December 11, 2025 • 41 mins
In his chaotic quest for a Turbo Man doll, Howard Langston goes to extremes to find the toy on Christmas Eve. It's the stuff of Christmas slapstick comedy, right? In reality, society has always been obsessed with 'the must-have' gifts during the holiday season and parents have gone to even more extreme lengths for their kids, with both the Cabbage Patch riots of 1983 and the Power Rangers craze of 1993 proving beleaguered mums and dads will do anything to get the latest toy for their children, including chasing trucks and beating up store staff.
Arnold Schwarzenegger stars as Howard, a great mattress salesman, but a less-than-adequate husband and father. When his disappointed son tells him he wants a Turbo Man action figure, Howard springs into action on Christmas Eve, only to find every store out of stock. This is why you don't leave your Christmas shopping to the last minute!
Despite the initial poor reception, Jingle All the Way has become an unlikely holiday classic, and an effective satire of the commercialization of Christmas. The movie has found new life through annual holiday season rewatches, with nostalgia playing a significant role in its enduring popularity.
And in a weird twist of fate, the movie, which came out in November 1996, predicted exactly what parents would do to get a Tickle Me Elmo that year...
I would love to hear your thoughts on Jingle All the Way !
Verbal Diorama is now an award-winning podcast! Best Movie Podcast in the inaugural Ear Worthy Independent Podcast Awards and was nominated for the Earworm Award at the 2025 Golden Lobes.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(02:42):
Hi everyone, I'm Em andwelcome to Verbal Diorama, episode
324, Jingle All the Way. Thisis the podcast that's all about the
history and legacy of moviesyou know, and movies you don't. That
got a Turboman for Johnnymonths ago. It's nestled safely under
our tree. Welcome to VerbalDiorama. Whether you're a brand new
listener, whether you're aregular returning listener, thank
(03:04):
you so much for being here.Thank you so much for choosing to
listen to this podcast. I'm sohappy to have you here for the history
and legacy of Jingle all theWay. We are fully in going on the
run up to Christmas now, and Ilove doing Christmas movies on this
podcast because it justgenuinely makes me start to feel
quite festive, even though Iam recording this in November. But
(03:26):
that's how podcasting works.Huge thank you. If you are a regular
returning listener, thank youfor coming back to this podcast,
for continuing to listen andsupport this podcast. This podcast
will be seven years old inFebruary, a fact that constantly
blows my mind. And it's beengoing now for, oh, 324 episodes.
So sometimes I wonder, like,how am I actually doing this? But
(03:49):
I am doing this. So I guessI'm just going to carry on doing
this. But however manyepisodes of this podcast you've listened
to, even if this is yourfirst, thank you so much for your
support because listening to apodcast is supporting a podcast and
it really genuinely does meanso much. I'm just going to jump straight
in because in the decadessince Jingle all the Way came out,
(04:12):
it may have not set the boxoffice alight or charmed critics
at the time. But it hasn'tfaded into obscurity. On the contrary,
its popularity seems to growevery year. And it's now widely regarded
as a holiday classic. Loved bymillennials and loved by the people
who made it. You're my numberone listener. Here's the trailer
(04:36):
for Jingle all the Way.
(06:52):
Mattress salesman HowardLangston is great at his job at providing
for his family. But not sogreat as a present husband and father.
After he misses his sonJamie's karate grading, he asks him
how he can make it up to him.All Jamie wants for Christmas is
a Turboman action figure. Thehottest toy of the year. Unfortunately
(07:12):
for Howard, his wife asked himto pick one up weeks ago, and it's
now Christmas Eve and everystore is sold out. Howard must spend
the day scrambling from storeto store in desperate search of one,
crossing paths with theequally hapless Moiran, a conspiracy
theorist postal worker whoseson also wants a Turboman more than
(07:33):
anything. Let's run throughthe cast we have Arnold Schwarzenegger
as Howard Langston, Sinbad asMyron Larabi, Phil Hartman as Ted
Maltin, Rita Wilson as LizLangston, Jake Lloyd as Jamie Langston,
Robert Conrad as OfficerHummel, Martin Mull as the KQRS DJ
(07:54):
Jim Belushi as Mall SantaDanny Woodburn as Tony the Elf and
Paul White as Giant Santa.Jingle all the Way was written by
Randy Kornfield and wasdirected by Brian Levant. Every year
since the 50s, there has beena toy that children have wanted more
(08:15):
than anything else. FromBarbie in 1959 to the Easy Bake Oven
in 1963, GI Joe in 1970 andthe Rubik's Cube in 1980. In every
generation, one toy is giventhe responsibility to be the one
thing each child can't livewithout. But as the decades went
(08:36):
on, the effects of TVadvertising ramped up. Materialistic
desires and consumerismstarted to infiltrate everyday family
homes. People wanted more andmore and expected to find more and
more. In late 1983, it hitfever pitch when violence broke out
in cities and towns across theU.S. people fought each other, would
(08:59):
hit, shove and trample eachother. Some even used baseball bats
to attack and defendthemselves. The riots lasted for
months, with thousands ofpeople left bruised, battered, some
hospitalized, and mostegregiously, many hundreds without
their Cabbage Patch Toy kids.The Cabbage Patch riot stemmed from
(09:19):
toy stores only having severalhundred dolls and thousands of customers
descending on them to snag thecoveted toys for Christmas. Many
left empty handed, and manyresorted to violence. By early 1984,
supply kept up with demand andthe violence declined. Now no one
really knew why the CabbagePatch Riots happened other than parent
(09:42):
company Colaco appealing to ahuge number of children between 6
and 12 that they could adopttheir own doll. And this craze foreshadowed
similar holiday toy crazes andnow, of course, Black Friday sales.
But in the 80s, the Internetwasn't a thing, and in the 90s it
was in its infancy and youcouldn't check the stock in stores.
You had to drive to a shop topick up the latest craze that your
(10:06):
kids were desperate for. TheCabbage Patch rights were extreme,
and they weren't isolatedeither. In 1993, the same thing happened
again, this time with PowerRangers. A year later, in 1994, the
manufacturer enlisted 11additional factories and shipped
10 times the number of PowerRanger toys that it did at Christmas
(10:28):
1993. And yet the toys were soscarce, parents were setting up tents
to camp outside of stores,driving across state lines to get
to stores with stock, callingBandai 700 times a week and sending
them 300 letters a week tryingto locate the toys. They also bribed
sales assistants hundreds ofdollars to save certain figures.
(10:51):
Michael Goldstein, the thenCEO of Toys R Us, called it the biggest
phenomenon we have ever seenin the toy business. You could buy
Power Rangers clothing,watches and lunchboxes, but you couldn't
buy the action figures withthe white and pink ranges, the most
elusive with black marketsellers. And possibly also a warehouse
full of mall Santas offeringpink Rangers, which usually retailed
(11:14):
at $13 for over $50. To put itinto figures, Power Rangers share
of the market for actionfigures was $1 billion in 1994. Cabbage
Patch Dolls was $550 millionin 1984, while Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles was $450 million in1990. The only other toy to sell
(11:36):
as well as Power Rangers wasBarbie, and she'd been doing it for
over 30 years. At that point,trying to get his eldest son, also
called Jamie a red or greenPower Ranger, was Randy Kornfield.
And he was struggling with thelong queues for toy stores, the sold
out signs, and hearing otherparents going to great lengths to
(11:57):
get these toys, which sparkedan idea for him to write a screenplay.
Before he wrote it, he pitchedit to Nickelodeon movies, which was
just getting started at thetime, and they passed. So he decided
to write it on specific. Theoriginal script was darker in tone,
Turboman was called Turbo Tom,and the third act took place at a
Turboman factory, with thefather having to go up against a
(12:20):
full sized robotic Turboman.Kornfield, who was a story analyst
at 20th Century Fox at thetime, used a pseudonym, Ed McQueen,
for the original draft. Whenit was finished, a few people responded
positively, so he passed it toa couple of agents, one of whom was
film producer Warren Zeid, whowould go on to produce American Pie
(12:41):
and Final Destination, and hestarted shipping the script around.
