Chiefs’ Travis Kelce has special connection to the movie, ‘A Christmas Story’
One Christmas tradition will continue: TNT and TBS both will have 24-hour marathons of the movie “A Christmas Story” starting Dec. 24, TV Insider reports.
That movie, which is set in Indiana in 1940, is a favorite for many people. That includes Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
In addition to loving the story, Kelce has a special connection to the movie because part of it was filmed in Cleveland. That’s where the Kelce brothers grew up.
“The Christmas parade scene that opens the movie was filmed just outside of Cleveland’s legendary Higbee’s department store — where Ralphie spies the Red Ryder BB gun through the window — on the public square at 3 a.m.,” Entertainment Weekly’s Gwen Ihnat wrote. “Then, of course, Ralphie goes inside the store to wait in a line that stretches [all the way to Terre Haute’ to be able to tell Santa what he wants for Christmas, only to receive his most-repeated, hated response: ‘You’ll shoot your eye out, kid.’ The Big Guy adds, ‘Merry Christmas. Ho, ho, ho!’ and pushes Ralphie down the giant slide with a boot to the forehead.
“Higbee’s, which actually kept the slide for several years after the movie, became a Dillard’s in 1992 before closing in 2002.”
Higbee’s was located in Tower City Center in Cleveland, and guess who else went down that slide? Kelce.
He revealed that during this week’s “New Heights” podcast as Kelce and his brother, Jason, talked about Christmas movies they liked best.
“Favorite Christmas movie? Damn, man. There are so many good ones,” Travis Kelce said. “I mean, ‘Christmas Story’ hits home. That’s the one that gives me the feels. That’s the one that gives me the feels because it’s filmed in Cleveland. Tower City as a kid, I remember going down that slide. I remember just like going into the mall area.
“On top of that, just the scene of the outside like reminds me of a Cleveland Christmassy, snowy Christmas. I don’t know. It’s just I get the feels from that one.”
I don’t know about you, but I absolutely could see Travis Kelce climbing back up that slide as a kid to tell Santa Claus what he really wanted for Christmas.
This story was originally published December 21, 2023 at 11:00 AM.
