For those of you sensibly watching A CHRISTMAS STORY, rather than IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE...

[brooklynite]

ACS was the pinnacle of Jean Shepherd's (writer and and narrator) illustrious career. For decades, he did a nightly radio broadcast on WOR with only the skimpiest of scripts, speaking extemporaneously for hours about his childhood, his Army days, his friends and acquaintances, and whatever else came to mind. Many of his radio broadcasts are available for free via podcast: http://shepcast.blogspot.com/

[PoliticAverse]

1. Excelsior! n/t

[Arkansas Granny]

2. I watched A Christmas Story all the way through for the first time tonight

with my son and his family. I really think guys enjoy it more than women do.

[dflprincess]

8. I would disagree

at least in my circle we all seem to enjoy it at the same level - and break into Christmas Story quotes year round.

A friend and I saw it in a theater when it first came out and had to go back a second time as we'd missed so many lines between the rest of the audience and our own laughing. We couldn't wait for the video to come out because "the Old Man" reminded us so much of my friend's dad we just had to show her parents the movie. Though when we did her mom was outraged and insisted to my pal "Your dad doesn't swear like that." Well, yes he did and, like Ralphie, that's where we learned most the words. It was then we realized that, while he would swear a blue streak in front of us, even when we were kids, he never used language like that in front of my friend's mom.

I'm also the proud owner of a bunny suit that I bring out every couple years when one of my grandnephews have reached the right age. One of their parents is first required to say "Your aunt always gives you the nicest gifts."

[betsuni]

11. I agree.

I didn't see the whole thing through until a few years ago and don't want to see it again, found nothing particularly interesting. On the other hand, I can watch these movies every year forever:

The Shop Around the Corner
Christmas in Connecticut
The Bishop's Wife
White Christmas
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
It's a Wonderful Life
Trading Places
Mixed Nuts
Christmas Vacation
Metropolitan

[CBHagman]

38. Have I see you in the DU Classic Films group?

If not, you belong there!

[betsuni]

39. I should post there, you're right!

I tend to forget about the groups. The other day "The Red Shoes" was on TV and I although I've seen it a million times, I had to drop everything and watch. That Technicolor! Beautiful.

[mopinko]

13. women and other adults.

yeah, i still dont get it, really. i have watched it a couple times. it is funny enough. but no way would i despair if it disappeared into the mists of time.

[lunamagica]

29. I'm a woman and I love ACS. I can almost quote all the dialogue

[eniwetok]

3. I LOVED Shep...

I discovered Shep when I was a kid in HS. I bought the smallest AM radio I could find at Radio Shack so I could listen to the Boston Red Sox in the World Series while in class. At night I'd DX with my radio, trying to get the most distant AM stations, and I found this guy talking about ducks or geese having a convention at some racetrack. I was hooked.

[No Vested Interest]

9. Jean Shepherd was on the air in Cincinnati in the early 1950's,

spinning his stories in the wee hours.
Fascinating stuff to a young high school student. - I'd never heard anything like it before, and likely not since.
I should revisit some of the old material one of these days.

[elmac]

10. I did the same back in the day

I used the patrolman VHF/AM radio, could tune in the mobile VHF telephones with it, most used by, well, shady people
DXed on the AM band also. I miss the old Radio Shack but I still have my Patrolman.

[eniwetok]

15. Radio Shack Mini 6

I bought the Radio Shack Mini 6.. which was probably 3"x3" in size... maybe smaller. This image is close.. so maybe it was 7 transistors after all. I think I always had the radio bug. As a kid in the 20's my dad used to tell me about his crystal radio, and I had a kit as a kid. There were always SW radios in the family. My grandparents and my dad both had big floor models. I got my first SW back in HS.. and come to think of it, I'm still a radio person. I almost never watch TV... the local NPR and liberal talk stations are almost always on.

[FrodosNewPet]

22. I had almost every multiband radio that Radio Shack made in the 70s.

Anything from the $25 Radio Shack Science Fair Globe Patrol shortwave kit radio, the various Patrolman radios, the cube weather radio, the DX-40, the DX-60, and my crown jewel, the DX-160A (which I hooked up a frequency counter to turn it into a digital readout).

Now there are $20 super radios (RTL-SDR), but almost everything interesting has gone encrypted digital, so there is a small fraction of cool stuff to listen to.

[eniwetok]

26. then you'll love this site...

http://www.radioshackcatalogs.com/

If I knew this site existed... I wouldn't have been buying old RS catalogs on EBay.

[elmac]

35. Yep, thats been up for quite a few years

I remember back just before ebay on the radio group those catalogs were going as high as $50. I still have a few from the 70's & 80's.

