The Blob (1958)
Trivia
Jump to:
Spoilers (3)
Steve McQueen had the poster of this film on his bedroom wall at the time of his death.
The actual Blob, a mixture of red dye and silicone, has never dried out and is still kept in the original five-gallon pail in which it was shipped to the production company in 1958 from Union Carbide. It was put on display over the years as a part of the annual Blobfest, held over a three-day period each summer in Phoenixville, PA, which provided a number of the shooting locales for the film. In addition to displaying the Blob and miniatures used in the shooting, the event features a reenactment of the famous scene in which panicked theatergoers rush to exit the town's still-functioning Colonial Theater, as well as several showings of the film.
Steve McQueen constantly smoked cigarettes during filming even though he is never shown smoking in the movie. At about 49 minutes into the movie you will notice smoke coming up behind Steve. That's because he is holding a lit cigarette behind him with his hand behind his back.
According to producer Jack H. Harris, they added dye to the Blob to make it increasingly redder after it had consumed successive victims.
Steve McQueen was playing a teenage high-school student, but he was actually 28 years old.
Partially filmed in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. The theater everyone is seen running from is the Colonial Theater.
In an attempt to profit from Steve McQueen's success in The Towering Inferno (1974), this film was re-released in various countries during the mid-'70s, falsely promoted as an Irwin Allen-style new disaster movie.
Steve McQueen was offered $2,500 or 10% of the profits. He took the $2,500 because the film wasn't expected to make much. According to producer Jack H. Harris when being interviewed by film historian Tom Weaver, the film ultimately grossed $4 million.
The popular title song that was used over the opening credits was credited to the Five Blobs. There was only one Blob, studio singer Bernie Knee, whose vocals were recorded five times.
The old man's cabin and the crater were filmed in a soundstage. There were two versions of the cabin built. One was full size for the actors to use. The second version was only about three feet high and was used in the background of wide shots to create a false perspective.
The strange movie being shown in the theater was not created for this film. It was an actual movie originally released as Dementia (1955). The scenes shown are from the re-cut version titled "Daughter of Horror", which had narration added. The voice doing the narration is that of Ed McMahon.
The movie poster just outside the theater of "The Vampire and The Robot" is actually for Forbidden Planet (1956), with different titles pasted over the original info.
The credits list this as a "Tonylyn Production." This was actually a combination of the names of producer Jack H. Harris' two children, Anthony Harris and Lynda.
This film was originally going to be called "The Glob." It was changed when it was discovered that cartoonist Walt Kelly had already used that title. According to producer Jack H. Harris, the film was titled "The Molten Meteor" when it was in synopsis form.
According to producer Jack H. Harris, Aneta Corsaut was interviewed and hired only two days before shooting started.
Dick Powell, who was the head of Four Star Productions, asked to see a rough cut of this film. This led to the casting of Steve McQueen in Wanted: Dead or Alive (1958).
The buckle-in-the-back pants worn by most of the younger male members of the cast were a popular fashion trend of 1957-1958, and were most likely selected from their own personal every day wardrobes.
Steve McQueen so disliked this movie that for many years he refused to discuss it.
The Blob was created with a modified weather balloon in the early shots, and in the later shots with colored silicone gel.
In changing the title from "The Glob" to "The Blob," producer Jack H. Harris hoped that comedians would still pick up on it. As he predicted, many comedians mentioned "The Blob" during their routines. This resulted in this low budget movie getting many free plugs on national television.
The last time Steve McQueen was billed as Steven.
Bart Sloane is credited for special effects. He also served as the art director and animator. He created the animated sequence and main title over which the cast and credits were matted. His other animated sequences included the shot of the electric cable being shot off of the pole and the live electric line striking the blob. He also created the matte paintings.
After the Blob had consumed the old man, the doctor tells his nurse to dump some "trichloracetic acid" on the it. That is a weak acid used to treat genital warts.
According to producer Jack H. Harris, there were at least two proposed television series based on this film. None had made it to the pilot stage. Harris jokingly suggested that The Blob could become a good guy and solve crimes.
This independent production was originally picked up by Paramount Pictures for use on the bottom half of a double bill with Paramount's production, I Married a Monster from Outer Space (1958). Early marketing tests and initial bookings indicated that a larger share of the ticket buyers were coming for this film rather than the top-billed picture, so it became the main feature and more money was spent on its promotion.
