This is the original radio broadcast by Jean Shepherd on New
York City station WOR. You have probably never heard this version before since it
was sent to me by a guy who recorded it on a cassette tape live on Christmas Day,
1972, when he lived on Long Island. To my knowledge it is the only publically
available instance. Original title was ""Duel in the Snow, or, Red Ryder Nails
The Cleveland Street Kid."
A Christmas Story was adopted from a story that
Jean Shepherd read on
his radio show on WOR, in New York, on December 25, 1972. A friend of mine who lived
there at the time happened to record the original broadcast on his reel-to-reel
tape deck, and a couple years ago he sent me a copy on CD. The movie, of course,
expounds on the story, but in this case it adds a lot. Jean Shepard narrates in
the background of the movie as Ralphie remembering his childhood.
Here is my version of the Daisy Red Ryder BB gun. "An official Red Ryder carbine
action, 200-shot Range model air rifle with a compass in the stock, and this thing
which tells time." It does not yet have the compass in the stock or that thing which
tells time (a sun dial burned into the wood), but some day I will modify it so that
it does.
Do you remember the scene in A Christmas
Story where the kids in Ralphie's classroom all wear fake teeth and the teacher,
Mrs. Shields, collects them and tosses them in her desk drawer? That drawer is fill
with many formerly confiscated items, including a copy of "Pat Nelson
- Ace of Test Pilots." Its copyright is 1937 by the Whitman Publishing Company,
in Racine, Wisconsin. I posted some images of my copy.
Here are a few links to pages I have regarding my
days of yore:
Check out this vintage Mattel BB cap pistol TV ad. Imagine the wussie response
today's Special Snowflakes would have to such an ad! They would run for a safe space
and expect comforting puppies until they got over it - if ever.
Posted March 6, 2024 (updated from original post
on 2/11/2012)
A Christmas
Story
