Many of you may not be aware, but the tales of Ralphie Parker did not begin with, nor did they end with, A Christmas Story. They actually came to life for the first time 7 years earlier in a made for TV movie only aired on certain public television stations around the country. This week, we begin our deep dive into the Ralphieverse with the first of those (five) films, Jean Shepard's 1976 The Phantom of the Open Hearth.