Five things you may not have known about the holiday classic National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
1. It all began as a short
story. Christmas Vacation is based on a short story director John Hughes had written for National Lampoon in December 1980. Sharp viewers will notice the tale’s title, Christmas ’59, is on a label of one of the old home movies Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) pulls out of a box while he’s trapped in the attic.
2. Clark’s rant wasn’t
improvised. Unlike much of Chase’s dialogue in the film, his character’s famous breakdown — the one that ends with “Holy s--t! Where’s the Tylenol?” — was heavily rehearsed. Chase even had the crew put cue cards all around the set so he could go off without pausing.
3. Money was no object.
Considering it was a comedy, Christmas Vacation had an action-sized budget (at least, for 1989) of $27 million. To compare, 1984’s special effectsladen Ghostbusters was made for $30 million. Luckily, the Griswold family raked in nearly half the budget alone during opening weekend, and the film went on to pull in a domestic gross of more than $71 million.
4. Aunt Bethany was Betty
Boop. Mae Questel’s role as offbeat Aunt Bethany — who wrapped up her cat, and pledged allegiance to the flag when asked to say grace — turned out to be her last (she died at the age of 89 in January 1998). While we’ll never forget Aunt Bethany, Questel was best known as the voice of Betty Boop starting in 1931, and she served in more than 150 Betty Boop shorts until the character retired in 1939. She also voiced Popeye’s Olive Oyl. 5. It’s connected to another Christmas classic. In one scene, Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo) and Clark’s son Rusty (Johnny Galecki, who went on to star in hit sitcoms Roseanne and The Big Bang Theory) watch Frank Capra’s beloved holiday gem It’s a Wonderful Life. It turns out Capra’s grandson, Frank Capra III, was the second assistant director of Christmas Vacation.