The Phantom of the Open Hearth

The Phantom of the Open Hearth is an American made-for-television family-comedy film, directed by Fred Barzyk and David R. Loxton, with a script written by Jean Shepherd. Produced by Loxton, the movie is the first screen adaptation to feature Shepherd's character Ralphie Parker, and is notable for influencing studio interest in A Christmas Story years later. Based on Shepherd's book, In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash and similar to all the other Parker Family movies, the film depicts fictionalized events from his real-life childhood. Synopsis A middle-aged Ralph Parker introduces the film, before the events of the movie flashback to the past. Set during 1950s America, high school-aged Ralph prepares for the upcoming junior-promenade dance. Every day at school he tries to overcome his shyness and ask his crush, a popular classmate named Daphne Bigelow, to the event. At home, Ralph finds himself at odds with his father and his over-involved mother. His parents are busy with their own interests: Mr. Parker looks forward to the arrival of a tasteless lamp shipment he won in a bowling contest (a story later adapted in A Christmas Story), while Mrs. Parker often attends "dish night" at the local movie theater to acquire a collection of dinner dishes (a story that reappears in My Summer Story). Though Ralph decides to ask his geeky neighbor Wanda Hickey to the dance, he continues to wish he could win the affections of Daphne. Later with his friends and their dates, Ralph drinks alcohol excessively. The group finds themselves sick and vomiting in the bathroom stall, during the eventful night of junior prom. Cast David Elliott as Ralph "Ralphie" Parker Jean Shepherd as Ralph Parker/the Narrator James Broderick as Mr. Parker Barbara Bolton as Mrs. Parker Adam Goodman as Randy Parker William Lampley as Flick Bryan Utman as Schwartz Ed Huberman as Carl Parker Tobi Pilavin as Daphne Bigelow Roberta Wallach as Wanda Hickey Release The Phantom of the Open Hearth was released on December 23, 1976 during an episode of PBS's anthological television series, Visions.