That script would end up inthe lap of Chris Columbus, no stranger
to family based comedicChristmas movies like Home Alone
and Home Alone 2 lost in NewYork. Columbus had experienced his
own toy craze in 1995 when hetried desperately to find a Buzz
(13:02):
Lightyear action figure fromToy Story. He performed uncredited
rewrites on Cornfield'sscript, changing the ending to the
Christmas parade ending, whichthen attracted executives at 20th
Century Fox who at that pointdidn't know the writer of the script
actually worked for them. Theysoon found out that Ed McQueen was
actually Randy Kornfield.Meanwhile, a remake of Planet of
(13:26):
the Apes had been beingdeveloped by 20th Century Fox since
1988. And the project, titledReturn of the Apes, was due to star
Arnold Schwarzenegger, who hadsigned on in March 1994 alongside
Chris Columbus, who joined theproject as director in early 1995.
Columbus brought on board SamHamm to rewrite the script. The script
(13:50):
was given a mixed reception bythe studio and Columbus then jumped
ship to join Jingle all theWay instead, which he would produce
under his brand new productioncompany, 1492 pictures, named after
the year that the otherChristopher Columbus reached the
Americas. With the Return ofthe Apes in limbo, Arnold Schwarzenegger
would go off to make a racer.But he would also be vitally important
(14:12):
to Jingle all the Way. Gettinga green light, he would eventually
abandon Return of the Apes,which would become Tim Burton's Planet
of the Apes, starring MarkWahlberg. Now, of course, Schwarzenegger
was no stranger to comediesbecause he he'd already flexed his
comedic muscles with twins in1988 and Kindergarten Cop in 1990,
and in 1994 had reunited withhis twins co star Danny DeVito for
(14:37):
Junior. That is relevant tothis too. But Randy Kornfield never
envisaged Howard Langston as abig, muscular guy. He saw him as
more of a Steve Martin type.At one time, Daniel Stern was considered
for the role until Arnie gotinvolved. Schwarzenegger loved doing
action movies and he loveddoing comedies, and he wanted to
(14:59):
alternate one and the other.So when the Jingle all the Way script
landed with him, he loved theidea of playing an everyday guy,
a husband and a father, aswell as having the action and the
comedy. His physique wouldn'tonly come in handy for the action
parts, but also for whenHoward Langston becomes Turboman
(15:19):
to play opposite Arnie. Thefilmmakers got in Touch with Danny
DeVito with the idea that bothSchwarzenegger and DeVito would agree
to star in the movie, withDeVito as Myron, the postal worker
also trying to find his child,a Turboman. But while Schwarzenegger
was interested, DeVito wasn't.The movie was green lit purely on
Schwarzenegger's casting,which also netted him a $20 million
(15:43):
paycheck. His agentrecommended comedian Sinbad for the
Myron role, and for his part,Sinbad wasn't the only actor who
ended up in the film toaudition for Myron. Both Phil Hartman
and Jim Belushi tried out forit, but Sinbad was a similar size
to Schwarzenegger. Hartmanwould end up in the role of sneezy
neighbour Ted and Belushi asthe mall Santa. And this would be
(16:06):
Hartman's last movie releasedbefore his tragic, untimely death.
The following year, Sinbadordered a mailman outfit for his
audition. Turned up for theaudition, and everyone else was also
wearing a mailman outfit. Hewas tired of auditioning at the time.
And when he was called in, thescript fell out of his hands and
went everywhere. He was soagitated that he flew off the handle,
(16:30):
jumped on the table, chastisedSchwarzenegger, did the lines and
left. He was certain that he'dfudged the audition, but they loved
his off the cuff remarks, andhe got the part. Based on that supposed
terrible audition. It turnsout that Sinbad wouldn't use much
in the way of the script inthe movie either. He would improv
most of his scenes, andSchwarzenegger would improv with
(16:53):
him in those scenes. In 1995,Brian Levant was coming off of the
Flintstones, which had been ahuge hit the year prior. I adore
that movie. Check out episode253 on the Flintstones. Levant was
a Flintstones mega fan, but hewas also a mega fan of toys in general.
So much so that he wrote abook in 2022 called My Life and Toys.
(17:15):
And the Flintstones being sucha mega hit led to him becoming a
director people wanted to workwith. But he wanted to choose his
next movie carefully. As soonas he was sent the Jingle all the
way script in February 1996,with the idea of a toy at the center,
he was all about saying yes,Mostly because he could then add
the toy to his own personaltoy collection, which is huge, by
(17:39):
the way, with a collection ofTurboman dolls lining a shelf in
his office. And he would makethat dream a reality. Not only the
toy shelf, but also the movie.He helped design Turboman alongside
storyboard artist DarrylHenley and concept designer Tim Flattery.
But the issue was that Marveland DC kind of had superhero designs
(18:01):
licked, and every colorcombination and style had already
been used for someone else.They knew they wanted campy and tongue
in cheek. But they were upagainst another issue. The issue
the movie itself would alsobattle with. And that was time, because
this was a Christmas movie.And so it had to be ready by the
end of 1996, which would meaneverything had to come together,
(18:25):
pre production, production andpost production. In less than a year.
In nine months, actually.Which would mean not very much time
to design Turboman or to maketoys, but more on that later. The
fact that Turboman still lookslike Iron man is acknowledged by
Brian Levant. And it's aMarvel Excuse the pun that Marvel
(18:45):
actually never sued. But atthe time, Iron man wasn't really
the top tier hero that he isnowadays. Randy Kornfield's script
was always set in Minneapolis,and he had the Mall of America in
mind as the setting. He'dnever been, but he'd heard all about
the largest mall in the US andin the Western Hemisphere. It's only
(19:05):
the 12th largest in the world,though the largest in Tehran is over
three and a half times bigger.Anyway, the production wanted a typical
wintery Midwestern town. Anddespite also looking at Milwaukee
and Chicago, Schwarzeneggerpushed for filming on location in
the Twin cities of Minneapolisand St. Paul. And the Minnesota Film
(19:27):
and TV Board went above andbeyond to accommodate filming. As
production tax incentivesdidn't exist in the 90s. There was
another reason to shoot inMinnesota. They were planning to
film in May of 1996, which istechnically spring. But Minnesota
winters tended to last longerthan any other state and they wanted
(19:47):
a Christmas movie to lookChristmassy, but they still had to
fake the snow. The moviefilmed on location in the Twin Cities,
including shops at LindenHills Homes in Adena, the famous
Mickey's Diner in St. Paul's,Nicollet island, and the Mall of
America. Over five weeksdecking out empty stores with Christmas
decorations, filming locationsreceived lucrative per day payments
(20:11):
from the studio, allowing aschool in Falcon Heights to purchase
brand new computer equipment.They shot the house scenes on Bruce
place in Adena, Minnesota, ina home owned by the McCary family.
Both interiors and exteriorswere shot at the house, which they
used from 5.30am to 7pm DianeMcCary refused to allow Arnold Schwarzenegger
(20:35):
to smoke cigars in the house.Just imagine that story at parties.
Yes, I said no to ArnoldSchwarzenegger. There was of course
a real reindeer on set, butthere was also an incredibly convincing
animatronic made by animatedengineering, which was head, neck
and shoulders only andpuppeteered by Mecki Hewson and Dave
(20:55):
Nelson. Filming at the Mall ofAmerica was hectic. Crowds of people
turned up knowing ArnoldSchwarzenegger was filming, and his
stunt double, Peter Kent, whoalso doubled for him for most of
his movies, includingTerminator 2, would be the one jumping
into ball pits and running upand down escalators. There was no
time to rehearse the Santafight and Schwarzenegger did his
(21:17):
own stunts on that with afight scene put together on the day
by stunt coordinator JoelKramer. The city's Holly Dazzle Parade,
which are daily parades thattake place in the evenings from the
day after Thanksgiving until acouple of days before Christmas,
couldn't be used, mostlybecause they didn't take place in
May. The event was renamed theWintertainment Parade for the movie.
