Little did I realize as I stood many years ago, as an extra, in front of Higbee’s Department Store in downtown Cleveland at 3 AM, that I was participating in the filming of what would become one of the most popular winter holiday movies of all times.
The filming was done in
the middle of the night because in daytime, the Erieview Tower and Federal
Building were visible from Public Square, as was the shell of the BP Tower,
that was under construction.
I also didn’t know, as I
stood on the stoop of a house, a couple of doors down from 3159 West 11th
Street, in the heart of Tremont, that the single sentence I spoke on camera,
would wind up on the cutting room floor, eliminating my actual role in “A
Christmas Story.” Ah, show business, cruel show business!
Many Clevelanders think
of “A Christmas Story” as “our” movie, a movie set and made in Cleveland. They are only partially right. Our fair city was selected as the place
to film the low budget flick because Cleveland, in the winter, has lots of
snow. Right? Wrong! A freak of nature caused 1982 to be mild. Little snow. The movie mavens had to flood the scenes with fake
snow. Finally, frustration set in
and the powers that be moved the filming to Canada.
Before the flight across
the lake took place, the now dubbed “The Official Christmas Story House” was
used for external shots, including the footage of the stocking lamp in the
front window. Interior scenes were
shot on a sound stage. The actual
house, after falling into disrepair, was bought, turned into a museum which
displays rooms rebuilt to duplicate the images on the sound stage decorated
with props from the film, as well as hundreds
of rare, behind-the-scenes photos, which are now on display.
(Nope, though I was posed
for some pictures, and interviewed Peter Billingsley (the film’s Ralphie) and
Scott Schwartz (Flick) for Continental Cable, I’m not on display their
either).
The house gets about
50,000 visitors a year. Across the
street there is a gift store that sells such goodies as Lifebuoy soap, pink bunny suits and leg lamps.
The interior of the
beautiful Higbee’s Department Store, now the home of the Horseshoe Casino, was
actually used for “the visit to Santa” scene. Santa’s house and slide, where Ralphie and his friends went
to sit on the lap of he great-giver-of-gifts, which was built for the movie,
was left in the store after the film crew departed. The slide was used from that time until the store closed in
2002.
The film, “A Christmas
Story,” was released in 1983. It
takes place on Cleveland Street in Hohman, Indiana, in the 1940s. It centers on Ralphie, a 9 year-old boy whose goal in life
is to have Santa bring him “an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range
Model Air Rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing
which tells time.”
Ralphie and his best friends, Flick and
Schwartz, try to negotiate life as tweens. A life filled with sophomoric
wishes, eluding Scut Farkas, the neighborhood bully, putting up with Randy,
Ralphie’s younger brother, escaping the grasps of Esther Jane, who has a crush
on our hero, and the need to convince every one in his life, that he won’t
shoot out his eye with the sought after bb gun.
The tale is narrated through
remembrances relayed by Ralph, the adult Ralphie. (In the film Ralph’s voice was supplied by Jean Shepherd, the
films co-author.)
The play, written by Philip Grecian, is
based on Shepherd, Leigh Brown and Bob Clark’s film script and Shepherd’s book,
“In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash.”
The stage version is filled with the
memorable lines of the film, including, “Be sure to drink your Ovaltine,”
“Daddy’s gonna kill Ralphie!,” “Only I didn’t say ‘Fudge.’ I said the WORD, the big one, the
queen-mother of dirty words, the ‘F-dash-dash-dash’ word!,” “Some men are
Baptists, others Catholics, my father was an Oldsmobile man!,” “Scut Farkus
staring out at us with his yellow eyes.
He had yellow eyes! SO HELP
ME GOD, YELLOW EYES,” “Aha, aha, it’s a clinkerrrr!!! That blasted, stupid
furnace. Dadgummit!.” And, the
never to be forgotten epithet by Flick before he succumbed to the , “I
TRIPLE-dog-dare you!”
Yes, “Stick my tongue to
that stupid pole, that’s stupid.”
Again this year, the Play
House production is directed by John McCluggage. Last time around the production was sluggish and lacked some
of the requisite charm. McCluggage
replaced much of the cast, has refined some of the technical aspects, and added
zing that previously was missing.
Jeff Talbott revived his
role as Ralph, the on-stage narrator, with great ease, charm and empathy.
Skipper Rankin grew enough
to move from being Randy in last year’s production, to portray Ralphie. Though his voice got a little into the
high range, making it difficult to hear some words, Skipper was real,
believable and delightful.
Ethan Montoya was amusing
as the put upon Flick, though he needs to work on projection. Yumi Ndhlovu was properly full of
herself as Helen, and Giovanna A. Layne was on point as the crush-struck Esther
Jane. Jake Spencer nearly stole
the show as probably the best, “I have to go wee-wee” Randy, in the long
history of local staging.
Newcomers, Christopher
Gerson, was wonderful as The Old Man, and Madeleine Maby was perfect as the
gentle, put upon, June Cleaverish-mom.
Laura Perrotta was nicely fierce as Miss Shields, the teacher who turns
in the Wicked Witch of the West!
Robert Mark Morgan’s set
design worked well, but the Higbee’s Santa house and slide are still flimsy and
underwhelming. James C. Swonger’s
sound design was outstanding. The audio
special effects, especially the “clinkers” and “Bumpuses’s dogs”
were terrific.
CAPSULE JUDGMENT: This year’s “THE CHRISTMAS STORY,” now a seemingly permanent
installment as CPH’s holiday show, was a step above some of the recent stagings
of the epic. Many of the opening
night audience seemed to be long time devotees, as many of the laugh lines were
preceded by pre-giggles and oral
forecasting of the now famous lines. It was almost like a midnight viewing of “The Rocky Horror
Show.” Yes, a good time was had by all.
No “bah Humbug” here!
“A Christmas Story,” runs
through December 21, 2014 in the Allen Theatre at PlayhouseSquare. For
tickets call 216-241-6000 or go to http://www.clevelandplayhouse.com.
