Maybe… 
No! I just loved watching that scene and not having a clue how they did it. Was it real? How’d they get the temperature right so it would work? How did the kid not hurt himself? Is that why he was so hesitant, because he knew he was going to get stuck? Did the director do it first?
It’s a great scene.
When Ralphie goes to get in line for Santa, the big guy, the head honcho, a gentleman stops him by saying, "Hey, kid. The line ends here! It begins there!”
That was narrator/writer Jean Shepherd.
I pointed this out to someone who finally ‘heard’ the voice after seeing the movie dozens of time.
What’s the big deal? A little warm water and off comes the tongue.
On the show they just jerked him off the pole.
Umm … You know what I mean.
One thing I like to point out is the scene where the parents are sitting on the couch drinking wine after the presents are opened.
If it’s anything like my home, the kids are up at 7ish to open presents. That MAY take an hour if we take our time. Let’s say that Ralphie’s parents waited a bit to give him his Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle. That puts us at 9am-ish. I LOVE a family that’ll have a nice glass of red before breakfast.
(I guess Ralphie and Randy could’ve slept in and woke up at say, 11am or so, but how realistic is that?)
That would never be allowed. And the pole has to be really cold for it to work anyway. Crazy glue makes much more sense.
I had assumed it was a prosthetic tongue they had glued to the pole and then the kid put it in his mouth.
Trivia note: Ralphie’s two friends were named Flick and Schwartz. The actors who played them are R.D. Robb and Scott Schwartz. But Schwartz played Flick and Robb played Schwartz.
OMG! They cut out that little kid’s tongue and replaced it with a prosthetic just to film this scene! I’m going to be ill.
Wasn’t it already fully light out when Ralphie woke up and looked out the window to see everything covered in that lovely dusting of snow? I’d say that implies that it was about 8am by the time they started opening presents.
Also, it would’ve taken some time, as somewhere in there Ralphie had to go change clothes not once, but twice. Not something that would take forever, but it would add to the overall time.
When Ralphie shot his eye out, the turkey still had an hour to cook, so assuming they’re going for a noon dinner, that would put the opening of the Official Red Ryder 200 shot range model air rifle at somewhere just before 11am.
Yeah I wondered about that, too. They’re all still in their pajamas and Randy is napping on the floor and it doesn’t seem like they’ve had breakfast yet. The timing is odd because it looks like the mom has the turkey well on its way to being done at that hour of the morning when the Bumpass hounds barge in, then the dad announces they’re going out to eat. That still has to be REALLY early, huh? Maaaaaybe noon or 1 pm at the latest? Plus, a family in the midwest in the 1940’s that didn’t go to church on Christmas day?
I don’t think that it was that early. I think they stayed in their jammies all day.
Remember, secularism was a growing trend throughout the 20th century. Maybe the Parkers were part of that trend. A Chicago suburb wouldn’t have been completely homogenous.
On the box of the DVD copy, it says there was a small hole in the pole, and light suction was applied to keep the appearance of the tongue being stuck. I like the idea of the prosthetic tongue myself.
My guess would have been some non-toxic glue. It only has to last 20-30 seconds.
See post 31.
Yeah, he was crazy, not stupid…
Nah, listen to it again:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgagC4pUmQo
He’s definitely saying “Scut” Farkus.
I never noticed it before, but you’re right. That’s “Scut,” not “Scott.” By brain always auto-corrected it to “Scott.”
You gotta admit the line “what a terrible name” makes even more sense for Scut Farkus than for Scott Farkus.
They used up all the glue on purpose.