EXCLUSIVE! Peter Billingsley Breaks His Silence On ''A Christmas Story''

A friend grew up with him on the UES. They were across the street neighbors. She remembers clocking him in the head with a stock pot. I'll have to forward the vid.

I have never been able to watch this movie after 30 min in. It is so boring.

I did not want to know that McGavin touched him inappropriately. Sometimes you should just let fans have their fantasies. We already know the tongue kid did a porno. To learn that the set was "a cauldron of abuse" ia just too much.

Add me to the crew who could not watch this thing. I think it really appeals to flyover people in the midwest.

East-coaster (born, bred and still here) who watches it at least once a year R4.

I'd marry him.

Is there a transcript anywhere? Not in the mood to slog through a video tonight.

The tongue kid did a porno? Really? I think I want to see and don't at the same time.

I love this movie, too (am on the East coast).%0D %0D I knew about the porno thing, but what's all that about McGavin being a kid toucher?

Anyone who's been waiting 20 years for this interview has some serious problems.

McGavin was never a kid toucher. He was a classy guy. I think someone is pulling our leg (lamp).

McGavin wasn't a molester. Breaking "his silence" just makes it sound like there's some sordid fact that needs to be told.

Peter Billingsley is handsome, but he's about four feet tall.

[quote]McGavin was never a kid toucher. He was a classy guy. Are you kidding? You could put your eye out on that thing.

He's cute. And never outgrew that speech impediment, apparently. lol

[quote]Add me to the crew who could not watch this thing. I think it really appeals to flyover people in the midwest. You mean it doesn't appeal to those of you raised in the ghettoes?

He looks like their hirsute offspring:

Peter turned out very well. Seems like a normal guy.

Does he mostly bottom or top?

12 Things You Probably Didn%E2%80%99t Know About The Movie %E2%80%98A Christmas Story%E2%80%99 FYI: One of the commenters mentions that "Scut Farkus," who turned out to be pretty good looking, is also gay.

The various short stories by Jean Shepherd are worth reading. They were skillfully blended into one narrative for the movie. In the book version the turkey devoured by the neighbor's dogs is an Easter ham and Ralphie is a teenager when it happens. Matt Dillon played the older Ralphie in a TV movie about the 4th of July made a year before A CHRISTMAS STORY.

Is "Ralphie" gay? Something about him pings.

[quote]They were skillfully blended into one narrative for the movie.

Very true. I think that's why "My Summer Story" doesn't work as well even though it's the same director and also based on Shepherd's work. Without the unifying Christmas theme the movie feels more like a series of scenes rather than a cohesive movie. They try to make the big payoff Ralphie's quest for the perfect spinning top but that just doesn't compare to a passionate Christmas wish.

Scut Farkus grew up to be a hottie.

Wait, he's shorter than 4 foot tall Kristen Chenowith?

I'm with R2. As much as I try, I can't watch more than 30 minutes. And this is someone who enjoys sap, just not that kind of bland sap.

R24 Zack Ward played Scut Farkus and he is Canadian! Half of the movie was filmed in Toronto, Canada

Zack Ward's myspace says that he's straight.

I would only watch this if it revealed McGavin sayin' to Billingsley, " *drool* C'mere, little billy! *slobber* I wanna show you my turkey neck! and what other uses Palmolive soap has for more than one orifice!"

The Porn Flick

You guys who can't get past the first 30 minutes are missing out on the best stuff. Stick with it!

Zack Ward and his huge guns

I remember seeing him on a 1970s-80s talk show after he appeared in a movie with Burt Reynolds -- Billingsley lifted Reynolds' wig off during a scene accidently on purpose...%0D %0D A Christmas Story has a certain ick factor to be because the father is a century older than the mother. ICK.

The mother does look younger than the father, R33, but the difference is emphasized even more because Melinda Dillon's hairstyle was far too modern for the movie's era. The movie was supposed to be set in the past, but her hairstyle was what many women were wearing in 1983, the year the film was released.

He pings for me, too, but the speech impediment could be throwing me off.

Was Darrin McGavin a sister?

"Add me to the crew who could not watch this thing. I think it really appeals to flyover people in the midwest."%0D %0D No, it's just that you and R2 are too stupid to appreciate it. So taky that "flyover people in the midwest" and shove it your ass. %0D %0D

Uh-oh, nndb.com leaves sexuality out of the bio- that always means "no comment". IMDB lists no link to any female ever.

