December 23, 2014
It wasn't until nearly twenty years after the release of the film A Christmas Story that the stories that inspired it were compiled into a single collection. Shepherd was kind of the David Sedaris of his time. He wrote these stories, and many others, based on his life, especially his childhood, and they (like the favored holiday film) are funny. Shepherd wrote the screenplay for the film, narrated it, and made a cameo appearance as the guy who directs Ralphie to the back of the line to see Santa. I doubt the movie would be so perfect if Shepherd hadn't been such a huge part of its creation.
So the only story that actually takes place at Christmas is the story of the Red Ryder: how Ralphie tries to get the teacher, then Santa, on his side, then is surprised by his old man on Christmas. Aunt Clara only sends bunny slippers, not a full suit, and Santa doesn't kick Ralphie in the face, but otherwise it's mostly the same, even some particularly clever turns of phrase. The story of the Little Orphan Annie decoder thingie is a separate story, but pretty much told the same in the movie. The story of the leg lamp and its demise is here, and the story of the Bumpus hounds is actually an Easter story.
An interesting thing I noticed. Scut Farkas is mentioned as a feared bully, but Grover Dill is also a bully, not a toady, in the story...and the distinction between bullies and toadies is made as it is in the movie. Dill is the one that Ralphie beats up in the story, not Farkas. I wonder if Shepherd wanted to include Farkas instead, as, when I was looking up some information on Shepherd's short stories, Farkus is featured in other works. Just thought that that change was interesting on the author's part.
I liked the story about the Bumpuses because you don't actually see these people in the movie. As depicted in the movie, these people are hillbillies in the extreme. Ralphie makes an enemy of the youngest Bumpus kid, and the hounds' attack on the Easter ham (to put it in perspective, it cost half of the old man's paycheck during the Depression) was his revenge. Of course, that's not quite an element in the movie...
These stories (or maybe all but one) were originally published in Playboy. That would be back when reading Playboy "for the articles" was almost a legitimate excuse. These would be the Playboys that Margaret Simon would read in her parents' bathroom. Shepherd published a lot of stories in magazines, and published a couple of short story collections. He left a fine legacy, as most would of course know him for the movie, but I'd like to check out at least one of his collections.
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