What Happened to Flick From ‘A Christmas Story’? The Answer Will Shock You
What To Know
- Scott Schwartz, who played Flick in A Christmas Story, went on to act in several films and TV shows after his iconic flagpole scene.
- In the 1990s, Schwartz made a surprising career shift into the adult film industry.
- Schwartz later reunited with his former castmates for the 2022 sequel A Christmas Story Christmas.
Of all the scenes in the beloved holiday classic A Christmas Story, few stand out as funny and as cringe-inducing as poor Flick, whose tongue ends up stuck to a frozen flagpole outside his school after a Triple-Dog Dare gone horribly wrong. Screaming and flailing his arms, the fire department had to be called in to pry him loose from his predicament.
Played to perfection by Scott Schwartz, the moment is both one of the funniest scenes in the film and one of the most painful to watch, perfectly capturing the reckless bravado of childhood mixed with the cold reality of winter consequences.
Ian Petrella, Peter Billingsley, Scott Schwartz, R.D. Robb in ‘A Christmas Story.’ (MGM/courtesy Everett Collection)
Schwartz stands out in the scene for his false swagger and his cries of dismay, but that was over 40 years ago. What happened to the actor after A Christmas Story? The answer will definitely shock you.
Before his work in Bob Clark’s 1983 Christmas classic, Schwartz starred opposite Richard Pryor in the shockingly offensive The Toy. To his credit, Schwartz did an admirable job as the bratty Eric Bates.
Columbia/courtesy Everett Collection
Following A Christmas Story, Schwartz headlined the delightful 1984 film Kidco, a family feature about kids starting a menure business that soon became a staple of HBO programming, playing non-stop between repeat viewings of Beastmaster.
Following Kidco, Schwartz nabbed a series of bit parts in high-profile shows, including 21 Jump Street and the NBC musical Rags to Riches, but in the ’90s, his career took a strange turn.
In 1990, Schwartz starred in Beauty and the Beast: Part II, an innocuous title for a film that is anything but. It was an adult film, and it would be Schwartz’s first in a long line of adult films, for which he would star and work behind the scenes before he retired in 1999.
Scott Schwartz, R.D. Robb, Peter Billingsley, River Drosche in ‘A Christmas Story Christmas’ (HBO Max / Courtesy Everett Collection)
In an interview with Nerve.com, Schwartz explains how he got into the industry through a friend. “I got dragged kicking and screaming to The Comedy Store with Corey Feldman to meet [adult-film actors] Ginger Lynn, Christy Canyon, and Ron Jeremy. [Adult-film director] Paul Thomas called me up and said, ‘Hey, I got this role, and I thought you’d be great at it.’ And I said, ‘Paul, look, I’m not going to do this.’ He said, ‘We got these great girls, and John Leslie.’ I had seen John Leslie in movies before, and I thought, ‘This guy’s cool.’ I played the jester in the king’s court, and John Leslie played the king. And John Leslie said, ‘I’m glad you said yes. I’ve always wanted to work with you since I met you.'”
At first, he began working in the industry in non-sex roles, where he offered his expertise to the set. “Certain directors would say, ‘Hey, why don’t you come over and do this part?’ It wasn’t about being in an adult movie. It was about doing a job and being in front of the camera. I tried to make the movie a little bit better, or make the other actors perform a little bit better, because I was the only true professional actor.”
However, after six years, Schwartz stepped in front of the camera to star in his own feature for the first time. But it took some convincing.
HBO Max / Courtesy Everett Collection
“[Wicked Pictures owner] Steve Orenstein came to me and said, ‘Why don’t you do something for me?’ He said, ‘I want you to do a scene.’ And I said, ‘No, I don’t think so.’ He said, ‘Let’s talk about it.’ At the time, financially, I wasn’t doing very well. Royalties from movies don’t pay a lot. It was something [that] looked off-the-norm for someone of my background. But rather than buy some coke, and do 80 down Sunset with a sign that said ‘Arrest Me,’ I decided to take that path.”
He did well, and in 1997, he even won an AVN for Best Non-Sex Performance for Silver Screen Confidential with Jenna Jameson. But by 1999, Schwartz opted to exit the industry. “At the end of 1999, I left. I’d had enough. I’d put in my time. I had to go find my path, what I’m supposed to be doing.”
In 2022, Schwartz joined his Christmas Story compadres for the sequel A Christmas Story Christmas, returning to the role that made him a childhood icon. The film cemented his place in pop culture, for which he was once named one of VH-1’s The Greatest Child Stars.
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