'Maybe the bully could do some good': Canadian actor on fundraiser, and sale of 'A Christmas Story' house
'Maybe the bully could do some good': Canadian actor on fundraiser, and sale of 'A Christmas Story' house
Well, it’s that time of year. Where the gift that keeps on giving are the holiday movie classics.
We all have a favorite, and I must confess in the movie marathon of feel good sentimental nostalgia, “A Christmas Story” has become a beloved time capsule.
Set in the 1940s, it tells the story of young Ralphie Parker and his memories of growing up: his family, his friends, his run-ins with the school bully and his forbidden Christmas wish for a BB gun.
And not just any BB gun, but the official “Red Ryder Carbine Action 200 shot range model air rifle.” As he schemes and dreams, everyone from his mother to the store Santa warns him “You’ll shoot your eye out!”
It was a sleeper of a movie back in 1983, but on the holiday cable loop it became a cult classic. Now, the "Christmas Story" house used in the film, in Cleveland, Ohio, is up for sale. Leg lamp and all.
SUPERFAN SELLING THE HOME
“I will definitely miss it,” says owner Brian Jones. “Most of my adult life has been 'A Christmas Story' and running this business.”
For two decades, the Navy veteran, and self-described superfan after getting a leg lamp gag gift (yes, that leg lamp, with the black fishnet stocking from the movie), has been steward of the home that has served as a museum and gift shop – welcoming about 80,000 other superfans a year. However, Jones says, it's time for new vision to keep the "Christmas Story" legend alive.
“I’m looking for somebody who has the passion and a desire for the movie that I do,” Jones said.
(Image from Hoff & Leigh listing for 3159 W 11th St. in Cleveland, Ohio)
CANADIAN CONNECTIONS
If you don’t know it, Canada had a starring role in the film. From the tree farm to the neighbourhood where Ralphie is chased by the town bully to the Chinese restaurant: all shot in Toronto.
Even the bully, played by actor Zack Ward, is Canadian.
“I hope he gets a fantastic buyer,” Ward says on the selling of the Ohio tourist museum. Jones has “been working on it for 20 years, and wanting to take a break and move on, which makes perfect sense.”
Ward, who recently reprised his role with Ralphie and the boys in a grown-up sequel “A Christmas Story Christmas,” describes why the movie touches a chord with so many.
“There’s no superpowers. There’s no Santa Claus flying through the sky. There’s no elves delivering presents. It’s a story about real people. But there’s real magic and what I mean by real magic is they can see how the family struggles together to overcome the difficult times.”
(Image from Hoff & Leigh listing)
Two years ago, Ward’s father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, Stage 4, a painful confusing experience he describes as “like getting hit by a pile driver.”
This holiday, he’ll be raising money to help fight the disease.
He told CTV News, “I figured being as recognized and recognizable as (his character in 'A Christmas Story') is, that maybe the bully could do some good.”
He’ll be out signing autographs and welcoming fans at the "Christmas Story" house in Cleveland later this month - raccoon hat included.
W5 goes deep into the narco heartland to interview a commander with one of Mexico's most brutal cartels. W5's documentary 'Narco Avocados' airs Saturday at 7 pm on CTV.
Memphis authorities released video footage Friday showing Tyre Nichols being beaten by police officers who held the Black motorist down and repeatedly struck him with their fists, boots and batons as he screamed for his mother and pleaded, ''I'm just trying to go home.'
When selling a home, Canadians may be exempted from paying capital gains tax on a residential property -- if it's their principal residence. On CTVNews.ca, personal finance contributor Christopher Liew explains what's determined as a principal residence, and what properties are eligible for the exemption.
Aryna Sabalenka, a 24-year-old from Belarus, who won her first Grand Slam title by coming back to beat Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 at Melbourne Park on Saturday night, using 17 aces among her 51 total winners to overcome seven double-faults.
With a deal under negotiation between Ottawa and provinces, and premiers invited to a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in early February, the issue remains one where the Tory leader's position appears somewhat murky, including to some inside his own party.
A Palestinian gunman opened fire outside an east Jerusalem synagogue Friday night, killing seven people, including a 70-year-old woman, and wounding three others before he was shot and killed by police, officials said.
The head of the Canada Revenue Agency says it 'wouldn't be worth the effort' to fully review $15.5 billion in potentially ineligible pandemic wage benefit payments flagged by Canada's Auditor General.
Using phones and tablets to communicate in encrypted chatrooms, a rapidly growing group of U.S. and allied troops and contractors are providing real-time maintenance advice -- usually speaking through interpreters -- to Ukrainian troops on the battlefield.
A review has been launched after police officers were recorded restraining a handcuffed Indigenous child on the floor of a Vancouver hospital – an incident the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs has denounced as "horrendous."
Freedom rally supporters are expected to congregate near the southern Alberta border town of Coutts on Saturday and RCMP officials say motorists in the area should expect to face highway delays.
