When “A Christmas Story” initially came to theaters in 1983, it flew surprisingly far under the radar, though after countless word of mouth recommendations and television re-runs, it’s become a classic holiday comedy and pop culture phenomenon.

A major factor in its rise to global recondition is the iconic role of Ralphie Parker, played by the just as legendary Peter Billingsley, who is finally ready to share a mound of behind the scenes exclusives following a screening at the Rialto Square Theatre in Joliet on Wednesday, December 18, not all that far from the tale’s Indiana origins.

The longtime actor and now filmmaker called Chicago Concert Reviews for a rundown of the rare in-person evening, observations surrounding the series’ surge in popularity, the wide-range of reactions he receives on a regular basis, how Jerry Seinfeld may have been influenced by the movie, plus spending a ton of time in town making his own alongside lifelong friend Vince Vaughn.

Tell us a bit about your history with the Chicagoland area.

Peter Billingsley: I’ve had the good fortune to spend a lot of time in the Chicago area, a lot in the city. My best friend and producing partner for a long time, Vince Vaughn, as you know, has very strong roots to the city. He’s made a couple of movies there. We shot “The Break-Up” together there, shot a bit of “Couples Retreat” there as well and I have a lot of friends still there…I have a lot of great, strong roots in the city and I’m really really excited to be coming back to the area.

We also were able to take “A Christmas Story: The Musical,” which was a show that I produced, to the Chicago Theatre. I remember we had a wonderful review. I think it was in the Tribune the next morning that said, “this show should be on Broadway,” and after that, we made a Broadway run, which was great. It was really fun and that was really the first thing that I had done at that time with “A Christmas Story,” which was a project I had done all the way back in 1983, so it was nice to re-envision it as an actual musical. Then the sequel that I did was the last thing [relating to the series].

When you working on “A Christmas Story Christmas,” what did you want it to be and was there anything you intentionally avoided?

Billingsley: We wanted to first and foremost preserve the integrity of the first film. We didn’t do anything to tarnish that. A lot of people have asked, “why 39 years later?” Well, in some ways it was really freeing because when you’re way past the teenage years or even the early years of Ralphie, you could completely reimagine where he is as a father and where all the kids were, now grown up in life. I think our goal with that one was really to get the tone right.

The first one had such a magical tone and feel, with Jean Shepherd’s writing, and the narration, and the style of it, so we put a lot of thought, time and effort into making sure that we did that…The first movie is really about Christmas from the child’s perspective and all they want is for that Christmas to be the best Christmas possible. Then when you’re a father, all you want is for Christmas to be great for your kids, so it was a nice way to reimagine Ralph, and to see where he is now and try to provide that for his own kids.

What do you have planned for the Rialto after a screening of the original?

Billingsley: Yeah, we’ll be screening the movie, which first and foremost is really fun for people who haven’t had the chance to see it in a theater with other people, because when this movie came out, it was not a big hit, but it’s a comedy and it plays great. There’s great laughter, and obviously, it gets you in the Christmas spirit. But in researching the sequel, I spent a lot of time watching the first film and it brought up a lot of memories in a great way for me. I remembered how we did a lot of scenes and a lot of fun stories. I spoke to a lot of the cast members and [found] a lot of anecdotes, stories, perspectives and point of views of the film that I haven’t really have had an opportunity to show publicly, cause obviously, I did the press for this movie many, many years ago. Also, I went through some personal photo albums and I I’ll show some stills, I’ll talk about some moments. There’s a lot of funny stuff that happened on set and also a lot of perspective that I’ve gained on the film since 40 years later.

Why do you think it was received so modesty at the start and then blew up?

Billingsley: That’s a good question. I looked back at the original trailer for the movie. So much of this stuff is all in marketing. It doesn’t really feel like the film. I think the studio panicked a little bit cause they had a movie that had kind of its own tone, had its own rhythm and style, and they cut a trailer that looked a little more like a screwball comedy and I don’t know that it appeared super appealing to people. Obviously the movie’s great unto itself and so it just took time.

Another reason that we’re doing this is because this is a movie that is here today because of the fans. The fans shared VHS tapes many years ago. They tuned into the marathon (laughs) year after year. They’ve supported this movie and kept this movie alive, so it’s a nice opportunity for me to get out and say “thank you” and share some insight that I have to it, because without this incredible fan base that we have, this movie really would’ve just come and gone.

What do you consider to be the most memorable and iconic scenes?

Billingsley: My favorite scene personally is when the leg lamp arrives and the dad says, “Fraa-jeel-aay! It must be Italian” (laughs). I love the old man character so much. I love the idea that he’s won this thing and the poor guy works his tail off, probably doesn’t make a lot of money, and he thinks this represents some European, amazing thing. It didn’t matter what was in that box because that’s a moment of pride for him.

There’s so much in that that I love about it, and certainly when we poll the audience, the flag pole, the Chinese restaurant. The cool thing about this movie is some films, I think, have maybe one or two iconic scenes and most fans would agree on that, but when you ask people, it seems like it never surprises me that people have different favorites. They love the movie as a whole, but there’s really specific moments that they relate to more. I think the big thing about this movie, there’s a relatability to the family, and to the environment and certainly the Midwest. It captures it so well, just the cold, and the weather and the grind of life, but despite all the bumps and bruises in that house, and the arguments at times, there’s a lot of love and a lot of warmth in there, and it’s in a non-saccharine way. I think that feels like a lot of our families do.

