Charles Austin Miller

The Addams Policy - S2-E28

Trivia: Throughout the various television treatments and feature films over many decades, the Addams Family storyline frequently concerned the family's fabulous and mysterious fortune, which was always the target of nefarious (and doomed) flim-flam schemes. However, it was almost never explained how the Addams Family obtained their incredible riches. In this episode from the original TV series, Gomez and Morticia finally revealed the diverse sources of their wealth: Gomez cites his mango plantation, "Mangoes Incorporated"; his Mozambique crocodile farm, "Crocodiles Unlimited"; his Himalayan tapioca mines on Mount Everest, "Tapioca Limited"; and Morticia additionally mentions "Amalgamated Swamp" and his buzzard farm.

Charles Austin Miller

Trivia: Perhaps the most often-repeated "Jaws" trivia is that actor Roy Scheider spontaneously ad-libbed the film's most iconic line, "You're gonna need a bigger boat!" Screenwriter Carl Gottleib apparently started this rumor after "Jaws" became a worldwide sensation in 1975, probably because the only thing that generated as much publicity as the film itself was backstory of the film's production; and Gottleib's rumor has charmed fans and persisted to this day. However, when reporter Paul Iorio interviewed Roy Scheider in 2000 (for a story in the San Francisco Chronicle on the occasion of the "Jaws" 25th anniversary), he specifically asked Scheider about the line "You're gonna need a bigger boat." Scheider answered: "That was in the script. The first time he [Chief Brody] sees the shark. But I liked the line so much, it amused me so much, that I said, 'I bet I could work this in a few other places.' So I worked it in two more times." Indeed, Chief Brody does refer to needing a bigger boat twice more, and those subsequent lines are ad-libbed; but the very first and most memorable time he says the line, it was purely scripted. Paul Iorio's question and Roy Scheider's answer were edited out of the published San Francisco Chronicle story.

Charles Austin Miller

Trivia: While James Cagney was a fine and spirited dancer in his own right, known for spontaneously "ad-libbing" dance steps on stage, Cagney insisted that Warner Brothers hire choreographer Johnny Boyle for "Yankee Doodle Dandy" to teach Cagney the precise dancing style of George M. Cohan. Boyle was an expert imitator of famous dancers and their routines, and he had worked with and choreographed Cohan on stage many years earlier. Under Boyle's instruction, James Cagney delivered a near-perfect impression of George M. Cohan's eccentric, stiff-legged, marionette-like dancing style in this movie. Unfortunately, during rehearsals for the film, Johnny Boyle broke his ankle, and the injury effectively ended his dancing career.

Charles Austin Miller

Trivia: In this incredibly stupid NBC television sitcom that lasted only one season (from Sept. 1965 to April 1966), Jerry Van Dyke's late mother is reincarnated as a hideous vintage ragtop jalopy called a "1928 Porter"; but, in fact, no such vehicle was ever produced in automotive history. The 1928 Porter was a fantasy car assembled strictly for this short-lived TV show, using bits and pieces of a Model-T Ford, a Maxwell, a Hudson, and a Chevrolet.

Charles Austin Miller

Trivia: The original ending for this film (fully produced but then deleted) was a jaw-dropping apocalypse. For starters, Audrey II actually kills and eats both Seymour Krelborn and his bride-to-be, Audrey. The giant carnivorous plant grows to gargantuan proportions and divides into multiple monsters that go on a Godzilla-style rampage across New York City, tearing down bridges, eating whole passenger trains, climbing the Statue of Liberty, and doing battle with the military. The original ending alone cost over $5 million out of the film's $25 million budget, so it was a major undertaking. When director Frank Oz test-screened the finished film, he was stunned that audiences hated the deaths of lovable Seymour and Audrey and everything thereafter. Oz hastily reassembled his cast and crew to re-shoot a cheaper, much less gruesome happy ending, which was a hit with audiences. However, Frank Oz said that he thought the original ending was far superior and some of his best work, and he was extremely dissatisfied with the revised happy ending.

