Posted on 12/15/2005 6:04:54 PM PST by presidio9
Some former child actors cringe and protest when reminded by loyal fans of long-ago projects. Not Peter Billingsley, star of “A Christmas Story.”
According to journalist Rebecca Murray, “he seems to genuinely light up when the movie is mentioned.”
Billingsley is also used to passersby tossing their favorite quotes at him. “They all still love it,” he told Murray. People ask him if he’s tired of talking about it, but he’s not. “I’m really, really proud to be a part of it.”
Billingsley still appears in front of the cameras now and then. (He had an uncredited role in last year’s seasonal hit, “Elf,” playing - what else? - an elf. He also served as the movie’s executive producer.
He was executive producer on “Zathura,” which is still playing locally in theatres. In the upcoming comedy, “The Break-Up,” starring Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Anniston, he also does dual duty in front of and behind the camera.
It’s all part of a day in the life of a talented man who, unlike some child stars, was able to make his way gracefully from kid to grownup and remain in show business.
He credits his parents with this successful transition. From the beginning, back in New York City, the Billingsleys looked on the whole thing as fun, and never let themselves take their son’s stardom too seriously. “It was also something that was just done for fun,” Peter said, in a 2002 interview with Wayne Chinsang. “If it wasn’t fun, it was going to stop.”
On the advice of friends who told her that her sons were cute, Peter’s mother took them to a agent. “The first one said we were too fat, the next one said too ugly, but the third one said, ‘Yeah, they’ll work,’” Peter said.
The three-year-old’s first gig was a Geritol commercial. Other commercials followed, and then some forgettable movies. The Billingsleys moved to Phoenix, Ariz., and struck gold in 1983 with “A Christmas Story.”
Well, not literally gold. The movie was made with a modest budget by a director, Bob Clark, who believed in it. “They (Bob and Jean Shepherd) tried for 12 years to get that film made,” Peter said. “Bob had to agree to direct another junky film for the studio to greenlight it. They hardly gave him any money. MGM didn’t support the release of the movie.”
“It was so different,” Jean Shepherd said in a 1998 interview for TV Guide. “It was too real, and MGM didn’t think kids would like it.”
There’s no way for Peter to avoid the movie, even if he tried, not even in his own family. When the Billingsleys get together in Phoenix for Christmas, someone will invariably slip it in the VCR.
He doesn’t mind the connection. “It’s a great film,” he told Chinsang in the 2002 interview. “It’s something I want to be known for.”
Besides a modest paycheck from the movie, Peter was allowed to keep one of the specially made Red Ryder BB guns, the cowboy suit, and the pink bunny suit. “It’s tucked away,” he said. “But the gun is really cool.”
Peter never really left Hollywood, although he did vanish from sight for a while, leading to those predictable rumors that he died a derelict drug addict and was buried in an unmarked grave.
That’s not his style. He joked with Chinsang about his unremarkable, non-glamorous upbringing. “There’s nothing to talk about,” he said. “I grew up in a loving family in Phoenix. I tried a cigarette once.”
What Peter did do was move into editing, some writing, directing, and then producing, where he is most active today. He frequently teams up on projects with friends such as actor Vince Vaughn and director Jon Favreau.
Favreau and Peter collaborated on IFC’s popular “Dinner for Five,” which ran for five seasons. “Zathura” and “The Break-Up” continue their association as director and producer.
Peter acknowledges there have been many changes since 1983 in the way Hollywood markets pictures. “Today, there are so many things that are our of your control,” he said. “All that you can really ever do, which is what we did with ‘A Christmas Story,’ is tell a great story.”
My parents were building a really high end house in the mid 60's, and I used my handy BB gun to bust up a soda bottle I found with some clear liquid in it (thought it was water).
It turned out that it was fiber glass resin catalyst that the contractor was using on a particularly decorative part of the house.
When my dad came around asking if I had found a bottle I couldn't lie to him. I really didn't think I did anything wrong. It was just a used soda bottle nobody wanted.
I didn't get in trouble. Actually, I'm not sure what kind of catalyst it was, but I've since found out that some of it is very hazardous. Can blind you with a fraction of a drop in your eye.
It's amazing we survived. But I wouldn't have had it any other way.
I do know that the film was supposed to be earlier than in the 50s...but things moved more slowly then, so much of what was in that movie, still held true for those of us growing up in the early 50s...the one main exception I can think of, is that during Ralphies time, they listened to the radio, as TV was as yet, not available for the common family...so during the 50s we had TV, and Ralphie did not...
But you are right, this film actually does not take place in the 50s, but rather in the 40s...but the look and feel is still the same as it was during the 50s...
And I remember Goldblatts, as I was raised in Chicago...every year, at Christmas we would trot into Goldblatts and start scouring the shelves and racks for Christmas presents...whenever we went into our particular local Goldblatts, coming in by the side door, ones nose was always assaulted by the Emeraude perfume from the perfume counter, mingled with the smell of the salami being cut over by the escalator...the mixture of those two things always made me a little sick when I first got into the store...
Memories....
I think it was Palmolive.
"Lifeboy on the other hand... yeech!"
Aaaah
I agree. Some of that aura was still around in the early 50s but the movie's definitely set in the earlier time period although I'm sure a little 'artistic license' is allowed. I noticed a few chronological goofs but what the heck? A little suspension of disbelief's good for the soul.
"The Wizard of Oz" was first published in 1900 and was a best-seller at the time. There were prior movie versions (even a silent version) before the 1939 Judy Garland version. If you notice the 1939 version starts out saying "For nearly forty years this story has given faithful service to the Young in Heart ..." Anyway, I think Jean Shepard said it was set in the 1940s.
None. But we were poor and mostly stuck with cheaper Ivory -- 99 and 44/100% pure, remember? Now and then we had Palmolive, Lifebuoy and for those Serious Curses, Lava.
There are so many great lines in that movie, I can hardly pick a favorite one...you know, for a movie that had a hard time getting made, it sure turned out to be a movie, that today, people consider to be a part of their Christmas tradition...I know we consider it as such in our home, and Christmas would not be the same, without it...
Yeah, "Harlem Nights" was much more wholesome....
Give me a break.
Artistic license appears in the mom's hair style.
Yeah, "Harlem Nights" was much more wholesome....
No. I assume that was vulgar too.
I really don't think you're talking about the same movie
If you say so.
Perhaps someone doctored the CD...because my children and I were very surprised at the vulgarity.
The Radio Orphan Annie decoder pin that Ralphie receives is the 1940 "Speedomatic" model, indicating that the movie takes place in December, 1940. Different decoder badges were made each year from 1935-1940. By 1941, the decoders were made of paper.
Thanks for that...our moms had to make sure that we ate everything on our plates...when my brother(a very picky eater, like Randy), did not want to finish his food, my dad would eyeball him, and tell him that he had worked hard to provide for the meal and that my brother needed to finish all his food...my brother would, but he would hum the whole time...whenever my brother hummed while eating, you knew he did not like the meal, but he knew dad would make him eat it anyway...
My brother...the hummer...
The Red Ryder air rifle came out in 1938 and it's demand increased with kids with the onset of war. Mostly 40's mood, IMO.
I love Jean Shepherd's work. christmas Story was great, but I also loved "Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss". I think it was the same family, Ralphie is now a teenager, and they're planning their annual two week vacation to a cabin by a lake. The narration talked about American's going on vacation and buying 'slob art', the statues, gazing balls, gnomes and other stuff people put in their front yards. It was hilarious! He wrote some really biting cultural satire in amongst his family goings on.
Thanks!
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