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leapin' lizards!
Mar. 19th, 2007 09:54 am.
I was listening to Jean Shepherd as I drove around in the snowstorm, and it reminded me of the bit about the Orphan Annie Decoder Pin (or perhaps it was called a ring in the movie A Christmas Story, though what they showed was a pin). Mom has a couple of them, 1936 and 1937 or 8 -- I'd bet anything she still has those. Priorities! Can you tell that I hope to get my hands on them some day? Anyway, enough revealing my petty inner self. I just wanted to share the joy.
Here's a page that shows the various decoders, all the way to the end of the line when they were crummy paper things instead of the handsome metal objects that still look great. If that's not swell enough, follow the link at the bottom of the page, and it will take you to where you can print out and assemble your own (paper) copy of the 1936 version. The folks with the web page have thoughtfully given two versions. One requires you to painstakingly cut out all the windows, as in the original, and the other makes it a much easier matter to put together, and we won't sweat the authenticity thing.
Shepherd actually made up the part about the secret message being a crummy commercial, in the interests of higher truth. He also made up the existence of the Red Ryder Range Model 200-shot carbine action air rifle with the compass in the stock and this thing which tells time (actually, he conflated two different Daisy rifles -- they ended up making the one he describes after the movie came out, though). Driving in the storm, I heard him say he was named after Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, but who knows, really? He was a man of mystery, and hard to get along with, and I'm just glad he left so many hours of terrific radio shows and a large number of superb semi-fictional short stories.
His fans over at flicklives.com have a page on the decoder as well. You can use that as a starting point for lots of other interesting bits of trivia and essentia about the man and his work.
There's a decoder pin (1937) up at eBay now. I don't see anything on their site that states a policy on the use of photos from there for fair use purposes of review, but the last time I linked to an eBay picture, I got somebody huffing at me about "illegal" use of the photo, so I'll let discretion rule this time. Besides, the picture isn't that great.
Arf!
.
I was listening to Jean Shepherd as I drove around in the snowstorm, and it reminded me of the bit about the Orphan Annie Decoder Pin (or perhaps it was called a ring in the movie A Christmas Story, though what they showed was a pin). Mom has a couple of them, 1936 and 1937 or 8 -- I'd bet anything she still has those. Priorities! Can you tell that I hope to get my hands on them some day? Anyway, enough revealing my petty inner self. I just wanted to share the joy.
Here's a page that shows the various decoders, all the way to the end of the line when they were crummy paper things instead of the handsome metal objects that still look great. If that's not swell enough, follow the link at the bottom of the page, and it will take you to where you can print out and assemble your own (paper) copy of the 1936 version. The folks with the web page have thoughtfully given two versions. One requires you to painstakingly cut out all the windows, as in the original, and the other makes it a much easier matter to put together, and we won't sweat the authenticity thing.
Shepherd actually made up the part about the secret message being a crummy commercial, in the interests of higher truth. He also made up the existence of the Red Ryder Range Model 200-shot carbine action air rifle with the compass in the stock and this thing which tells time (actually, he conflated two different Daisy rifles -- they ended up making the one he describes after the movie came out, though). Driving in the storm, I heard him say he was named after Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, but who knows, really? He was a man of mystery, and hard to get along with, and I'm just glad he left so many hours of terrific radio shows and a large number of superb semi-fictional short stories.
His fans over at flicklives.com have a page on the decoder as well. You can use that as a starting point for lots of other interesting bits of trivia and essentia about the man and his work.
There's a decoder pin (1937) up at eBay now. I don't see anything on their site that states a policy on the use of photos from there for fair use purposes of review, but the last time I linked to an eBay picture, I got somebody huffing at me about "illegal" use of the photo, so I'll let discretion rule this time. Besides, the picture isn't that great.
Arf!
.
