Animal House, the movie

Anyone over 35 can remember the 1978 sleeper hit of the year, Animal House, the bold (for it's time!) story of two college fraternities, the Deltas - the party animals, and the Omegas - the goody-two-shoes crowd.






Babs as she looks today

Last night on the Biography Channel, I watched "Animal House, the Inside Story". It brought back a flood of memories of watching this movie over the years. I remember walking out of the theater, the first time I saw it back in 1978. Everyone leaving the theater was laughing hysterically. . . everyone! Those standing in line to see the movie watched those leaving in total wonder, as if they were thinking, "This must be SOME movie!"

Animal House can best be described as where excess meets insanity. It was racist and anti-semetic. It was raunchy and rowdy. But who can refrain from laughing at the infamous food fight or the Toga Party. . . "Toga!. . . Toga!" The Hollywood bosses of the time wanted nothing to do with this script. The producers had great difficulty finding a typical northeastern college campus to shoot the movie, which almost derailed the project. NO ONE wanted their school in this film. They finally settled on the University of Oregon for the filming. The Delta House fraternity building was torn down years ago and an office building now stands on the site.

The writers were total amateurs, the Director, a high school drop out. It was filmed in just 30 days.



I think everyone agrees, the reason for the tremendous popularity of this movie is the characters in the movie remind us all of real people in our young adult years.

Thanks for letting me share memories with you of a movie that will be around for generations!