The Griswold House in “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation”

by HOOKEDONHOUSES on DECEMBER 20, 2009

“All my life I’ve wanted to have a big family Christmas.” –Clark Griswold

In National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, Clark Griswold (Chevy Chase) gets his wish for a big family Christmas. When his wife Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo) worries that it might not be quite as perfect as he imagines, he says, “Christmas is about resolving differences and seeing through the petty problems of family life.” He spends the rest of the movie trying to do just that!

Christmas Vacation was based on a short story written by John Hughes called “Christmas ’59.” It was the second Vacation story to be published in National Lampoon’s Magazine (the first was “Vacation ’58,” the basis for the first Vacation movie).

The movie premiered in 1989, and it shows in all of the wallpaper and fabric choices in the house.

The movie was called National Lampoon’s Winter Holiday in the U.K.

The Living Room:

When a squirrel gets loose in the house, Clark’s mother faints in the living room and we get a good look at that green carpet:

Dining Room:

The interiors were filmed at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California.

The Kitchen:

When daughter Audrey (Juliette Lewis) complains about having to give up her room to the visiting relatives, Ellen says:

“I don’t know what to say except it’s Christmas and we’re all in misery.”

Makes me laugh every time.

I love this bank of windows in the kitchen. We really loved plaid in the ’80s, didn’t we?

TV Room:

Upstairs Landing:

Bathroom:

Audrey’s Room:

The exteriors were shot on the Warner Bros. back lot in Burbank.

Remember The Amazing Eric, who sent me rare interior photos and floor plans of the real Home Alone house? He helped me with the research for this house, too. He says:

The Griswold house is actually an exterior set on “Blondie Street” on a Warner Brothers back lot in Burbank, CA, as is Todd and Margo’s house (the neighbors next door). The house has been altered a lot to serve other movies, especially the interiors, which are also only a set, not a real house. You can take a virtual tour of Blondie Street here.

In one of the virtual tours on that site, you can see what appears to be the Griswold foyer set as it looks today. I took a snapshot to compare the two. The staircase as seen in the movie:

And the staircase on the virtual tour, without the wallpaper and furnishings:

You can see a photo of the exterior of the house as it looks today here. Eric says you can tell it’s the Christmas Vacation house by the two chimneys and the attached garage. Windows and colors and a few other things have been changed, however.

According to the Warner Bros. website, Blondie Street was built to look like a suburban neighborhood. It has also been home to many movies and TV series, including American Beauty, Pleasantville, Gidget, Bewitched, The Partridge Family, and Eight is Enough. There are 12 residential homes on the street in a variety of styles (some with practical interiors).

In this long shot looking down the street, you can see the house that was used for Sergeant Murtaugh’s (Danny Glover’s) family in the Lethal Weapon movies:

Here’s a close-up of Danny Glover’s house that I took from the first Lethal Weapon movie. To the right of it, you can see a house that looks like Samantha and Darrin’s in Bewitched.

When Clark watches old family movies in the attic, which are supposedly from the 1950s, they used the exterior of the old Bewitched house for his childhood home:

The Bewitched house as it appeared during the 2nd season of the show (you can see my post about it here):

The Griswolds’ house before…

…and after the lights (finally) come on:

Bet you can spot the Griswold house from the sky:

E! Online reports that a sequel may be in the works. It would feature Clark and Ellen’s son Rusty as he takes his own children on a vacation. (Johnny Galecki, who played Rusty in this movie, is now all grown up and stars in the popular sitcom The Big Bang Theory.) No word on whether Chevy Chase or Beverly D’Angelo would make an appearance.

Read my post about another Chevy Chase comedy: Funny Farm.

Visit my TV/Movie Houses page for links to all of the others I’ve featured, from A Christmas Story to Alvin and the Chipmunks.

You might also like:

Do You Fake It at Christmas or Keep It Real?

“Funny Farm:” Chevy Chase’s Cape Cod in the Country

Ugly Christmas Lights

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The “Bewitched” Movie: Nicole Kidman’s Cottage

by HOOKEDONHOUSES on OCTOBER 11, 2009

Welcome to Movie Monday, when we look at the houses from our favorite TV shows and films. Last week we toured the sets used on the original television series “Bewitched,” so I thought it would be fun to feature Nicole Kidman’s charming California cottage in the 2005 movie remake, too.

In the movie, Kidman plays Isabel Bigelow, a real witch who is cast as Samantha in a television remake of the original series. Will Ferrell plays Jack, the movie star cast as Darrin who is determined to make the show all about him. But then he falls in love with Isabel and finds out she’s a witch and, you know the drill–complications ensue.

When Isabel sees the house she wants, she puts a “For Rent” sign out front:

Nora Ephron came up with the concept of the movie after producers called and begged for help. Nicole Kidman had agreed to consider doing the film, and they needed a pitch.

