Anyone who loves this book should read Jean Shepherd’s stories. The events in the movie appear in his books “In God we Trust, All others pay cash” and “Wanda Hickey’s Night of Golden Memories and other disasters.”
He’s one of the few authors who can make me laugh out loud while reading.
My favorite line from the book version, which never made it into the movie:
“Santa’s warm, moist breath poured down over me as though from some cosmic steam radiator. Santa smoked Camels, like my Uncle Charles”.