missed anything because if you watch 15 minutes you get a complete story, it’s just one of many in the movie

Ovaltine (pronounced Ovalteen) is a chocolate-flavored powder that you mix into milk. Since it's supplemented with vitamins and minerals, it's marketed as "healthy".

Yet another entry in the "I had no idea that this was based on a book" category!

One of my favorite things about the Red Ryder BB gun is that it was given to Ralphie by one of the only people in the movie he didn't even talk to about it - his dad.

According to my parents, Ovaltine (despite sounding like a dental hygiene product) was actually akin to chocolate milk.

As a native Clevelander, we all had fun during the filming of the scenes on "old Cleveland Street" and at the visit to Santa at the department store. If the production needed extras in period costume, we showed up. If they needed props, they were brought to the set. If they needed snow, well, now we had a problem. There was little to no snow to be had in Cleveland that year. It had to be manufactured. But, the house is now a museum, the Santa set is located complete in a local suburb in a museum dedicated to Christmas movie memorabilia (lucky people can slide down the slide). We have embraced the movie, and have fun with it and its memories.

"In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash," is one of my favorite titles ever.

Good news, I can actually confirm without a shadow of a doubt that the tongue story was one of Shepherd's. It was just part of his radio history, dating to 1972.

I grew up around Cleveland, where this was filmed. The mean elf lady actually taught drama classes and improv in the afternoons at my middle school.

The first time I read Stephen King's short story "Children of the Corn", was in Playboy. It really DID have interesting articles.😉

This is a rather similar situation to "It's A Wonderful Life" where a film that wasn't terribly successful in its original theatrical run became a beloved classic because it was played non-stop on TV. This type of thing couldn't happen today. For "Life" it aired so much due to a copyright loophole, and with this movie TBS got the rights for next to nothing in 1980s and got lucky it became a tradition.

"You'll shoot your eye out" is very real. When I was little I came very close to shooting my best friend's eye out - not with a gun but with a slingshot my mom had given me. I thought that if I aimed my slingshot slightly to the right of my friend's head, the projectile would fly past him with a big WHOOSH sound like in the cartoons. Instead it struck him about a half inch under his left eye. It turned out the targeting mechanism in my slingshot was defective lol. Still don't understand what my mom could have been thinking when she handed a 7 year old a slingshot.

Change you missed, the primary bully in the film got renamed to Scut Farkus. Grover Dill is still present in the movie but he’s demoted to being Farkus’ “toadie.” The original descriptions and the events that happen to Dill in the story are transferred to Farkus in the film. Not 100% sure if Farkus has roots in other stories by Shepard, or if he’s a film invention.

The old mans trivia question "what was the name of the lone rangers nephews horse" was used in a trivia contest at my work, and i won $50

I had heard about this movie and seen some scenes, but I didn’t realize its appeal until I saw MovieBob’s deep dive on it. The reason it resonates with so many people then and now is precisely because of its smallness, telling a very personal story about the minutiae of its characters’ lives without trying to frame them as part of a ‘bigger picture’ in some sort of morality play. It’s a very realistic Christmas story.

I always interpreted the Old Man's affection for the lamp as a simple and genuine love of kitschy interior decorating, but maybe that's just me.

Fun fact about shel silverstein. Hes the guy who wrote "a boy named sue" for johnny cash

10:50 This is one of my favorite aspects of it. It really feels like the sheer chaos of being a little kid in the month leading up to Christmas. Because life as a little kid IS just a string of disconnected events you're bumbling through, with no through-line except yourself. The film is nearly cinema-verite, if we're counting a child's subjective POV as verite. Plus it's kind of sadly appropriate that this movie was made in the 1980s, since the 80s were the last decade where the "traditional" (early 20th Century) American Christmas was still really a thing. I think it's so popular with Xers and Elder Millennials because we were among the last kids to have childhood Christmases that still *felt* like Ralphie's.

From the man who’s filmography includes Black Christmas, Porky’s, and Baby Geniuses- comes literally the only thing people know him for but refuse to acknowledge or don’t actually know is based on a book.

FYI: Ovaltine (pronounced oval-teen) is powdered chocolate and i believe malt. Think like Bovril if my thoughts on that are correct.

I have always loved this movie. I used to feel so seen by how well the movie represented a child's daily life. I was shocked that some adults could still understand. Funnily enough, now that I am an adult, I don't remember what it's like to be a kid anymore. Now I just like the movie cuz it's delightful.

