The World's Greatest Book of Useless Information Read Online Free PDF Page A

talking to the hippie and they get up to leave, Teeny puts out her cigarette twice.
    If you pause Saturday Night Fever at the “How Deep Is Your Love” rehearsal scene, you will see the camera crew reflected in the dance hall mirror.
    In 1976, Rodrigo’s song “Guitar Concierto de Aranjuez” was number one in the United Kingdom for only three hours because of a computer error.

HOLLYWOOD INSIDER
    When a film is in production, the last shot of the day is called the “martini shot”; the next-?to-?last one is called the “Abby Singer” after a famous assistant director.
    Smithee is a pseudonym filmmakers use when they don’t want their names to appear in the credits.
    A “walla-?walla” scene is one in which extras pretend to be talking in the background—when they say “walla-?walla,” it looks like they are actually having a conversation.
    The Academy Award statue is named after a librarian’s uncle. One day Margaret Herrick, librarian for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, made the remark that the statue looked like her uncle Oscar, and the name stuck.
    In the early days of silent films, there was blatant thievery. Unscrupulous film companies would steal the film, re-?shoot a scene or two, and release it as a new production. To combat this, the Biograph Company put the company’s trademark initials, AB, somewhere in every scene—on a door, a wall, or a window.
    Ronald Reagan did a narration at the 1947 Academy Awards ceremony.
    The second unit films movie shots that do not require the presence of actors.
    Alfred Hitchcock never won an Academy Award for directing.
    Because metal was scarce, the Academy Awards given out during World War II were made of wood.
    A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY…
    The actor who played Wedge in the original Star Wars trilogy has a famous nephew: actor Ewan McGregor, who plays young Obi-?Wan in the new Star Wars trilogy.
    Darth Vader is the only officer in the Imperial Forces who doesn’t have a rank.
    In the Return of the Jedi special edition, during the new Coruscant footage at the end of the film, a storm trooper can be seen being carried over the crowds.
    Four people played Darth Vader: David Prowse was his body, James Earl Jones did the voice, Sebastian Shaw was his face, and a fourth person did his breathing.
    Luke Skywalker’s last name was changed at the last minute from Starkiller to make it less violent.
    The name of Jabba the Hutt’s pet spider monkey is Salacious Crumb.

YOU HAIRY APE
    King Kong is the only movie to have its sequel (Son of Kong) released in the same year (1933).
    King Kong was Adolf Hitler’s favorite movie.
    Skull Island is the jungle home of King Kong.

SHARK TALE
    Bruce was the nickname of the mechanical shark used in the Jaws movies.
    In the 1983 film Jaws 3D, the shark blows up. Some of the shark guts were stuffed E.T. dolls being sold at the time.

ENJOY THE SHOW
    One of the many Tarzans, Karmuala Searlel, was mauled to death by a raging elephant on the set.
    Debra Winger was the voice of E.T.
    Dirty Harry’s last name is Callahan.
    In Psycho, Mrs. Bates’s dress was periwinkle blue.
    SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED
    Felix Leiter is James Bond’s CIA contact.
    James Bond is known as “Mr. Kiss-?Kiss-?Bang-?Bang” in Italy.
    Jean-?Claude Van Damme was the alien in the original Predator in almost all the jumping and climbing scenes.
    More bullets were fired in Starship Troopers than in any other movie ever made.
    The famous theme ostensibly from Dragnet was actually composed by Miklos Rozsa for the 1946 film noir classic The Killers.
    Godzilla has made the covers of Time and Newsweek.
    Gone With the Wind is the only Civil War epic ever filmed without a single battle scene.
    The movie Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor, was banned from Egypt in 1963 because Taylor is a Jewish convert.
    The movie Clue has three different endings. Each ending was randomly chosen for different theaters. All three endings are present on the DVD.
    The movie Paris,