(21:39):
And for practical reasons,they couldn't film it on location
on Second Avenue. Nor couldthey film it in the evening. The
parade was filmed at theUniversal Studios backlot in California
on the New York street setdesigned to resemble Second Avenue.
In July 1996, it took threeweeks to film with 1500 extras.
(22:00):
And in a stark contrast to theMinnesota weather, it was 100 degrees
Fahrenheit. In California,that's 43 degrees Celsius. People
in winter coats and costumeswere passing out. And even Schwarzenegger,
who had a cooling system inthe Turboman outfit sort of similar
to the one he'd have for Mr.Freeze just after this, was still
struggling with the extremeheat. I just feel sorry for the guy
(22:24):
in the booster costume. No oneliked Booster. The parade itself,
despite being filmed in themiddle of summer with blazing sunshine,
had custom floats, includingthe one for Turboman himself, which
was 46ft long. 10,000 poundsof red and gold confetti was shot
over the streets, and someextras were costumed as the local
(22:44):
news team. And the PasadenaCity College marching band performed
as the Turboman Band. The AllSanta marching Band consisted of
members of the UCLA marchingBand. A news helicopter was dispatched
to cover the event for theevening news. And as Howard takes
to the skies as Turboman,those flying scenes were coordinated
(23:05):
by John G. Bellew, whopreviously worked on the Rocketeer,
which is an incredible movie,by the way, if you've not seen it.
And also Bob Harmon, whoworked on the flying scenes for Superman.
So although this movie gets alot of flack for not having great
visual effects, there weresome really talented people who were
working behind the scenes. Andspeaking of a Superman, it's time
(23:27):
to segue into the obligatoryKeanu reference of this episode.
And if you don't know whatthat is, if you are new here, this
is where I try and link everymovie that I feature with Keanu Reeves
for no reason other than he isthe best of men and he would never
forget to buy his son aTurboman doll. And this is a really
interesting connection,actually. And it comes via Norm Coleman,
(23:48):
who was the mayor of St. Paulin 1996. And he actually commented
on the production filming inSt. Paul. Quote, When Keanu Reeves
was here, a bus came in fromWisconsin, and Arnold is bigger than
Keanu now. I don't have anycontext to what the quote actually
means or what he was talkingabout. But that would be for when
(24:09):
Keanu Reeves was filming forhis movie Feeling Minnesota the previous
year in the spring of 1995.And I guess when you live in Minneapolis
or St. Paul, you just get usedto celebrities just coming by and
filming movies in your area.And as I mentioned, this was a quick
production, withSchwarzenegger signing on in February
(24:31):
1996 and the movie needed tobe ready and released in November
1996. There was only sixmonths to sort out any merchandise,
and anyone who knows anythingabout the toy industry knows that's
not enough time. Only 200,000official turboman dolls were made
for the movie's release. A13.5-inch replica talking turboman
(24:55):
and a Turboman Time Racer car.But while the toys were released
in time for Christmas 1996, itwas far from the toy on everyone's
lips that year. In a bizarretwist of fate, Christmas 1996's most
popular toy was wasn'tTurboman. But the exact scenes in
the movie were againreplicated in real life. At the time,
(25:18):
this movie was out in cinemasfor Tickle Me Elmo. So Tickle Me
Elmo came out in July 1996 andsold steadily, but not crazily. 400000
units were ordered and Elmowas reduced for Black Friday. And
by Thanksgiving 1996, tickleme Elmo had sold out due to the discounts.
(25:40):
Manufacturer tyco quicklyordered 600,000 more for the Christmas
season. But they vastly underpredicted what would happen when
Rosie o' Donnell featured thetoy on her chat show, a show aimed
at stay at home mothers withpreschool children who loved Elmo.
So when you couldn't getTickle Me Elmo, the scarcity caused
(26:03):
a frenzy, with people arrestedfor fighting over the few remaining
dolls, black market sales andparents running after delivery trucks.
A clerk at Walmart in Canadawas trampled by shoppers desperate
to get one of the 300 TickleMe Elmos he was unboxing to stock
on store shelves. He suffereda concussion, a broken rib and injuries
(26:25):
to his back, jaw and knee. Nowof course, ebay was founded the year
prior, but at the timeInternet connections were still dial
up. I remember that noise. I'msure many people listening remember
that noise too. So instead,newspaper ads were listed selling
$30 Elmo dolls for $1,000 orbest offer. A charity auction with
(26:48):
Tickle Me Elmo as the mainprize raised $18,500 with the winner
getting one of the prizedolls. But despite Turboman not getting
his day in 1996. Hismerchandise would get its day though,
with Funko releasing areproduction of the 1996 Turboman
(27:08):
action figure in 2021. A fullyposable 13.5 inch talking Turboman
featuring electronic lightsand sounds and three action accessories.
Batteries not included. Andjust like Howard and Myron discovered
in the film. Getting yourhands on Turboman in real life also
proved difficult, with lowstock and action figures appearing
(27:31):
on ebay for hundreds ofdollars. Even now, as I'm recording
this episode, Turboman is outof stock at Walmart Online. However,
I suspect that has somethingto do with me prepping this episode
in and around Black Friday,but the fact Turboman is still selling
out surely is testament to theongoing audience love for for this
(27:53):
movie Jingle all the Way hadits premiere at where else but the
Mall of America, with 20,000local people in attendance and appearances
from Arnold Schwarzenegger,who pushed for the premiere in the
mall. He even said I'll beback on his last day filming in Minneapolis,
and that was him keeping hispromise. The movie was released wide
(28:15):
on 22 November 1996, openingalongside Star Trek, First Contact
and 101 Dalmatians. It wouldopen at fourth behind Star Trek,
First Contact, Space Jam andRansom. It would drop to fifth in
its second week and would stayin the top 10 for five weeks on its
$60 million budget, 20 millionof which was Arnie's salary. Jingle
(28:40):
all the way would gross $60.6million domestically and $69.2 million
internationally, for a totalworldwide gross of $129.9 million.
So it made the studio money.Just but not quite the money expected
from a mid-90s Arnie Christmascomedy. It currently has a 20% of
(29:03):
Rotten Tomatoes, where theconsensus of Arnold Schwarzenegger
tries his best. But Jingle allthe Way suffers from an uneven tone
shifting wildly from would besatire on materialism to to an antique
slapstick yuckfest. It wasgiven a glowing review by Jeff Strickler
from the Minneapolis StarTribune, a panning review by Emmanuel
(29:24):
Levy in Variety, and amiddling review by Roger Ebert. But
mostly it was criticallypanned for being highly formulaic,
lacking in plot and theslapstick tone, and standalone direct
to DVD sequel. Jingle all theWay 2 was released in December 2014.
Directed by Alex Sam, the filmhas a similar plot to the original,
(29:45):
but otherwise is not connectedand has none of the original cast
or characters. The lead rolein the movie would instead be played
by Larry the Cable Guy. InMarch 2001, Detroit publishing firm
Murray Hill Publications filedand won a $19 million lawsuit against
20th Century Fox after a juryin Michigan agreed that the movie
(30:07):
studio had stolen the scriptfor Jingle all the Way and that it
bore a striking resemblance tocould this Be Christmas? Written
by high school teacher BrianWebster, who had sold the script
to Murray Hill. Webster'sscreenplay was pitched to several
movie studios, including 20thCentury Fox, in 1993 without finding
(30:28):
any interest. Soon after, 20thCentury Fox purchased the rights
to Jingle all the Way soonafter awarding $19 million, though
the judge later reduced theamount to $1.5 million. In March
2004, the Court of Appealoverturned the verdict, deciding
instead that Randy Kornfield'sJingle all the Way script was an
(30:51):
original work and not based oncould this Be Christmas? The court
determined that Jingle all theWay was based on a treatment that
was completed long beforeanyone at Fox had access to the script
for could this Be Christmas?And the original trial judge had
not informed the jury thatthat neither the writer of Jingle
all the Way nor anyone else atFox could have seen the plaintiff's
(31:13):
script before the treatmentfor Jingle all the Way was completed.
