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BY ELLEN CREAGER

DETROIT FREE PRESS

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ALL AGLOW: Jordie Smits, who compiled the fan film, …

By Angela Blackburn, Oakville Beaver Staff

Nov 26, 2008

emember Ralphie? The boy who wanted a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas — his “old man” who won a major award … a leg lamp that Ralphie’s mom ostensibly broke while watering a plant … as the story goes.Christmas just wouldn’t be the same without Ralphie, his little brother, his old man, neighbourhood bully Scut Farkas, the hillbilly neighbours, the fire department rescue of a friend’s tongue frozen to a school flag pole and Ralphie’s elusive Red Ryder BB gun.

Just ask Oakville’s Tyler Schwartz. Of course, you’d have to reach him this weekend at a convention in Cleveland, Ohio celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Christmas classic A Christmas Story.

That’s where the 33-year-old Schwartz and his fiancée Jordie Smits, 26, are launching their fan movie, Road Trip for Ralphie.

In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash is Jean Shepherd’s 1966 collection of short stories upon which the 1983 movie was based.

While the movie was one its director Bob Clark wanted to do for some time, it wasn’t until he achieved success with Porky’s that he was able to.

It starred the late Darren McGavin as The Old Man and Peter Billingsley as Ralphie, who was told by everyone that if he got his Red Ryder he would shoot his eye out.

The film became a holiday favorite years after its theatrical release and is celebrated annually on cable in the U. S. with a daylong marathon.

Former Oakville resident and special effects director Martin Malivoire worked with Clark on both Porky’s and A Christmas Story and now there is another Oakville tie to the Christmas classic.

Schwartz and Smits spent two years researching the film’s shooting locations — documenting their adventure in a 90- minute film calledRoad Trip for Ralphie.

“I don’t want people to think I’m a fanatic,” said Schwartz, a marketing professional who sheepishly acknowledges his DVD is not a big budget production (as A Christmas Story itself wasn’t), but a fan movie, and stresses he began as an average fan of the 1983 flick.

He and Smits met eight years ago when they were both working at Sherkston Shores summer resort. As Christmas rolled around, the couple that hails from the Niagara Region, discovered each liked A Christmas Story.

“In 2002, I got my first DVD copy of the movie and it became a tradition that Jordie and I would sit down and watch it,” said Schwartz.

Then Schwartz heard of Brian Jones who bought Ralphie’s house from the movie on eBay. He has restored it to the way it was in the movie and renovated inside to mimic the Toronto stages on which interior scenes were filmed.

Jones’s Ohio-company operates A Christmas Story House and Museum, and gift shop, in Cleveland and has an online leg lamp company.

However, A Christmas Story, which has achieved cult classic status south of the border, was filmed to a great degree in Canada.

“That led me to wonder about all the stuff that happened in Canada, what it would look like nowadays,” said Schwartz.

Ralphie’s school was Victoria School in St. Catharines. It became a women’s shelter and on the day Schwartz called it, he discovered it was to be gutted to accommodate the transition — the very next day.

He was invited to help take part, and in exchange, take whatever he could manage.

He took his video camera and obtained the blackboard and door to Ralphie’s classroom — donating both to the Cleveland museum.

Schwartz then began to track down more — and again took his video camera.

Thunder Thighs Costumes in Toronto is one of the largest costumers in Canada and where Schwartz and Smits sifted through the huge warehouse to unearth those used in the film.

Schwartz said its owner was not convinced anyone would have more than a passing interest in the movie — until the owner of the U. S. museum flew in to buy all the costumes.

“I think she just thought we were a couple of wackos,” he said, adding people get a charge out of seeing, say, the ruby slippers from The Wizard of Oz or in this case, the snowsuit worn by Ralphie’s little brother Randy (in which he is so tightly wrapped he can’t put his arms down and his exasperated mom retorts, “Well, just put them down when you get to school.”)

