We learn today about a cool fan event celebrating A Christmas Story’s 25th anniversary thanks to the memory caves of Yahoo:
Fans of the holiday classic “A Christmas Story” are celebrating the film’s 25th anniversary with a convention and trips to the house where the movie was made.
The 1983 film, an adaptation of Jean Shepard’s memoir of a boy in the 1940s, was set in Indiana but largely filmed in Ohio. The movie starred Peter Billingsley as Ralphie Parker, a young boy determined to get a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas.“It is unbelievable that a movie has touched the lives of millions of families,” said Phil Gillen, son of the late actor Jeff Gillen who played the movie’s worn-out Santa Claus. He traveled from Miami with his family to attend the convention.
A Christmas Story isn’t one of my favorite holiday films, but I still think it’s rad that those who love it are coming together to party at the womb. People gravitate towards films for all sorts of reasons, and one thing you gain when you become a fan of something is an association with like minded enthusiasts. It’s fun to get together with those that share a passion for a common appreciation. Fun is good.
If any of you have been to this event, please let us know what it was like. For those of you that haven’t; please feel free to share a story about a fan event that you have been to that was particularly rewarding. For myself the coolest event I have went to (recently) was at the Arclight in Hollywood. I was able to see The Man Who Would Be King with a theatre full of fans and Mr. Connery himself.
3 Comments, Comment or Ping
BobaFett
Did anyone catch Billingsley in Four Christmases? he was hardly recognizable but when I realized it was him, I laughed and laughed…
Dec 1st, 2008
Sound Designer Dan
Billingsley was also unrecognizable in Iron Man. He was the scientist whom Jeff Bridges screams at: “HE MADE THIS WITH A BOX OF SCRAPS…..IN A CAVE!”
Dec 1st, 2008
Aprilrayne
You’ve gotta go to Cleveland where they made the movie (I have) and Hammond where the Christmas Story creator Jean Shepherd grew up. It’s more than nostalgia. We feel a real connection with the characters, almost like family. See author Mark Kiesling’s story about behind the scenes of the movie and the pictures of Ralphie and Flick by artist Bill Thornbro.
http://www.nwi.com/packages/xmasstory/
Peter Billingsly is still a working actor and his cameos always make us grin.
Dec 8th, 2008
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