[elmac]

34. My first kit was the Globe Patrol

loved that radio, used it at our camp with a string antenna. I think the DX-160 was the last, new shortwave table top I bought. I mess with the RTL, its cheap fun but not much going on. Did tap my old analog scanner and use DSD+ for local APCO-25 Digital. Can use the RTL for that also.

[HassleCat]

4. I know Wonderful Life is a classic

But it's very sappy and moralistic. A Christmas Story is A little more realistic and I certainly relate to it better.

[REP]

24. As a reviewer said when it came out, "More CapraCorn"

That America never existed for anyone I know. I like my fantasies to be truly fantastic.

[SharonClark]

5. I watched Elf but love IAWL

[Charles Bukowski]

6. It's A Wonderful Life

is the GOAT Christmas film.

Christmas Story is nice, IAWL is epic.

[TreasonousBastard]

7. Missed it tonite, but it will be around forever..

Darren McGavin was an actor's actor and ACS is his great memorial. I remember him from "Mike Hammer" back in the 60's, and then through many changes to Kolchak. Give him any role and he was superb.

Jean Shepard and Long John Nebel on WOR back then made me late for school damn near every day. Hid the radio under the covers to listen to Shepard's war stories and Nebel's insane guests. Nebel wrote "the Way Out World", an autobiography mostly about the show and stuff like the Hieronymous Machine and Randi calling it all bullshit.

Just the other day had a few drinks at a bar on Long Island with "that" lamp in the window. Everyone loved the thing.

[Warren DeMontague]

12. I like both movies. But I've also seen both more than enough times, already.

Sort of like Citizen Kane. My profound appreciation for the great leap forward in cinematic narrative storytelling and technique it represents doesn't help the fact that I know every damn frame, by now.

A Christmas Story is great, though.

[oberliner]

14. What about the scene towards the end of the movie in the Chinese restaurant?

Isn't that hard to watch?

[Buckeye_Democrat]

16. Love Jean Shepherd!

Yeah, I know he's dead now.

I bought a collection of his short stories in the past. They were all hilarious! Mark Twain (a distant cousin of mine) is still my favorite author, but Shepherd isn't far behind for me!

Shepherd had some PBS shows years ago in which he traveled around the country while telling funny little stories along the way.

I'm actually "burnt out" with the movie after seeing it many times. Maybe I'll watch it again someday, though.

[mcar]

17. Love it!

[SidDithers]

18. Randy lay there like a slug...

it was his only defense.

Sid

[QED]

19. A Christmas Story is running continuously on TNT today.

[KamaAina]

20. And TBS.

For whatever reason, they're not staggering the start times like they usually do, with one channel starting on the even hours and the other on the odd ones.

[KamaAina]

21. I swing both ways.

Wonderful Life last night (does NBC really have to lard it up with enough commercials to fill a three-hour time slot?! ), Ralphie as we speak.

[xmas74]

23. I watched Meet Me in St. Louis last night.

I can never decide who is the brattiest: Kevin from Home Alone, most of the kids in ACS or Tootie in MMiST.

[lunamagica]

30. What about the brat from Miracle on 34th Street? She takes the cake, IMO

Last edited Mon Dec 26, 2016, 12:09 PM - Edit history (2)

At least Ralphie quietly accepts that he didn't get the present he fought so hard to get and doesn't show his parents how disappointed he is, but Susan? She complains, and is all roll-eyes, frustrated sighs and attitude towards Santa because he didn't bring her a HOUSE.

This could have been a teachable moment, but her hateful, rude behavior gets rewarded

[xmas74]

31. True

But Tootie claims the neighbor boy tried to kill her .

[lunamagica]

33. Wow, I don't remember that. Truth is I'm nor very familiar with this movie,

and should have left the comparison for the characters I know well, Kevin, Ralphie and Susan

[xmas74]

37. I forgot about most of it

Until I really sat and watched it the other day.

Tootie was a serial killer in training. I'm sure there were bodies joining the dolls buried in her backyard cemetery.

[KittyWampus]

36. your take on Susan in Miracle on 34th St made me laugh.

My favorite part of the whole movie is when Chris says "Imagi-Nation".

[lunamagica]

40. :)

[REP]

25. I watched Krampus, The Night Before, The Wailing

All the American Dad Xmas episodes and a Very Freaking Special Family Guy Christmas. A tradition at my house.

[Martin Eden]

27. There were always 3 for me

Miracle on 34th Street
A Christmas Carol (1951 Alistair Sim)
It's A Wonderful Life

Much later, The Muppet Christmas Carol was added to the list. Not a sentimental favorite like the others, but a family favorite and a very fun movie.

Nothing against A Christmas Story; I enjoy that as well.

[lunamagica]

28. Why watch only one? I enjoy both movies immensely. BTW, I'm a woman

[Docreed2003]

32. I watched both...as I always do on Christmas Eve....