As ‘National Lampoon’s Vacation’ turns 40, Anthony Michael Hall looks back on his summer as a teenage Griswold

The Griswold family — Rusty (Anthony Michael Hall, from left), Clark (Chevy Chase), Ellen (Beverly D’Angelo) and Audrey (Dana Barron) — head out on “National Lampoon’s Vacation.” (Warner Bros.)

When John Hughes was working as an advertising copywriter at Leo Burnett in Chicago in the late 1970s, he was also freelancing for National Lampoon magazine — and one of his first published works was a rather long short story titled “Vacation ’58,” which started:

        “If Dad hadn’t shot Walt Disney in the leg, it would have been our best vacation ever!”