To celebrate our newest escape room, A Christmas Story Escape, we’d like to highlight some of our favorite trivia facts about the essential eighties Christmas movie. Let us know if you have any favorite facts too!
Filming the Flagpole Scene
Do you know how the A Christmas Story team filmed the scene where Flick sticks his tongue to the flagpole? Apparently, the A Christmas Story team had a difficult time replicating hard winter weather, so they found an innovative way to stick Flick’s tongue to that pole. A hidden suction tube ran through the flagpole, and sucked the actor’s tongue into the hole! This fact is typically on any special feature-laden edition of A Christmas Story. Be sure to watch the footage if you can!
Professional Profanity
Like any good movie, A Christmas Story includes many sequences of swearin’ and cussin’. As we know, though, the movie used an interesting filter to keep any actual profanities out of the family friendly film. For the scenes with “The Old Man,” actor Darren McGavin ad-libbed every instance of sailor-speak! But did you also know that he found it nearly impossible to string real words with ad-libbed obscenities? That’s why his character speaks in complete gibberish as he strings his profanities along!
Clear-Cut Curses
The cuss words don’t stop there, though! In the scene where Ralphie beats up the bully Scut Farkus, Ralphie takes after his old man and starts spewing out all the colorful words he picked up from him. Actor Peter Billingsley took a very different approach than Darren McGavin, however. All of Ralphie’s lines during the scene were precisely scripted! Can you imagine memorizing a solid forty seconds of gibberish?
The Red Ryder Combiner
There is a great deal of debate as to when the film “actually” takes place. Most people will push 1939, and others somewhere in the forties. But don’t forget that the film was made to be a mix of the two! One clear example of this is in the famous Red Ryder BB gun. The Red Ryder BB gun was an actual air gun released in 1940, but the model was very bare-boned. The compass in the stock and “the thing that tells time” (a sundial) were never included in the Red Ryder model, but were on a model from 1934, known as the “Buck Jones Special.” The gun used in the movie was specially built, and they even flipped the compass and sundial to the opposite side of the stock so Peter Billingsley could hold it left-handed.
Mom – The Real Sitting Duck
What connects A Christmas Story to other 80s classics like The Shining, The Exorcist, and Alien? Why, a natural terrified response from one of the actors, of course! For the Chinese restaurant scene towards the end of the film, actress Melinda Dillon had no idea that the duck brought to their table would still have the head. Her copy of the script also neglected to tell her that the waiter would be chopping its head off, too! Cruel or not, her reaction to the duck is definitely one of the best moments of the film.
A Christmas Story is a film with a gigantic following, and there are many more interesting facts and trivia about the movie hidden among special features and commentaries. What are your favorite moments? Let us know in the comments and before you take on our A Christmas Story escape room!
…psst… thanks for scrolling to the bottom. Here’s a fun video if you want to learn how to cook a peking duck, just like in the movie! (I just really like that scene, ok?)
Just took our 12 year old for his birthday-this was one of the best escape rooms we’ve done, lots of cool tech in the casino heist! And our game master Jake J. was awesome!
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Megan D.
3/16/2024
Just took our 12 year old for his birthday-this was one of the best escape rooms we’ve done, lots of cool tech in the casino heist! And our game master Jake J. was awesome!
Rob H.
3/14/2024
Such a fun time. Our gamemaster, Owen, set us up for success and let us know the overall ground rules of the room and kept us moving when we were obviously stuck on a step. The props were all well done and perfect for the theme.
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Rob H.
3/14/2024
Such a fun time. Our gamemaster, Owen, set us up for success and let us know the overall ground rules of the room and kept us moving when we were obviously stuck on a step. The props were all well done and perfect for the theme.
Noelle H.
2/18/2024
We came for a team bonding event and it was AMAZING. Two of our group are escape room experts, and usually do 1-2 per week and they love it. Very unique, large rooms with an incredible variety of skills. We only scheduled one, but had so much fun we went back! The staff was amazing as well. Bailey was super kind and informative. They made us laugh and we had a blast having them run our rooms! Text my partner as soon as we left saying we had to come sometime soon!
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Noelle H.
2/18/2024
We came for a team bonding event and it was AMAZING. Two of our group are escape room experts, and usually do 1-2 per week and they love it. Very unique, large rooms with an incredible variety of skills. We only scheduled one, but had so much fun we went back! The staff was amazing as well. Bailey was super kind and informative. They made us laugh and we had a blast having them run our rooms! Text my partner as soon as we left saying we had to come sometime soon!
Jason R.
2/14/2024
Fun time. Challenging puzzles. Boys loved it. Gave us the clues when we got stomped. But just enough to help you figure it out. First time I have been to an escape room and would recommend it to anyone looking to challenge there mind.
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Jason R.
2/14/2024
Fun time. Challenging puzzles. Boys loved it. Gave us the clues when we got stomped. But just enough to help you figure it out. First time I have been to an escape room and would recommend it to anyone looking to challenge there mind.
Sharona K.
2/13/2024
Great experience, especially as beginners. My friend & I had a great time and enjoyed every second. Our host Bailey Z. was also amazing and explained the game with ease so we would have a great time. Will definitely will stop by again next time I visit Denver(:
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Sharona K.
2/13/2024
Great experience, especially as beginners. My friend & I had a great time and enjoyed every second. Our host Bailey Z. was also amazing and explained the game with ease so we would have a great time. Will definitely will stop by again next time I visit Denver(:
Aimee D.
2/12/2024
It was my first escape room, and it was so fun!!! I highly recommend. Our game master Owen was super awesome as well! He went through everything we needed to know about our room, and the rules very quickly, but thoroughly, so we could get right to it! I plan on going back asap!!
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Aimee D.
2/12/2024
It was my first escape room, and it was so fun!!! I highly recommend. Our game master Owen was super awesome as well! He went through everything we needed to know about our room, and the rules very quickly, but thoroughly, so we could get right to it! I plan on going back asap!!
Matthew S.
2/11/2024
The staff were very friendly and knowledgeable. Zach and Helen helped us today and guided our first escape room experience. They clarified all of our questions and allowed us to have the best experience possible. The detail in the actual escape room was spot on and felt like we had entered a different world. The puzzles were fun and interesting. Great overall experience.
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Matthew S.
2/11/2024
The staff were very friendly and knowledgeable. Zach and Helen helped us today and guided our first escape room experience. They clarified all of our questions and allowed us to have the best experience possible. The detail in the actual escape room was spot on and felt like we had entered a different world. The puzzles were fun and interesting. Great overall experience.
Matthew S.
2/11/2024
Zach and Helen helped us today, and they made things as straightforward as possible enabling us to have the best experience possible. The room we were in was detailed and unique. I felt like I was actually apart of the theme and this enhanced the overall experience.
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Matthew S.
2/11/2024
Zach and Helen helped us today, and they made things as straightforward as possible enabling us to have the best experience possible. The room we were in was detailed and unique. I felt like I was actually apart of the theme and this enhanced the overall experience.
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