8:35 Flick’s tongue was one of the radio stories; the recording is on the DVD bonus features

My mom listened to the radio show "A Prairie Home Companion" religiously when I was growing up and Garrison Keillor and Jean Shepard have similar writing styles and senses of humour, so this movie always just seemed to fit right in with the radio show that I heard every week.

I’m one of the few people that considers this their staunchly go-to Christmas movie. I’ve never had a fondness for the saccharine nature of Christmastime films, but there’s an honesty to “A Christmas Story” that I connect with. A cynical edge I’ve always loved. Which also explains why I find myself watching “Gremlins” or “Black Christmas” (another Bob Clark Christmas film) when I’ve had my fill of “A Christmas Story” lol.

Peter Billingsley and I are the same age and share the same air name. This came out in 1983 he would have been 9 or 10. He was much younger than 13 during the filming. Additionally My Summer Story was a theatrical release but most people didn’t realize it was a sequel. It came out in 1994 and had Kieran Culkin as Ralphie, riding the coatails of his more popular brother… And Mary Steenburgen as the mom.

I grew up drinking ovaltine because my mum thought it was healthier version of hot chocolate and I can certainly say that it tastes like something that parents would assume is healthier than chocolate

Ovaltine (also known by its original name Ovomaltine) is a brand of milk flavoring product, originally "malt, milk, eggs, flavoured with cocoa".

Pendant alert: Ralphie visits Santa in a department store, not in a mall.

ovaltine is a chocolate drink powder, like milo or nesquik. ovaltine is unique for also offering a malt option, which was my favorite as a kid.

When I was 12ish years old, I came down with food poisoning on Christmas day... And spent the rest of the day and night mostly asleep... and when I wasn't, I was getting sick. I recall having my TV set to TNT (an American TV network that later rebranded, but still plays "24 hours of A Christmas Story" every December the 25th.) for me by my parents, and just waking up over and over throughout the day to different parts of the same movie, without any real continuity, because it kept restarting. It even began permeating my dreams. That whole Christmas with that movie playing constantly was a pretty surreal one... In any case, I wish you (and the rest of your beautiful watchers) a Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays. 💙 I've been an absolute sucker for "Christmas Specials" since I was little kid... I still watch the; Rocko's Modern Life, Rugrats, Pete and Pete, Hey, Arnold (and lots, LOTS more) Christmas/Holiday specials every year. So... A "Lost in Adaptation" episode with holiday theming? Sold. 😁

My family loves this movie, I had no idea it was based on something! There’s a marathon Christmas Day every year, so my family watches it multiple times a year, but only on Christmas

Not gonna lie, A Christmas Story Christmas I thought was pretty good. It has its charm and every performance of the returning casts felt wholesome.

it may not be autobiographical, but it is pretty accurate to Northern Indiana, where my mother grew up in the 1960s and 1970s (which is more of less when the adult scenes occur, as opposed to the childhood scenes, which take place in the 1930s or 1940s); I had her read the opening of the book up to where it mentions Cedar Lake, her hometown for most of her childhood (and the place my grandfather lived out most of the rest of his life, and so a place I was somewhat familiar with myself from yearly visits), and she was able to point out some of the locations to me during our last visit, when we helped my grandfather move down to southern Indiana outside Evanston to live with my uncle. The movie is not so accurate, as it was filmed in Ohio, and only the mention of Gary, Indiana (in the opening monologue, if I remember right), clued us in to the actual setting when I was a kid, before I ever knew of the book. Gary is a bit notorious as being a hellhole now, at least online (I haven't been there myself for probably 30 years, so I can't corroborate the internet reputation) but my mother was born in a hospital there the day after Michael Jackson was born in presumably the same hospital. I don't remember what they said Ralphie's father did for a job, but steel was a big industry there; my grandfather was a steelworker and lost his ring finger and pinkie when a hot steel rod went through one of his hands, which had gotten stuck in the machinery (I think his cuff got snagged, but I'm not sure). One other anecdote--the water there, at least in Cedar Lake, was the absolute worst I'd ever seen, literally undrinkable and left red rust(?) stains on the bathtub. The last time I took a bath there, in the early 2000s, it had improved, but in the 1980s and the 1990s, god. I'm not sure what the water in Flint, Michigan, was like, but it couldn't have been much worse.

