Question: Who is the guy sitting alone on a picnic table in the school courtyard while the girls are singing "Summer Nights"?
Answer: The guy on the table that was just at looking out at the end of "Summer Nights" was John Travolta's brother he was just an extra.
Travolta has 2 older brothers, Sam and Joey, who are also actors and have been involved in the industry. The guy sitting on the table near the end of the song is neither Sam nor Joey.
Answer: I think a school teacher.
Answer: Danny.
Can't be Danny since he was also singing the same song on the bleachers with the guys.
It was John Travolta's brother he was just an extra.
Question: Well it is said that Danny was supposed to commit suicide at the end. But I would like to know for what reason, could anyone give some more detail on this? What exactly is the reason Danny would want to commit suicide in the first place?
Chosen answer: It was the film producers that suggested that Danny commit suicide at the end of the film, some have speculated to give the movie a different spin than the original stage production. However, the writers refused, so he flew off in a Cadillac with Sandy instead. That said, there's very little evidence for anything to do with Grease featuring suicide actually being real, and not just a rumour.
It doesn't answer my question why he would want to commit suicide.
If you listen to the lyrics of Summer Loving, he says that he saved her life. She nearly drowned. Speculation is she was dead the whole movie. That he failed to save her. That may be why he "killed himself."
In the song "Tell Me More," there were lyrics saying "I saved her life. She nearly drowned." The speculation is that he failed to save her and she really did drown. That's why he may have killed himself.
Answer: Danny probably would have wanted to commit suicide because he was heartbroken and depressed because he wasn't who he wanted to be and he knew it. Also because he was influenced by his gang to think that he belonged where he was, which was going against his heart.
Question: At Thunder Road, how old is the woman that starts the race? She looks about 50.
Answer: I believe you are asking about Cha Cha, who was played by Annette Charles. Annette was 30 (or about to turn 30 if her scene was shot before her birthday in March). It could have just been the make-up she was wearing that made her look older. And if it seems weird to use someone that old to play a high school girl, Olivia Newton-John was also 29 at the time of filming.
Question: During the car race, we see Cha-cha say "Cmon babe." Is she referring to Danny or the Scorpions leader? (Remember that Danny wasn't originally supposed to be the driver).
Chosen answer: She's referring to Leo, the leader of the Scorpions.
Answer: I think she's secretly meaning Danny because at the dance she calls him "Zuko Baby" and then at the race she says "c'mon baby"
Question: Why did Vince say "Don't be a slob don't get a job"? How does that make sense for high schoolers? Isn't it a good thing for them to get a job?
Answer: On the radio we hear Vince Fontaine say, "Get out of bed. It's the first day of school. Don't be a slob. Don't get a job. Go back to class. You can pass!" Vince is advising his teen listeners to go back to class on the first day of school. That they should not be a high school drop-out and get a job (full-time), but instead to stay in school and they can pass their classes. Vince doesn't mean the teenagers who have part-time jobs while they're going to high school.
Question: During the beginning of the dance off, Jan is crying (while Vince Fontaine is doing the announcement). Why?
Answer: While Vince is talking mere moments before going live on the air, Jan's getting nervous, keyed-up, and emotional, so she begins to stare and sob, much to the chagrin of Putzie. Then before the 10-second countdown she excitedly tries to get Frenchie's attention.
Question: Did Sonny and Marty become a couple at the end? You see them both dancing together during the finale but for the rest of the film, there's no suggestion that they are a couple, so I was a bit confused.
Question: After Rizz brings Sandy to Danny as a surprise, Sandy runs off, and Danny looks at Rizz. Is it a look of being annoyed by Rizz, or is it "I'm sorry I hurt you before, I get why you've done this"?
Answer: He's hurt and he gives her a look of "You did this deliberately" - by bringing Sandy to meet him in front of the T-Birds, she blindsided him (and Sandy) and forced him to bring out his T-Bird persona during their surprise reunion. Obviously, that's not how he wanted his reunion with Sandy to go, and Rizzo is loving it. Rizzo is my fave character, but that bit is messed up. She may be doing it to get him back for using her as a one-night stand (before he met Sandy, not recently enough to have been the father of the suspected pregnancy like the other poster suggested). She may simply be doing it to spite Sandy because she dislikes her, and Danny is hurt and annoyed that she upset Sandy.
Question: I had a Grease Novelbook in 1979 (a book version with movie pictures and most of the script from the full movie popular shortly after the movie's release) and in that, during the end of the pep rally scene (before Frenchie's house where Sandy is crying and talking with Frenchie about Danny), the line Frenchie says ("The only man a girl can depend on is her daddy") has the added line "if he doesn't drink." I then noticed the movie didn't have that last line added. Did the play version ever have that line in it?
Answer: The original Broadway show (early-mid 70s) did not have those lines, and it didn't have that early pep rally scene. Also, in the Broadway play, the sleepover pajama party scene was at Marty's house, not Frenchy's. For the film version of Grease (1978), there were many changes, omissions, and additions. As for the book versions (novelization, storybook, fotobook) based on the 1978 film, there can also be some minor discrepancies between them and the film, regarding deleted dialogue or production photos from cut scenes.
Question: The "girl in the purple sweater" is a stone-cold beauty. She overacts madly when on-screen. Does anyone know who she is?
Answer: You might be referring to Stockard Channing, who played "Rizzo." She wore a purple sweater in some scenes.
Answer: This man is the high school's kitchen staff. He's wearing a blue shirt, beige trousers, and a white apron. All during this lunch scene we can see him in the background in a few shots, while he's collecting students' trays, etc., even before they start singing "Summer Nights." (00:11:15).
Super Grover ★
Thank you SO much for this answer! I have recently gone back and looked at the scene, and sure enough - he's a cafeteria worker. What he's doing sitting on the table in the "thinker" pose at the end of "Summer Nights" is another question, altogether. But at least you've answered my question as to who the heck is.
Michael Albert
The Summer Nights scene shows the progression of their lunch - at the end everyone has gone except the pink ladies + classmates. He's probably waiting for them to go so he can clear up, you see him resume work as the girls leave.