Exclusive | Ralphie from ‘A Christmas Story’ was invited to the Playboy Mansion at 18 to watch the holiday classic
It’s that time of year when everything feels a little bit more “bunny.”
The blonde-haired actor who first stole our hearts as the wide‑eyed nine‑year‑old Ralphie Parker in “A Christmas Story” has a rather mischievous holiday memory to share—watching the classic at the Playboy Mansion with Hugh Hefner and his entourage of Bunnies.
“Ralphie was a huge fan of the film, and Hugh invited me for a private screening once,” Peter Billingsley told The Post. “It was actually very cool.”
Hefner, who had a yearly tradition of projecting the movie for his Bunnies at the famed Los Angeles club, organized a special show for Billingsley when the actor turned eighteen. “I was 18. It was very fun,” the 54‑year‑old added from his Times Square podium, where he celebrated a partnership with the chicken‑finger chain Raising Cane’s. That event saw the delivery of 500 bicycles to kids from the Boys & Girls Club of Harlem.
Growing up on the Upper East Side, Billingsley shared a cramped one‑bedroom apartment with his parents and four siblings on East 82nd Street until the age of ten. In 1983 he became one of 8,000 boys auditioning for the now‑iconic role of Ralphie—and eventually the only one who cracked the part. “I never heard anything at first. Then, three months later, I got a callback,” he recalled. Billingsley now lends the original bunny suit he wore in the film to Raising Cane’s, where it’s on display in their Times Square flagship during December.
Director Bob Clark, who spent 12 years trying to get the movie off the ground, told Billingsley the instant he saw him, “you’ve got my Ralphie.” Clark admitted that the search involved traveling across the country and a three‑month nationwide round‑up before finding the right fit.
Billingsley, who now resides in Idaho and works as both director and producer, also confided that the film contains two deleted scenes that never resurfaced. “They’re both fantasy sequences—one is a Flash Gordon sequence, and the other has Black Bart’s gang trying to hijack Santa and take the toys, which Ralphie stops.” He explained that, being filmed on original movie stock before the DVD era, the reels were discarded and the footage was lost in a Warner Bros. archive search.
After a career that included roles in “Elf” and “Four Christmases,” Billingsley remains a frequent target of nostalgic fans. “I keep getting ‘Don’t shoot your eye out,’ but it’s the emotional connection that stands out,” he says. “When people say ‘That’s my family,’ they see those family dynamics reflected in the characters. The dad may be tough, but he’s caring; the mom is devoted; the kids are lying to each other and to their teachers, yet there’s undeniable love in that house.”
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