I don't want to be the personthat has to return $1.5 million,
but there you go. Jingle allthe Way may not be the number one
greatest Christmas movie inthe world, because that's the Muppet
Christmas Carol, but what itis is a stark takedown of the capitalist
machine that is Christmas,wrapped in a neat, sleek Austrian
(31:36):
action hero that we all knowand love, with a who's who of supported
cast, all about how society isonly ever fulfilled by consumerism.
And every year the cyclecontinues again in its rawest form.
It's a satire of the darknessof Christmas. And this was Randy
Cornfield's original idea. NotSinbad pretending he had a bomb wrapped
(31:57):
in Christmas paper that blowsup in one police officer's face.
The idea that a father has tobuy his son's love at Christmas presents
over presents, as in giftsover being there in person, as if
that somehow young Jake Lloydisn't going to need years of therapy
as a grown man, which heprobably did anyway, thanks to Star
(32:17):
Wars Episode 1 the PhantomMenace. Because if you're wondering,
yes, that is Anakin Skywalker,except much younger. It's likely
that the Chris Columbusrewrite of the script added those
wacky Home Alone esqueelements, such as Arnie breaking
into his neighbor's house tosteal the toy from under the tree,
and hijinks ensues. It feelsvery Chris Columbus. But despite
(32:39):
the darkness that's alwayslurking. This movie is more prescient
than anyone really gives itcredit for. It may not have predicted
the melees at toy storesacross the world at the festive period,
although I'm certain this ismore of an American thing because
I've never seen parentsfighting in an Argos. That is a very
British reference, but itcertainly shines a light on modern
(33:00):
entitlement for the biggestand most expensive gifts, as well
as the merchandising ofeverything surrounding a big movie
or TV show. Again, this isn'tnew. I remember breakfast cereals
in the 90s advertising thingslike Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles
or Power Rangers, but the ideathat kids can't escape this messaging.
So much so I know here in theUK it's against the law for ads promoting
(33:23):
unhealthy food for children tobe shown during the day, but time
strapped parents, oftenworking multiple jobs, will do anything
to keep their children happy.I get it. At Christmas I'll buy my
nieces and nephews whateverthey want. You never want a child
to go without, but the sheerentitlement of shoppers who will
literally beat up other peopleto get at something just speaks to
(33:47):
the pressures of of raisingchildren. Pressures that only ever
get worse year after year. AndKeeping up with the Joneses. It's
an effective satire about howcommercial Christmas has become.
Howard Langston is aprivileged man working a good job
and has the money to be ableto buy his son whatever he wants.
(34:08):
Myron isn't as well developed,but it's clear he doesn't have the
same amount of wealth andprivilege. He's also a black man,
which I think is relevant tohow systemic racism can make people
of colour work longer hoursfor less money. Myron isn't a particularly
good guy. He does attempt toendanger a young child, after all,
and yet he gets the toy at theend. But he also probably ends up
(34:30):
in jail. So his child may getthe doll, but his child is going
to miss out on a father. Myronunderstands the consumerist system
more than Howard because hewent to junior college for a semester
and studied psychology. Jamiedoesn't get the doll, but fingers
crossed, we hope gets a lovingpresent father. Jamie doesn't need
(34:51):
Turboman because he has hisdad, except the movie phrases it
as he doesn't need Turbomanbecause he has the real Turboman
at home. Just ignore the factthat neither Howard's wife or son
recognise his face under aclear yellow visor, nor do they recognize
his very Austrian accent. Iknow Rita Wilson has spoken about
(35:12):
this in interviews and howembarrassed she still is by the fact
that her character doesn'trecognize her own husband. But honestly,
I just think it's hilarious. Inever grew up with this movie, I
have zero nostalgia gogglesfor it, and yet I actually quite
enjoy it for all its slapstickfun. It's got some really fun moments,
and Phil Hartman is great,just great as Sleazeball Ted. It's
(35:35):
unfortunate that Rita Wilsonisn't given more to do, but wives
and mothers in 90s comediesnever really were, and regular listeners
will know how much of a softspot I have for Arnie that I grew
up watching many of his movieswith my own dad. People genuinely
love this movie and it'sthought of incredibly fondly. It
feels like the Jingle all theWay Naissance is a thing. Or at least
(35:59):
I'm going to try and make it athing. This movie for so many years
was called a bad ChristmasMovie. It's not. It's a silly Christmas
movie for sure, but it'sactually way more Christmassy than
most. What speaks to modernChristmas traditions more than workaholic
parents? That one gift theirchild wants more than anything, and
(36:20):
an inability to get it?Nowadays we go on ebay to try and
find it. Back then they queuedoutside shops. It's all the same.
It also perfectly summarizesthe true meaning of any good Christmas
movie that family and lovedones are more important, that togetherness
is more than having thebiggest and best toys, but mostly
that Howard Langston isn't apervert. He was just looking for
(36:44):
a Turboman doll. Thank you forlistening. As always, I would love
to hear your thoughts onJingle all the Way, and thank you
for your continued support ofthis podcast. If you want to show
your support in multipledifferent ways, you could leave a
rating or review wherever youfound this podcast. You could tell
your friends and family aboutthis podcast, or you can find me
(37:04):
and follow me on social mediaand you can share the podcast that
way. I am@VerbalDiorama. Youcan share posts like posts, comment
on posts. It all helps reallyto get the word out there and to
hopefully get other people toknow this podcast and know what I've
been doing. I genuinely lovedoing this podcast and anything you
could do to help would be soappreciated. If you like this episode
(37:29):
on Jingle all the Way, I dohave many Christmas episodes in the
back catalog. However, Iwanted to recommend two specifically.
The first is episode 131,Krampus, which technically is a horror
movie, but it also talks aboutconsumerism and capitalism. And basically
the fact that Krampus doesn'tlike that Christmas has turned into
(37:49):
that and he wants to punishpeople. It's a very fun movie. I
like it a lot. And episode185, the Muppet Christmas Carol,
because it just is thegreatest Christmas movie ever made
and I will die on that hill.As always. Give me feedback, let
me know what you think. Butspeaking of the Muppet Christmas
(38:10):
Carol and a story that's beenadapted many times on film, and that
is Charles Dickens, AChristmas Carol. Now, nothing beats
the Muppet Christmas Carol asfar as adaptations of A Christmas
Carol go. But as far as modernretellings go, none is quite as memorable
as the story of TV executiveFrank Cross, played by Bill Murray
(38:33):
In Richard Donner's 1988 blackcomedy Scrooged, which possibly is
one of the most underratedChristmas movies ever made. So join
me next week for the historyand legacy of Scrooged as we continue
counting down to Christmas onVerbal Diorama. Hopefully you enjoy
what I do for this podcast andyou have some spare change and you
(38:56):
want to support an indiepodcaster who does literally all
of this, everything on herown. I have no assistance. I have
no one helping. I have no onedoing research for me. I have to
do it all by myself. And it'sreally hard sometimes. It's really
tough. But if you enjoy andyou get something out of these episodes
and you have the means tohelp, you're under no obligation,
(39:18):
of course, but there are acouple of ways you can help if you
have the means to. You canmake a one off donation@verbaldiorama.com
tips or you can subscribe tothe patreon@verbaldiorama.com patreon
and all money made goes backinto this podcast by paying for things
like software subscriptionsand website hosting and sometimes
(39:40):
even new equipment as well. Ahuge thank you to the amazing patrons
of this podcast to Simon,Laurel, Derek, Kat, Andy, Mike, Luke,
Michael, Scott, Brendan, Ian,Lisa, Sam, Jack, Dave, Stuart, Nicholas.
