I
have decided to begin today's edition of “The
Pop Culture Addict's Advent Calendar” (day 10 in
a series of 25) by talking about the thing that inspired today's
selected topic...and I must admit that it came from a rather unusual
source.
In
my apartment building, we have what is known as an “unofficial
magazine and newspaper trading club”, where it is entirely possible
for the same newspaper to make an appearance in at least six
different apartments. I don't know whether people were doing it to
be nice to other neighbours, or whether my neighbours are simply too
cheap to be able to purchase their own magazines, but either way, I
ended up getting my hands on a bunch of those trashy gossip magazines
like “Star”, “OK!”, “Hello”, and “In Touch”.
(Hey,
if it keeps me boned up on my pop culture knowledge so I can have a
wider selection of topics for this blog, I'll read anything. I think
I may have even stumbled across TMZ on a couple of occasions while I
was searching for information on a couple of subjects.)
So,
as I type this out, I'm looking at the December 3, 2012 edition of
“Life&Style” magazine...which admittedly is a title that I
would not normally purchase for myself, but after I'm finished
reading it, I'll be letting someone else read it in the building. On
page 31 of this particular issue is an advertisement for ABC Family's
25 Days of Christmas.
I
don't have ABC Family on my current television package (mainly
because I can't afford any more than 100 channels on my budget), but
judging by the schedule that is listed on that page, it seems as
though they devote their entire channel towards holiday programming
and movies during the entire month of December.
Of
course, a lot of the shows are repetitive. At last count, the movie
“Home Alone” seems to be scheduled for five of the 25 Days of
Christmas. But there are tons of Christmas themed specials which
include old holiday favourites and brand new selections, as well as
world television premieres of big blockbuster hits from the last
twelve months.
DISCLAIMER:
This is not meant to be an advertisement for ABC Family. ABC Family
unfortunately is not paying me any money to promote the network. And
besides, it's a nice transition piece from one subject to another.
The
Saturday after this coming Saturday (December 22, in case you were
wondering) is featuring a Holiday Classics marathon, which features a
1994 film, as well as its two sequels, which deals with a particular
clause...
...a
Santa Clause.
It
seems hard to believe that there are three different movies that have
the title “The Santa Clause”. There's the 1994 original film,
the 2002 sequel, and the 2006 film “The Escape Clause”.
For
the same of time constraints, we're going to be taking a look at the
original 1994 movie.
I
must admit that I have quite a lot of fond memories of this film. I
watched this film in the movie theater with my sister when it was
first released on November 11, 1994 (where I snacked on a larger than
life Kit Kat bar during the whole showing), I watched this film on
VHS...I even watched the movie in a different language when our
French teacher showed it to us on a snow day!
The
film has some rather decent star power backing it as well. The cast
for the film includes Tim Allen (Home Improvement), Wendy Crewson
(Air Force One), Judge Reinhold (Beverly Hills Cop), David Krumholtz
(Numb3rs/Partners), and the late Peter Boyle (Everybody Loves
Raymond/Young Frankenstein).
The
movie depicts the life of a man named Scott Calvin, who is at a bit
of a crossroads in his life. At the age of thirty-eight, Scott has a
successful job as an advertising executive for a Chicago toy company,
but his personal life is a bit of a mess. His ex-wife Laura
(Crewson) has recently remarried a man named Neal Miller (Reinhold),
a psychiatrist, and he is left to be nothing more than a part-time
father to his young son, Charlie (Eric Lloyd).
As
the movie begins, it's Christmas Eve, and Charlie is scheduled to
spend Christmas Eve night with his father before heading out in the
morning to spend Christmas Day with Laura and Neal. Although Scott
is rather cynical of the holiday spirit and doesn't actually believe
in Santa Claus, he tries his best to make Charlie believe that there
really is a Santa Claus.
That
night, Charlie is woken up by a sound on the roof. Thinking that it
is Santa Claus, he runs to his father's bedroom and wakes him up,
telling him that Santa has arrived. But Scott seems to believe that
what Charlie actually heard was someone trying to break into the
house, so he runs outside to see what the fuss is about. He calls
out to the man who is on the roof, and the man is so startled that he
ends up sliding off the roof and onto the ground two stories below!
