The Books that Inspired Classic Christmas Films

'Tis the season of hot cocoa and cozy Christmas films. But did you know that each of these films were based on books?

TABLE OF CONTENTS

A Christmas Carol 00:39
The Greatest Gift (inspiration for It’s a Wonderful Life) 07:52
Miracle on 34th Street 11:14
How the Grinch Stole Christmas 13:02
In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash (inspiration for A Christmas Story) 13:56
Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas 17:45
The Snowman 19:13
The Polar Express 20:36
The Nightmare Before Christmas (Honourable Mention) 23:15

ALL PUBLICATIONS MENTIONED

A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Story of Christmas by Charles Dickens (1843)

(Pirated copy from Parley’s Illuminated Library):
‘A Christmas Ghost Story,’ then, ‘A Genuine Ghost Story (Not by Charles Dickens)’ (1843)

Original Manuscript edition of A Christmas Carol (ISBN 9780393608649)

The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent by Washington Irving (1819)
(containing original appearance of ‘Rip Van Winkle,’ ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,’ and four essays on Christmas traditions)

Other Charles Dickens Christmas Stories:
- The Chimes (1844)
- The Cricket on the Hearth (1845)
- The Battle of Life (1846)
- The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain (1848)

The Greatest Gift: A Christmas Tale by Philip Van Doren Stern (1944)
- Appeared in the December 1944 issue of Reader’s Scope
- Appeared in the January 1945 issue of Good Housekeeping as ‘The Man Who Was Never Born’

Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1957)
- “The Hoobub and the Grinch” appeared in the May 1955 issue of Redbook Magazine
- Appeared in the October 12, 1957 issue of Redbook Magazine

In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash by Jean Shepherd (1966)

Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories and Other Disasters by Jean Shepherd (1971)

A Christmas Story by Jean Shepherd (contains the five stories that inspired the film) (ISBN 0767916220)

Original Playboy magazine publications:
- “Red Ryder Nails the Cleveland Street Kid,” December 1965
- “Grover Dill and the Tasmanian Devil,” September 1964
- “Scut Farkas and the Murderous Mariah,” April 1967
- “The Grandstand and Passion Play of Delbert and the Bumpus Hounds,” April 1969

Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas by Russell Hoban, illustrated by Lillian Hoban (1971)

“The Gift of the Magi” by O. Henry (1905) (inspiration for Emmet Otter)

The Snowman by Raymond Briggs (1978)

Fungus the Bogeyman by Raymond Briggs (inspiration for The Snowman)

The Polar Express written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg (1985)
Also by Van Allsburg: Jumanji

The Nightmare Before Christmas written and illustrated by Tim Burton (ISBN 9781484722022)

Thank you Daniel Hines for all my music!

CONTACT JESS

Follow me on Instagram if you wish @squirrellynerdyjess

SUPPORT JESS

#christmasbooks #christmasbook #christmasstory #achristmasstory #achristmascarol #itsawonderfullife #miracleon34thstreet #grinch #howthegrinchstolechristmas #emmetotter #raybriggs #thesnowman #polarexpress #nightmarebeforechristmas #bookcollector #bookcollecting #bookcollection #xmasbooks

[douglasreynolds]

This was terrific! The best SB offering yet amongst many.

[elinaghed]

This video is so well researched and very interesting! I really don't understand why you don't have more followers, with all the interesting and well made videos you have made!

[francescathomas]

Not being an American, most of these movies I did not grow up with. My most favourite Xmas movie is the 1994 version of Miracle on 34th street - starring Mara Wilson and Richard Attenborough.

[shelleymonson]

I highly recommend “A Child’s Christmas in Wales” by Dylan Thomas, made into a movie starring Denholm Elliott as the narrator. So good!

[curtthegamer]

Some of the ideas from the novelization of Miracle on 34th Street were later used in the TV movie version from 1955. But I think the events in the original 1947 movie played out better. Kris Kringle comes across as a bit too cranky in the novelization, and ironically kind of proves Mr. Sawyer to be correct. In the original movie, he's just defending another guy that Mr. Sawyer was doing an unethical analysis on, and Mr. Sawyer afterwards lies and says that Kris attacked him because his "delusion" was attacked. In the novelization (and 1955 TV movie), Mr. Sawyer actually does attack Kris' "delusion, " and Kris smacks him in front of a whole crowd of people. Much less sympathetic, and I have trouble rooting for him.

Anyway, I would have added The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by ETA Hoffmann if I were to add any other books to this video.