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Posted on Nov 24, 2015

Did You Know? 32 Facts About Christmas Classics

WHO was going to play Scott Calvin?!

by Chelsea Lucas

Community Contributor

Disney / Via tinypic.com

The little boy putting his jacket on and wearing a red scarf as Scott and Charlie are led to their seat in Denny's; the girl walking behind the bench when Scott has kids lined up at Charlie's soccer game; the girl in the purple coat who walks by Scott and Charlie in the park when Scott wants Charlie to stop talking about the Santa Claus; and the attentive little boy in the blue turtleneck behind Charlie's desk during show and tell are all elves. They show up as a group at the end of the movie when Scott flies away from the Miller house, and they are the kids who run and skip off. Just to name a few.

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Did You Know? 32 Facts About Christmas Classics

Jingle All The Way

1. The story is based on the 1980s shopping frenzy over the Cabbage Patch dolls.

2. Turbo-Man's red suit is modeled after DC Comic superhero The Flash.

3. You can actually buy official Turbo Man action figures on Ebay.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

4. Chevy Chase appears in some scenes wearing a navy blue Chicago Bears ball cap. He wears the same Chicago Bears cap throughout all four Vacation movies.

5. A minor earthquake occurred at the time when they were filming the scene where uncle Louis and aunt Bethany arrive at the Griswold house.

6. The Warner Bros. back lot used for the neighborhood in which the Griswolds live is the same as the one used on the TV series, The Middle, which features Brian Doyle-Murray (Mr. Shirley) in a recurring role as Mr. Ehlert.

7. In the scene when the police storm into the Griswolds' house, the song "Here Comes Santa Claus" sung by Gene Autry is used for the background music. Randy Quaid (cousin Eddie) is the third cousin of Gene Autry.

8. According to an article on the making of Home Alone (1990) in Chicago Magazine, Chris Columbus states that he was the original director of this movie.

9. The scene where the cat bites on the Christmas lights cord and gets electrocuted was nearly cut from the movie.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

10. Eddie Murphy and Jack Nicholson were considered to play The Grinch.

11. The prosthetic make-up Jim Carrey wore took about 8 hours to apply. Carrey felt so horribly confined and uncomfortable in the latex skin he needed counseling from a Navy SEAL who taught him torture-resistance techniques.

12. No movie has featured so many characters in heavy makeup since The Wizard of Oz.

13. The line "6:30 p.m. Dinner with me; I can't cancel that again." was improvised by Jim Carrey.

14. The Whoville set was built mostly on the backlot of Universal Studios behind the still-standing Bates Motel.

Elf

15. The film's director, Jon Favreau, played both the Doctor and Mr. Narwhal

16. When this screenplay first emerged in 1993, Jim Carrey was attached to star in the lead.

17. People were so shocked to see Will Ferrell in costume walking around Central Park and the Lincoln Tunnel that several traffic accidents were reported.

18. Will Ferrell turned down $29 million to be in Elf 2 in late 2013.

19. The cotton balls Buddy eats while in the Doctors office were actually Cotton Candy that had not been dyed.

20. Will Ferrell's brother Patrick plays a security guard at the Empire State Building.

21. The design for Santa's Workshop as well as the Elf uniforms come from the original Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) animated special. The Elf uniforms completely mirror the ones from the TV special.

22. The Santa Clause

23. The role of Scott Calvin/Santa Claus was written with Bill Murray in mind.

24. Tim Allen has a criminal record and Disney has a no hiring of ex-cons policy. An exception was made in this case.

25. For one week in November 1994, Tim Allen had the #1 movie at the box office ("The Santa Clause"), the #1 rated television show ("Home Improvement"), and the #1 New York Times best-selling book ("Don't Stand Too Close to a Naked Man").

26. The elves are everywhere in the movie.

Home Alone

27. The picture Kevin finds of Buzz's girlfriend was a picture of a boy made up to look like a girl because Chris Columbus thought it would be too cruel to make fun of a girl like that

28. In the original script, Uncle Frank was the real mastermind behind Harry and Marv robbing the McAllister house

29. John Candy filmed his part in only one day. And the story about having once forgotten his son at a funeral home was entirely improvised.