Would love to see you cover Chuck Palahniuk's Book/Film "Choke"....not many people know "Fight Club" isnt his only adaptation

In Star Trek Online, the annual Winter Fest content (Q sets up a Winter Wonderland on Andoria, a frigid snow planet) has a event-only weapon that's literally the Red Ryder BB gun. When you use the aimed shot function on it (fighting evil snowmen - it's a thing, dom't ask) you get Ralphie's enormous glasses superimposed on your character's face briefly. Laughed my ass off when i saw it. 😀

there's actually another sequel in this series that takes place chronologically the summer after A Christmas Story called My Summer Story (originally released in theaters as It Runs in The Family). though like you said there is little to no mention of the previous movies events.

I licked a metal jungle gym in the winter of 1st grade because I was SURE it wouldn't freeze. It instantly started to freeze and I ripped my tongue off.😅 It was very sore for a while ❤

As someone who isn't from the States and who gas never seen a second of these films, I was unprepared for the amount of cultural references that came from these.

1:18 color me surprised too Dom! I previously tought Playboy was all about bunnies! 🐰🐰🐰🐰🐰

My Summer Story (originally released under the title It Runs In The Family) is also based on In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash. It got decent reviews but it's release was so small it made less than 1% of its budget back. My friends and I saw it once on Comedy Central one summer, this was before tv’s told you what you were watching so we didn't know it's title. it was like this weird mythical animal we all saw and would talk about “that Christmas Story movie that took place in the summer”

Lost in Adaptation is BACK!! ❤

Fun fact: Much of A Christmas Story was shot in Cleveland, Ohio, to the point where the house from the film is a tourist attraction you can visit, to this day. It’s been something of a family tradition of mine for years

Not the biggest fan of A Christmas Story myself, but I don't hate it, and I'm as familiar with it as any American. Interesting to find out it's based on multiple stories mashed together. Fun fact, I lived in the same town as Scott Schwartz (the guy who played Flip, the kid whose tongue got stuck to the flagpole) and sort-of attended the same school. (Sort of because his high school became the middle school when the new high school was built in the mid-90s.) One day during my freshman year (9th grade, 13-14 yo, since I know that gets confusing for non-Americans) he came to visit, and my algebra teacher went out in the hall to catch up with him. It might be a good illustration of why everyone liked the math teachers at that school to tell you what he said when he came back in the room (paraphrased, because it's been over 20 years): "Just catching up with a former student. He played Flip in A Christmas Story, and he's in porn these days." And he wasn't technically wrong, but, according to Wikipedia, Schwartz played minor non-sexual roles and worked behind the camera, so it's a bit misleading, since it implies he was a porn star. Dunno for sure, I've never bothered trying to look up any of his films.

While I did know this movie was based on some short stories and I was aware of one of the other made for TV movies, I had no idea there were more to the series! What really makes A Christmas Story for me is ultimately Darren McGavin. When I was probably way too young to have, I watched reruns of Kolchak, which is an amazing series with McGavin playing a newspaper reporter who keeps running into weird supernatural shit. So seeing him as a small town dad tickled the heck out of me.

Originally Ralphie was going to harbor a crush on his teacher, Miss Shields. But the actress had gotten pregnant right before filming and ended up appearing more matronly due to the pregnancy pounds. But instead of recasting the actress, they just dropped the student crush storyline.

See, I never thought the Old Man's delight about the leg lamp was due to not wanting to admit he was scammed. I always interpreted his enthusiasm as genuine.

Ovaltine, pronounced Oval-teen, is a powdered drink mix used to make chocolate milk. 😊

I always liked the Peking Duck for Christmas scene. It was sweet how they tried to make these obviously sad and uncomfortable people feel the Christmas spirit. Plus Peking Duck is *chefs kisssss*

Fun fact the gun in movie isn’t an actual Daisy Red Rider since the actual gun doesn’t have a compass or sundial. My dad used to work at Daisy years ago so I have both the actual Red Rider and a movie replica

Die Hard is 100% a Christmas movie.

As a child in the later 60’s, I had my own transistor radio. That’s when I first discovered Jean Shepherd, telling elaborate stories on FM late at night. The first time I saw the movie, I thought, “I remember that voice. This should be fun!”

