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Author Topic: "A Christmas Story" time setting Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 01-05-2003 05:20 PM                    Can anyone pin down what year "A Christmas Story" is set in? I think the book it's based upon ("In God We Trust--All Others Pay Cash") might have been set in the depression but the movie seems to be set in the 1940's (the DVD box and most reviews agree). No signs or mention of the war so is it before or after? Anyone good at identifying auto models? The father reads in the paper that "the [white] sox traded Bullfrog" and there was a "Bullfrog" Deitrich on the roster through 1946. But no televisions in the store windows.  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 01-05-2003 05:35 PM                        Steve, All I can tell you is I got a Red Ryder BB Gun in 1945. Red Ryder and Little Beaver movies were the rage in 44' and 45. So I would guess Mid 40's. We bought our first TV in 48 a 7" Crosley.  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 01-05-2003 05:35 PM                    Bob, you'll shoot your eye out!  |  IP: Logged Bob Maar (Maar stands for Maartini) Posts: 28608 From: New York City & Newport, RI Registered: Feb 2001 posted 01-05-2003 05:37 PM                        Like Robert Redford in I was a "Natural".  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 01-05-2003 06:36 PM                    Someone has identified a 1946 auto (the police car arriving at the flagpole / tongue incident). But Ralphie's dad's car has a 1940 plate and didn't they change plates each year back then? The Little Orphan Annie decoder ring he gets in the mail is dated 1940. I've read that the Red Ryder guns were not made during the war and the one he gets is a pre-war model.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-05-2003 06:37 PM                     There is a PCC streetcar visable in several shots  |  IP: Logged John Wilson Film God Posts: 5438 From: Sydney, Australia. Registered: Dec 1999 posted 01-05-2003 07:43 PM                     Oh FUDGE!  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 01-05-2003 07:46 PM                    PCC's date to the mid 30's. The calendar on the wall isn't readable but number placement is consistent with November 1940. Unfortunately the 1946 calendar is identical!  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-05-2003 10:15 PM                     Most of it was filmed in Toronto for one of the reason mentioned was the fact at that time the PCC were in regular service here and several city blocks they service still look the same  |  IP: Logged Claude S. Ayakawa Film God Posts: 2738 From: Waipahu, Hawaii, USA Registered: Aug 2002 posted 01-07-2003 03:37 PM                        I can relate to the time period in "THE CHRISTMAS STORY" in the mid forties because it brought back very happy memories of my childhood at that time. One of the things I prized the most was a BB gun rifle and to see this little boy wanting one so badly, remined me of of the time I pressured my parents in getting me one one for my birthday. I think the rifle I had was a Daisy and not a Red Ryder but it could have been. Except for the show, the Christmas that was dipicted in the movie was very much like the Christmas I remember during the happiest years of my life in the forties. -Claude  |  IP: Logged Gordon Bachlund Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 696 From: Monrovia, CA, USA Registered: Aug 1999 posted 01-07-2003 06:11 PM                        Interestingly, the PCC streetcars in the film were the post-war cars with standee windows. Cars appropriate to the period of the film would not have had standee windows. I believe SEPTA in Philadelphia was still running PCCs in 1983 when the picture was filmed. In addition, if memory serves, Cleveland, Pittsburgh and San Francisco were also running PCCs then.  |  IP: Logged Gordon McLeod Film God Posts: 9532 From: Toronto Ontario Canada Registered: Jun 99 posted 01-07-2003 08:19 PM                     Gordon Toronto retired all the PCC a few years ago and they were sold to SanFransico, Cleavland and Philli A few years ago when in SanFran for a Dolby course June and I were suprised to see a un repainted TTC streetcar in use I asked the driver since it still said TTC would my TTC transit Pass be accepted. The supervisor who was on the car laughed so hard he aid I guess it could  |  IP: Logged Steve Kraus Film God Posts: 4094 From: Chicago, IL, USA Registered: May 2000 posted 01-13-2003 07:11 PM                    It was not unrepainted. Muni has 17 PCC cars painted in some of the colors of the 33 various North American cities that had PCC's. 14 are from Philly; 3 native to SF. BTW, how did they get Flick's tongue to stick to the flagpole? He touches it to the pole and it seems to realistically be stuck there--too quickly to be from freezing unless maybe it's -50°F. Just wondering what technique might have been used in that initial contact.  |  IP: Logged Daryl C. W. O'Shea Film God Posts: 3977 From: Midland Ontario Canada (where Panavision & IMAX lenses come from) Registered: Jun 2002 posted 01-13-2003 09:22 PM                        Heck I've got my hand stuck at temperatures a little higher than 5F before.  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 01-13-2003 11:41 PM                       quote: how did they get Flick's tongue to stick to the flagpole? I saw an interview with the guy who played that part not too long ago (he's since done porn, if you can believe that). He said special effects rigged it somehow, but he didn't elaborate. Also said it hurt like hell. Looked like it did.  |  IP: Logged

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