14 December: Saturday Night Fever

On this date in 1977, Saturday Night Fever premièred in New York. 10 facts about the film:

1. The inspiration for the film was an article entitled Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night, a detailed look at the new generation of urban teenagers by British journalist Nik Cohn, which was published in New York Magazine in June 1976. The central figure in the article was Vincent, "the very best dancer in Bay Ridge," and it is Vincent who inspired the character of Tony Manero. However, Vincent never existed. Cohn confessed years later that while people like him did exist, Vincent himself was entirely made up.

2. The film was originally going to be called Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night after the article, but it was presumably decided that was too much of a mouthful so it got shortened to Saturday Night. The word “Fever” wasn’t added until the Bee Gees submitted their song, Night Fever.

3. As the film was being shot, the actors weren’t dancing to the Bee Gees at all. Most of the film had already been shot when producer Robert Stigwood commissioned the Bee Gees to write songs for it, so they were actually dancing to Boz Scaggs and Stevie Wonder.

4. John Travolta’s suit was originally going to be Black as men’s suits generally would be, and as Travolta’s preference. It was only when it was pointed out to him that a black suit wouldn’t show up well in a dark disco and that his partner would stand out more than him in her red dress that he agreed to wear White instead. The suit was later sold at auction for $145,000 and was purchased by movie critic Gene Siskel.

5. In the scene where Tony and his friends are eating at White Castle, the servers aren’t actors or extras but the actual staff who worked there. They were told to carry on as normal, while the actors were told to try and surprise them. Their reaction to Joey standing on the table and barking was actually a very real reaction to one of the cast mooning at them.

6. Likewise, in the Verrazano Bridge scene, Donna Pescow’s reaction to the boys jumping off it was real, as they’d been told not to tell her they were only jumping onto a platform a few feet below. Meanwhile, in Singapore, the government banned Saturday Night Fever due to teenagers re-enacting the scene and jumping off bridges onto train tracks.

7. Jessica Lange, Kathleen Quinlan and Carrie Fisher were all considered for the role of Stephanie Mangano. Karen Lynn Gorney is actually nine years older than John Travolta, and 12 years older than her character.

8. Travolta’s sister Ann and his mother Helen both have cameo roles. Ann is the Pizza lady and Helen is the woman for whom Tony gets paint.

9. The tango hustle wasn’t created by the film’s choreographer, but by Travolta and Gorney themselves, as the choreographer failed to turn up on the day they were due to film that scene. They had to literally think on their feet and make a dance up.

10. Donna Pescow was considered “too pretty” for the role of Annette, so she put on weight and reverted to her Brooklyn accent, which she’d spent years learning to suppress in acting school. Meanwhile, Travolta lost weight before shooting as he was running and dancing for several hours a day in order to get in shape.

Character birthday

Muscleman, a super-strong body builder engaged by the group of villains, the Bruisers, as a minder. His real name is Barry Blake. The Origin of his powers is unknown.