Warner Bros. Demands Destruction of ‘Christmas Story’ Leg Lamp Statue in Oklahoma Town
The Old Man from A Christmas Story was thrilled to win a leg lamp as his major award, but that was nothing compared to the enthusiastic citizens of Chickasha, Oklahoma. The town built a 50-foot version of the movie prop to lord over its downtown, beckoning visitors from near and far. But now, Warner Bros. is playing Scrooge, demanding that Chickasha amputate the leg for violating its trademark.
But the obvious question first: Why would any community erect a giant leg in the center of town? The Chickasha Community Foundation says it’s a tribute to the late Noland James, a local who was an art professor at the University of Oklahoma. James claimed to have designed the lamp for A Christmas Story, and the statue is a tribute to the area legend.
The leg lamp put Chickasha on the map, say locals, with social media posts and other publicity allegedly reaching a billion people. “I saw them put this leg lamp up and decided, hey, this is a gimmick, I want to get involved, so I bought several buildings downtown here and remodeled them because I think this is going to be a great tourist location,” explained businessman Chet Hitt, according to Oklahoma TV station KFOR.
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Because it consulted with attorneys before construction, Chickasha Community Foundation’s Jim Cowan believes the town had the copyright issue covered six ways to Sunday. “We’re not charging admission to see the leg lamp, anybody can come and take a picture,” Cowan said. “We sell officially licensed merchandise in our gift shop.”
Plus, the statue technically stands on the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma campus. “Public universities are immune from trademark infringements because of when they use art,” Cowan added.
Despite Cowan initially claiming Warner Bros. never raised concerns until last fall, KFOR received word that Warner Bros. rejected a request to build a statue in Chickasha back in 2019. That doesn’t count, said Cowan, because the 2019 letter came before James’ death in 2020. “Have they said no previously? Sure,” Cowan told KFOR, seemingly revising earlier statements. “But that was before there was anything about Noland James.”
Why would the statue be exempt from copyright if it was a tribute to Noland James? Unclear.
After refusing to allow the statue in 2019, Warner Bros. reached out to the town again last fall, demanding that the leg be destroyed. “When we got (the letter), we responded to them and said, ‘Hey, this is how we did it, this is why we feel like we were in the right,’” Cowan told WFOR. “We did not hear another word and have not.”
When the Old Man’s major award was destroyed in A Christmas Story, he mournfully buried it in his backyard. Will Chickasha’s version suffer a similar fate? Stay tuned.
