Christmas in September - Part 1

The Southeast Side of Chicago, where I was born and grew up, was a lot like Hammond, IN....

"The creator of a holiday classic gets a merry little tribute from the hometown he loved to hate "

Published September 26, 2004

Everybody has to be from somewhere. Ernest Hemingway hailed from Oak Park. Saul Bellow comes from Chicago. Two hometowns fight over who gets to claim Mark Twain.

In the literary hometown sweepstakes, Hammond scored big. Hammond has Jean Shepherd. Shepherd, master comic writer and monologuist, was until a few years ago a somewhat obscure genius who enjoyed cool-cat cult status. Through the 1960s and '70s, Shepherd's biting and hilarious short stories, mainly published in Playboy, grew his literary reputation.

From 1956 to 1977, Shepherd hosted a late-night radio show from WOR in New York City. For hours each night, he unspooled his often-melancholy musings, completely unscripted. Shepherd's tales could start with an encounter at a local diner, meander through his opinions on sports, politics and culture, and often land with a burst right back in Hammond, with a story of a childhood misadventure or familial outrage. He was Spaulding Gray and David Sedaris rolled into one. He was Garrison Keillor off his meds.

Thanks to endless holiday showings on cable, "A Christmas Story," the 1983 filmed version of Shepherd's tale of a particular Christmas from his childhood, is now on its way to eclipsing "It's a Wonderful Life" as a must-see holiday classic.

Shepherd, who died in 1999 at age 78, either hated Hammond or loathed Hammond, depending on his mood. Sometimes he merely despised the place. And yet, he couldn't stop talking about it, tingeing memories from his adventurous childhood with great affection.

Now it's payback time.

On a beautiful late-summer day, hundreds of the humorist's fans gathered at the handsome new Jean Shepherd Community Center in Hammond for the first-ever Jean Shepherd Fest. Ringing the large gymnasium were booths and tables sporting all things "A Christmas Story." Fans could purchase CDs and DVDs of Shepherd performing, books by and about Shepherd, leg lamps (just like the Major Award won by Ralphie's old man in the movie), Red Ryder BB guns (the "Holy Grail" of Christmas gifts, according to Ralphie), figurines (including one of the character Flick with his tongue stuck to a freezing pole), and Christmas ornaments. Young fans waited to sit on Santa's lap and compete in a Ralphie lookalike contest.

Judging from the antic mood at the event, the residents of Hammond don't seem to hold much of a grudge against their famous native. Donna Thurman Musella grew up in Shepherd's neighborhood but now lives in Queen Creek, Ariz. She came all the way home just to pay homage to "A Christmas Story." "I'm here representing my whole family. My dad worked in the steel mill. Now my kids are home screaming and my husband is mad at me for not bringing him," she said, laughing.

The white-hot center of the action was the merchandise table manned by four former child actors: Scott Schwartz (who played Flick), Zack Ward (Farkus), R.D. Robb (Schwartz) and Ian Petrella (Randy). Peter Billingsley, who played the lead, Ralphie, sent his regrets. The actors sold collectibles from the movie and autographs ($10 unless you bought the merchandise from them), answered questions and happily posed for pictures with fans (free).Hammond natives Erick and Melyssa King waited in line for more than an hour to approach the table. Erick was wearing a "Show Me How the Little Piggy Eats" T-shirt. Melyssa was sporting her "You're Gonna Shoot Your Eye Out" T-shirt.

Erick, a steelworker at ISG Steel in East Chicago, has done some research on the writer's life at the Hammond library. "He had a very dark view of this area, and it is a pretty dreary place, let's be honest. But a lot of people identify with `A Christmas Story' because it was like their own childhood--for good and bad," he said. When he got to the head of the line, Erick paid Petrella $10 to sign his T-shirt.

Ward played up his "bully" status as Farkus, referring to himself as "The Terminator of kids' movies." He tended to mock-punch people and good-naturedly threaten to "kick your ass." He has a role in "Resident Evil: Apocalypse," which he repeatedly urged fans to see.

Hammond has changed since Shepherd's time. The sky no longer glows orange from the effluvia of the refineries and mills. The downtown has largely disappeared. But Warren G. Harding elementary school, made famous by the movie, survives, as does Flick's Tap, which was once owned by Shepherd's boyhood friend and is still a hangout for fans and locals.

"Jean Shepherd had a love/hate relationship to everything in his life but especially his hometown. He really felt he had to leave Hammond," said Eugene Bergmann, author of "Excelsior, You Fathead! The Art and Enigma of Jean Shepherd," a scholarly biography to be published in December.

Shepherd's boyhood home, a slightly run-down powder blue bungalow, is an unassuming presence on leafy Cleveland Street. No one was home, but Ray and Leilani Suchanuk came across the street to talk. Ray's mother, who died recently, was a custodian at Warren G. Harding School, as well as a Shepherd neighbor."Jean Shepherd called it right," Ray said. "It is the armpit, but it is our armpit, and we love it."

"We have very few tornadoes and no earthquakes," volunteered Leilani.