A holiday favorite: A Christmas Story premiered

November 18, 1983

The small film that has become a holiday classic, A Christmas Story, directed by Bob Clark, (based on the writings of Jean Sheppard,) and starring Melinda Dillon, Darren McGavin, and Peter Billingsley, opened on this date

Darren McGavin ad-libbed the profane rants while fighting with the furnace. He said he speaks gibberish the entire time because it was almost impossible for him to ad-lib angry words without actual profanity. He did this in order to ensure a PG rating.

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