Schwartz said the Chop Suey Palace — where Ralphie’s family has Chinese turkey after the hounds from their hillbilly neighbours make off with their turkey — is a popular French restaurant in Toronto whose owner was unaware of its appearance in the movie.

“If you stand outside and look at it, you’d say, ‘Oh my God, it’s the Chop Suey Palace,’” said Schwartz, adding, “It (the DVD) was just a crazy idea that blossomed into something of its own.”

He attended the first convention when the blackboard was added to the museum and saw what an impact the movie has made on Americans.

It’s similar to Star Trek where people attend the convention dressed as their favourite character. Fanatic fans are known as Ralphies. This weekend’s convention will feature actors from the film including Canadians Tedde Moore (Miss Shields), Zack Ward (Scut Farkus) and Dwayne McLean (Black Bart).

“There are literally thousands of people obsessed with the film,” said Schwartz.

Digging up information about it was not easy however.

Schwartz said he contacted the film’s location manager, however, time and the low budget nature of the film did not make it stand out, even to those involved.

Most of the information about the Toronto filming was dug up through Toronto City Hall archives of filming permits.

Schwartz and Smits chose to recreate the tongue frozen to the flagpole scene for the cover of their DVD.

Smits said that apart from the scene in which the lamp gets “broken,” one of her favourites is when Ralphie’s little brother hides in a kitchen cupboard and his mom gives him a glass of milk to drink while inside.

“Whether you’re a kid in the ’40s, ’50s or ’90s, everybody finds something true to their own childhood,” said Schwartz.

Adults tend to buy what they want, but for kids, Schwartz said, Christmas Day is like winning the lottery.

“There’s something special about when the old man comes through and says, ‘Hey, go look behind that desk,’” said Schwartz of the Christmas morning scene when a forlorn Ralphie, who believes he didn’t get his Red Ryder BB gun, is told to go find a present that is still hidden.

Though Road Trip for Ralphie took two years to complete as regular life kept intruding, it premieres this weekend and will be available for just under $20 on the online business Schwartz is now operating.

The U. S. museum, which has not shipped to Canada, has Schwartz heading its Canadian leg — from Christmas decorations to calendars and his DVD ( www.AChristmasStoryHouse.ca ). Most popular is the leg lamp — the “major award” Ralphie’s father receives for doing a newspaper puzzle, a “prize” the old man reveres, the kids are intrigued by and Ralphie’s mom detests. It finally meets its demise as Ralphie’s mom waters a plant.

“The most popular item is the leg lamp, the major award. Everybody seems to want to buy one for their dad,” said Schwartz.

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Nostalgic nods to Christmases past weren’t the only films the late Bob Clark directed. Zombies, slashers and sex-starved teens were in his repertoire, too.

A new documentary, “ClarkWORLD” sheds light on Clark’s career, including his trademark movie, “A Christmas Story.”

“ClarkWORLD” is the centerpiece of the “A Christmas Story” 25th Anniversary Celebration and Convention. The event unites actors from the movie and fans at the Renaissance Cleveland Hotel and A Christmas Story House and Museum in Tremont.

The convention — Friday-Saturday, Nov. 28-29 — premieres three documentaries.

In addition to “ClarkWORLD,” convention-goers can hear from the child actors in “Shooting Your Eye Out: The Untold ‘Christmas Story’,” and follow two super-fans as they track down the movie’s locations and memorabilia in “Road Trip for Ralphie.”

Look for details in the Nov. 28 Friday! Magazine, or go to www.achristmasstoryhouse.com.

“A Christmas Story” follows 9-year-old Ralphie, who desperately wants a BB gun for Christmas. The movie, based on stories from Jean Shepherd’s book, “In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash,” stars Peter Billingsley as Ralphie and the late Darren McGavin as the Old Man.

The Christmas Story House is the Tremont location where scenes were filmed. Fans have flocked there year round since it opened in 2006.

