A Christmas Story: A Play in Two ActsA beloved, bestselling classic of humorous and nostalgic Americana--the book that inspired the equally classic Yuletide film. The holiday film "A Christmas Story," first released in 1983, has become a bona fide Christmas perennial, gaining in stature and fame with each succeeding year. Its affectionate, wacky, and wryly realistic portrayal of an American family's typical Christmas joys and travails in small-town Depression-era Indiana has entered our imagination and our hearts with a force equal to "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Miracle on 34th Street," This edition of "A Christmas Story" gathers together in one hilarious volume the gems of autobiographical humor that Jean Shepherd drew upon to create this enduring film. Here is young Ralphie Parker's shocking discovery that his decoder ring is really a device to promote Ovaltine; his mother and father's pitched battle over the fate of a lascivious leg l& the unleashed and unnerving savagery of Ralphie's duel in the show with the odious bullies Scut Farkas and Grover Dill; and, most crucially, Ralphie's unstoppable campaign to get Santa--or anyone else--to give him a Red Ryder carbine action 200-shot range model air rifle. Who cares that the whole adult world is telling him, "You'll shoot your eye out, kid"? The pieces that comprise "A Christmas Story," previously published in the larger collections "In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash" and "Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories," coalesce in a magical fashion to become an irresistible piece of Americana, quite the equal of the film in its ability to warm the heart and tickle the funny bone. |
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200-Shot Carbine Action Action Range Model BB gun begins boys built Carbine Action Range Christmas coat comes crosses desk door enters ESTHER JANE exits face fade to black falls FARKAS fence finally FLICK floor gives glasses hall hands head hear HELEN holds It's kitchen lamp light comes light fades living room looks MISS SHIELDS Model Air Rifle MOTHER moves never night official Red Ryder offstage Okay opens Parker pause picks play points pulls puts quickly radio RALPHIE RALPHIE's RANDY Range Model Air reaches reading Red Ryder 200-Shot Ryder 200-Shot Carbine Santa SCHWARTZ shoot your eye sits smoke sound stage stairs stands steps stops stories Sure takes tells theme there's thing thought tree turkey turns VOICE wait wall What's window writing Yeah
Popular passages
Page 1 - In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash, by Jean Shepherd, the radio humorist, who also narrates it.