"The movie was supposed to be set in the past, but her hairstyle was what many women were wearing in 1983, the year the film was released."%0D %0D WHAT "hairstyle?" As I recall, Melinda Dillon's hair was an unruly mop of untameable curls. It looked like it hardly ever saw a comb or brush. I never saw any woman in the eighties with hair like that. Oh, eighties women had big hair alright, but Dillon's hair looked like the hair you'd see on a housewife who never had the time to go to a beauty salon. It kind of looked like she had given herself a bad home perm.

Can't watch it till I get home. Does he say anything about Melinda Dillon?

Ya. Just saw this film for the first time last weekend. What the hell is up with Melinda Dillon's hair? My partner was so confused by her it took him a long time before he realized the story was set in the 40's. What woman (before 1980) ever wore her hair like that?%0D %0D Having said that, always like Melinda Dillon. Thought she was near brilliant in Magnolia.

Melinda Dillon had a set of the greatest tits in cinematic history. See Slapshot.

He didn't visit his mother Barbara enough. That's why she died.

Well how else did women of that period in the midwest wear naturally kinky/curly hair?

Where's the part about McGavin molesting the kid?

R42, looks like she has nipples like the guy in that crazy mentos commercial someone posted here a few days ago.

NSFW:

R33, they specifically cast a much older "father" because the story is through the eyes of a child. To a child, the father always seems much older, particularly when they're authoritative.

Is Peter Billingsley gay? I just get that vibe that he is. He is handsome! Also, I love this movie immensely. My mother had a friend whose ex-husband was a cinema photographer in Hollywood? something like that. Anyway, her ex-husband used to get really rowdy drunk with McGavin. McGavin like to womanize as well. She never mentioned McGavin being a pedophile. If he was she would say so, trust me. In fact, she did say that Raymond Burr liked boys that were much younger than 18.

I think they couldn't afford anyone and Darren McGavin came cheap, r47.

Melinda Dillon played the role of "Honey" in the original Broadway cast of Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" in 1962.

Wow. So those really were "angel-tits"!

And she was almost 40.

[quote]My mother had a friend whose ex-husband was a cinema photographer in Hollywood?%0D %0D He took pictures of movie houses?

R53, I think he's asking us if that's what he did.

Women with naturally curly hair in the 1940s did not wear it long like Dillon does in the movie. It would have been shorter and styled to minimize the curling.

People, if you've been on DL for any length of time, you know that the McGavin as pedophile along with another of those early posts are just people fucking with us.

All they would have had to do with Dillon's hair is put two comb-held rolls on the sides to form a late 1940's look (see link).%0D %0D As for the film, all I know is that straight guys LOVE it.

Is that woman actually from the 40s or is it just a current day model in 40s fashion? She's lovely.

R49, McGavin is reported to have earned $2 million for the role, which was a huge sum at the time.

I think the movie is set in 1939, not the 40s. All the toy stores feature merchandise tie-ins to THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) and SNOW WHITE (1938). One year later the store windows would have been pushing new PINOCCHIO toys rather than two-year-old stuff from SNOW WHITE.

Dillon's hair-do looks like that of a housewife who neglects her own appearance because she has a family to feed. The age-discrepancy between her and McGavin is typical of the general poverty of the lower classes at a time when it took men longer to achieve the means to support a non-working wife while women married young just to escape their parents' houses.

In the film, Ralphie receives a 1940 Speed-o-Matic Radio Orphan Annie Decoder pin.

Wait, how old is Zack Ward? How could he still look so young in that photo?

Pretty sure Billingsley is straight. In addition to all the Vince Vaughn straight comedies he writes/produces he was also a producer on the early 2000s "View" rip-off "The X Show," which was a slightly toned-down version of "The Man Show."

Wikipedia might be wrong on that. Ralphie's decoder pin was exactly like the one my dad had, and it was 1937. He kept the Orphan Annie magazine it came out of with it. We sold the set to a very excited collector at an auction a few years ago.

That curly permed look Melinda sported was huge in the early 80s. My mom and all of her sisters wore their naturally straight hair that way.

Remember the girl from Quarterflash?

Regarding the time frame of the film: my feeling is that it takes place around 1946-7. The chunky women's clothes and cars... the use of the mid-to-late 1940s recording of Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters' Jingle Bells.

