Animal House Trivia

[wiffleball 4,788]

Co-writer Chris Miller based the National Lampoon short stories that gave rise to the film on his experiences in the Alpha Delta Phi fraternity at Dartmouth (from which he graduated in 1962).

 

 

The movie was set to be filmed at the University of Missouri until the president of the school read the script and refused permission. It was filmed at and around the University of Oregon in Eugene instead.

 

 

The President of the University of Oregon only allowed this movie to be filmed on that campus because he decided he did not know how to read screenplays. In 1967 he had received the screenplay for a movie but had denied it permission to film there. That movie was "The Graduate," and he liked that movie so much that he decided he didn't want to miss another opportunity, so he allowed "Animal House" to be filmed on the University of Oregon campus.

 

 

The Delta House actors were brought to the set 5 days before the Omega House actors to get into character, in an intentional effort to cause cliques to form.

 

 

The movie concludes by describing each character's fate. Niedermeyer was "killed in Vietnam by his own troops." In director John Landis' segment of Twilight Zone: The Movie (1983), some soldiers are overheard discussing "fragging Niedermeyer."

The bass player in the band Otis Day and the Knights is then-unknown bluesman Robert Cray. Cray was instrumental in getting the musicians together that appeared as the band.

 

 

Babs becomes a tour guide at Universal Studios. The credits for this and other John Landis films an advertisement for a tour at Universal Studios. The ad says, "Ask for Babs." As of 1989, Universal Studios no longer honors the "Ask for Babs" promotion, which was either a discount or a free entry.

 

 

Although Faber College's location is never mentioned, the Tennessee state flag can be seen in the background in one or two scenes.

 

 

Before Donald Sutherland was brought on board, John Belushi was the highest-paid actor in the cast at $40,000.

 

 

Otter's Coed, played by Sunny Johnson had her part cut from the film. But she does appear in the film's trailer.

 

 

On Delta's fraternity banner, the motto "Ars gratia artis" can be seen. This also appears in the studio logo of MGM.

 

 

Virtually unheard of; "Toga Parties" became all the rage in colleges all over America after the release of this film.

 

 

Donald Sutherland was so convinced of the movie's lack of potential, that, when offered a percent of the gross or an upfront payment of $40,000, he took the upfront payment. Had he taken the gross percentage he would have been worth an additional $30-40 million.

 

 

John Belushi's wife, Judy Jacklin (now Judith Belushi-Pisano), is an uncredited extra in several toga party scenes.

 

 

Jack Webb and 'Kim Novak' were the original choice to play the roles of Dean and Mrs. Wormer

 

 

The original house on the University of Oregon campus used for exterior shots of the Delta house is no longer standing.

 

 

John Landis had a budget of only $2.5 million, so to cut costs the movie was shot almost entirely on the U of O campus, including the court scene and scenes in the dean's office (the exceptions being the road trip and the parade, which were filmed near Cottage Grove, Oregon).

 

 

Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Brian Doyle-Murray, and Dan Aykroyd all turned down roles in the film due to prior commitments.

 

 

The University of Oregon reluctantly allowed its campus to be used and gave the crew 30 days to complete filming. This meant that the cast and crew faced six-day work weeks and completed shooting with only two days to spare.

 

 

Although the film takes place in Pennsylvania, a Tennessee flag is shown in the courtroom. This is because the set decorator was unable to find a large enough Pennsylvania flag for the scene, and the blue Oregon state flag wouldn't work because it had "State of Oregon" text on the upper part. So the set decorator used the most generic flag he could find, which turned out to be the Tennessee state flag.

 

 

It is likely the unnamed location of Faber College is Pennsylvania, as there are many references to that state in the movie. Flounder's brother is from Harrisburg; Flounder borrows his brother's car only "for a week or so" to bring his girlfriend "up for the weekend" and the car has the yellow-on-blue license plates which were the official Pennsylvania plate colors in the 1960s and '70s; many other vehicles in the movie have the same color plates; they take their road trip to Emily Dickinson College ("I hear Dickinson girls are easy.").

