Twenty - eight : That ’s how many time unseasoned Ralphie Parker mentions his desire for a Red Ryder BB gas in 1983’sA Christmas Story . For Ralphie , the Red Ryder stage the zenith of the Christmas holiday — a BB shot - shoot small-arm that will facilitate him manifest the westerly submarine sandwich of his mental imagery . To not get the weapon would have in mind Ralphie would be inconsolable , his life history irrevocably ruin . Not even admonition that he would shoot his optic out can deter him .
Unlike theleg lamp , another infamous totem of the vacation classic , the Red Ryder was a real ware that had a life outdoors of the film . But were small fry of the forties that fanatical about get one ? And who or what is a Red Ryder ?
Ralphie begging for a Red Ryder was not unlike a child today ask for a distich of Spider - Man pyjama . The atmosphere gun was a licensed product based on a democratic cultural grapheme of the era : Red Ryder , a comic strip character thatdebutedin 1938 and run in roughly 750 newspapers .
create by Stephen Slesinger and instance by Fred Harman Jr. , Red Ryder was a cowboy who attempted to right wrongs in the San Juan Mountains . He had a crony , Little Beaver , and a horse named Thunder . Such was the appeal of the airstrip that in 1940 Republic Picturesproduceda 12 - chapter picture show series , Adventures of Red Ryder . That was followed by a staggering 23 feature photographic film between 1944 and 1947 , television pilots , radio programs , and comic books .
Red Ryder ’s name recognition made the graphic symbol attractive to licensee . While licensing is a rough-cut practice now , it was less predominant in the 1940s , when niggling more than Disney products andBeatrix Pottercharacters showed up in toy aisles . ( Licensed amusement products , in fact , would n’t see a major button until the 1977 spillage ofStar Wars . )
In 1983,Pensacola News - Journalstaff writer Bruce Martinrecalleda childhood sleeping room that was stuff with Red Ryder paraphernalia . “ I sported a Red Ryder adjustable secret decoder halo , ” he wrote . “ A life - sizing placard of Red Ryder and Little Beaver stared from the back of my chamber door . In my private museum , there was an official Red Ryder lariat , a bull whiplash , bank and gun and holster exercise set . ”
have Red “ endorse ” an air rifle made a lot of sense . He was , after all , prostrate to shooting his way out of trouble . And there was really only one fellowship that could do it justice .
At the sentence , Daisywas considered the market drawing card in BB gas pedal . The troupe was base in 1886 as the Plymouth Iron Windmill Company in Plymouth , Michigan , which distributed brand rather than wood aerogenerator to Fannie Farmer . ( It wouldrelocateto Rogers , Arkansas , in 1958 . ) With the purchase of a windmill , customer would get a detached giving — a metallic element aura riflemadeby Clarence J. Hamilton , who had also design the company ’s windmills .
Unfortunately for the windmill society , people seemed far more interested in the triggerman than the main product . The good news ? They were more than capable of meeting that demand . By 1895 , the business organization was rename Daisy and had set its focal point on manufacturing the guns .
While Daisy became a recognizable stigma name , the company did its best to goose sales during the economic downturn of the thirties . Kid - friendly cowboy actors like Buzz Barton and Buck Jones were used for draw - in advertising . So was Buck Rogers , the space fantasy comic strip hero who inspire a Buck Rogers Rocket Pistol and Buck Rogers Disintegrator Pistol .
In leap 1940 , Daisy tackled Red Ryder , another bit of synergism that paid off . Reportedly , the comic strip ’s God Almighty , Slesinger and Harman , suggestedDaisy make a Red Ryder six-shooter : Daisy offered or else to rename an subsist BB carbine after the character . Although yield of the sword rifle was cut off from 1943 to 1945 as a issue ofWorld War II , the Red Ryder wound up moving 1 million rifles in 1949 alone , a monolithic achiever for Daisy . It was , as the moving-picture show picture , a highlydesirableplaything .
Although Ralphie lusted after a existent gun , the particular model he covet was n’t exactly one you could corrupt off the ledge .
InA Christmas Story , Ralphie is hellbent on acquiring a “ Red Ryder range model airwave rifle with a compass in the stock and this affair that tells time . ”
This was a bit of originative license : The Red Ryder did n’t have a compass or sundial . The previously - mentioned Buck Jones rifle did , however . It’spossibleauthor Jean Shepherd , whose employment inspired the flick — he ’s also the narrator — misremember the ordnance from his own juvenility as a Red Ryder . In the end , Ralphie ’s prize was an amalgam of the two , with Daisyagreeingto modify a Red Ryder with a compass and a silkscreen sundial for the prop used in the movie .
Daisy rifles are still being manufactured today , represent nearly 140 long time of nearly - continuous yield . Few remember Red Ryder the character , but most everyone understand Red Ryder as the marquee name in BB hit man — in fact , a 25 - groundwork - tall Red Ryder lean against the Daisy Museum in Rogers . The name has supplanted its original creation .
And while all air rifle demand to be used with a good sense of province , Ralphie ’s female parent ’s lament was not wholly baseless . In a 2002 causa filedagainstDaisy by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission ( CPSC ) , the agency charge Daisy of manufacturing faulty model 880 and 856 Powerline Airguns that could appear unload even if they were n’t , a defect the CPSC believe was related to 15 deaths and 171 serious injury . They exact Daisy call up the models . ( A settlement wasreachedin 2003 , with the CPSC dropping its demand for a recall and Daisy match to include more guard information with the hired gun . )
Even so , air guns and kids persist a fickle mix . According to a 2019 study published in the journalPediatrics , almost 14,000 children weretreatedfor harm relating to a “ non - gunpowder ” firearm , like a BB or paintball hitman , each twelvemonth from 1990 to 2016 . more or less 15 percent of those injuries take the eye .
A interpretation of this story ran in 2022 ; it has been updated in 2023 .
