The beer, brawls and Belushi that made ‘Animal House’ a classic

NY Post ^ | 4/8/12 | MICHAEL KANE

[jimbo123]

O, Bluto, it wasn’t over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor.

But it almost never began.

“National Lampoon’s Animal House,” the rowdy blockbuster that launched a thousand campus toga parties and reinvented the college comedy, barely found a studio backer.

Warner Bros. passed. Universal Studios boss Ned Tanen said, after eyeing the outline, “Everybody is drunk, high or getting laid. I hate this treatment. I’d never make this movie!” He didn’t change his mind until producers promised to bring it in for less than $3 million.

Even after the green light, a series of power struggles, casting choices and pressure from the studio easily could have made “Animal House” a much different film. Picture this: Chevy Chase, as ladies’ man Otter, pitches a football to Harold Ramis’ Boone, who follows a couple of Delta blockers past the snobby Omegas but fumbles into the muddy end zone where it’s pounced on for a touchdown by John Belushi. The Deltas hoist Belushi onto their shoulders, hollering his frat name: “Hydrant! Hydrant! Hydrant!”

[raccoonradio]

Each of the major networks tried to cash in on the movie. ABC has the one directly based on it, Delta House. There was also Co-Ed Fever and Brothers and Sisters. Josh Mostel, son of Zero, played “Blotto” Blutarsky, Bluto’s brother, in Delta House

[andy58-in-nh]

That’s Robert Cray playing bass in Otis Day and the Knights.

Holy crap. I never picked that up. I'm a blues fan who went to college in the mid-70s and I am also a fraternity brother who had some experiences so similar to those in the film that I'm not entirely certain the statute of limitations has yet run...

[raccoonradio]

Ah—more:
http://www.acmewebpages.com/animal/trivia.htm

>>The Knights’ on-screen bass player is none other than Grammy®-winning bluesman Robert Cray! Cray was also instrumental in getting the other musicians together that appeared as the band: Robert Bailey, Sonny King, Tommy Smith, and Ron Steen. It was during the filming of Animal House that John Belushi got turned on to the blues, listening to Curtis Salgado, lead singer for Robert Cray’s Nighthawks, at the Eugene Hotel on Monday nights. Belushi’s Jake Blues was modeled directly from Curtis Salgado’s act — he didn’t steal from Salgado, he took lessons from him! Check the credits for the Blues Brothers’ album Briefcase Full of Blues, and you’ll see that it was dedicated to Salgado. At least Belushi gave credit where credit was due.