30. Joe Pesci deliberately avoided Macaulay Culkin on set because he wanted Culkin to think he was mean.

31. The ornaments that Marv steps on are actually candy.

32. The "evil furnace" in the basement was done by two guys with fishing line and flashlights.

Did You Know? 32 Facts About Christmas Classics

Jingle All The Way

1. The story is based on the 1980s shopping frenzy over the Cabbage Patch dolls.

2. Turbo-Man's red suit is modeled after DC Comic superhero The Flash.

3. You can actually buy official Turbo Man action figures on Ebay.

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

4. Chevy Chase appears in some scenes wearing a navy blue Chicago Bears ball cap. He wears the same Chicago Bears cap throughout all four Vacation movies.

5. A minor earthquake occurred at the time when they were filming the scene where uncle Louis and aunt Bethany arrive at the Griswold house.

6. The Warner Bros. back lot used for the neighborhood in which the Griswolds live is the same as the one used on the TV series, The Middle, which features Brian Doyle-Murray (Mr. Shirley) in a recurring role as Mr. Ehlert.

7. In the scene when the police storm into the Griswolds' house, the song "Here Comes Santa Claus" sung by Gene Autry is used for the background music. Randy Quaid (cousin Eddie) is the third cousin of Gene Autry.

8. According to an article on the making of Home Alone (1990) in Chicago Magazine, Chris Columbus states that he was the original director of this movie.

9. The scene where the cat bites on the Christmas lights cord and gets electrocuted was nearly cut from the movie.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

10. Eddie Murphy and Jack Nicholson were considered to play The Grinch.

11. The prosthetic make-up Jim Carrey wore took about 8 hours to apply. Carrey felt so horribly confined and uncomfortable in the latex skin he needed counseling from a Navy SEAL who taught him torture-resistance techniques.

12. No movie has featured so many characters in heavy makeup since The Wizard of Oz.

13. The line "6:30 p.m. Dinner with me; I can't cancel that again." was improvised by Jim Carrey.

14. The Whoville set was built mostly on the backlot of Universal Studios behind the still-standing Bates Motel.

Elf

15. The film's director, Jon Favreau, played both the Doctor and Mr. Narwhal

16. When this screenplay first emerged in 1993, Jim Carrey was attached to star in the lead.

17. People were so shocked to see Will Ferrell in costume walking around Central Park and the Lincoln Tunnel that several traffic accidents were reported.

18. Will Ferrell turned down $29 million to be in Elf 2 in late 2013.

19. The cotton balls Buddy eats while in the Doctors office were actually Cotton Candy that had not been dyed.

20. Will Ferrell's brother Patrick plays a security guard at the Empire State Building.

21. The design for Santa's Workshop as well as the Elf uniforms come from the original Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) animated special. The Elf uniforms completely mirror the ones from the TV special.

22. The Santa Clause

23. The role of Scott Calvin/Santa Claus was written with Bill Murray in mind.

24. Tim Allen has a criminal record and Disney has a no hiring of ex-cons policy. An exception was made in this case.

25. For one week in November 1994, Tim Allen had the #1 movie at the box office ("The Santa Clause"), the #1 rated television show ("Home Improvement"), and the #1 New York Times best-selling book ("Don't Stand Too Close to a Naked Man").

26. The elves are everywhere in the movie.

Home Alone

27. The picture Kevin finds of Buzz's girlfriend was a picture of a boy made up to look like a girl because Chris Columbus thought it would be too cruel to make fun of a girl like that

28. In the original script, Uncle Frank was the real mastermind behind Harry and Marv robbing the McAllister house

29. John Candy filmed his part in only one day. And the story about having once forgotten his son at a funeral home was entirely improvised.

30. Joe Pesci deliberately avoided Macaulay Culkin on set because he wanted Culkin to think he was mean.

31. The ornaments that Marv steps on are actually candy.

32. The "evil furnace" in the basement was done by two guys with fishing line and flashlights.

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