The Little Orphan Annie radio program was sponsored by Ovaltine on the NBC network from November 1936 to January 1940, at which point both the sponsor and the network dropped the show.

THE WIZARD OF OZ came out in the summer of 1939 and was not re-released until 1949.

A CHRISTMAS STORY is set almost certainly in 1939.

So before I go spreading it around town that Ralphie's dad molested him on the set, is this true?

Bear 'n cub.

Don't embarrass yourself, R68. The previous poster was only joking about Ralphie being molested in response to this thread's over-dramatic headline.

In the interview Peter says it's set during the Depression.

The Depression latest about a decade after the Crash, so 1939 is plausible.

He's hot. I love short guys.

Well of course it was, R71. He had to have been feeling that way after being molested.

I'd say he's gay.

[quote]A CHRISTMAS STORY is set almost certainly in 1939.%0D %0D This is probably true, though most descriptions I've seen of the film over the years have usually said "Jean Shepherd's slice of 1940s Americana" (or something like that), so that may be why there's always such a debate about it.

Heavens to Betsey. Melinda's character was a frazzled mother. She wasn't a glamor girl. Do you actually think real housewives walked around looking like Lucy and Mrs. Cleaver fully coiffed, dressed to the nines with pearls?

Anyone can edit on IMDB R59. No character actor especially one that was primarily a TV actor made $2 million dollars for a small film. Melinda Dillon was a bigger name at the time it's doubtful she got anywhere near that amount.

I wonder if anyone has ever actually sat through the entire 24 hour TBS marathon.

I'm so sorry R53/R54. He wasn't a film editor. What was I thinking typing that? LOL! What was even scarier I wasn't drunk nor stoned when I type that message, LOL! He was a Film Editor and he won an Academy Award as well.

You something R75, I think Peter Billingsley is gay as well. He is 40? or in his early 40's and they don%E2%80%99t mention anything about being married or having kids. Usually that is a sign Hollywood the guy is gay. In addition, on IMBD, when you go to the biography sections and the trivia about them outweighs their biography, GAY!!! That is how I figure it. I'm so sorry R53/R54. He wasn't a film editor. What was I thinking typing that? LOL! What was even scarier I wasn't drunk nor stoned when I type that message, LOL! He was a Film Editor and he won an Academy Award as well.

Merry Christmas Everyone! and Happy Holidays!

Well R80, According to Jack in Will and Grace, that would make Peter a Pocket Gay. Peter the Pocket Gay!

He is producing partners with Jon Favreau and co-produced "Iron Man" and made his directing debut with "Couples Retreat". Here's a very homo erotic clip. Let's watch, shall we?...

Re: Dillon's hair and the period. %0D %0D My mother had incredibly curly hair and in 1940 wore it shoulder length. So I never saw anything odd about Dillon's hairstyle in the movie.

My parents took us to the theater to see this in 1983. I thought it was the greatest movie ever made. I was in third grade and spent many years trying to find people to discuss the movie with me. I'm glad it got the classic status it deserves.

So what's new with Peter?

Regarding Melinda Dillon's curly hair. Lucille Ball's hair looked a lot like that when it was down on ILL.

They're doing a search for child actors for the musical version for November and December.

R85 Not much .. traveling around, having meetings. Finding bodies. You?

[quote]Regarding Melinda Dillon's curly hair. Lucille Ball's hair looked a lot like that when it was down on ILL.

Not even close.

Melinda Dillon in A Christmas Story.

Lucille Ball during the run of I Love Lucy

This movie is overrated, dull, not funny, and corny. Hate it, the same director Bob Clark did the 70's "Black Christmas" and it's a thousand times better.

This Lucille Ball.

-Bump for x-mas

Can;t believe he talked about Melinda Dillon's being a golden showers freak, and about having to service the entire crew.

Tongue kid and Scut Farkas were on THE VIEW this morning. Tongue kid is a chubby little guy who also starred in THE TOY with Jackie Gleason and Richard Pryor, who he claimed was his "mentor" that he called through the years. Parts dried up after puberty and he now runs a memorabilia shop with his dad someplace. He brought each of the women a set of caricature cards of their faces.

Scut Farkus is dazzling. Tall, lanky, gorgeous, reminded me of Prince Harry but better looking. He has had an interesting life--worked as a "cowboy" in Australia, sailed from someplace to Japan, has been around the world etc etc. And yes, I'd do him in a heartbeat. He's an elite ginger specimen if there ever was one.