As you travel around the country, how often do you get recognized and what do people say?

Billingsley: I do (laughs). I still look kind of similar to [Ralphie] at that age, and certainly after the sequel, I think now people know what I look like as a grown-up. It’s increased in the last couple of years for sure, but as I said, we have such a great fan base that when people stop me, obviously they want to say “hi” or maybe take a photo, but it’s an incredible thing because they really want to express gratitude to the film, and what it’s brought into their lives, and their families and the traditions they’ve been able to have around it. They just want to share that with me and let me know that the Parkers really feel like their own family, so it’s always such a nice interaction with fans.

Sometimes they’ll shout out their favorite line or “you’ll shoot your eye out.” It’s just a really nice thing of them really wanting to express their own gratitude. A lot of people have asked, “Do you have an issue still being associated with a film from so long ago?” The answer is “no” because when you’re having interactions like that. How is that not such a great part of your day as well?

The movie was made in the 1980s, but was actually set in the late 1930s or early 1940s. How natural or challenging was it for you to make the jump between the two timeframes?

Billingsley: It was mainly easy because the filmmakers Bob [Clark] and Jean. They worked for 12 years to get this movie made, so the attention to detail on the set when we got there [was incredible]. I learned some of this from Bob then, but even from Reuben Freed, the production designer, later in life, that he really tasked him with sourcing the specific toys for making the set really feel like it was evocative of that time. So when you’re in any of these environments when you were on the set, when you were looking at the props, you really felt like you were transformed back in time.

But I think also by the same token, it’s a pretty timeless movie, cause if you think where we are now in 2024, in 1940, that’s a huge chunk of time. We’re coming up on a hundred years, yet the characters feel timeless and they feel as though things they’re going through then are things that they’re going through today, the things that they’re feeling, the things that they’re experiencing. So it’s this kind of magical needle thread where it is period, but it still feels real relevant and I think even just the dialogue and the language, it still feels very current. It doesn’t feel as though it’s some old-timey movie.

Can you think of any ways the film specifically influenced other aspects of the arts?

Billingsley: Well, he had said this publicly, so to what level it is, I don’t know, but Jerry Seinfeld was a huge fans of Jean Shepherd and there’s an aspect to “A Christmas Story” where there’s no major set pieces in that movie. All the family’s trying to accomplish is getting a Christmas tree, wishing and hoping for a gift, winning a contest, trying to cook a turkey, all the smaller, mundane things that we all go through in life, but they are then heightened to such a high level that they feel as though the stakes are life and death within them. I think a lot of Jerry’s comedy is that and certainly his show was that very much. “Seinfeld” was not a show about super high concept episodes. It was about all the anxiety that we go through in life with worrying about the small things and I think that’s there in some ways, maybe inspiration of that. Obviously Jerry and his team did it on an incredible level and were able to sustain that. I think there’s something very relatable about, again, that anxiety that we all feel with just the simplest things in life.

If you had to objectively pick the ultimate holiday comedy classic, would it be “A Christmas Story,” “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” “Home Alone” or “Elf” and why?

Billingsley: (Laughs). It’s so hard. My appreciation for the film has grown through the distance and time because you do get more objective with it, but I think of those, I love them all. Two John Hughes movies [“Christmas Vacation” and “Home Alone”]. There’s something about “Christmas Vacation” and just Chevy [Chase’s] point of view in that movie that really makes me laugh and makes me feel good. I think, again, it’s a very familiar concept. You’re just trying to, in that case, host a great Christmas (laughs) and it never seems to go well. But I think all the good ones let you go through the challenges of the holiday, like everyone’s family does, but there’s always the magic of Christmas morning that makes it unlocked.

You’ve been in a ton of other movies, TV shows and commercials, starting when you were a child. Who are a few of the actors you learned the most from along the way?

Billingsley: I’ll start with a filmmaker. Bob Clark, the director of “A Christmas Story,” turned out to be really my single greatest mentor in my career when I wanted to transition from a career dominated from time in front of the camera, to knowing that I always had a desire to move to the back of the camera. I called a lot of filmmakers that I had worked with and nobody called me back, except for Bob, and he really remained in my life. He guided me very much as a friend and as a mentor. His biggest advice was for me to get in the edit room, which I did and that really became my film school, working through post [production].

I think as an actor, I met Vince Vaughn when I was 18 and I’ve learned a tremendous amount from him, both on the acting side and on the storytelling side as well. He’s just incredibly driven and is committed to a vision on a project. It’s always inspiring to work with him on something when we set that goal and then we’re driving towards that. It’s always a very satisfying feeling.

With the New Year coming around the corner, do you have any upcoming projects?

Billingsley: Probably the most immediate thing, we did a contemporary western starring Wyatt Russell and Dennis Quaid called “Broke” and that comes out early next year through Sony Pictures. It’s about a bareback bronc rider who gets stuck and trapped in the snow, and it’s a very cool film. If you look back to my resume, there’s a lot of diverse genres (laughs) on there, a lot of Christmas titles, yes, but lots of others. Every now and then you find a project that you’re passionate about, something that you believe is a great story and is able to attract all the right people. “Broke” was certainly that film.

---

Peter Billingsley appears alongside a screening of “A Christmas Story” at the Rialto Square Theatre on Wednesday, December 18. For additional details, visit RialtoSquare.com.