The Busiest Time for Bunnies
For bunnies, this is definitely a hectic season.
Peter Billingsley, who portrayed the wide-eyed 9-year-old Ralphie Parker in “A Christmas Story,” has a rather cheeky holiday memory—watching his own film at the Playboy Mansion alongside Hugh Hefner and the bunnies.
“He was a huge fan of the movie… I once got invited to a screening, and it was actually pretty enjoyable,” Billingsley recounted, sharing his experience.
Hefner had a yearly tradition of screening this cherished Christmas classic, which coincidentally happened while Billingsley was mingling with the bunnies at the iconic party residence in Los Angeles. He recalled, laughing, “I was 18 years old. It was a blast.” Now at 54, Billingsley reflects on that festive night, but he keeps its specifics wrapped like a gift tucked under a tree.
“No better way to put it than Hef was a very gracious host,” he said, speaking during a Times Square event where he partnered with a chicken finger restaurant, giving away 500 bicycles to kids from the Boys & Girls Club of Harlem.
Billingsley grew up on the Upper East Side, living in a one-bedroom apartment with his parents and four siblings until he turned ten.
At just 12 years old, he auditioned for “A Christmas Story,” standing out among 8,000 hopefuls for the iconic role in the 1983 film.
“I didn’t hear anything for a while. Three months later, I got the call. I genuinely thought I hadn’t made it,” Billingsley shared. Interestingly, the original bunny suit he wore during filming has been lent to Raising Cane, which will showcase it at their flagship location in Times Square throughout December.
Director Bob Clark, who dedicated 12 years to bringing the film to life, felt an immediate connection with Billingsley when they first met. “I was the first boy to audition… and he said, ‘Oh, that’s the guy.’ But, of course, he wasn’t going to hire the first person he saw,” Billingsley explained, noting the extensive nationwide search that ensued.
Now a director and producer based in Idaho, Billingsley has been trying, rather unsuccessfully, to track down two deleted scenes from the film, which screens on TBS and TNT for 24 hours starting Christmas Eve each year.
He described, “Both are fantasy sequences; one features a comic book character, Flash Gordon. The other involves ‘Black Bart’s gang attacking Santa to steal toys, but Ralphie intervenes.’ Unfortunately, this movie was made in ’83, before DVDs and all the extra footage, so it was shot on film, and they were scrapped. We searched the Warner Bros. stage but couldn’t locate them.”
As a father of two, Billingsley often finds fans worldwide stopping him to share their love for “A Christmas Story,” frequently quoting his memorable line about wishing for a BB gun.
“I get the phrase, ‘Don’t shoot your eye out,’ quite a lot. But what really strikes me is how people tell me how significant this movie is to them. They usually say, ‘That’s my family,’ and relate their experience to those characters.
“We see a strict yet loving dad, a caring mom, and kids who lie—not just to each other but also to their teachers. It feels so genuine… and there’s this warmth in that household.”