Tongue guy said that the flagpole was made of plastic and had a little motor at the bottom with a suction thing that sucked his tongue onto the pole and held it in place for his scene. The women all went nuts telling the audience not to try the flagpole trick at home.

Just watched "Four Christmases". Damn, but I would totally do Billingsley! HOT little fireplug!

It's a dreary, joyless, mediocre movie. Why does anyone bother with it?

"A Christmas Story" Marathon begins on Christmas Eve at 8:00 and continues until 8:00PM Christmas Day on TBS.

I didn't like this movie as a child, but I've come to love it over the years.

He was sodomized with the leg lamp!

[quote]Scot Farkus is dazzling. Tall, lanky, gorgeous, reminded me of Prince Harry but better lookingHe had yellow eyes! So, help me, God! Yellow eyes!"

Scot Farkus had yellow eyes! So, help me, God! Yellow eyes!"

[quote]It's a dreary, joyless, mediocre movie. Why does anyone bother with it?

I just don't get it. Why do you bother posting how you don't like something that is beloved by millions of people? Does it make you feel special? Superior?

Billingsley was in one of my favorite movies when i was a little kid. he and his parents went to this dude ranch and this guy was trying to murder him. Billingsley was dressed as a cowboy and left him with a fat babysitter. The creepy killer lured the fat cow out of the apartment by paying for a hot chocolate and then walking. All she saw was a cup drop down and fill with the yummy drink. When she went to the machine to get it, he slit her throat.

Billingsley was all alone and locked himself in the toilet. The guy was breaking down the door so Billingsley turned on the hot water to steam up the room and then made a mixture of shampoo, conditioner, shaving cream, mouth wash, etc... in a towel and threw it in the guy's face to escape.

Anyone know what I'm talking about and if it is available on DVD? Yeah, I know...I was a fucked-up child.

[quote]Please omit that last paragraph and read this one instead....

Billingsley was in one of my favorite movies when I was a little kid. He and his parents went to this dude ranch and this guy was trying to murder him. Billingsley was dressed as a cowboy and was left with a fat babysitter. The creepy killer lured the fat cow out of the apartment by paying for a hot chocolate and then walking away. All she saw was a cup drop down in the machine and fill with the yummy drink. When she went to the machine to get it, he came up behind her and slit her throat.

Billingsley was all alone and locked himself in the toilet. The guy was breaking down the door so Billingsley turned on the hot water to steam up the room and then made a mixture of shampoo, conditioner, shaving cream, mouth wash, etc... in a towel and threw it in the guy's face to escape.

Anyone know what I'm talking about and if it is available on DVD? Yeah, I know...I was a fucked-up child.

r102/103, the movie you're looking for is called "Death Valley" and co-stars Catherine Hicks and Paul LeMat. Sadly not on DVD and not shown much on TV. I've seen bootleg VHS to DVD transfers on ioffer though.

This thread is TWO YEARS OLD!

So why the fuck did you bump it, r105?

Cause it is CHRISTMAS!

Good news for r102/103, Shout Factory is releasing "Death Valley" as a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack tomorrow! Mine is preordered from amazon. Can't wait!

I'm not surprised at what happened onset since we have all heard about Corey Haim and Tatum O'Neal before, but to hear Peter Billingsley talk about what went on in such gritty detail was shocking, even for Datalounge.

What are you talking about, r109? I just watched the OP's video and there's no shocking revelations. It's a 5 minute fluff piece like you'd see on Entertainment Tonight. Is there some different, far more salacious interview with Billingsley?

He's adorable! But I hate the fact that he pals around with Vince Vaughn makes him a lot less attractive.

Are you kidding r111? It confirms he's an asshole, and probably a Republican.

One of the Holiday Season’s enduring franchises is set for a legal showdown.

A Christmas Story, Warner Bros.’ 1983 movie about a kid who pines for the perfect toy, plays nonstop on TBS and has spawned a mini-empire ranging from merchandise to a Broadway show. But the film’s success also has provoked a lawsuit scheduled to go to trial in January.

At issue is whether the National Entertainment Collectables Association, which licensed the rights to make toys based on the movie, owes money to one of the film's actors. Most of the actors signed contracts that provided for set merchandising royalties — but not Zack Ward, who played the bully Scut Farkus at the age of 12. During production, the filmmakers had Ward trade lines with one of the other child actors, making the role of Farkus bigger than was originally intended. However, the producers failed to then upgrade his contract to control his publicity rights.

