GENIUS!:

The triple-dog dare scene from the holiday classic "A Christmas Story" will get the treatment commonly afforded to war memorials, as northwest Indiana tourism officials this morning plan to unveil a bronze statue of elementary schooler Flick's fateful, failed attempt to prove one's tongue would not stick to a frozen flagpole.

The statue will sit outside a welcome center just south of Interstate 80-94 in Hammond, with today's ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the release of the film, a sleeper hit that has become a seasonal staple on cable TV and introduced the warning "you'll shoot your eye out!" into popular culture. [...]

Flickinger died in 1997, but his daughter is scheduled to attend today's unveiling, as is Scott Schwartz, the actor who played Flick on-screen. Schwartz did his own stunts, according to media accounts, though his tongue was adhered to the flagpole with a suction cup.

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