In an emotional and powerful speech at an International Holocaust Remembrance Day event in Ottawa, a survivor stressed the importance of remembering the millions of victims murdered by the Nazis during the Second World War and underscored the need to stand up against anti-semitism and hate.
Video released publicly Friday shows the husband of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi struggling with his assailant for control of a hammer moments before he was struck in the head during a brutal attack in the couple's San Francisco home last year.
A Palestinian gunman opened fire outside an east Jerusalem synagogue Friday night, killing seven people, including a 70-year-old woman, and wounding three others before he was shot and killed by police, officials said.
A 13-year-old Palestinian attacker opened fire in east Jerusalem on Saturday. The shooting in the Palestinian neighbourhood of Silwan in east Jerusalem, near the historic Old City, wounded a father and son, ages 47 and 23, paramedics said.
North Korea condemned on Friday the decision by the United States to supply Ukraine with advanced battle tanks to help fight off Russia's invasion, saying Washington is escalating a sinister 'proxy war' aimed at destroying Moscow.
Memphis authorities released video footage Friday showing Tyre Nichols being beaten by police officers who held the Black motorist down and repeatedly struck him with their fists, boots and batons as he screamed for his mother and pleaded, ''I'm just trying to go home.'
A New Jersey man who joined a mob's attack on the U.S. Capitol was sentenced Friday to more than six years in prison for using pepper spray to assault police officers, one of whom died a day after the siege.
The head of the Canada Revenue Agency says it 'wouldn't be worth the effort' to fully review $15.5 billion in potentially ineligible pandemic wage benefit payments flagged by Canada's Auditor General.
Members of Parliament are making their way back to Ottawa ahead of resuming sitting on Monday, as the city prepares to mark the one-year anniversary of the arrival of 'Freedom Convoy' protesters.
With a deal under negotiation between Ottawa and provinces, and premiers invited to a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in early February, the issue remains one where the Tory leader's position appears somewhat murky, including to some inside his own party.
A new survey suggests the vast majority of Canadians have concerns about the state of the health-care system, particularly in Atlantic provinces where hospitals have struggled to maintain emergency services for months. Leger and The Association for Canadian Studies surveyed 1,554 Canadian adults over a two-day period in January.
Malnutrition rates in Afghanistan are at record highs with half the country enduring severe hunger throughout the year, a spokesman for the World Food Program said Thursday.
What looks like a giant teddy bear’s face peering into space from the surface of Mars is actually a satellite image of some craters and a circular fracture, scientists say.
Nvidia Corp Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang on Tuesday said that the burgeoning field of artificial intelligence will create powerful tools that require legal regulation and social norms that have yet to be worked out.
A chance discovery by an Edmonton area woman who was walking her dogs has turned out to be a massive fossilized bone that likely belonged to an Ice Age mammoth.
BookTok is all abuzz with the news that Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni will be starring in a movie based on the bestselling romance novel, "It Ends With Us."
Italian designer Sabato De Sarno has been named the new creative director of Gucci, and will unveil his first collection during Milan Fashion Week next September, Gucci and parent company Kering announced Saturday.
Pamela Anderson is addressing discussion about a story regarding her 'Home Improvement' co-star Tim Allen that is part of her new memoir, 'Love Pamela.'
Italy's prime minister visited Libya for talks Saturday with officials from the country's west-based government focusing on energy and migration, top issues for Italy and the European Union. Libya is the third North African country Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited over the last two weeks as she seeks to secure new supplies of natural gas.
A pair of senior U.S. senators is urging the Biden administration to get tough with Canada for "flouting" obligations to its North American trade partners.
Though you won't be able to sit on the old, cracked pleather benches and take in the thick smell of gravy and fries, while the gentle sound of clanging dishes provides the soundtrack for your lunch, Zellers plans to roll out food trucks for those 'craving a taste of nostalgia.'
Italian designer Sabato De Sarno has been named the new creative director of Gucci, and will unveil his first collection during Milan Fashion Week next September, Gucci and parent company Kering announced Saturday.
Aryna Sabalenka, a 24-year-old from Belarus, who won her first Grand Slam title by coming back to beat Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 at Melbourne Park on Saturday night, using 17 aces among her 51 total winners to overcome seven double-faults.
The outrage, frustration, sadness and anger was evident around the NBA on Friday, the day that video was released showing how Nichols, a 29-year-old father, was killed by five Memphis police officers. Several teams released statements of support for the family, as did the National Basketball Players Association.
Hyundai cars in Canada don't have the same anti-theft issue compared to those in the United States, a company spokesperson says, following reports that two American auto insurers are refusing to write policies for older models.
Progressive and State Farm, two of America's largest auto insurers, are refusing to write policies in certain cities for some older Hyundai and Kia models that have been deemed too easy to steal, according to one of the insurance companies and media reports.
(Image from Hoff & Leigh listing for 3159 W 11th St. in Cleveland, Ohio)
(Image from Hoff & Leigh listing)