“ClarkWORLD” is the convention’s culminating event. Director Deren Abram examines the highs and lows — financially and artistically — in Clark’s eclectic career. His credits include such diverse fare as “Porky’s.”

Abram was a teen when “A Christmas Story” was filmed, but later he worked as Clark’s production designer on “SuperBabies: Baby Geniuses 2,” “The Karate Dog,” “I’ll Remember April” and “Blonde and Blonder.”

Clark, 67, and his son Ariel Hanrath-Clark, 22, died last year in a car collision in Los Angeles caused by a drunken driver. Proceeds from the Cleveland screening will go to the local chapter of MADD, Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

Abram, who lives near Chicago, coped with his friend’s death by making “ClarkWORLD.” It was therapeutic to interview others who had worked with Clark, such as Kim Cattrall, Jon Voight and Denise Richards, he said. They remembered Clark as a mischievous guy who was extremely prepared on the set.

A television interview with an adult Billingsley and Clark serves as a thread tying the film together. Billingsley morphs from chubby-cheeked Ralphie to the executive producer behind this summer’s blockbuster “Iron Man” and the upcoming comedy “Four Christmases.”

“Christmas Story” fandom hits the highways in “Road Trip for Ralphie,” a documentary produced by Canadian fans Tyler Schwartz (no relation to “Christmas Story” actor Scott Schwartz) and Jordie Smits. They spent two years tracking down the film’s shooting locations.

They recovered costumes, Miss Shields’ chalkboard and items used in the film as the school was being gutted. Their treasures will be displayed for the first time at the convention. “Road Trip” screens Saturday.

Director Bill Szarka compiled interviews with young cast members in “Shooting Your Eye Out: The Untold ‘Christmas Story.’ ” It screens both days.

Szarka gathered footage at last year’s convention, focusing on families who have made the movie a holiday tradition.

The actors talk about how they were cast, the fun they had on the set and the secret of how filmmakers got little Randy’s arms to stick straight out in his snowsuit (styrofoam blocks in his underarms).

“Shooting Your Eye Out” reveals fantasy sequences that were cut from the film. One scene showed Black Bart and his henchmen robbing Santa, but the footage has been lost.

“That must have been unbelievable,” Bill Szarka said.

“A Christmas Story”: Docu on helmer Bob Clark debuts Nov. 29

Bob Clark had a perplexing career in film.

The multihyphenate made one timeless, flawless picture that will run forever — 1983′s “A Christmas Story.”
He also made a whole lot of other movies. Some were successful (“Porkys,” “Porkys II”), some became notorious over time (“Black Christmas,” “Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things”), and some were just plain stinkers (“Rhinestone,” “Baby Geniuses,” “The Karate Dog”).

How could the same guy who gave us a contemporary classic, a perennial holiday fave, also be responsible for talking tots and a Dolly Parton-Sylvester Stallone romance? Well, that was the peculiar, strangely endearing genius of Clark, friends and colleagues say in a new docu on the helmer.

“ClarkWorld,” produced and directed by Deren Abram, is set to bow Nov. 29 in Cleveland as part of a two-day, 25th anniversary salute to “A Christmas Story,” which was shot in and around Cleveland back when areas of the city could reasonably pass for the 1940 time period of the pic with only a little bit of dressing.
The movie about a 9-year-old Ralphie Parker’s determination to secure the Christmas present of his dreams — a Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle (aka a BB gun) — is so beloved that the house used as the boy’s home in the pic is now a tourist attraction and Cleveland is home to an annual “Christmas Story” celebration.
What makes “Christmas Story” so special? It starts with the source material, a story penned by radio humorist Jean Shepherd that so deftly captures the spirit of the season for a kid — the good and the bad, the crass and the commercial, the sweet and the saccharine, the nobody-understands-me angst and the nervous excitement that borders on madness as the Big Morning approaches.
Clark’s movie captures every bit of the sweetness and the edge in Shepherd’s story. Thanks to a stellar cast –anchored by Peter Billingsley as Ralphie and Darren McGavin and Melinda Dillon as his parents — the movie can completely transport you back in time, not merely to an America on the cusp of World War II but to a time and a place that exists entirely out of time, but in our collective subconscious under the rough heading of “childhood.”
It works as a sentimental journey even if you didn’t grow up in the Midwest at a time when Dec. 25 was the “center of the kid universe,” as Ralphie puts it in the movie.