Charles Austin Miller

Trivia: Contrary to longstanding rumors, Natalie Wood's death did not change the plot or threaten production of this film. At the time of her death, Wood had already completed all of her principal photography, including the ending. According to producer/director Douglas Trumbull, the truth of the matter was that Metro Goldwyn Mayer was in financial trouble and saw Wood's death as an opportunity to bail itself out of debt; so, MGM halted production of "Brainstorm" and tried to write-off the film as a loss in order to collect a sizable insurance claim from Lloyd's of London. When Lloyd's investigated the claim and deposed Douglas Trumbull, he told Lloyd's that the movie was not at all damaged or threatened by Wood's death, and that it could easily be completed. Although MGM refused to pay for the film's completion, Lloyd's of London itself gave Trumbull $5.8 million to finish production.

Charles Austin Miller

Trivia: When Atlantean King Orm tries to coerce the Fishermen Kingdom to join the war in this film, Orm calls the Fishermen leader by the name "King Ricou"; this was a tip-of-the-hat to Ricou Browning, the stunt swimmer who played the Gill-Man in underwater scenes for the 1950s "Creature from the Black Lagoon" trilogy.

Charles Austin Miller

Season 1 generally

Trivia: As we see throughout the series, the demon Crowley's prized motorcar is a 1934 Bentley that he has owned and driven since it was new. The choice of this vehicle for the show was a deliberate departure from the original novel, in which Crowley drove a 1926 Bentley. As it turns out, neither Terry Pratchett nor Neil Gaiman knew anything about vintage cars when they co-authored "Good Omens"; in ignorance of the car's actual appearance, they arbitrarily chose a 1926 Bentley for The Book. During production of this TV series, however, when Neil Gaiman at last saw a 1926 Bentley, he realised that it was not at all the motorcar he and Pratchett had envisioned. Upon reviewing photos of many vintage Bentleys, Gaiman finally chose the 1934 model (as it more closely matched the "intended look" of Crowley's car) for the TV series.

Charles Austin Miller

Trivia: Steven Spielberg originally conceived this movie as a science-fiction thriller, a sequel of sorts to "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," with much-more-sinister aliens terrorizing a family's rural home (that was the premise of "Night Skies," the Spielberg concept that was never produced but was eventually cannibalized by other projects including "E.T. The Extraterrestrial" and this film). When Spielberg brought in Tobe Hooper to direct what later became "Poltergeist," Hooper convinced Spielberg to drop the science-fiction trappings altogether and make it a straight-up supernatural horror story.

Charles Austin Miller

Trivia: This low-budget suspense/adventure was produced during the early Cold War and the flying saucer craze of the late 1940s and early 1950s, and it's often hailed as the first UFO-themed feature film. But, except for a crude saucer prop and a couple of cheesy, split-second visual effects, this movie is primarily a Cold War espionage story with Russian spies attempting to steal American weapons technology. The filmmakers' original intent was to include actual government-authorized flying saucer footage; accordingly, the film's prologue reads "We gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of those in authority who made the release of 'The Flying Saucer' film possible at this time." However, the filmmakers apparently never obtained any flying saucer footage (government-authorized or otherwise), and no such footage appears in the movie.

Charles Austin Miller

Trivia: In this and other Avenger films, Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) is depicted as standing much shorter than Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr). In reality, Ruffalo is only one inch shorter than Downey (who is 5'9" tall); but Bruce Banner is always portrayed as a diminutive character in contrast to his gigantic Hulk persona.

Charles Austin Miller

Trivia: At the 1985 Academy Awards ceremony, 78-year-old Sir Laurence Olivier appeared onstage to announce the Oscar nominees and winner for Best Picture. Olivier had been ill for years and was suffering dementia at the time, and the ceremony producers immediately knew something was wrong when Olivier started opening the envelope as soon as he reached the podium. Sure enough, Olivier completely forgot to mention the four other nominated films and simply announced, "The winner for this is Amadeus." After a bit of embarrassed confusion, Olivier presented the Best Picture Oscar to "Amadeus" producer Saul Zaentz, who saved the day somewhat by spontaneously and graciously thanking the producers of the other four nominated films, by name.

