For Kicks: Man Creates 14-Foot Leg Lamp From 'A Christmas Story'

WEST DES MOINES, IA — Tom Gross got a leg up on his neighbors with holiday decorating this season when he dug his homemade "leg lamp" from the movie "A Christmas Story" out of storage. This is the first year he's put the talker back in the front yard of his Valley Junction home since creating it the year he moved to Iowa.

And at 14 feet high, the fishnet-clad leg, adorned with a gold lampshade trimmed in black fringe, is a literal traffic stopper.

Gross said his "Iowa creation" came about because he thinks the 1983 movie "A Christmas Story," about a young Ralphie Parker whose only wish is a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas, is the "greatest holiday story of all time. It's truly awesome," he told Patch. "You can't see it enough."

In the movie, the leg lamp shows up in a memorable scene in which Ralphie's father receives a wooden crate containing "a major award" from a contest he entered. He pries off the lid, tears wildly through the packing straw, and pulls out... a life-sized, plastic leg.

"Would you look at that!" he excitedly says to the family as they stand by dumbfounded.

"What is it?" Ralphie's stunned mother asks.

"Why, it's a leg!" the dad replies with pride.

An adult Ralphie, narrating the tale of the most memorable Christmas from his childhood, notes: "The old man's eyes boggled, overcome by art."

In West Des Moines, the massive leg Gross created is drawing a similar reaction as cars slow to see the spectacle Gross has tethered to his lawn, complete with the replica crate lid propped against his porch. He said people slow to look at the leg several times a day — boggled by his realistic depiction — and many park nearby and walk to the house to stand in his yard and pose for a photo with it.

"It's a mecca for families," he laughed. "It's almost a religious experience."

Gross and his wife, Tina, moved to Iowa from Illinois after they visited Valley Junction and Tom Gross discovered a welcoming art community. He paints and has created images of some iconic locales, from Wrigley Field in Chicago to Des Moines landmarks. He also works as an upholsterer for Surface Repair Service in Johnston.

Gross said after creating the leg lamp, the artist in him toyed with the idea of changing it up from year to year with another iconic item from the movie — maybe Ralpie in a one-piece pink bunny suit — "but I don't want to be 'that guy,' " he said.

Gross said the leg lamp is not something he plans to have in the yard every year at Christmas. Besides, his wife "has to sign off on it" — and any other whimsical projects he plans.

"But she's OK with it," Gross said. "Once she saw it and she saw people's reaction to it, she gets it."

Gross said designing the leg lamp was a natural choice for holiday decor because "I think everyone's seen the movie a few times," he said, pausing briefly to restate that: "Well, maybe not everyone, because some people want to know why I have a giant leg in my yard."

His creation took only a few nights to design and assemble, he said, and it comes apart easily for storage. He used a metal pole and weather-resistant wood for the frame and an upholstery business helped by providing the material for the shade. The key, he said, is to make the base sturdy and structural, but flexible enough to bend and not break through wind, ice or snow. An earlier version was too brittle and broke on Christmas Eve the year he debuted it, he said.

"You put a 14-foot leg lamp in your yard and weather is tough on it," he said. "The weather here is fierce."

So far the Iowa leg lamp has withstood recent 40 mph wind gusts. But if you want to see the leg lamp, check it out soon on Eighth Street north of Railroad Avenue in Valley Junction. Gross said it will come down sometime before the weather worsens and definitely before Christmas.

After all, it's fra-GEE-lay.

You can see for yourself in the movie trailer, below.

About "A Christmas Story"

The movie was filmed in Cleveland, Ohio, and the house used in the movie has been renovated and designed in the 1940's style of the movie. It's open to the public and a museum with memorabilia from the film is located across the street.

The movie is a holiday staple on television with a 24-hour marathon scheduled for the past several years. You can watch it back to back to back beginning at 8 p.m. Christmas Eve on TBS.

A new show, the musical "A Christmas Story Live!" based on the Broadway show "A Christmas Story: The Musical," will air live at 6 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 17, on Fox.

Patch photos by Melissa Myers