Clark’s own story came to a tragic end in April 2007 when he and his teenage son Ariel were killed in an head-on collision with a drunk driver in the Pacific Palisades area of L.A. Clark (pictured right) was 67.
“A Christmas Story” means so much to my family that the news of their death hit me almost as hard as if it had been a family member. The senselessness of their loss makes it hard to watch the movie now without a lump of coal in my throat from the start. But we will still make a point of watching what my daughter calls “the Ralphie movie” over the Thanksgiving weekend to get us in the proper holiday spirit.
“ClarkWorld” does not dwell on the circumstances of Clark’s death. It is a celebration of a wonderfully irascible filmmaker who tried to make the movies as he saw ‘em and didn’t particularly care what the rest of the world thought, though he never got tired of hearing praise for “Christmas Story.”
(My husband and I had the pleasure of heaping some on Clark five years ago at a party and screening at the ArcLight to tubthump Warners’ latest DVD release of “Christmas Story.” After the screening, Clark led the crowd in a chant to convince Warners brass to give “Christmas Story” a theatrical re-release.)
Abram knew exactly how to capture the real Bob Clark because he worked with the filmmaker for a dozen years, as a production designer and in other capacities. They bonded after meeting at the offices of another indie film outfit, Crystal Sky Pictures,  where Clark’s other son, Michael, was working as a p.a. and Clark was developing “Baby Geniuses.”
“Bob was a legend in the office,” Abram remembers. “Somebody was teasing him about having done ‘Rhinestone.’ I turned around and said that I actually kind of liked that movie in a weird way. Bob gave me half a glance and said ‘It takes all kinds.’ From that moment on we became close friends.”
For Abram, who is now based in Chicago, putting together the docu was a form of “therapy” for him after the blow of Clark’s death. The “ClarkWorld” preem is being held as a benefit for the Cleveland chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
“Bob was my mentor,” Abram says. “We spoke just about every day, and it was just such a senseless, tragic loss. I couldn’t focus on any other projects that I was doing, and I started thinking that I should do something for Bob, and for myself, to work my way through this.”
Like its subject, the docu has a bit of edge to it, as it explores Clark’s “faults and demons” and his other work pre- and post-”Christmas Story,” Abram says. “But first and foremost we try to entertain the aud and tell Bob’s story.”
The 75-minute feature includes interviews with friends and colleagues, including Kim Cattrall (who was a Clark fave though she is not in “Christmas Story”), Jon Voight, Mary Steenburgen, Queen Latifah, Olivia Hussey, Richard Roeper and, of course, Billingsley, who gave Clark the performance of both of their careers in playing Ralphie in “Christmas Story.” (It’s not a stretch to say that Billingsley delivers one of the best moppet movie perfs ever. He is Ralphie, and without his greatness, the pic wouldn’t work.)
Abram (pictured above) financed the docu on his own, with help from Lyne Leavy, who was Clark’s right hand for years at his Film Classics production banner. They’re focused now on getting “ClarkWorld” onto film festival circuit. Abram also would love to see it run on Turner’s TBS and TNT, which traditionally run a 24-hour marathon of “Christmas Story” airings starting on Christmas Eve. (Steve Koonin, are you listening?)
Indeed, it was TBS’ frequent airings of the pic that helped give “Christmas Story” its cred as a classic. The movie had a short and unspectacular theatrical run in 1983 because it had the misfortune to be released by MGM during one of the Lion’s fallow periods.
But “Christmas Story” proves that a great film can’t be destroyed by an inept initial release. Nowadays, triple-dog-dares and “you’ll shoot your eye out” are part of the pop culture lexicon. (I also love: “A commercial?! A crummy commercial!” and “Fra-gee-lay” and “It’s a clinker!,” to name but a few.) And not that these things really matter but it’s super-high on every crix list of the best Christmas pics ever made (With all due respect to Frank Capra, it is the best Christmas movie ever made.)
“With a little luck we’ll get it into some film festivals and somebody will catch wind of it,” Abram says. He’s already talking to one producer’s rep about handling the project.
“My whole philosophy behind this project is, do something good and something good will come out of it,” Abram says.
Sounds like something Ralphie’s old man would’ve counseled — before he ran off cursing after the Bumpuses’ dogs.

