More than 40 years after its debut, A Christmas Story has become a holiday favorite if not a full-blown tradition.

Ralphie — that is, Peter Billingsley — is reliving the magic of the movie with a national tour that will visit Fort Wayne on Thursday, Dec. 19, at Embassy Theatre. 

The event features a screening of the film with Billingsley interjecting memories and taking questions from attendees.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m., with things kicking off at 7:30 p.m. Limited tickets are available, ranging from $25-$50. 

Memorable moments

In the movie, Ralphie is a 9-year-old boy obsessed with getting a Red Ryder, carbine action 200-shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock for Christmas. 

• His misadventures in pursuit of the BB gun, loosely based on the life of the movie’s co-writer and narrator Jean Shepherd, were hampered by adults — including his mother, his teacher, and a store Santa — who sternly warn him, “You’ll shoot your eye out!”
• Just imagine all the hijinks along the way: 
• The bunny suit Ralphie got from an elderly aunt. 
• Little brother Randy stuffed into a snowsuit so tight he looks like a tick ready to pop. 
• Flick and Schwartz arguing about whether a tongue will stick to a metal pole  in the winter. 
• Let’s not forget the infamous scene where Ralphie is helping his father fix a flat tire and unwittingly utters “fudge” after upsetting the hubcap full of lug nuts. But he didn’t say, “Fudge,” he said, “The word, the big one, the queen-mother of dirty words, the ‘F-dash-dash-dash’ word!”

Plenty of televised showings

If you attend An Evening with Peter Billingsley, you could walk out with a leg lamp, just like the major award “The Old Man” won in the 1983 movie. During every show on the tour, an audience member wins a lamp.

If you can’t make it to the show, of course, there are plenty of ways you can still get your dose of A Christmas Story.

TNT will air it Monday, Dec. 16, at 7:45 p.m. and midnight. There are also two 24-hour marathons of scheduled from Christmas Eve through Christmas Day on TNT and TBS. On TNT, the film will be shown from 9 p.m. Dec. 24 to 9 p.m. Dec. 25. TBS will be broadcasting it continuously from 8 p.m. Dec. 24 to 8 p.m. Dec. 25.

A little Billingsley trivia

Did you know that in the decades-later sequel, Ralphie (Billingsley) revisits Christmas as a father with many of the original characters from A Christmas Story in the 2022 film A Christmas Story Christmas? 

By the way, Billingsley was also in another Christmas favorite. 

Next time you watch the Will Ferrell classic Elf, look for Ming Ming. He’s the overworked elf supervisor in the workshop. He’s the guy dressed in red, with a light beard and a series of white fluff balls on his chest. He’ll be casting a judgmental side eye on Ferrell’s character, Buddy.