Charles Austin Miller

Trivia: During production of "The Exorcist," director William Friedkin abandoned the movie's original musical score (by Lalo Schifrin), and he turned to Atlantic Records for replacement music. During a visit to Atlantic Records, Friedkin picked up a random white-label recording, listened to its intro, and immediately wanted it in his movie. That random white-label recording was "Tubular Bells" by 19-year-old musician Mike Oldfield (his very first album). Although Friedkin used just a scant few seconds of Oldfield's music at only two points in the movie, "Tubular Bells" became a popular sensation, selling many millions of copies by virtue of its association to Friedkin's film. The enormous success of "Tubular Bells" made Mike Oldfield a worldwide star overnight. It was also the very first album released by Virgin Records (a young Richard Branson had provided the studio and equipment for Oldfield's work). Ironically, Mike Oldfield said he wouldn't watch "The Exorcist" because he heard it was too scary.

Charles Austin Miller

Trivia: For decades after "The Wizard of Oz" premiered, Margaret Hamilton was often called upon by adoring fans to render her witch's cackle and her most famous movie line: "I'll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!" Although she obliged her fans, Hamilton always publicly expressed regret that her Wicked Witch of the West was too frightening for small children. However, after she died in 1985, her only son (Hamilton Wadsworth Meserve) admitted that his mom frequently used her wicked cackle and "I'll get you, my pretty" line in private life as he was growing up, just because she loved doing it.

Charles Austin Miller

Trivia: As well as singing the lyrics for "A Spoonful of Sugar," Julie Andrews also provided the voice of the robin, whistling in harmony with herself.

Charles Austin Miller

Trivia: Child actor Karen Dotrice (who played Jane Banks) said in later years that she and Matthew Garber (who played Michael Banks) were shocked at Julie Andrews' frequent foul language and smoking on the set of "Mary Poppins"; and they were also aware of something very wrong with Dick Van Dyke (who was seriously hungover much of the time and having bouts of suicidal depression).

Charles Austin Miller

Trivia: Yul Brynner, whose Man In Black character was made famous in earlier American western movies, agreed to reprise the character in Westworld for only $75,000, because he sorely needed the money.

Charles Austin Miller

Trivia: Science-fiction author Harlan Ellison wrote the original novella "A Boy and His Dog" in 1969, and director L.Q. Jones wanted Ellison to also write the screenplay for this 1975 film. When it became apparent that Ellison could not provide a screenplay (due to "writer's block"), Jones co-wrote the screenplay. In a DVD commentary decades later, Jones said that Ellison was pleased with the finished screenplay and movie except for certain dialogue. Ellison was especially offended by the last line of the movie, spoken by the telepathic dog, Blood: "Well, I'd say she certainly had marvelous judgment, Albert, if not particularly good taste." (This grisly line alluded to Vic and Blood eating Quilla June Holmes, the female love interest, in an act that happens off-camera.) Harlan Ellison said it was a "moronic, hateful, chauvinist last line, which I despise."

Charles Austin Miller

Trivia: When Yul Brynner chases Richard Benjamin into the android lab, Benjamin douses Brynner with concentrated hydrochloric acid (attempting to blind the killer android), and Brynner's face sizzles, bubbles and starts melting. The acid effect for this shot was achieved in a decidedly low-tech manner: Pulverized Alka Seltzer antacid tablets were mixed with Yul Brynner's facial makeup; Brynner's face was then doused with water, and the Alka Seltzer fizzed away Brynner's makeup as piped-in stage smoke swirled about his head. (01:16:50)

Charles Austin Miller

Trivia: In later interviews, Stanley Kubrick revealed that George C. Scott did not want to portray General Buck Turgidson as a campy character in the film; he very much wanted to play Turgidson straight and serious (just as Kubrick had originally envisioned the entire film). Kubrick agreed and filmed Scott playing the role straight, but only on the condition that Scott rehearse the role as over-the-top camp. Scott agreed to camp it up in rehearsal only if the cameras weren't rolling, and Kubrick assured him they weren't rolling. However, Kubrick lied and filmed the campy rehearsals, as well, which were used in the finished film. As a result Scott refused to work with Kubrick again.

Charles Austin Miller