So Kev, Heather, Danny, Stu,Brett, Philip, M. Xenos, Sean, Ryno,
(40:01):
Philip K, Adam, Elaine, Kyle,Aaron and Connor. If you want to
get in touch, you can emailverbal dioramail.com you can also
go to the website verbaldiorama.com and you can fill out
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(40:21):
episode and I watched themovie and this is what I thought
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(41:27):
Bye.
Hi everyone, I'm Em andwelcome to Verbal Diorama, episode
324, Jingle All the Way. Thisis the podcast that's all about the
history and legacy of moviesyou know, and movies you don't. That
got a Turboman for Johnnymonths ago. It's nestled safely under
our tree. Welcome to VerbalDiorama. Whether you're a brand new
listener, whether you're aregular returning listener, thank
(03:04):
you so much for being here.Thank you so much for choosing to
listen to this podcast. I'm sohappy to have you here for the history
and legacy of Jingle all theWay. We are fully in going on the
run up to Christmas now, and Ilove doing Christmas movies on this
podcast because it justgenuinely makes me start to feel
quite festive, even though Iam recording this in November. But
(03:26):
that's how podcasting works.Huge thank you. If you are a regular
returning listener, thank youfor coming back to this podcast,
for continuing to listen andsupport this podcast. This podcast
will be seven years old inFebruary, a fact that constantly
blows my mind. And it's beengoing now for, oh, 324 episodes.
So sometimes I wonder, like,how am I actually doing this? But
(03:49):
I am doing this. So I guessI'm just going to carry on doing
this. But however manyepisodes of this podcast you've listened
to, even if this is yourfirst, thank you so much for your
support because listening to apodcast is supporting a podcast and
it really genuinely does meanso much. I'm just going to jump straight
in because in the decadessince Jingle all the Way came out,
(04:12):
it may have not set the boxoffice alight or charmed critics
at the time. But it hasn'tfaded into obscurity. On the contrary,
its popularity seems to growevery year. And it's now widely regarded
as a holiday classic. Loved bymillennials and loved by the people
who made it. You're my numberone listener. Here's the trailer
(04:36):
for Jingle all the Way.
(06:52):
Mattress salesman HowardLangston is great at his job at providing
for his family. But not sogreat as a present husband and father.
After he misses his sonJamie's karate grading, he asks him
how he can make it up to him.All Jamie wants for Christmas is
a Turboman action figure. Thehottest toy of the year. Unfortunately
(07:12):
for Howard, his wife asked himto pick one up weeks ago, and it's
now Christmas Eve and everystore is sold out. Howard must spend
the day scrambling from storeto store in desperate search of one,
crossing paths with theequally hapless Moiran, a conspiracy
theorist postal worker whoseson also wants a Turboman more than
(07:33):
anything. Let's run throughthe cast we have Arnold Schwarzenegger
as Howard Langston, Sinbad asMyron Larabi, Phil Hartman as Ted
Maltin, Rita Wilson as LizLangston, Jake Lloyd as Jamie Langston,
Robert Conrad as OfficerHummel, Martin Mull as the KQRS DJ
(07:54):
Jim Belushi as Mall SantaDanny Woodburn as Tony the Elf and
Paul White as Giant Santa.Jingle all the Way was written by
Randy Kornfield and wasdirected by Brian Levant. Every year
since the 50s, there has beena toy that children have wanted more
(08:15):
than anything else. FromBarbie in 1959 to the Easy Bake Oven
in 1963, GI Joe in 1970 andthe Rubik's Cube in 1980. In every
generation, one toy is giventhe responsibility to be the one
thing each child can't livewithout. But as the decades went
(08:36):
on, the effects of TVadvertising ramped up. Materialistic
desires and consumerismstarted to infiltrate everyday family
homes. People wanted more andmore and expected to find more and
more. In late 1983, it hitfever pitch when violence broke out
in cities and towns across theU.S. people fought each other, would
(08:59):
hit, shove and trample eachother. Some even used baseball bats
to attack and defendthemselves. The riots lasted for
months, with thousands ofpeople left bruised, battered, some
hospitalized, and mostegregiously, many hundreds without
their Cabbage Patch Toy kids.The Cabbage Patch riot stemmed from
(09:19):
toy stores only having severalhundred dolls and thousands of customers
descending on them to snag thecoveted toys for Christmas. Many
left empty handed, and manyresorted to violence. By early 1984,
supply kept up with demand andthe violence declined. Now no one
really knew why the CabbagePatch Riots happened other than parent
(09:42):
company Colaco appealing to ahuge number of children between 6
and 12 that they could adopttheir own doll. And this craze foreshadowed
similar holiday toy crazes andnow, of course, Black Friday sales.
But in the 80s, the Internetwasn't a thing, and in the 90s it
was in its infancy and youcouldn't check the stock in stores.
You had to drive to a shop topick up the latest craze that your
(10:06):
kids were desperate for. TheCabbage Patch rights were extreme,
and they weren't isolatedeither. In 1993, the same thing happened
again, this time with PowerRangers. A year later, in 1994, the
manufacturer enlisted 11additional factories and shipped
10 times the number of PowerRanger toys that it did at Christmas
(10:28):
1993. And yet the toys were soscarce, parents were setting up tents
to camp outside of stores,driving across state lines to get
to stores with stock, callingBandai 700 times a week and sending
them 300 letters a week tryingto locate the toys. They also bribed
sales assistants hundreds ofdollars to save certain figures.
(10:51):
Michael Goldstein, the thenCEO of Toys R Us, called it the biggest
phenomenon we have ever seenin the toy business. You could buy
Power Rangers clothing,watches and lunchboxes, but you couldn't
buy the action figures withthe white and pink ranges, the most
elusive with black marketsellers. And possibly also a warehouse
full of mall Santas offeringpink Rangers, which usually retailed
(11:14):
at $13 for over $50. To put itinto figures, Power Rangers share
of the market for actionfigures was $1 billion in 1994. Cabbage
Patch Dolls was $550 millionin 1984, while Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles was $450 million in1990. The only other toy to sell
(11:36):
as well as Power Rangers wasBarbie, and she'd been doing it for
over 30 years. At that point,trying to get his eldest son, also
called Jamie a red or greenPower Ranger, was Randy Kornfield.
And he was struggling with thelong queues for toy stores, the sold
out signs, and hearing otherparents going to great lengths to
(11:57):
get these toys, which sparkedan idea for him to write a screenplay.
Before he wrote it, he pitchedit to Nickelodeon movies, which was
just getting started at thetime, and they passed. So he decided
to write it on specific. Theoriginal script was darker in tone,
Turboman was called Turbo Tom,and the third act took place at a
Turboman factory, with thefather having to go up against a
(12:20):
full sized robotic Turboman.Kornfield, who was a story analyst
at 20th Century Fox at thetime, used a pseudonym, Ed McQueen,
for the original draft. Whenit was finished, a few people responded
positively, so he passed it toa couple of agents, one of whom was
film producer Warren Zeid, whowould go on to produce American Pie
(12:41):
and Final Destination, and hestarted shipping the script around.
That script would end up inthe lap of Chris Columbus, no stranger
to family based comedicChristmas movies like Home Alone
and Home Alone 2 lost in NewYork. Columbus had experienced his
own toy craze in 1995 when hetried desperately to find a Buzz
(13:02):
Lightyear action figure fromToy Story. He performed uncredited
rewrites on Cornfield'sscript, changing the ending to the
Christmas parade ending, whichthen attracted executives at 20th
Century Fox who at that pointdidn't know the writer of the script
actually worked for them. Theysoon found out that Ed McQueen was
actually Randy Kornfield.Meanwhile, a remake of Planet of
(13:26):
the Apes had been beingdeveloped by 20th Century Fox since
1988. And the project, titledReturn of the Apes, was due to star
Arnold Schwarzenegger, who hadsigned on in March 1994 alongside
Chris Columbus, who joined theproject as director in early 1995.
