# Things you finally notice in A Christmas Story.... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 25, 2011, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-finally-notice-in-a-christmas-story/607380 "2011-12-25T22:01:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2011, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-finally-notice-in-a-christmas-story/607380/21 "2011-12-26T04:33:17Z")
The funny thing is when we watched it last night we all noticed for the first time the thing with Mickey at the parade and the fact that there were several black children in Ralphie’s class and both of those showed up in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2011, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-finally-notice-in-a-christmas-story/607380/22 "2011-12-26T04:43:27Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Maybe it was a grease pencil. When I was in elementary school some of the teachers did that (1960s). '70s, too. “Marking Pencil.” ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2011, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-finally-notice-in-a-christmas-story/607380/23 "2011-12-26T04:48:12Z")
But it was yellow, or yellow-ish orange, and the handwriting (printing, actually) was childish. I guess I don’t know what grease pencil writing looks like. Maybe it was used to make the comment stand out more. It just seemed odd. And Scut, not Scott, thanks. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2011, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-finally-notice-in-a-christmas-story/607380/24 "2011-12-26T06:36:41Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > But it was yellow, or yellow-ish orange, and the handwriting (printing, actually) was childish. I guess I don’t know what grease pencil writing looks like. Maybe it was used to make the comment stand out more. It just seemed odd. I want to check the movie again. Some scenes are shot through Ralphie’s youthful eyes. This may have been a distortion to highlight his perspective. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2011, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-finally-notice-in-a-christmas-story/607380/25 "2011-12-26T06:44:38Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I want to check the movie again. Some scenes are shot through Ralphie’s youthful eyes. This may have been a distortion to highlight his perspective. Not this scene. They’re talking about when Ralphie actually got his theme back from the teacher, not the fantasy daydream sequence from when he turned it in. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2011, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-finally-notice-in-a-christmas-story/607380/26 "2011-12-26T07:05:55Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Not this scene. They’re talking about when Ralphie actually got his theme back from the teacher, not the fantasy daydream sequence from when he turned it in. In that case I’m sticking with grease pencil. I don’t have an image of the scene in my mind, but I don’t recall anything that seemed out of the ordinary. But the film was filled with little odd details. There was another thread once that tried to narrow down the time frame of the movie, but it seems to exist in an ambiguous world of it’s own, designed to evoke subjective nostalgia from the individual viewer. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2011, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-finally-notice-in-a-christmas-story/607380/27 "2011-12-26T07:08:22Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > I guess I don’t know what grease pencil writing looks like. If it’s what I’m thinking of, it’s very soft, so it smears easily and writes quite thickly even if freshly sharpened. It’s hard to write “pretty” using one, unless you can take up a ton of space. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2011, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-finally-notice-in-a-christmas-story/607380/28 "2011-12-26T14:11:50Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > Not this scene. They’re talking about when Ralphie actually got his theme back from the teacher, not the fantasy daydream sequence from when he turned it in. I think most the movie can be viewed as a exagerrated kid’s perspective though. The department store Santa & his elves aren’t as consistently surly as they are when he’s directly watching them. ---
**Author:** ![Uncle\_Jocko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uncle_jocko/32/2932_2.png) [@Uncle\_Jocko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uncle_Jocko)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2011, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-finally-notice-in-a-christmas-story/607380/29 "2011-12-26T21:08:06Z")
> [@MissSwitac](#): > > I’ve seens it countless times. I’ve watched many TBS marathons every season. I never paid attention, until today, the scene at the Christmas parade. Randy points and yells, Mickey Mouse!" Camera cuts to Mickey Mouse running up on Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz & tries to feel her up or something. She pushes him and runs off while Tin Man & winged monkeys go after Mickey shoving him away. Mickey then does this “aw shucks” gesture. Damn! Didn’t know Mickey was such a perv. I believe this was a sort of backhanded (and good-natured, I think) dig directed at Disney by MGM, the studio that produced A Christmas Story. The Wizard of Oz was another MGM property, so having those characters defeat the nefarious Mickey showed MGM’s victory over Disney in the arena of family movies, or something. I don’t have a cite handy, but I know I read that take someplace. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2011, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-finally-notice-in-a-christmas-story/607380/30 "2011-12-27T00:03:48Z")