 

 

Director John Landis has stated that his original choices for the roles of Boon and Otter were Bill Murray and Chevy Chase. Neither could be signed on for the movie because of scheduling conflicts.

 

 

This movie marks the film debut of Kevin Bacon.

 

 

John Belushi was flying between Eugene, Oregon and New York City twice a week in order to finish the movie, and rehearse/film for "Saturday Night Live" (1975).

 

 

Harold Ramis, who co-wrote the film, based some of the pranks on his college experiences at Washington University in St. Louis; specifically when Otter and Boone are hitting golf balls at the ROTC.

 

 

The role of D-Day was written for Dan Aykroyd.

 

 

Spawned a short-lived ABC television series, _"Delta House" (1979/I)_ ; also "Brothers and Sisters" (1979) on NBC, and "Co-ed Fever" (1979) on CBS, which was cancelled after only one episode.

 

 

Principal photography was completed in 28 days.

 

 

John Belushi wanted his character to go with the others on the road trip but director John Landis refused, arguing that his character was best used sparingly.

 

 

One bit that was written in the original script but never filmed included a parade bust that was destroyed at the climax of film. The bust was of John F. Kennedy, the US President in 1962, and the gag was Kennedy's head was punctured in the same way the real Kennedy would be shot the next year. Landis cut the idea because he felt the tone of the gag was wrong.

 

 

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the release of this film, a parade was held down Hollywood Blvd. featuring not only cast and crew members, but recreations of parade floats used in the movie.

 

 

The Faber College football team is called the Mongols. Faber Mongols are a brand of pencil.

 

 

The full name of the Delta House changes during the movie. When the movers are taking out the contents of the frat house the name is Delta Tau Chi. Earlier in the movie it is Delta Chi Tau.

 

 

The noble brass theme heard when the Faber campus is first shown is an excerpt from Johannes Brahms' "Academic Festival Overture". This melody is based on a German student drinking song called "We have built a stately house".

 

 

In the Student Court scene, a list of Delta Tau Chi members is written on the blackboard. Writer Chris Miller's name is one of those visible on the list. Other names include "###### Hertz" and "Duane Wayne".

 

 

The list of names on the blackboard includes their graduation year (e.g., "Gregg Marmalard '63"). John Blutarsky's is listed "'60, '61, '62, '63".

 

 

Chevy Chase was originally asked to play the role of Eric Stratton. The role went to Tim Matheson instead, who later starred with Chase in Fletch (1985).

 

 

The original script called for Flounder (Stephen Furst) to be admitted to the fraternity only if he told one of Larry Kroger's (Tom Hulce) secrets. Flounder blurted out, "He's got spots on his weenie!" Later, during the naming of the pledges, when Larry asks why his Delta name is Pinto, the entire fraternity drunkenly yells, "'Cause you got a spotted dong!"

 

 

The front of the Deathmobile has the statue's head of Emil Faber (the school's founder) mounted as a hood ornament.

 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0077975/trivia

[GobbleDog 976]

May we dance wich yo dates?

[hoytdwow 202]

This film is over-rated.

Carry on.

[parrot 789]

Cray was instrumental

 

:rimshot:

[parrot 789]

Landis made a point of bringing the Delta House actors on location at the University of Oregon a week early. They quickly bonded and partied like it was 1962. One evening some of the guys met up with a few sorority girls and went to a frat party at the SAE house, to absorb the atmosphere and gather information about playing college students. The local Sigma Alpha Epsilon chapter didn't take kindly to their arrival, however, and they managed to get into a brawl with "drunk football players dying for blood." The melee that ensued sent Peter Riegert to the emergency room, left Bruce McGill with a black eye and put James Widdoes in a dentist's chair at eight on a Sunday morning to repair a broken tooth. "It was Karen Allen's fault," recalls Riegert today. "We were trying to get out of there and she turned around and started with the name-calling." When John Belushi arrived in Oregon (his SNL commitments kept him from arriving a week early) and heard about the SAE fight, he responded with, "WE GOTTA GET 'EM!!!" and had to be physically restrained from seeking revenge!