A Christmas Story is one of the most popular holiday movies ever, and it’s not hard to see why.
It combines the hilariousness of movies like National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation with some endearing and heartfelt moments courtesy of films like Miracle on 34th Street.
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Here are 10_ completely random facts about the film you probably didn’t know.
Ralphie really is swearing in the “fudge” scenes.
One of the most memorable moments from the movie is when Ralphie says “oh fudge,” but we all know that he is actually saying the f word.
While the swear word is never said in the movie, the actor, Peter Billingsley, was saying it in every take.
The film is based on a book.
Many people don’t realize that this movie is actually based on the book In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash by Jean Shepherd.
Shepherd himself is actually involved in the movie as he does is the narrator and also makes a brief cameo.
One of the actors grew up to be an adult film star.
The actor who played Flick, the character best known for getting his tongue stuck to the flagpole, is named Scott Schwartz.
He grew up to appear in many adult films, as well as some non-adult movie and television appearances, under the name of Scotty Schwartz.
The actor who played Ralphie was the first child to audition.
During the audition process, Peter Billingsley was the first kid to audition for director Bob Clark.
However, Clark didn’t want to just hire the first child he saw, so he had thousands of others audition before casting him as Ralphie in the end.
The director got the idea for the film while driving to a date.
Director Bob Clark was driving to pick someone up for a date when he heard Jean Shephard on the radio reading part of his short story collection.
He ended up driving around the block for about an hour listening to parts of Shephard’s story which would eventually become A Christmas Story.
None of the leg lamps survived production.
There were three different leg lamps used while filling the movie.
However, none of them survived. After going through many different designs of the leg, they picked the version we all know and love. Unfortunately, all of the props got ruined during filming.
Ralphie says he wants a BB gun 28 times.
One of the most memorable lines from the movie is Ralhpie saying that he wants a Red Ryder BB Gun for Christmas.
But, he actually references this gift a lot more than you’d think. He says it 28 times which is around every three minutes.
The actor was chewing real tobacco.
These days, the way children are treated while filming movies is much more strict, and this probably would never happen.
However, according to Peter Billingsley, he was chewing real tobacco in one scene, and that it made him feel weird and dizzy.
The actor who played Ralphie worked on *Iron Man.*
While Peter Billingsley will always be best known for playing Ralphie, he has since worked behind the camera as a producer.
He was even an executive producer on Iron Man , and he even made a brief cameo in the movie.
There is a documentary about the movie’s super fans.
Unless you’re a really, really big fan of A Christmas Story , you probably don’t know there was a documentary called Road Trip for Ralphie .
The doc followed two mega-fans as they traveled to different locations where the movie was filmed.
The flagpole scene wasn’t painful to film.
We all remember the infamous flagpole scene, and kids all over have tried to re-create it.
However, it wasn’t actually painful to film. The actor who played Flick, Scott Schwartz , says a suction tube was used to place his tongue on the pole for filming.
The owners have auctioned off a two-night stay at the Parker family home.
The owners of the home used in the movie created a museum across the street and have really embraced the legacy of their home.
They even auctioned off a two-night stay in the house around the holidays in 2016 and 2017. The proceeds went to preserving the house and the surrounding area.
The house was actually sold on eBay.
While you might not expect most people to buy a home on eBay, this iconic Cleveland home was sold on eBay back in 2004 for only $150 thousand.
Entrepreneur Brian Jones purchased the home, and, as mentioned, turned it into a tourist attraction and museum.
Jack Nicholson almost played the dad.
Darren McGavin ended up getting the role of Ralphie’s dad, but there were others who were considered for the part.
Jack Nicholson was reportedly offered the part, but the budget wasn’t big enough to afford him. However, McGavin still did great in the role.
The movie has multiple sequels.
A Christmas Story actually has two sequels, but you probably haven’t heard of either of them.
The first was a made-for-tv movie in 1988, and the second, My Summer Story, came out in theaters in 1994.
The final sequel, A Christmas Story 2 came out in 2012.
