- - The true stories behind “A Christmas Story”: How Jean Shepherd's memories shaped the holiday classic

Allison DeGrusheDecember 7, 2025 at 12:00 AM

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MGM/courtesy Everett Collection

Ralphie, the Old Man, Randy, and Mrs. Parker in 'A Christmas Story'Key Points -

A Christmas Story hit theaters on Nov. 18, 1983, and has since become a holiday classic.

It's based on the semi-autobiographical short stories of radio personality Jean Shepherd.

Many of the characters featured in A Christmas Story were inspired by real-life people and events from Shepherd's childhood.

Every December, TVs playing A Christmas Story glow as bright as the film's fishnet-clad leg lamp.

Thanks to TBS and TNT's annual 24-hour marathons of the movie, the 1983 classic has served as a backdrop for countless families as they peel open presents on Christmas morning. It's appropriate, as Bob Clark's story centers on young Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) and his desperate desire for Santa Claus to bring him a Red Ryder BB gun.

If A Christmas Story unfolds with the warmth and detail of a fond, distant memory, that's because it is one. It was co-written (and narrated) by famed humorist and radio personality Jean Shepherd, who mined his own childhood for material, turning even the smallest moments into quotable scenes.

From Ralphie's adventures with his pals to the Old Man's (Darren McGavin) endearing irascibility, many of the film's funniest moments trace back to Shepherd's own experiences growing up in Hammond, Ind.

Here's the scoop on how Shepherd's semi-autobiographical recollections helped shape A Christmas Story, including which characters are based on real people.

Is A Christmas Story based on a true story?

Courtesy Everett Collection

Jean Shepherd in 1971

Well, sort of. A Christmas Story isn't a literal biopic of Shepherd, but it's deeply rooted in his own memories (just exaggerated for laughs). The movie draws from his bestselling In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash (1966), a collection of semi-autobiographical short stories that blend reality and fiction.

In these stories and in the film, Shepherd took little slices of his own childhood — including the streets he often walked and a school named after Warren G. Harding — and sprinkled them with plenty of humor to build the world that became Ralphie's in A Christmas Story.

Before the book was published, Shepherd spent years improvising the tales on his Manhattan radio show. From the 1950s through the early 1970s, listeners tuned in to hear him recount growing up in Hammond, which he reimagined as the fictional city of Hohman, named after a real street in his hometown.

According to Vanity Fair, Shepherd was encouraged to start putting his stories to paper by children's author and Playboy cartoonist Shel Silverstein, as well as his third wife, Lois Nettleton. Before collecting them in a book, Shepherd published many of these "anti-sentimental" stories in Playboy.

Which characters from A Christmas Story were inspired by real people?

MGM/courtesy Everett Collection

Randy, Ralphie, Flick, and Schwartz in 'A Christmas Story'

As his friend Donald Fagen wrote in Slate in 2015, many of the people in Shepherd's stories closely resemble the Christmas Story characters we know and love.

His "manic father" became the Old Man and his mother — hovering over the sink in "a yellow rump-sprung chenille bathrobe with bits of dried egg on the lapel" — inspired Melinda Dillon's harried Mrs. Parker, who wears a robe when she takes the turkey out of the oven on Christmas morning.

Shepherd had a younger brother, Randall, who became Ralphie's younger brother Randy (played by Ian Petrella). Even some of Ralphie's classmates were lifted straight from Shepherd's life.

According to the website Flick Lives, Ralphie's pal Flick (Scott Schwartz), who gets his tongue stuck to an icy flagpole, was inspired by Shepherd's real-life friend Jack Flickinger. Schwartz (R. D. Robb) was reportedly based on another friend, Paul L. R. Schwarz.

Miss Shields (Tedde Moore), the patient teacher who Ralphie tries to bribe with a giant fruit basket, was based on one of Shepherd's real teachers. And even Aunt Clara, who gifts Ralphie the infamous pink bunny suit that he absolutely hates, was inspired by his actual aunt.

Where can I watch A Christmas Story?

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer/Getty

Ralphie sits on Santa's lap in 'A Christmas Story'

A Christmas Story is currently available to stream on HBO Max and Hulu.

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