Ward was shocked in November 2010 at the annual Christmas Story charity fundraiser convention in Cleveland, Ohio, when a fan handed him a Christmas Story board game that showed his face on the box and the game's playing cards. Later, Ward also discovered a calendar too.

Ward, now 42 and still acting (he’s had small parts in Transformers and CSI: NY), sued because NECA had allegedly tricked him into signing away rights for a Farkus action figure when the company realized that its deal with Warners didn’t cover all of the actors.

Ward briefly sued Warners too, but dismissed that lawsuit when the studio gave him some cooperation. Now, in a lawsuit against NECA, he has told the judge, "I am sure the Court can imagine my feelings of humiliation and anger at the Defendants for having purposefully defrauded me."

During a deposition, Ward, nervous and attempting to lighten the mood, slipped into a Dr. Evil voice and said, "One billion dollars" when asked how much he wanted. NECA has responded that the lawsuit came too late and is prepared to have experts testify that $6 million in claimed damages are overstated for a board game that grossed about $750,000 in sales.

In late October, a judge denied the defendant's motion to dismiss Ward's attempt to collect money over emotional distress damages from any violation of his rights of publicity. The judge ruled that the credibility of Ward's statement that defendants "stole [his] face" being an "emotional situation" was something to be determined by a jury.

Kent Raygor, the attorney for NECA and its president Joel Weinshanker, says "the parties reached agreement on terms of settlement" after a mediation session earlier this month.

But Randall Newman, the attorney for Ward, insists there are still "major issues" to be resolved, among them being that his client is adamant that any settlement not be confidential.

Ward says he wants to be heard.

“People have to be accountable,” the former movie thug tells THR. “You can’t just bully people all the time and get away with it.”

I still want a hula hoop....

TBS just began its annual 24 hour marathan of "A Christmas Story" a few hours ago

A few hours ago? Try 24 hrs ago on Christmas Eve. Your post was made 23 minutes into the final showing of the movie this year.

mmm

I've discovered Peter is married. He brought along his wife and daughter to Broadway NY premiere of, "A Christmas Story". Searched on google first, then Broadway.com website

Peter Billingsley is not a fag, and I'm the dame who can prove it!

So did Zach Ward win his case or what?

The house used in the film was bought by a fan, and then he proceeded to gut the entire house. And then recreate the interior of the house you see in the film.

Oh thank god. I thought you said he gutted the house and torn it down.

[quote] Is that woman actually from the 40s or is it just a current day model in 40s fashion? She's lovely.

Where does the stupid that is this deep come from?

[quote]The tongue kid did a porno? Really? I think I want to see and don't at the same time.

Did he show dick? Or was it just using his name only, kinda like Howard Stern Presents.

R124, he did more than show dick. I saw the clip with him years ago. It was a real X-rated (straight) porno and he did the deed.

[quote]Peter Billingsley is not a fag, and I'm the dame who can prove it!

Bumping a five year old thread to post this stupid comment comes from the mind of someone stuck at age 4 when they think cak, graxy, and WHET are the funniest things ever posted at DL. Be sure to return with some M and G comments.

Time to bump this thread up for the Christmas holiday season!

Merry Christmas, r127!

I jutht fail to thee the humor in making joketh about a perthon'th thpeech impediment.

Jean Shepherd used to have a five nights a week radio show on WOR New York. For years it was his custom on Christmas Eve to modify the show's format and read the story "Duel In The Snow, Or, Red Ryder Nails the Cleveland Street Kid".

Shep may have been a louse as a person but he was a treasure as a storyteller.

Is he related to me?

Fuck off, R129!

[quote] I wonder if anyone has ever actually sat through the entire 24 hour TBS marathon.

Sure. The people we've tortured at Gitmo have been forced to watch it all.

Jean Shepard was a he?

Best-known as Ralphie in 1983 "A Christmas Story" is 44 and has never married. Anyone know him?

bumping this up tonight, just because

[QUOTE]bumping this up tonight, just because I'm a fucking idiot.

Fixed.

I would imagine the "just because" was to coincide with the Fox live broadcast of the musical version of ACS.

Has he ever talked about The Dirt Bike Kid (1985)?

Scut Farkus is NOT a fag, and I'm the dame who can prove it!