There were a stack of rejected screenplays that had piled up over the years, including one written by Richard Curtis (the writer behind Notting Hill, which I featured a few weeks ago–I’d love to see what his version of Bewitched looked like!).

Ephron sketched out the idea for the remake, suggesting that Nicole play an entirely new character instead of reprising Elizabeth Montgomery’s Samantha. Kidman liked the idea and signed on.

This house was chosen for Isabel by director Nora Ephron because it belonged to friends of her parents, and she visited it often as a child. Coincidentally, those friends were Larry Berns and his wife, Sandra Gould, who played the second, better-known Gladys Kravitz. (Alice Pearce, who played the first Gladys Kravitz, died after the second season.)

Isabel’s home was set in a tree-lined Valley suburb of modest A-frame houses and white picket fences.

Isabel watches the pilot episode of the original “Bewitched” after being cast as Samantha for the remake:

Nicole Kidman went to the Broadway musical Wicked and was so blown away byKristin Chenoweth’s performance as Glinda that she begged “Bewitched” writer Nora Ephron to create a part for Chenoweth into the film. Ephron wrote the role of Isabel’s next-door neighbor Maria Kelly for her:

Production designer Neil Spisak explains the thinking behind the design of Isabel’s house:

Our idea was that since Isabel is desperately searching for normalcy, whatever that might be, she’s moved into a charming, simple house in the Valley, finding a lovely place for her to start her life.

Nora quite liked the exterior of the house we found and, based on that, we designed an interior. The concept was to maintain its simplicity but to play up a certain appealing femininity in the furnishings and details. So, like Isabel, her surroundings are a little naïve, a place that is neutral but warm and comfortable.

Note the magnetic spice holders hanging on the wall behind her (under the microwave) in this shot:

Isabel in her bedroom:

Isabel’s living room:

Isabel has her friends over to discuss what to do with her “Jack problem” (she’s figured out his scheme to be the star of the show and cut her out as much as possible):

Aunt Clara arrives–down Isabel’s chimney:

Brunch on Isabel’s patio. Aunt Clara has an idea: “Let’s put a hex on Jack.”

Casting a hex on Jack that will teach him a lesson. (In Isabel’s backyard. I wonder what the neighbors thought of this?)

Isabel’s bedroom (I read that they tucked a photo of Elizabeth Montgomery into the mirror frame, but I never saw it):

Isabel on the phone in her kitchen at night (why does this photo make me think of that scene with Drew Barrymore in Scream?):

In the opening credits of the “Bewitched” remake, Darrin is the star of the cartoon–Samantha’s face is never even shown:

The role of Jack/Darrin was originally supposed to be played by Jim Carrey, which I think may have worked a little better. Can’t you see him mugging the way Dick York used to? And Will Ferrell’s Jack was funny, but he was too goofy and over-the-top to ever take seriously as Isabel’s love interest. (Carrey chose to make the movieFun With Dick and Jane instead.)

Isabel wears a heart-shaped necklace as Samantha on the remake, just like Samantha did on the original TV show:

Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha on the TV show wearing the heart necklace:

Samantha and Darrin’s kitchen on the new set of “Bewitched:”

Samantha and Darren’s bedroom on the set of the new “Bewitched:”

Isabel and her dad Maurice:

The roles of Iris (actress who plays Endora on the TV remake in the movie) and Maurice (Isabel’s warlock father) were played by Shirley MacLaine and Michael Caine. According to Bewitched fansite Harpies Bizarre:

The role of the warlock father was reportedly crafted by the Ephrons with only Michael Caine in mind. Shirley MacLaine told the press that she “wasn’t much of a fan of the TV series,” but had taken the film role because she “wanted to play a witch.” It is assumed that Ephron catered to MacLaine’s request and allowed her character to be a sorceress, since the April 2004 script copy had the Iris character just written as a mortal diva actress cast as the new TV Endora.

The exterior set of the “Bewitched” house for the TV show:

At the end of the movie, Isabel and Jack move into a home that looks almost identical to the one on their television show:

The numbers above the door of their new home are 1164–Samantha and Darrin lived at 1164 Morning Glory Circle (Westport, Connecticut) in the original TV series:

The house is a private home in the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles (viaSeeing Stars):

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy photos from the original “Bewitched” TV series and photos of Nicole Kidman’s Beverly Hills home where she lives with husband Keith Urban and their daughter Sunday Rose.

Visit my TV/Movie Houses page for links to all the others I’ve featured.

You might also like:

A “Bewitched” House: 1164 Morning Glory Circle

Practical Magic: A Victorian House Fit for a Witch

Movie Monday: The Perfect World of Stepford, Connecticut

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