ENTERTAINMENT

Oklahoma town celebrates its 'A Christmas Story' ties with new 50-foot leg lamp statue

A 50-foot-tall leg lamp sculpture inspired by the 1983 cult-favorite film "A Christmas Story" stands as the centerpiece of a new park in downtown Chickasha on Oct. 30, 2022. Phase 1 of the park project will be dedicated with a Nov. 5 celebration and concert.

CHICKASHA — Would you look at that? It's a leg! 

Inspired by local legend, the iconic leg lamp from the classic 1983 movie "A Christmas Story" has actually become a statue — yeah, a statue — and the community of Chickasha is taking another big step toward becoming Oklahoma's "Christmas Town." 

"If you Google the most popular Christmas movies in the United States, 'A Christmas Story' is gonna be right up there at the top," said Jim Cowan, director of the Chickasha Economic Development Council. 

"For us to be connected to it in an unusual way, we're glad that so many people love that movie — and that the leg lamp is such a big deal to people." 

Chickasha residents and visitors may be overcome by art as the community's already-festive holiday season kicks off with the Nov. 5 grand opening of a new downtown park at 101 W Chickasha Avenue. Adjacent to the historic Rock Island Depot, the park's centerpiece is a 50-foot-tall re-creation of the "A Christmas Story" leg lamp, complete with a black high heel, fringed lampshade and box marked "fragile." (Or, as it is pronounced in the movie, "fra-gee-lay.") 

"It'll be on view year round, not just during the Christmas period, so hopefully we'll draw people throughout the year," said Chickasha resident Joe Hutmacher. 

A longtime University of Oklahoma art professor from Chickasha, Noland James believed that the leg lamp he made from an old mannequin and kept in his office for years served as a prototype for the famed leg lamp in the 1983 movie "A Christmas Story." A 50-foot-tall leg lamp sculpture in memory of James, who died in 2020, will officially be dedicated in a new downtown Chickasha park on Nov. 5.

How is Chickasha connected with the 'A Christmas Story' leg lamp? 

As Hutmacher talks about the towering new leg lamp, his voice becomes thick with emotion remembering the man who inspired it.  

"Noland was so gifted ... and the guy was very humble. Only to his close personal friends would he mention that he built the original leg lamp. He didn't promote himself in that manner, which is a strong indicator of character and personality to me. He was also one of my closest friends," Hutmacher told The Oklahoman.  

So, when Chickasha native Noland James died July 18, 2020, at the age of 89, many people were surprised that his obituary included the line, "Noland always felt his lamp was the prototype for the one in the movie 'A Christmas Story.'" 

After earning art and engineering degrees from the University of Oklahoma, James embarked on a 30-year teaching career in the OU School of Visual Arts. While at OU, he turned a discarded women's mannequin into an unusual art project that he displayed in his fourth-floor office until he retired: The bottom of this novelty was a lamp devised of the mannequin's two slender legs clad in black hose and pumps, while the torso was a waste basket. The whole figure was dressed in a lacy black-and-white outfit.  

The way James' obituary tells it, a man looking for employment at OU "became tantalized with the lamp and came by Noland's office many times to look at it and ask about how it was put together — he nearly took it apart to see how it was made. 

"A few years later, this same man was on the production team that produced the leg lamp from a hosiery leg for a 1983 movie." 

A mall Santa (Jeff Gillen) makes Raphie (Peter Billingsley) nervous in "A Christmas Story."

What is the story of 'A Christmas Story?'

That movie was "A Christmas Story," a comedic 1940s tale of a boy named Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) trying to convince his parents, teacher and Santa Claus that an official Red Ryder carbine-action, 200-shot, range model air rifle would be the perfect Christmas gift.  

The film is adapted from humorist Jean Shepherd's 1966 short story collection “In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash," and in the tale titled "My Old Man and the Lascivious Special Award That Heralded the Birth of Pop Art," Ralphie's father (Darren McGavin) receives a lamp in the shape of a sexy stockinged leg as a prize in a contest, thrilling Ralphie and embarrassing Ralphie's mom (Melinda Dillon).  

"The original one that Noland James did, it's different — it's two legs instead of one — yet you can see where there's a similarity between the two of them,” Cowan said. 

According to the A Christmas Story House & Museum's leg lamp history, Shepherd dreamed up the leg lamp after seeing an illuminated Nehi Soda advertisement. The design for the "Old Man's major award" in "A Christmas Story" is credited to production designer Reuben Freed, who produced three leg lamps for the movie. As the movie's plot dictates, all three props were broken during filming. 

"This man, who was instrumental in starting our Festival of Light, claimed to have invented the leg lamp — so we're gonna have fun with it," Cowan said. "We already have a lot of businesses that are excited that it's up, and they're going to paint their storefront windows with images from 'A Christmas Story.' 'A Christmas Story: The Musical' will be at our community theater this Christmas season. So, the town's embracing it." 

Plus, James' original leg lamp will be on display starting Nov. 5 at the Grady County Historical Society Museum, four blocks west of the new park and leg lamp sculpture.  

"A Christmas Story"-theme display decorates the windows of Hoffman House Boutique in downtown Chickasha on Oct. 25, 2022. Just a few blocks away on Chickasha Avenue, a new park features as its centerpiece a 50-foot-tall version of the famed leg lamp from the 1983 film.

How is the leg lamp giving Chickasha's Christmas plans an extra kick?  

Just a few months after James died, the Chickasha Economic Development Council welcomed the holidays with an "indescribably beautiful" 40-foot inflatable version of the "A Christmas Story" leg lamp perched on a 10-foot box labeled "fragile."  

It's a testament to the movie’s enduring popularity — it's been airing annually in a 24-hour cable TV marathon spanning Christmas Eve and Day since the 1990s — that the response to the leg lamp "blazed forth in unparalleled glory." 

