That pineapple was another of those “Whoa! How did he afford that?” things for me.
Pineapples may be cheap now, but as a kid growing up in the Midwest, whole pineapples were a rare headline-worthy, call the neighbors so they can see this thing kind of treat. In 1968, the world pineapple crop was 3,600,000 tons, and of that, only 100,000 tons were sold fresh. Thirty years earlier, I’m sure the ratio was even more lopsided.
Sure, there was canned pineapple available year-round, but it’s only fairly recently that air freight has been economical. Back then, those pineapples proudly wore big tags proclaiming how they were “Jet Fresh” or something like that. Heck, even as recently as the late 80’s, buying pineapples at the airports in Hawaii to take home for the people back home was a booming business. Now, with our global economy and inexpensive shipping, we have come to expect fresh pineapples to be cheap and available year-round.
**Hi everyone. OP here. I am not playing junior mod, but:
This arguing about the date of the movie is unproductive. The clues given in the movie w/r/t the date can most charitably be described as “inconsistent,” especially in light of the fact that both the writer of the original book, and the director of the movie, have said *on the record *that there is no specific date intended.
The idea that the movie is supposed to depict jumbled-together images from a single person’s childhood can easily be refuted. We’ve already established that the movie combines elements that can be dated anywhere from 1935 to 1955; no individual’s “childhood memories” span 20 years. I grew up in the 50s and Davy Crockett caps are part of my memories, but Orphan Annie decoder rings are not. Someone who had an Orphan Annie decoder ring would be an adolescent by the time Davy Crockett came along, so they wouldn’t associate that with their childhood. The movie actually jumbles together memories from many people’s childhood’s stretching across two generations.
As has been mentioned, the tail is ringed, so it’s definitely racoon.
Back to pineapples, I’m not in my 80’s or 90’s! But I do remember when I was little the Big Excitement over the cutting up of a fresh pineapple during some holiday. This was when bringing home a net bag of oranges or grapefruit from exotic, faraway Florida was also a big deal.
:: shrug :: IMO, it’s a friggin’ movie, so who cares? Debate about the date can be interesting, but people are getting really het up over it. I still think it’s a cute idea and that y’all (on all sides of the argument) are taking it too seriously.
I played The Old Man in our community theater’s run of the stage play for two seasons. His cursing in the play is just as imaginative–and some of the hardest lines to pull off. What looks easy to do–spout gibberish–is the most difficult to memorize because it doesn’t make sense. I had cheat sheets backstage for my off-stage diatribes.
My first exposure to Jean Shepherd was in 1982 with a jewel of a short film on PBS: The Great American Fourth of July and Other Disasters. Matt Dillon played Ralph and James Broderick had the role of his father. At the end of the film Broderick is sitting at the kitchen table eating an onion as if it were an apple and he talks about how holidays are milestones in our lives. The background music is the simple little waltz by Randy Newman that was used in Ragtime.
Every year I look for the return of that film, but I’ve never seen it again.
The Old Man’s “Major Award” came from a contest sponsored by the Nehi soda pop company (sounds like knee-high), best know for “Nehi Orange”. The stockinged leg was their trademark, it was on every bottle. Shepherd doesn’t name the company in the printed version of the story, but he gives a long description of the “pop” and the logo that leaves no doubt. The contest was about “Great Figures From the World of Sports”. I don’t know if the lamp ever really existed, Shep was really good at making things up.
(see “In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash” by Jean Shepherd, chapter 10, "My Old Man and the Lascivious Special Award That Heralded Pop Art)
Both on radio in print, it was invariably “The Old Man”, “My Mother” and “My Kid Brother Randy”. In print the main character and narrator is always “Ralph”. I don’t remember “Ralphie” being used in print, not sure. On radio he always used “Jean”, and definitely used “Jeannie” once in a while (example: recounting his mother saying “Remember the time Jeannie …etc”) Shepherd’s real younger brother was named Randy (Randall) and I think his dad’s name was Jean Shepherd Sr.
The only problem with this guess is that prop and costume people don’t represent all the memories. What a costumer does in outfitting a kid is different that what a prop person does in response to actual words in the story/narration.
A coonskin hat finds it way into the movie (not narrated or essential to the story) versus a radio program that was.
While Christmas shopping, I was waiting in the checkout line when two teenaged boys got in line behind me, both were purchasing BB rifles (I think they were Red Ryders). I looked at them and said “I feel it necessary to point out that you’ll shoot your eye out”. One of the young men was already in a good mood and laughed. His friend didn’t get it so the happy one had to explain it then they both started joking about shooting their eye out.
My mother loves this movie because it reminds her of her childhood. She was born in 1928. So she was about Ralphie’s age in the late 30’s. Since it’s already been established that the time frame isn’t exact, I would just like to add that in a movie like this it would help more of the audience relate to it if the time frame wasn’t pinpointed to any particular year.
I thought we only nitpicked sci fi movies to death here.
