‘Grease’ turns 40! 36 little-known facts about the beloved American musical

John Travolta was against the jumping hot dog scene - He wanted the song ‘Sandy’ to end with a close up on him, but director Robert Kleiser was adamant about having a cartoon hot dog jumping into a bun. “That hot dog was fantastic. I didn’t want to shoot the close-up because I loved the hot dog. That was a battle, but I won,” he told The New York Post.

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The soundtrack had two number-one singles - ‘Grease’ and ‘You’re the One That I Want.’

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Jeff Conaway had to slouch when he was filmed next to John Travolta - That’s so Travolta would appear to be taller.

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Most of the dancers had character names - Those names included Sauce, Trix, Cee Cee, Woppo and Bubba, but they were never used in the movie.

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The Rydell prom scene was filmed in 116ºF weather - The scene in downtown Los Angeles took two weeks to film, and several extras had to be treated for heat stroke.

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The actor who played Eugene threw up after filming the final carnival scene - All the spinning made Eddie Deezen sick.

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Annette Charles (Cha Cha) checked herself out of the hospital to film the drag race scene - She was rushed into surgery for an ectopic pregnancy later that day. She had been in intense pain for days.

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Olivia Newton-John had to be sewn into the pants for the 'You’re the One That I Want' scene - The pants were actually hers in real life, but they were 25 years old.

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The producers were counting on a product placement deal with Coke - Because that never happened, several shots of Coca-Cola products and signs in the Frosty Palace scenes had to be blurred out or digitally removed.

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Paramount had plans for a 'Grease' franchise - The franchise was supposed to feature three more movies and a TV series, but these plans were put on hold following the disappointing release of ‘Grease 2’ in 1982.

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The song ‘Beauty School Dropout’ was inspired by a news story about a teenage murderer - The writers wrote the song after coming across the story of a beauty school dropout turned murderer.

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The actors behaved like high schoolers on set - Despite all being adults in real life, the actors would show up several hours late to the set and were constantly being lectured.

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Jamie Donnelly had to dye her hair - The actor had prematurely gray hair, so she had to dye it black to play Jan.

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Kenickie married Sandy’s sister in real life - Jeff Conway married Rona Newton-John in 1980.

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‘Grease 2’ had double the budget of the original film - Despite having a $13 million budget, the movie made only $15 million at the box office.

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‘Grease’ is the highest-grossing movie musical of all time - Its production cost only $6 million, and it’s made more than $400 million internationally.

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‘Grease’ turns 40! 36 little-known facts about the beloved American musical

You think you know ‘Grease?’

17/08/18 | StarsInsider

CELEBRITY Grease

In 1978, the hit musical ‘Grease’ made its debut on the big screen. Previously a play, the production ended up inspiring the world’s most successful movie musical of all time. Check out some interesting facts about this American classic—both on-screen and onstage—as listed by Broadway.com.