add site
services
publishers
database
health videos
toolbar
stats
live show
health store
more stuff
JOIN/LOGIN
| advertise add site services publishers database health videos
| | about toolbar stats live show health store more stuff JOIN/LOGIN |
Golf Gifts - Great Golf Gift Items and Golf Gift Ideas performbettergolf.com | Science Gifts,Buy Science Gifts,Educational Gifts,Science & Educational... surgicalshop.com | Yoga gifts - gifts from the heart - yoga in action yoga-ez-fitness-wear.com | DermatologistRx: FREE Gift with every $150 purchase from Gift with Purchas dermatologistrx.com |
This article is about the short story. For the Magi that visited baby Jesus, see Biblical Magi.
"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.
[edit] PlotJames [Jim] Dillingham Young and his wife Della are a young couple who are very much in love with each other, but can barely afford their one-room apartment due to their very bad economic situation. For Christmas, Della decides to buy Jim a chain which costs twenty-one dollars for his prized pocket watch given to him by his father. To raise the funds, she has her long hair cut off and sold to make a wig. Meanwhile, Jim decides to sell his watch to buy Della a beautiful set of combs made out of tortoise shell for her lovely, knee-length brown hair. Although each is disappointed to find the gift they chose rendered useless, each is pleased with the gift they received, because it represents their love for one another. The story ends with the author/narrator comparing the pair's mutually sacrificial gifts of love with those of the Biblical Magi:
[edit] Popular culture
Along with Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, this is one of the most common plots adapted for sitcoms and cartoons around the holiday season.[citation needed] 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. Adventures from the Book of Virtues presented the story fairly faithfully as a short animated segment. 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 wigs made of both Amy's and Hermes' hair. In a 1977 Saturday Night Live episode, The Gift of the Magi story is reimagined with John Belushi selling his watch to pay for the kidney transplant surgery of his wife, played by Gilda Radner. While Radner's character is depicted as having beautiful hair, rather than selling it to make a wig, she sells her hairbrush to get a knockoff gold chain for Belushi's watch. Infuriated at giving up his watch and kidney for little in return, Belushi beats and strangles Radner. Jane Curtin, narrating the story, reminds the audience "it's the gift, not the thought that counts. They don't call it 'The Thought of the Magi.'" The 1978 Sesame Street special Christmas Eve on Sesame Street also adapts the story, with Ernie trading his Rubber Duckie for a cigar box for Bert's paper clip collection, and Bert trading his paper clips for a soap dish for Ernie's Rubber Duckie. This sketch ends more happily than its source material: after Bert and Ernie exchange gifts, Mr. Hooper comes to the apartment and gives back both the Duckie and the paper clips. Bert laments that they hadn't thought to get a present for Mr. Hooper, but Mr. Hooper tells Bert he is mistaken: "I got to see that everyone got exactly what they wanted for Christmas." The music video "Aur ahista kijiye baatein"(plz talk slow) by Pankaj Udhas starring Sameera Reddy is loosely based on the story. A young NRI girl falls in love with a White boy who lives in her neighbourhood. She is shown to have extremeley long hair in the beginning. She sells her hair to buy expensive matching helmet, kit and badges to go with the boy's motorcycle. The boy gifts her a red saree and a diamond locket, upon asking where is the motorcycle he takes her to the motorcycle which has the a banner SOLD pasted over it. The 2004 Hindi film Raincoat starring Ajay Devgan and Aishwarya Rai and directed by Rituparno Ghosh is an adaptation of this story. The first Christmas-themed episode of the radio drama Adventures in Odyssey, originally broadcast December 19, 1987, was a tongue-in-cheek adaptation of the story called "Gifts for Madge and Guy," with Jim and Della's names changed to Guy and Madge respectively. The names Madge and Guy are a play on the word "Magi." 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 and a bit different (being that Cat sold his Loompha for a wrestling suit for Dog, and Dog sold his wrestling mud pit for a Loompha carrier, then trade the Loompha carrier in for a wrestling suit, much to Cat's disappointment) There is also an episode of the Rugrats in which Phil and Lil both traded their Christmas gifts to get presents that appeased each other. The 1977 Jim Henson Company holiday special Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas is partially based on this story. One of the short-short stories in Steve Martin's Cruel Shoes, "The Gift of the Magi Indian Giver," involved the husband selling his shinbones to buy his wife "cuticle frames," while she sold her cuticles to buy him "shinbone polish." The ending implied that the couple enjoyed a bit of light BDSM. Issue #5 of Beautiful Stories for Ugly Children involved the husband losing his fingers in an industrial accident while earning money to buy his wife colored contact lenses for her abnormally yellow eyes, while she sold her eyes to scientists to get money to buy a set of brass knuckles for her bullied husband. The 1996 Radio Tales production "The Gift of the Magi" is a faithful adaptation of the short story for National Public Radio. In an episode of Breaker High, Alex sells his fishing rod to buy a tiara case for Ashley, who at the same time sells her tiara to buy fishing tackle for Alex. In the 1999 Disney production Mickey's Once upon a Christmas Mickey sells his harmonica to buy Minnie a gold chain for her watch, but Minnie sells her watch to buy Mickey a case for his harmonica. "The Gift of the Magi." adapted into Special English by Voice of America[6] Hincal Uluc, one of Turkey's most famous and renowed columnist spare his column to The Gift of the Magi every year on 1st of January. A video clip for an Arabic song by Shadi Aswad is based on this story too. On 9/30/09, Stephan Colbert made reference to it during his show durring the Threat Down segment. In the webcomic XKCD, A comic called "Theft of the Magi" tells the same story in reverse, whereby the couple sell each others' things to buy something for themselves. The boy sells his girlfriend's Roomba to pay for a copy of the game "Left 4 Dead," only to find that his girlfriend has sold his Xbox to buy a Duelling harness for her Roomba. [edit] References
[edit] External links
| |||||||||||||||||
| ↑ top of page ↑ | about thumbshots |