I grew up watching this movie back before the 24 hr marathons and such. My dad grew up with Shepherds radio show so he was a fan from way back. Fun fact: the show The Wonder Years is loosely inspired by his work and the movie as well. He was slated to be the narrator at first but Daniel Stern ended up taking on the role. But even having an adult narrator for his child forms life is enough to feel the inspiration.

1:14 I have a similar reaction when I find references to interviews actors gave to the publication as well as short stories they published.

My spouse and I watch this every year while wrapping gifts. It’s pretty much our only Christmas tradition. Besides, as someone who was bullied as a child, seeing Scut Farkus getting the snot beat out of him was oddly cathartic.

You can also find a few of Shepherd's old radio programs here on the RU-vids where he reads his short stories. It's interesting to hear him read them long before the movie ever came out, and seeing how they all eventually became the movie everyone has grown to love. And yes, for years Playboy did, indeed, publish short stories, being where many authors got their start. This was because Heffner wanted his creation to be more than just pornography like other gentlemen's magazines.

I saw this in a movie theater when it first came out with some of my siblings. We thought it was hilarious and annoyed the others by quoting the funny parts over and over at Christmas dinner.

I always felt like the disjointed stories mirror how a kid would recount their life, just a hodgepodge of events.

The book was one of my father's favorites and I've read his copy a number of times. The framing device for the bb gun story was a rumination of the debate over so-called war toys, very similar to the debate over violent video games. The movie is one of my all-time favorites.

I grew up in the birthplace of the Daisy Air Rifle. We preserved a wall from the original factory for decades.

My family has loved this classic for years. It has a special place in our hearts. My mom and brother have even participated in a santa marathon based off a Christmas Story.

I just always thought the film was looking through the eyes of an adult and remembering how they felt as a child, so it was just scattered memories of certain events. So none of it seemed off if you think this way. We remember stuff like that as an adult, however, I also realized at a younger age that that was what it was. An adult remembering events as a child. Idk why people hate on this movie, except that it has now…been over played. 24 hour Christmas Story on one station every year.

I have to confess I've never actually seen this movie all the way through, only the more famous/iconic scenes from it and other bits and pieces due to the annual 24-hour marathon of it on TV.

My go to "dad joke" every Christmas is pretending that I'm worried that I'll miss seeing it. I've spent many a Christmas Eve watching it over and over as I'm wrapping gifts thanks to TBS and TNT showing it around the clock.

On the subject of Jean Shepherd and books, one of my favorite stories I learned about Shepherd was how he managed to trick a nonexistent book into the New York Times Best Sellers list. True story.

As someone who grew up with a big Midwestern family, this film was a staple in our house and I still love it today. Another quick Christmas story/film you might want to have a look at is "The Junky's Christmas" by William S. Burroughs. Its a really interesting claymation short film.

This was a lovely surprise! My family has always liked A Christmas Story, but our general love for it increased when a few members participated in the musical adaptation of it. It's a very fun romp!

In my childhood I used to watch a lot of movies that seemed more like a few different stories put together (most of them were originally swedish I believe ?) and I always loved them. it just feels like witnessing a kids day to day life and all the mischief one would get up to as a child, rather than some epic overarching plot. always felt very down to earth while still being charming and entertaining

Some of the teenage Ralphie stories aired on PBS. I remember one story about homemade fireworks, and another one about a blind date.

As someone who’s never seen this before a couple years ago how the movie is makes so much more sense

They filmed this movies exteriors in Cleveland. My mom will mention every viewing that her high school band was filmed but cut out of the parade scene every viewing

This movie was a favorite in my household growing up, and I hated it (on its own merits just for being boring, but worsened by the constant re-watching). In the intervening years with _A Christmas Story_ merch becoming A Thing I absolutely grew to loathe it...and then, much more recently, I started to appreciate it. I mean it's still boring and kitschy, but the main kid is a really good child actor, most of the jokes work as jokes (not a guarantee in Christmas movies that expect you to indulge them for nostalgia's sake), they clearly put effort into the sets and costumes, and some of the family's interactions feel really genuine.

I love Jean Shepard. His books are hilarious, if you can find them.

11:25 Die Hard is a Christmas movie not just because it takes place on Christmas, but because its themes are love, forgiveness, and family.

I missed the old ways you did reviews, rather than talking about the book first and the movie afterward. This review feels very much like your old reviews, which I appreciate.

