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The Gift of the Magi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Author | O. Henry |
|---|---|
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | short story |
| Publication date | 1906 |
"The Gift of the Magi" is a short story written by O. Henry (a pen name for William Sydney Porter), allegedly at Pete's Tavern[1][2] on Irving Place in New York City.
Contents |
Jim and Della are a couple who decide to exchange Christmas presents. They find that all in all, no matter how hard they try, they realize that their love is the strongest gift they can possess. They realize that material objects aren't important.
O. Henry ends the story by clarifying the metaphor between the characters in the story, Della and James (or Jim), and the Biblical Magi.
"The Gift of the Magi" features O. Henry's characteristic twist ending (O. Henry twist) and use of grandiloquent language.
The Gift of the Magi is widely referenced in popular culture ranging from the final segment of the motion picture O. Henry's Full House, which featured an adaptation of the short story, to numerous references in popular television shows such as The Simpsons[3], and by Dr. Clayton Forrester and TV's Frank in both Christmas specials of Mystery Science Theater 3000[4][5]. Even in music, the story has been adapted by the musical group, Squirrel Nut Zippers in a song by the same name. A musical production of the story, starring Gordon MacRae and Sally Ann Howes as the young couple, was presented on the Hallmark Hall of Fame on December 9, 1958 by NBC. An opera was written by David Conte in one act using the story as is. In the Futurama episode "X-Mas Story", there is a gift-giving scene wherein Amy sells her hair to get combs for Hermes, who sold his hair to get combs for Dr. Zoidberg, which makes no sense since Dr. Zoidberg has no hair -- until it is revealed that he is now wearing both Amy's and Hermes' hair.
A Mickey Mouse short film, "Mickey and Minnie's Gift of the Magi," (which is a short film in part of the film Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas), is also used as an adaptation of this story, where Mickey trades his harmonica to buy a necklace for Minnie, and Minnie trades her locket to buy a case for Mickey's harmonica.
The 1978 Sesame Street special Christmas Eve on Sesame Street also adapts the story, with Ernie selling his Rubber Duckie to buy a box for Bert's paper clip collection, and Bert selling his paper clips to buy a dish for Ernie's Rubber Duckie.
The 2004 Hindi film Raincoat starring Ajay Devgan and Aishwarya Rai and directed by Rituparno Ghosh is an adaptation of this story.
There was also another made-for-tv movie, a 1978 adaptation titled The Gift of Love, starring Marie Osmond as Della's character renamed Beth Atherton.
The Venezuelan sketch show Bienvenidos did a straight, serious adaptation of the story for a Christmas special.
There was also an episode of Catdog in which the story was changed to birthday gifts.
- ^ http://www.frommers.com/destinations/newyorkcity/N24455.html
- ^ http://www.literarytraveler.com/literary_articles/william_sydney_porter_ohenry.aspx
- ^ "Grift of the Magi". The Simpsons.
- ^ "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians". Mystery Science Theater 3000.
- ^ "Santa Claus". Mystery Science Theater 3000.
- The Gift of the Magi by O. Henry
- Reading of "The Gift of the Magi" with text and notes (Streaming or downloadable mp3)
- Audio book recording with accompanying text of The Gift of the Magi