Christmas In September - Part 2

Back at the community center:

Three contestants in the orange Nehi drinking contest suffered from post-competition vomiting. Only two of them made it to the bathroom. The other grabbed a nearby bucket.

Jean Shepherd would have loved that.

During the lecture by the Famous Biographer, five kids played kazoos and pushed each other off of the bleachers, making it impossible to hear the Really Interesting Lecture.

Jean Shepherd would have loved that too.

The kid who won the Ralphie lookalike contest, Parker Danner, 5, really and truly looked like Ralphie. A dispute over a raffle ticket almost came to fisticuffs. The line for the leg lamps, lunch boxes and BB guns was really, really long, while the book vendors sat quietly, looking at their hands.

Scott Schwartz, who played Flick and then moved on to a sad career as an actor in porno movies (i.e. 1997's "Dirty Bob's Xcellent Adventures, 35"), said he had renounced his former acting career to sell baseball cards and movie memorabilia. During a cigarette break he said, "This movie is our legacy. People ask what it's like to be a has-been. But I can say that in 50 or 100 years, what we did will still be here."

The air smelled of sausage, fried peppers, onions and Nehi. As the crowds thinned out, the actors started to pack up their leftover merchandise. The day had been a success. An estimated 1,500 people came together to celebrate Hammond's role in creating an American classic. Sue Rzeszut, director of the community center, thinks this event will help put Hammond on the map.

A few die-hard fans remained to help close down the hall. They launched a plan to meet up with the actors later at Flick's Tap.

Just now, Hammond didn't seem dreary at all.

Jean Shepherd would have hated that.


Flick's tongue and other trivia:

A Q&A session with the "Christmas Story" actors at the Jean Shepherd Fest drew a large crowd, who learned that:

- The movie was actually filmed in Cleveland. The school scenes were shot in Canada.
- Flick's tongue was stuck to the pole using suction from a hose mounted inside the pole.
- Shepherd was such a perfectionist that director Bob Clark had to bar him from the set because he kept interfering with the kids' performances.
- The actors had a lot of fun making the movie but didn't stay friends. They're all more or less still in the entertainment business, but they struggle to keep working.
- MGM was so unenthusiastic about "A Christmas Story" that the studio chose not to promote it, concentrating instead on promoting the re-release of "Yentl."

--A.D.