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Your mother warned you. Don’t ever stick your wet tongue on a cold metal flagpole in winter. But did Flick, a character in the 1983 holiday classic film “A Christmas Story” listen? Noooo… So when Flick takes the “triple dog-dare” and attaches himself to a flagpole, the fire department had to be called.

The 1938 Ford LaFrance fire truck that came to Flick’s rescue appears for only 10 seconds in the movie, which was shot in Cleveland and Ontario. But the pumper has become an international cult hero. Fans of the movie can see the vintage fire truck Saturday, November 29, when several cast members will ride on the truck during Cleveland’s Winterfest Parade. Rides are also available at “A Christmas Story” House and Museum, 3159 West 11 Street, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., November 28 and 29. The events coincide with “A Christmas Story” 25th Anniversary Celebration and Convention that will be held next weekend.

The fire truck was purchased new for the Chippawa Fire Department in Ontario as “state-of-the-art firefighting equipment.” It has a top speed of 30 miles an hour, pumping capacity of 200 gallons of water a minute, and gets about 10 miles per gallon. It served Chippawa until the village joined the City of Niagara Falls. The pumper became part of a private fire service for the Norton Abrasives company between 1970 and 1977. The city bought it back, but in 1978 the Chippawa Volunteer Firefighters Association paid $1 for the truck. It was restored in 1982.

“The fire truck is now housed in our museum, and we get a number of visitors, mostly firefighters, who want to see the truck,” said Ken Prohaszka, a former firefighter and association member who will trailer the truck to Cleveland next weekend.

Prohaszka and another member, Ray Anderson, are the truck’s drivers. Proceeds from next week’s “A Christmas Story” rides are earmarked for the Firefighters’ Association.

“Whenever we take the truck to a parade, people are just fascinated,” said Prohaszka, who added that the truck has been a part of several firefighters’ funeral services. “If you put it next to modern fire trucks, they look like giants. You can only barely fit two people in the cab and two on the tailgate. For safety reasons, we don’t have people holding on to the truck anymore, but we may make an exception in Cleveland.”

The association has tried to keep the truck as original as possible. It has a “Ford chassis, Ford motor and is a straight six,” according to Prohaszka. But he’ll make sure the truck’s lights and sirens all work well for its Cleveland appearance.

The fire truck can trace its heritage to American LaFrance, an emergency and vocational vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Summerville, South Carolina. One of the oldest fire apparatus companies in the United States, it has 200 dealerships nationwide.

In 1872, Truckson LaFrance and his partners founded LeFrance Manufacturing Co., which made hand pumps and those that could be pulled by horses. Over the years, the company was a leader in fire safety technology, offering ladder trucks for urban firefighters and rotary, piston, steam, and gas-powered engines.

In January of this year, American LaFrance filed bankruptcy but emerged seven months later. The company’s fire truck body building operation was transferred to its Hamburg, New York, plant.

For more information about the fire truck or rides, visit www.AChristmasStoryHouse.com.

Jill Sell is a freelance writer with expertise in the local car culture. Jill can be reached at jillsell@en.com.