Columbus brought on board SamHamm to rewrite the script. The script
(13:50):
was given a mixed reception bythe studio and Columbus then jumped
ship to join Jingle all theWay instead, which he would produce
under his brand new productioncompany, 1492 pictures, named after
the year that the otherChristopher Columbus reached the
Americas. With the Return ofthe Apes in limbo, Arnold Schwarzenegger
would go off to make a racer.But he would also be vitally important
(14:12):
to Jingle all the Way. Gettinga green light, he would eventually
abandon Return of the Apes,which would become Tim Burton's Planet
of the Apes, starring MarkWahlberg. Now, of course, Schwarzenegger
was no stranger to comediesbecause he he'd already flexed his
comedic muscles with twins in1988 and Kindergarten Cop in 1990,
and in 1994 had reunited withhis twins co star Danny DeVito for
(14:37):
Junior. That is relevant tothis too. But Randy Kornfield never
envisaged Howard Langston as abig, muscular guy. He saw him as
more of a Steve Martin type.At one time, Daniel Stern was considered
for the role until Arnie gotinvolved. Schwarzenegger loved doing
action movies and he loveddoing comedies, and he wanted to
(14:59):
alternate one and the other.So when the Jingle all the Way script
landed with him, he loved theidea of playing an everyday guy,
a husband and a father, aswell as having the action and the
comedy. His physique wouldn'tonly come in handy for the action
parts, but also for whenHoward Langston becomes Turboman
(15:19):
to play opposite Arnie. Thefilmmakers got in Touch with Danny
DeVito with the idea that bothSchwarzenegger and DeVito would agree
to star in the movie, withDeVito as Myron, the postal worker
also trying to find his child,a Turboman. But while Schwarzenegger
was interested, DeVito wasn't.The movie was green lit purely on
Schwarzenegger's casting,which also netted him a $20 million
(15:43):
paycheck. His agentrecommended comedian Sinbad for the
Myron role, and for his part,Sinbad wasn't the only actor who
ended up in the film toaudition for Myron. Both Phil Hartman
and Jim Belushi tried out forit, but Sinbad was a similar size
to Schwarzenegger. Hartmanwould end up in the role of sneezy
neighbour Ted and Belushi asthe mall Santa. And this would be
(16:06):
Hartman's last movie releasedbefore his tragic, untimely death.
The following year, Sinbadordered a mailman outfit for his
audition. Turned up for theaudition, and everyone else was also
wearing a mailman outfit. Hewas tired of auditioning at the time.
And when he was called in, thescript fell out of his hands and
went everywhere. He was soagitated that he flew off the handle,
(16:30):
jumped on the table, chastisedSchwarzenegger, did the lines and
left. He was certain that he'dfudged the audition, but they loved
his off the cuff remarks, andhe got the part. Based on that supposed
terrible audition. It turnsout that Sinbad wouldn't use much
in the way of the script inthe movie either. He would improv
most of his scenes, andSchwarzenegger would improv with
(16:53):
him in those scenes. In 1995,Brian Levant was coming off of the
Flintstones, which had been ahuge hit the year prior. I adore
that movie. Check out episode253 on the Flintstones. Levant was
a Flintstones mega fan, but hewas also a mega fan of toys in general.
So much so that he wrote abook in 2022 called My Life and Toys.
(17:15):
And the Flintstones being sucha mega hit led to him becoming a
director people wanted to workwith. But he wanted to choose his
next movie carefully. As soonas he was sent the Jingle all the
way script in February 1996,with the idea of a toy at the center,
he was all about saying yes,Mostly because he could then add
the toy to his own personaltoy collection, which is huge, by
(17:39):
the way, with a collection ofTurboman dolls lining a shelf in
his office. And he would makethat dream a reality. Not only the
toy shelf, but also the movie.He helped design Turboman alongside
storyboard artist DarrylHenley and concept designer Tim Flattery.
But the issue was that Marveland DC kind of had superhero designs
(18:01):
licked, and every colorcombination and style had already
been used for someone else.They knew they wanted campy and tongue
in cheek. But they were upagainst another issue. The issue
the movie itself would alsobattle with. And that was time, because
this was a Christmas movie.And so it had to be ready by the
end of 1996, which would meaneverything had to come together,
(18:25):
pre production, production andpost production. In less than a year.
In nine months, actually.Which would mean not very much time
to design Turboman or to maketoys, but more on that later. The
fact that Turboman still lookslike Iron man is acknowledged by
Brian Levant. And it's aMarvel Excuse the pun that Marvel
(18:45):
actually never sued. But atthe time, Iron man wasn't really
the top tier hero that he isnowadays. Randy Kornfield's script
was always set in Minneapolis,and he had the Mall of America in
mind as the setting. He'dnever been, but he'd heard all about
the largest mall in the US andin the Western Hemisphere. It's only
(19:05):
the 12th largest in the world,though the largest in Tehran is over
three and a half times bigger.Anyway, the production wanted a typical
wintery Midwestern town. Anddespite also looking at Milwaukee
and Chicago, Schwarzeneggerpushed for filming on location in
the Twin cities of Minneapolisand St. Paul. And the Minnesota Film
(19:27):
and TV Board went above andbeyond to accommodate filming. As
production tax incentivesdidn't exist in the 90s. There was
another reason to shoot inMinnesota. They were planning to
film in May of 1996, which istechnically spring. But Minnesota
winters tended to last longerthan any other state and they wanted
(19:47):
a Christmas movie to lookChristmassy, but they still had to
fake the snow. The moviefilmed on location in the Twin Cities,
including shops at LindenHills Homes in Adena, the famous
Mickey's Diner in St. Paul's,Nicollet island, and the Mall of
America. Over five weeksdecking out empty stores with Christmas
decorations, filming locationsreceived lucrative per day payments
(20:11):
from the studio, allowing aschool in Falcon Heights to purchase
brand new computer equipment.They shot the house scenes on Bruce
place in Adena, Minnesota, ina home owned by the McCary family.
Both interiors and exteriorswere shot at the house, which they
used from 5.30am to 7pm DianeMcCary refused to allow Arnold Schwarzenegger
(20:35):
to smoke cigars in the house.Just imagine that story at parties.
Yes, I said no to ArnoldSchwarzenegger. There was of course
a real reindeer on set, butthere was also an incredibly convincing
animatronic made by animatedengineering, which was head, neck
and shoulders only andpuppeteered by Mecki Hewson and Dave
(20:55):
Nelson. Filming at the Mall ofAmerica was hectic. Crowds of people
turned up knowing ArnoldSchwarzenegger was filming, and his
stunt double, Peter Kent, whoalso doubled for him for most of
his movies, includingTerminator 2, would be the one jumping
into ball pits and running upand down escalators. There was no
time to rehearse the Santafight and Schwarzenegger did his
(21:17):
own stunts on that with afight scene put together on the day
by stunt coordinator JoelKramer. The city's Holly Dazzle Parade,
which are daily parades thattake place in the evenings from the
day after Thanksgiving until acouple of days before Christmas,
couldn't be used, mostlybecause they didn't take place in
May. The event was renamed theWintertainment Parade for the movie.
(21:39):
And for practical reasons,they couldn't film it on location
on Second Avenue. Nor couldthey film it in the evening. The
parade was filmed at theUniversal Studios backlot in California
on the New York street setdesigned to resemble Second Avenue.
In July 1996, it took threeweeks to film with 1500 extras.