"The whole story went viral. ... The news report that was done by an Oklahoma City TV station was shared with their affiliates and went all over the United States," Cowan said. "The amount of excitement it brought to Chickasha was just absolutely overwhelming because people were saying good things about Chickasha nationally and then, eventually, internationally.  

"When you're a small rural town in Oklahoma, that's the biggest thing is how do you get your name out there but in a positive way? Christmas Day 2020, the London Daily Mail features a story about the Chickasha leg lamp. ... You can't buy that kind of exposure." 

If the Grady County seat and self-proclaimed "Christmas Town" is known nationally for anything, though, it's how it celebrates the holidays: This year marks the 30th anniversary of the Chickasha Festival of Light, a renowned yuletide lights display. Every year, a volunteer-run nonprofit organization transforms Chickasha's 43-acre Shannon Springs Parks into a sparkling winter wonderland that revelers can drive or walk through for free, although donations are welcome. 

"I met Noland in 1993, which was the year the festival was established, and he and I just became very close over the years," Hutmacher said. "Noland's creative abilities were just unbelievable. He's the one that taught us all how to build all those elements ... and then he taught how to weld them together. He was just such a great influence." 

Over the years, the Festival of Light has added attractions like an ice-skating rink, Ferris wheel and carriage rides.

"For the 30th anniversary Festival of Light, we're adding for the first time ever what we call the Frozen Forest. It'll be north of the dam there in Shannon Springs Park, and it'll be a whole new area that people can come see. But they have to walk through it; they can't drive through it," Cowan said.  

A 50-foot-tall leg lamp sculpture inspired by the 1983 cult-favorite film "A Christmas Story" is under construction in a new park in downtown Chickasha on Sept. 20, 2022. The completed leg lamp, which has since had its lampshade added, will be dedicated as part of Phase 1 of the park project on Nov. 5.

What can people expect from the new leg lamp and downtown park?  

The nationally recognized lights display has become so popular that in 2021 it spun off a new downtown event, December at the Depot, that included pop-up shops, food trucks, Santa photos, amusement park-style rides for children and the 40-foot inflatable leg lamp at the Rock Island Depot. Chickasha Public Schools provided $2 per person shuttle rides from the depot to Shannon Springs Park on Friday and Saturday nights.  

"We have crowds of over 12,000 people that will visit Shannon Springs Park on Friday and Saturday nights ... and it was wildly successful in its first year," Cowan said. "It allowed people not to have to wait in line sometimes up to two hours. ... Now, we've got a way where they can come down, experience our downtown, see the leg lamp, maybe grab a bite to eat and then ride the shuttle out to the festival." 

One damper on last year's festivities was the inflatable leg lamp's vulnerability to weather. 

"Strong winds in Oklahoma, which happen frequently, would blow it down. It ripped multiple times, and we'd have to sew it up. It was problematic because people wanted to come see it, but we just didn't know from day to day if it would stay up," Cowan said. "Eventually, that's what led to us deciding, 'Let's do a permanent one.'"

Built by Midwest Cooling Towers entirely out of fiberglass, the permanent sculpture, like its inflatable predecessor, measures 40 feet tall and stands atop a 10-foot crate. An electrical contractor, Hutmacher's company is ensuring the lamp boasts "the soft glow of electric sex" Ralphie admires in the movie.  

"When we were testing all the lights, everything worked. ... Those LED lights, they have multiple colors they can produce, and they're going to set different scenes ... to light that thing up," Hutmacher said. "I'm looking forward to seeing how it really looks at night." 

The leg lamp is the main attraction of the first leg of a three-phase project for the downtown park on the east end of Chickasha Avenue. With a $1.4 million price tag, Phase 1 includes the shapely statue, the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma arts plaza and the remodel of the old freight building onsite. 

"Everything that will be done in the park will be done with private dollars or grants or foundation money. So, there's no city money used, no sales tax money used. It's all just donations," Cowan said.  

"By Dec. 1, we will have had four new restaurants open up in downtown. ... These old buildings, a few years ago, they were pretty much all boarded up except for a spot here and there. And now what we're seeing is a revitalization that just has everybody in this town so excited." 

Maggie McClure and Shane Henry of The Imaginaries perform in 2018 at the Bricktown Tree Lighting Festival as part of Downtown in December.

What is planned for the grand opening of the new park and leg lamp?

The grand opening for the park will begin at 5 p.m. Nov. 5 with entertainment from local artists and a special performance from the Chickasha Community Theatre’s Dec. 15-18 production of “A Christmas Story: The Musical.” Lt. Gov. Matt Pinnell will flip the switch to light the new lamp at 7 p.m., and Oklahoma Americana duo The Imaginaries will perform a free concert after that glorious moment.  

With the movie's long-awaited sequel, "A Christmas Story Christmas," debuting Nov. 17 on HBO Max, Chickasha's leg lamp seems destined to be a major draw for years.  

"I think Noland would be just thrilled that the community was doing something to enhance the community ... I think he'd be thrilled to death with it," Hutmacher said.  

CHICKASHA DOWNTOWN PARK GRAND OPENING 

When: 5 p.m. Nov. 5. 

Where: New downtown park, 101 W Chickasha Ave. 

Information: https://www.facebook.com/VisitChickashaOk

Features Writer Brandy "BAM" McDonnell has covered Oklahoma's arts, entertainment and cultural sectors for The Oklahoman for 20 years. Reach her atbmcdonnell@oklahoman.com,www.facebook.com/brandybammcdonnell andtwitter.com/BAMOK. Support her work by signing up for herSee & Do Oklahoma newsletter andsubscribing to The Oklahoman.