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by Laura DeMarco/Plain Dealer Friday magazine editor

What do you want for Christmas this year? Now’s your chance to tell us.In honor of the 25th anniversary of the movie “A Christmas Story,” The Plain Dealer, Positively Cleveland and A Christmas Story House and Museum are running a “What I Want for Christmas” essay contest.

Submit an essay about your wish list — just like the one Miss Shields asked her class to write in the classic film — and enter to win a few presents on us. The prizes will be almost as good as the official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle that Ralphie wanted. 

There will be two prize packages, one for kids 16 and younger, and one for those over 16. Each 400-word essay must be e-mailed to contest@positivelycleveland.com by 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 3. Essays can also be sent to the Positively Cleveland Visitors Center, 100 Public Square, Cleveland, OH 44113. The winning essays will be published in The Plain Dealer on Saturday, Dec. 13. Here’s what you could win:

16 and younger: $100 gift certificate to take the whole family to Pearl of the Orient, a four-pack of general admission tickets to A Christmas Story House and Museum, a four-pack of general admission tickets to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, a $50 gift certificate to Big Fun in Coventry and two tickets to the Lake Erie Monsters game Friday, Dec. 26.

17 and older: A 45-inch, full-size leg lamp instead of the Pearl of the Orient certificate. All other prizes are the same. For more contest details, go to www.positivelycleveland.com.

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Can “A Christmas Story” really be 25 years old?

Turner Entertainment

Scott Schwartz (Flick) gets stuck to a flagpole; Peter Billingsley (Ralphie) looks on.

The iconic 1983 holiday film about Ralphie Parker and his dream of getting a Red Ryder BB gun from Santa is marking a big anniversary this month.

At the “A Christmas Story” House & Museum in Cleveland, a celebration Nov. 28-29 will feature a reunion of the cast, including Scott Schwartz, who played Flick, the kid who got his tongue stuck to the flagpole, and Ian Petrella, who played Ralphie’s little brother Randy.

“People don’t realize the movie is 25 years old,” says Steve Siedlecki, executive director of the museum. “It’s only been popular for 10 years or so, when they started showing it on television.”

35,000 fans

Even if you can’t make the party Nov. 28, you can visit the house anytime. (Cleveland is just a three-hour drive from Detroit.)

The plain, clapboard two-story home was used for all the exterior shots in the movie. Now, it’s a lovingly restored museum containing “A Christmas Story” props, costumes, memorabilia and photos.

Purchased in 2004 by “A Christmas Story” fan Brian Jones, the house has been restored to the yellow-with-green-trim color it had in the film. Jones opened it as a museum in November 2006.

The gift shop across the street sells everything from leg lamps to decoder pins to talking Ralphie dolls.

About 35,000 people visit per year, Siedlecki says.

Marathon movie

“A Christmas Story” premiered on Thanksgiving 1983. It starred Peter Billingsley as Ralphie Parker, the boy whose greatest Christmas wish was a Red Ryder BB Gun. His dad was played by the late Darren McGavin. Cleveland was chosen for part of the filming, director Bob Clark said, because it most resembled 1940s Indiana.

Like Trekkies, the most avid fans of “A Christmas Story” have a nickname, too — Ralphies. That could include many Americans: when TNT runs its “A Christmas Story” marathon each year, an estimated 40 million people tune in at least once.

The museum and house are at 3159 W. Eleventh Street in Cleveland. Hours are 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays and noon -5 p.m. Sundays. From Nov. 26-Dec. 31, the house also is open 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Wednesdays for the holiday crowds.

Admission is $7.50 for adults, $6.50 for seniors, $5.50 for children ages 7-12 and free for younger children.

For the celebration Nov. 28-29, a $40 “Ralphie Pass” can get you into most events, “but if you just want to meet and greet the actors, that’s $10,” Siedlecki says.

For more, see www.achristmasstoryhouse.com or call 216-298-4919.

And be sure to drink your Ovaltine.

Contact ELLEN CREAGER at 313-222-6498 or ecreager@freepress.com.