Who picked up the lug nuts? If Dad picked them up, how did he find them so quickly? ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-finally-notice-in-a-christmas-story/607380/31 "2011-12-28T08:30:41Z")
> [@I'm Not Dennis Bergkamp](#): > > According to a documentary I saw about the movie, the pole is hollow. Flick placed his tongue over a tiny hole that’s not visible in the shot and the crew used a vacuum to “stick” his tongue to the pole. I was so sad when I learned that. It was like learning how your favorite magic trick was done. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-finally-notice-in-a-christmas-story/607380/32 "2011-12-28T17:00:32Z")
You actually wanted to see a kid to tear the skin off his tongue, leaving it on an actual frozen pole? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-finally-notice-in-a-christmas-story/607380/33 "2011-12-28T17:10:39Z")
Yeah, I don’t get that. I don’t see what’s so sad about movies using tricks. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-finally-notice-in-a-christmas-story/607380/34 "2011-12-28T17:22:37Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > And the “O” in the neon “BOWLING” sign is burned out, suggesting that the name of the Chinese restaurant is “BO LING”. 😉 The restaurant is named Bo Ling Chop Suey Palace. You can [see it](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_le0izdnzTa1qz5qzvo1_500.png) painted on their door. So presumably they purchased the neon Bowling sign intentionally and turned off the W. ---
**Author:** ![UncleMoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e0b2c6/32.png) [@UncleMoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleMoose)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-finally-notice-in-a-christmas-story/607380/35 "2011-12-28T17:54:07Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > Who picked up the lug nuts? > > If Dad picked them up, how did he find them so quickly? > ~VOW Maybe he used the old trick of taking one lug nut from each of the other wheels… ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-finally-notice-in-a-christmas-story/607380/36 "2011-12-28T18:03:05Z")
> [@UncleMoose](#): > > Maybe he used the old trick of taking one lug nut from each of the other wheels… That’s what I assumed. ---
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-finally-notice-in-a-christmas-story/607380/37 "2011-12-28T18:33:45Z")
The scenes where Scut Farkus is stalking the other kids is highlighted by the Peter & the Wolf theme playing in the background. And I saw this movie about 100 times before I realized that those Red Ryder guns actually existed. ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-finally-notice-in-a-christmas-story/607380/38 "2011-12-28T19:11:10Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > But it was yellow, or yellow-ish orange, and the handwriting (printing, actually) was childish. I guess I don’t know what grease pencil writing looks like. Maybe it was used to make the comment stand out more. It just seemed odd. It makes sense. There weren’t ballpoint pens in the US in 1940, the most likely period for the story to have taken place. If a teacher wanted to make her comments stand out on a paper, she would need a grease pencil or some other colored writing device. ---
**Author:** ![diku](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4af34b/32.png) [@diku](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/diku)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-finally-notice-in-a-christmas-story/607380/39 "2011-12-28T19:11:36Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > A continuity thing, maybe – when Scott Farkus and his toady are punching each other’s arms, Farkus’s last punch lands on toady’s left arm but it looked like toady went “Ow” and rubbed his **right** arm. He’s standing on his left, but he punched Grover Dill’s right shoulder. Dill has turned toward Farkus right before the punch. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-finally-notice-in-a-christmas-story/607380/40 "2011-12-28T19:27:45Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](#): > > The character’s name is Scut Farkus, not Scott. I know the credits say “Scut,” but Ralphie clearly refers to him as “Scott” throughout the movie. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-finally-notice-in-a-christmas-story/607380.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-you-finally-notice-in-a-christmas-story/607380.md?page=3)