Story Archive

’Tis the Season for Some Folly

The Christmas decorations outside the Heerlein family home in Austin, Texas, pays homage to the film, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation — a dummy wearing a “Clark Griswold” mask hangs from the rain gutter of the two-storey home, out of reach of a tipped-over ladder. Their security camera caught what happened later: “Oh mister, please hold on!” a man yells as he runs up to the house, and then “Help!” to anyone in earshot as he tries to get the ladder under the Chevy Chase character. It was tangled in strings of lights, so he called 911 to rescue the poor man. A calm police officer arrived to reassure the man it’s a joke. Thanks to the security camera, the family could hear the panicked man give his phone number to the 911 operator. They called him and say “Alfred,” a retired military man, had a “good sense of humor” about the incident, and they sent him a gift. (RC/KVUE Austin) ...A DVD of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.