I wasn’t allowed to watch it as a kid and I didn’t get around to watching it until recently. I’ll probably need to watch it again soon. The scene with the kid’s tongue getting stuck to a pole reminds me of my older brother. He did something similar as a kid.

7:54 fun fact (IYRC): Last Year’s Christmas Day, I went to the China Cafe and it was open for Christmas, thanks to this movie

As a person who has never seen the movie and don't plan to do so, thank you for this presentation.

What’s hilarious is I didn’t see the movie until I was a teenager and in fact grew up watching the often forgotten 1994 sequel, My Summer Story where in fact, the story about the neighbors was but to screen.

You should do "My Sister's keeper" by Jodi Picoult. The movie was such a disgrace from the source material, and the drama behind the scenes is interesting. But anywho, love the channel, love the vids... happy holidays.

Oooh I look forward to this. Gene Shepard’s books are funny. My dad always read them and used to listen to him on the radio with his father.

It makes perfect sense that this move was based on a bunch of short stories. While I don't understand how this movie became the monster phenomenon that it is now, I do get the appeal of it being a a slice-of-life story from the perspective of an elementary school kid & the many little misadventures therein. Also last year I watched Linkara's video where he riffs on "A Word To The Wives" with my mom, & she pointed out that the grouchy dad in that film was also the dad in this one.

Oh the pins are DELIGHTFUL!! Book readers love a good enamel pin this is a true fact

If im remembering right, alot of the Bumpas storyline ended up in a "sequel" called It Runs In the Family. But THAT movie was renamed My Summer Story. Its pretty decent.

I've seen 'My Summer Story" where the big thing is fighting tops (think proto-bay-blade) another bully is involved. Played by the kid in the first Jurassic Park movie Dr. Grey terrorises with a raptor claw, A Culkin playing Ralphie, and Mom played by Mary Steen-Burgen. Also the Feud with the Bumpis family where they erect an outhouse and eventually vamoose outta town. (Rewriting the timeline for the spiritual sequel with grown up Ralph.)

Interesting to hear what inspired the movie. A lot of the appeal of the movie, for me, is the nostalgic feel of it, with a very strong 1950s small town America vibe.

Looking forward to hearing you talk about the prisoner with Jessie Gender, also, love this movie, watch it every Christmas, along with Hogfather. You should do something on Hogfather seeing that you really like terry pratchett. .

A very fantastic video Dom! (I hope I can call you Dom.) I also had no idea that the movie was based on several stories or had additional film/made-for-TV videos. The depth that you go into these videos is incredible and I really thoroughly enjoy your style of delivery. I grew up watching this film almost every year around Christmas along with the National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation movie. Also... those pins are freaking nice.

Thank you Dom, i was today years old when I found out A Christmas Story was based on short stories and not like. An original screenplay

My former step-dad made us watch those 24 hour marathons of this freaking movie every year for over a decade, not straight but god forbid we watch A Christmas Carol or something. I can't watch it to this day and I haven't lived with him for almost 20 years

I was lucky enough to never be subjected to this film because my parents hated it. Which is wild, because they'd probably love the original books.

For those who dont know there is another sequel to A Christmas Story called "My Summer Story" starring Mary Steenburgen and Kiernan Culkin which is actually quite good!

And to think this got so popular there is a hallmark ornament of the lamp. I for one never forget the poor kid who gets his tongue stuck to the pole.

The 2 most commonly broadcast Christmas movies in the 90s/early 00s were A Christmas Story and Its a Wonderful Life. I always chose ACS.

This was my late grandfather's favorite christmas film, I've seen it so many times yet somehow never realized it came from anything literary

For the record, it's pronounced 'oval-TEEN,' and was advertised regularly on TV when I was growing up in the 1970s, and yes, we had it in our house. It's not bad! Thanks for another great video!

I have always loved Darrin McGavin's performance. His facial expressions are just perfect for a 1940's dad. He was actually old enough to be Billingsley's grandfather, but that works too as adults back then just look and feel older, especially from a kid's perspective. Also, in a strange coincidence, my dad pulled the exact same BB gun thing one Christmas, although it was a pistol in my case. It was before the movie came out. I guess it's possible he read the stories or had heard the radio broadcasts, but it doesn't really seem like his taste.

On a quick note the Bumpas family antics mentioned all were put to film in the movie My Summer Story which in keeping with apparent tradition doesn't have an of the actors from My Christmas Story.