(22:00):
And in a stark contrast to theMinnesota weather, it was 100 degrees
Fahrenheit. In California,that's 43 degrees Celsius. People
in winter coats and costumeswere passing out. And even Schwarzenegger,
who had a cooling system inthe Turboman outfit sort of similar
to the one he'd have for Mr.Freeze just after this, was still
struggling with the extremeheat. I just feel sorry for the guy
(22:24):
in the booster costume. No oneliked Booster. The parade itself,
despite being filmed in themiddle of summer with blazing sunshine,
had custom floats, includingthe one for Turboman himself, which
was 46ft long. 10,000 poundsof red and gold confetti was shot
over the streets, and someextras were costumed as the local
(22:44):
news team. And the PasadenaCity College marching band performed
as the Turboman Band. The AllSanta marching Band consisted of
members of the UCLA marchingBand. A news helicopter was dispatched
to cover the event for theevening news. And as Howard takes
to the skies as Turboman,those flying scenes were coordinated
(23:05):
by John G. Bellew, whopreviously worked on the Rocketeer,
which is an incredible movie,by the way, if you've not seen it.
And also Bob Harmon, whoworked on the flying scenes for Superman.
So although this movie gets alot of flack for not having great
visual effects, there weresome really talented people who were
working behind the scenes. Andspeaking of a Superman, it's time
(23:27):
to segue into the obligatoryKeanu reference of this episode.
And if you don't know whatthat is, if you are new here, this
is where I try and link everymovie that I feature with Keanu Reeves
for no reason other than he isthe best of men and he would never
forget to buy his son aTurboman doll. And this is a really
interesting connection,actually. And it comes via Norm Coleman,
(23:48):
who was the mayor of St. Paulin 1996. And he actually commented
on the production filming inSt. Paul. Quote, When Keanu Reeves
was here, a bus came in fromWisconsin, and Arnold is bigger than
Keanu now. I don't have anycontext to what the quote actually
means or what he was talkingabout. But that would be for when
(24:09):
Keanu Reeves was filming forhis movie Feeling Minnesota the previous
year in the spring of 1995.And I guess when you live in Minneapolis
or St. Paul, you just get usedto celebrities just coming by and
filming movies in your area.And as I mentioned, this was a quick
production, withSchwarzenegger signing on in February
(24:31):
1996 and the movie needed tobe ready and released in November
1996. There was only sixmonths to sort out any merchandise,
and anyone who knows anythingabout the toy industry knows that's
not enough time. Only 200,000official turboman dolls were made
for the movie's release. A13.5-inch replica talking turboman
(24:55):
and a Turboman Time Racer car.But while the toys were released
in time for Christmas 1996, itwas far from the toy on everyone's
lips that year. In a bizarretwist of fate, Christmas 1996's most
popular toy was wasn'tTurboman. But the exact scenes in
the movie were againreplicated in real life. At the time,
(25:18):
this movie was out in cinemasfor Tickle Me Elmo. So Tickle Me
Elmo came out in July 1996 andsold steadily, but not crazily. 400000
units were ordered and Elmowas reduced for Black Friday. And
by Thanksgiving 1996, tickleme Elmo had sold out due to the discounts.
(25:40):
Manufacturer tyco quicklyordered 600,000 more for the Christmas
season. But they vastly underpredicted what would happen when
Rosie o' Donnell featured thetoy on her chat show, a show aimed
at stay at home mothers withpreschool children who loved Elmo.
So when you couldn't getTickle Me Elmo, the scarcity caused
(26:03):
a frenzy, with people arrestedfor fighting over the few remaining
dolls, black market sales andparents running after delivery trucks.
A clerk at Walmart in Canadawas trampled by shoppers desperate
to get one of the 300 TickleMe Elmos he was unboxing to stock
on store shelves. He suffereda concussion, a broken rib and injuries
(26:25):
to his back, jaw and knee. Nowof course, ebay was founded the year
prior, but at the timeInternet connections were still dial
up. I remember that noise. I'msure many people listening remember
that noise too. So instead,newspaper ads were listed selling
$30 Elmo dolls for $1,000 orbest offer. A charity auction with
(26:48):
Tickle Me Elmo as the mainprize raised $18,500 with the winner
getting one of the prizedolls. But despite Turboman not getting
his day in 1996. Hismerchandise would get its day though,
with Funko releasing areproduction of the 1996 Turboman
(27:08):
action figure in 2021. A fullyposable 13.5 inch talking Turboman
featuring electronic lightsand sounds and three action accessories.
Batteries not included. Andjust like Howard and Myron discovered
in the film. Getting yourhands on Turboman in real life also
proved difficult, with lowstock and action figures appearing
(27:31):
on ebay for hundreds ofdollars. Even now, as I'm recording
this episode, Turboman is outof stock at Walmart Online. However,
I suspect that has somethingto do with me prepping this episode
in and around Black Friday,but the fact Turboman is still selling
out surely is testament to theongoing audience love for for this
(27:53):
movie Jingle all the Way hadits premiere at where else but the
Mall of America, with 20,000local people in attendance and appearances
from Arnold Schwarzenegger,who pushed for the premiere in the
mall. He even said I'll beback on his last day filming in Minneapolis,
and that was him keeping hispromise. The movie was released wide
(28:15):
on 22 November 1996, openingalongside Star Trek, First Contact
and 101 Dalmatians. It wouldopen at fourth behind Star Trek,
First Contact, Space Jam andRansom. It would drop to fifth in
its second week and would stayin the top 10 for five weeks on its
$60 million budget, 20 millionof which was Arnie's salary. Jingle
(28:40):
all the way would gross $60.6million domestically and $69.2 million
internationally, for a totalworldwide gross of $129.9 million.
So it made the studio money.Just but not quite the money expected
from a mid-90s Arnie Christmascomedy. It currently has a 20% of
(29:03):
Rotten Tomatoes, where theconsensus of Arnold Schwarzenegger
tries his best. But Jingle allthe Way suffers from an uneven tone
shifting wildly from would besatire on materialism to to an antique
slapstick yuckfest. It wasgiven a glowing review by Jeff Strickler
from the Minneapolis StarTribune, a panning review by Emmanuel
(29:24):
Levy in Variety, and amiddling review by Roger Ebert. But
mostly it was criticallypanned for being highly formulaic,
lacking in plot and theslapstick tone, and standalone direct
to DVD sequel. Jingle all theWay 2 was released in December 2014.
Directed by Alex Sam, the filmhas a similar plot to the original,
(29:45):
but otherwise is not connectedand has none of the original cast
or characters. The lead rolein the movie would instead be played
by Larry the Cable Guy. InMarch 2001, Detroit publishing firm
Murray Hill Publications filedand won a $19 million lawsuit against
20th Century Fox after a juryin Michigan agreed that the movie
(30:07):
studio had stolen the scriptfor Jingle all the Way and that it
bore a striking resemblance tocould this Be Christmas? Written
by high school teacher BrianWebster, who had sold the script
to Murray Hill. Webster'sscreenplay was pitched to several
movie studios, including 20thCentury Fox, in 1993 without finding
(30:28):
any interest. Soon after, 20thCentury Fox purchased the rights
to Jingle all the Way soonafter awarding $19 million, though
the judge later reduced theamount to $1.5 million. In March
2004, the Court of Appealoverturned the verdict, deciding
instead that Randy Kornfield'sJingle all the Way script was an
(30:51):
original work and not based oncould this Be Christmas? The court
determined that Jingle all theWay was based on a treatment that
was completed long beforeanyone at Fox had access to the script
for could this Be Christmas?And the original trial judge had
not informed the jury thatthat neither the writer of Jingle
all the Way nor anyone else atFox could have seen the plaintiff's
(31:13):
script before the treatmentfor Jingle all the Way was completed.
I don't want to be the personthat has to return $1.5 million,
but there you go. Jingle allthe Way may not be the number one
greatest Christmas movie inthe world, because that's the Muppet
Christmas Carol, but what itis is a stark takedown of the capitalist
machine that is Christmas,wrapped in a neat, sleek Austrian
(31:36):
action hero that we all knowand love, with a who's who of supported
cast, all about how society isonly ever fulfilled by consumerism.