Yes...you
heard right. Scott Calvin was indirectly responsible for the death
of Santa Claus.
When
Scott and Charlie run to the scene of the...um...”accidental
death”...all they find is the man's red suit, as well as a sleigh
on the roof with eight reindeer attached to the front. Searching the
red suit, they find a card that tells them to put on the suit and get
on the sleigh should anything happen to Santa, and Charlie comes up
with the idea for Scott to put on the suit. Given that Scott was
wearing little more than his underwear at the time, it seemed like it
was a good idea. And once Scott was dressed in the red suit, the
two of them ended up going to all the children's houses in the area
before returning to the North Pole.
The
elves at Santa's workshop welcome Scott and Charlie with open arms,
and Charlie is amazed at the images and sights of the place.
However, when both of them end up meeting Head Elf Bernard
(Krumholtz), Scott is shocked to discover that the card that was
found in the suit had some fine print on it which neither Scott or
Charlie read. According to the “Santa Clause”, whoever put on
the suit after the previous occupant disappeared would bear the
identity of Santa Claus and all the responsibilities associated with
it.
A
pretty big commitment, no?
Bernard
even gives Scott until Thanksgiving to get all of his affairs in
order back home in Chicago before he returns to the North Pole to
assume the role of Santa Claus full time. Charlie is absolutely over
the moon over the possibility of his father becoming the new Santa
Claus, but Scott is less than enthusiastic about the whole thing,
eventually believing the whole thing to be nothing but a weird
dream...
...but
when he gains 45 pounds in a week, cannot keep a clean-shaven face,
and his hair becomes snow white, this is where Scott realizes that
maybe there is something to the “Santa Clause” that Bernard spoke
of. Scott's behaviour also becomes more erratic, craving Christmas
themed foods, wearing green and red clothing exclusively, and even
staging a tantrum at a board meeting where he has a high opposition
to featuring an ad where Santa is riding in a tank. This behaviour
also does not go unnoticed by Laura and Neal, who believe that Scott
is suffering from delusional episodes, and they fear that Charlie
backing Scott's claims that he is Santa is harming the boy, and they
make plans to take Charlie away from him.
So,
with Scott Calvin having to deal with transforming into Santa Claus
as well as trying to keep a hold on his relationship with Charlie, it
definitely becomes a holiday mess.
Now,
I won't be giving away the ending to this one...but let's just say
that with two sequels to the movie, I suppose that you know that a
happy ending is inevitable.
To
close off this look back on “The Santa Clause”, here's a few
facts.
- The movie made almost $190 million at the box office.
- The film was set in Chicago, but many of the exterior shots were filmed in or around Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The zoo scene was shot at the Toronto Zoo in Scarborough.
- When Scott takes his son out to eat at Denny's, the Denny's actually wasn't a Denny's. It was really a Swiss Chalet chicken restaurant that was redesigned to look like a Denny's!
- The elves that are featured in the North Pole are also featured in cameo roles in the scenes set in Chicago.
- Tim Allen was not the intended choice for the role of Scott Calvin. The movie was written with Bill Murray in mind for the main role.
- Scott and Charlie climb onto a roof using a ladder manufactured by the “Rose Suchak Ladder Company”. Try saying that company name three times fast and it might sound familiar. Think of a popular Christmas rhyme...
- Take a close look at the list that Santa holds...Andre Agassi and Armand Assante are both listed.
- There's a line that Scott says in the film in which he sarcastically tells someone to call the number 1-800-SPANK-ME. Problem was that the number was a real number, connecting to a phone sex line. After a child racked up a costly phone bill after dialing the number which spawned an official complaint from her mother, the scene was deleted from the DVD version.
- Although Disney has a strict no ex-con policy when it comes to hiring actors, they made an exception for Tim Allen, who was busted in 1978 for drug trafficking. He served 28 months in jail before being paroled in 1981.
And,
that's our look back on “The Santa Clause.”
Day
#11 will feature the birth of a woman who was just in her early teens
when she managed to get everyone rocking around a certain kind of
tree...
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