Christmas Dinner At Panda Inn 2014

Did You Know? - In 2005 the original home used for the exterior shots of the family home was put up for auction on eBay, and avid fan of the movie Brian Jones purchased it directly from the seller for $150,000. Jones then spent the following year restoring the home to the way it looked on screen.

The exterior was completely restored and the interior was renovated to match the interior of the home shown in the movie (parts of the interior were actually filmed in a Toronto studio). On November 25, 2006, the home finally opened its doors as a tourist attraction.

Jones spent close to $500,000 in preparation for this grand opening. In addition, he also purchased the house next door and converted it to a gift shop and museum dedicated to the film and the house.

Did You Know? - The piece of music that plays after Ralphie says "fudge", and after the lamp breaks for the second time, is the opening of "Hamlet" by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

Did You Know? - It has long been thought that The Old Man's first name was "Hal". When The Old Man is in front of the house admiring his major award/lamp, his neighbor, Swede, comes up to him and says "Damn, hell, you say you won it?" Some fans believed that Swede said "Damn, Hal..." leading them to believe that "Hal" was The Old Man's first name. But according to the script, Swede actually says, "Damn, hell," not "Damn, Hal".

Did You Know? - The real house used during filming can be found at 3159 W 11th Street in Cleveland, Ohio. Pictures and a "Street View" of the house can be seen on Google Maps. A nearby street that intersects with W. 11th St is Rowley Avenue, one block south of the location shown on Google Maps.

Did You Know? - Ian Petrella, who played Ralphie's kid bro Randy, lived in the Christmas Story House for a few months. 

The child actor quit acting a few years after the film came out and transitioned into a graphic designing career. During a cast reunion at the Christmas Story House, Petrella befriended Brian Jones and kept in touch with him.

In 2010 Petrella was living in San Francisco and felt wayward about his life, but after talking to Jones one day, Petrella decided it'd be a good change of pace to temporarily move into the Cleveland home and give tours.

Petrella moved into the house's closed-to-the-public third-floor space and went to work performing meet-and-greets with the visitors.

Did You Know? - The LOOK magazine used by Ralph Parker to insert his Red Ryder promotion for his mother's observation was a December 21, 1937 edition with a cover featuring Shirley Temple pouring tea for Santa Claus.

Did You Know? - Although he occupies the most screen time in the film Peter Billingsley only has about ninety-three lines of dialogue.

Did You Know? - For the scene in which Flick's tongue sticks to the flagpole, a hidden suction tube was used to safely create the illusion that his tongue had frozen to the metal.

Did You Know? - Much of the snow in the movie is artificial. It was a rather warm winter in Cleveland that year, so when production began the crew had to generate white stuff for the parade sequence.

They used an admixture of potato flakes, shredded vinyl, firefighters' foam, and a wind machine to make it "snow." When production moved up north to Canada, the crew ran into a similar problem.

A dearth of snow almost caused the flagpole scene to be delayed, when on the last day of filming at the school a cold front moved in and brought snow and subzero temperatures. So, it was literally cold enough for Flick to get his tongue stuck.

Did You Know? - Lifebuoy was introduced by Lever Brothers in 1895 in England as the second oldest soap brand, after the Ivory (soap) from Procter and Gamble. Originally a carbolic soap containing phenol, different varieties were later introduced without the medicinal carbolic smell such as the coral-colored Lifebuoy during the late 1950s and Lifebuoy Minty Refresher in 1966.

Although Lifebuoy is no longer produced in the US and UK, it is still being mass-produced by Unilever in Cyprus for the UK, EU, US and Brazil markets, in Trinidad and Tobago for the Caribbean market, and in India for the Asia market. Unilever in Cyprus and Trinidad and Tobago is manufacturing the Red Lifebuoy Soap with a carbolic fragrance, but it no longer contains phenol.

The Lifebuoy soap manufactured in India for other markets including South and South East Asia has been updated to use red and other colours with ‘modern’ aromas.

Lifebuoy soap is today imported to the UK by Jupiter Imports, owned by Richard Langham, former recording engineer at Abbey Road Studios.

Did You Know? - The Orphan Annie radio decoder pin that Ralphie receives is the 1940 "Speedomatic" model, indicating that the movie takes place in December, 1940. Different decoder badges were made each year from 1935-1940. By 1941, the decoders were made of paper.

Did You Know? - During the filming in downtown Cleveland, the antique automobile club members, whose cars were used, were given a route to follow on Public Square. They were instructed to continue circling the square until otherwise instructed. Road salt was a major concern for the car owners and the cars were pressure-washed after each day's filming and parked underground beneath the Terminal Tower.