And every year the cyclecontinues again in its rawest form.
It's a satire of the darknessof Christmas. And this was Randy
Cornfield's original idea. NotSinbad pretending he had a bomb wrapped
(31:57):
in Christmas paper that blowsup in one police officer's face.
The idea that a father has tobuy his son's love at Christmas presents
over presents, as in giftsover being there in person, as if
that somehow young Jake Lloydisn't going to need years of therapy
as a grown man, which heprobably did anyway, thanks to Star
(32:17):
Wars Episode 1 the PhantomMenace. Because if you're wondering,
yes, that is Anakin Skywalker,except much younger. It's likely
that the Chris Columbusrewrite of the script added those
wacky Home Alone esqueelements, such as Arnie breaking
into his neighbor's house tosteal the toy from under the tree,
and hijinks ensues. It feelsvery Chris Columbus. But despite
(32:39):
the darkness that's alwayslurking. This movie is more prescient
than anyone really gives itcredit for. It may not have predicted
the melees at toy storesacross the world at the festive period,
although I'm certain this ismore of an American thing because
I've never seen parentsfighting in an Argos. That is a very
British reference, but itcertainly shines a light on modern
(33:00):
entitlement for the biggestand most expensive gifts, as well
as the merchandising ofeverything surrounding a big movie
or TV show. Again, this isn'tnew. I remember breakfast cereals
in the 90s advertising thingslike Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles
or Power Rangers, but the ideathat kids can't escape this messaging.
So much so I know here in theUK it's against the law for ads promoting
(33:23):
unhealthy food for children tobe shown during the day, but time
strapped parents, oftenworking multiple jobs, will do anything
to keep their children happy.I get it. At Christmas I'll buy my
nieces and nephews whateverthey want. You never want a child
to go without, but the sheerentitlement of shoppers who will
literally beat up other peopleto get at something just speaks to
(33:47):
the pressures of of raisingchildren. Pressures that only ever
get worse year after year. AndKeeping up with the Joneses. It's
an effective satire about howcommercial Christmas has become.
Howard Langston is aprivileged man working a good job
and has the money to be ableto buy his son whatever he wants.
(34:08):
Myron isn't as well developed,but it's clear he doesn't have the
same amount of wealth andprivilege. He's also a black man,
which I think is relevant tohow systemic racism can make people
of colour work longer hoursfor less money. Myron isn't a particularly
good guy. He does attempt toendanger a young child, after all,
and yet he gets the toy at theend. But he also probably ends up
(34:30):
in jail. So his child may getthe doll, but his child is going
to miss out on a father. Myronunderstands the consumerist system
more than Howard because hewent to junior college for a semester
and studied psychology. Jamiedoesn't get the doll, but fingers
crossed, we hope gets a lovingpresent father. Jamie doesn't need
(34:51):
Turboman because he has hisdad, except the movie phrases it
as he doesn't need Turbomanbecause he has the real Turboman
at home. Just ignore the factthat neither Howard's wife or son
recognise his face under aclear yellow visor, nor do they recognize
his very Austrian accent. Iknow Rita Wilson has spoken about
(35:12):
this in interviews and howembarrassed she still is by the fact
that her character doesn'trecognize her own husband. But honestly,
I just think it's hilarious. Inever grew up with this movie, I
have zero nostalgia gogglesfor it, and yet I actually quite
enjoy it for all its slapstickfun. It's got some really fun moments,
and Phil Hartman is great,just great as Sleazeball Ted. It's
(35:35):
unfortunate that Rita Wilsonisn't given more to do, but wives
and mothers in 90s comediesnever really were, and regular listeners
will know how much of a softspot I have for Arnie that I grew
up watching many of his movieswith my own dad. People genuinely
love this movie and it'sthought of incredibly fondly. It
feels like the Jingle all theWay Naissance is a thing. Or at least
(35:59):
I'm going to try and make it athing. This movie for so many years
was called a bad ChristmasMovie. It's not. It's a silly Christmas
movie for sure, but it'sactually way more Christmassy than
most. What speaks to modernChristmas traditions more than workaholic
parents? That one gift theirchild wants more than anything, and
(36:20):
an inability to get it?Nowadays we go on ebay to try and
find it. Back then they queuedoutside shops. It's all the same.
It also perfectly summarizesthe true meaning of any good Christmas
movie that family and lovedones are more important, that togetherness
is more than having thebiggest and best toys, but mostly
that Howard Langston isn't apervert. He was just looking for
(36:44):
a Turboman doll. Thank you forlistening. As always, I would love
to hear your thoughts onJingle all the Way, and thank you
for your continued support ofthis podcast. If you want to show
your support in multipledifferent ways, you could leave a
rating or review wherever youfound this podcast. You could tell
your friends and family aboutthis podcast, or you can find me
(37:04):
and follow me on social mediaand you can share the podcast that
way. I am@VerbalDiorama. Youcan share posts like posts, comment
on posts. It all helps reallyto get the word out there and to
hopefully get other people toknow this podcast and know what I've
been doing. I genuinely lovedoing this podcast and anything you
could do to help would be soappreciated. If you like this episode
(37:29):
on Jingle all the Way, I dohave many Christmas episodes in the
back catalog. However, Iwanted to recommend two specifically.
The first is episode 131,Krampus, which technically is a horror
movie, but it also talks aboutconsumerism and capitalism. And basically
the fact that Krampus doesn'tlike that Christmas has turned into
(37:49):
that and he wants to punishpeople. It's a very fun movie. I
like it a lot. And episode185, the Muppet Christmas Carol,
because it just is thegreatest Christmas movie ever made
and I will die on that hill.As always. Give me feedback, let
me know what you think. Butspeaking of the Muppet Christmas
(38:10):
Carol and a story that's beenadapted many times on film, and that
is Charles Dickens, AChristmas Carol. Now, nothing beats
the Muppet Christmas Carol asfar as adaptations of A Christmas
Carol go. But as far as modernretellings go, none is quite as memorable
as the story of TV executiveFrank Cross, played by Bill Murray
(38:33):
In Richard Donner's 1988 blackcomedy Scrooged, which possibly is
one of the most underratedChristmas movies ever made. So join
me next week for the historyand legacy of Scrooged as we continue
counting down to Christmas onVerbal Diorama. Hopefully you enjoy
what I do for this podcast andyou have some spare change and you
(38:56):
want to support an indiepodcaster who does literally all
of this, everything on herown. I have no assistance. I have
no one helping. I have no onedoing research for me. I have to
do it all by myself. And it'sreally hard sometimes. It's really
tough. But if you enjoy andyou get something out of these episodes
and you have the means tohelp, you're under no obligation,
(39:18):
of course, but there are acouple of ways you can help if you
have the means to. You canmake a one off donation@verbaldiorama.com
tips or you can subscribe tothe patreon@verbaldiorama.com patreon
and all money made goes backinto this podcast by paying for things
like software subscriptionsand website hosting and sometimes
(39:40):
even new equipment as well. Ahuge thank you to the amazing patrons
of this podcast to Simon,Laurel, Derek, Kat, Andy, Mike, Luke,
Michael, Scott, Brendan, Ian,Lisa, Sam, Jack, Dave, Stuart, Nicholas.
So Kev, Heather, Danny, Stu,Brett, Philip, M. Xenos, Sean, Ryno,
(40:01):
Philip K, Adam, Elaine, Kyle,Aaron and Connor. If you want to
get in touch, you can emailverbal dioramail.com you can also
go to the website verbaldiorama.com and you can fill out
the contact form. You can sayhello, you can give feedback or you
can give suggestions, or youcan just say, I listened to this
(40:21):
episode and I watched themovie and this is what I thought
of the movie. I wouldgenuinely love to hear from you you
can also DM me On social mediaas well. I really love to hear from
people, and I always try torespond as quickly as possible. I'm
hugely grateful to you all foryour support. And finally, Christmas,
(41:27):
Bye.
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