The title song "The Blob" was co-written by Burt Bacharach and is on his album "Look of Love:The Burt Bacharach Collection." Paramount tapped Bacharach and Mack David (brother of Bacharach's usual writing partner, Hal David) to come up with a non-threatening theme that would prevent the faint of heart from going into nostril-flaring terror during the opening credits. Together they came up with "The Blob," a goofy musical creature that is one part "Temptation" to two parts "Tequila." Session singer Bernie Knee does the champagne-cork-popping honors by pulling his finger out of his cheek seven times. Only Ralph Carmichael's score received a screen credit, giving credence to the notion that the song was a last-minute addition. The Five Blobs turned out to be a phantom group that consisted of Bacharach, a bunch of musicians for hire and Nee, who tracked his voice five times to achieve that Boris Karloff-esque quality.
The building they enter to get the fire extinguishers is the Samuel K Barkley Elementary School in Phoenixville PA.
Producer Jack H. Harris was also a producer on the remake The Blob (1988).
In a discussion with biologist Richard Dawkins, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson stated that among all Hollywood aliens, which were usually disappointing, The Blob was his favorite from a scientific perspective.
Steve McQueen's starring feature film debut. While this was shot in color, his next film, The St. Louis Bank Robbery (1959), was shot in black and white.
Before the Blob attacks the movie theater, Steve and Jane are standing in front of the theater. Across the street you can clearly see the dark windows and sign of The Bootery shoe store. The owner, Meyer Shusterman, was working there that night, saw the filming and decided it would be good promotion. So, later, when you see the crowd running out of the theater, the windows of the store are brightly illuminated and the sale signs are easy to see.
Although producer Jack H. Harris always claimed that this film cost $240,000 to produce, years later director Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr. said that the actual cost was only $120,000. Other sources list the budget as low as $110,000.
Jack H. Harris' personal favorite of all his films.
According to producer Jack H. Harris, director Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr. initially met Steve McQueen when the actor's wife Neile Adams was appearing in a short religious film Yeaworth was making. According to Harris, Yeaworth found McQueen to be "a dirty jerk, an opinionated pain in the ass," among other things, and reportedly kicked him off of the set after Adams' part was completed. Hopeful of signing 'Anthony Franciosa' for the lead in "The Blob," Harris attended a performance of "A Hatful of Rain" in which Franciosa was appearing, but when he saw understudy McQueen filling in for an ailing Ben Gazzara, the producer decided to sign McQueen to a three-picture deal. McQueen proved so difficult that rather than find an entirely new director and crew to work with him, Harris decided to shoot the two subsequent films, 4D Man (1959) and Dinosaurus! (1960), with other actors, a decision he ultimately regretted.
In some of the promo material, the character played by Aneta Corsaut is referred to as Judy. Her character in the film is named Jane.
The firemen and a fire truck in the movie were from the Alert fire company in Saint Clair, Schuykill County, Pennsylvania.
Aside from this movie, director Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr. only worked on Christian films. He felt that there was an uplifting message for teenagers in The Blob.
There's a scene where the Blob goes to the diner down the street from the theater. In reality, the two are 11 miles apart from each other.
Producer Jack H. Harris had experience as a distributor, but this was his first foray into motion picture production.
When Officer Richie tunes the radio and keys the microphone to give his chess move, there is clearly no cable connected to the microphone head.
Included among the American Film Institute's 2001 list of 400 movies nominated for the top 100 Most Heart-Pounding American Movies.
According to Westegg's Inflation Calendar, any price depicted in the movie should be multiplied by 9.34 to reveal the comparable price in 2020. For example, the "80 cent movie ticket" would in 2020 cost $7.46.
Early in the Broadway musical Jersey Boys (about history of the pop group, The Four Seasons), which starts in the late 1950s, one of the guys' dates wants to leave a rehearsal and whines, "I wanna go see The Blob."
The Downingtown Diner from the climax of the film is still in operation. The original building was moved to California studios for display but the original foundation has remained and the building has since been rebuilt. They have signed posters inside from the cast ad well as blob themed menu items!
Spoilers
There was extra footage from the scene where the doctor is being consumed by the Blob, but it was edited out, as it was considered too violent at the time.
When Steve and Jane go to the police station to report the death of Dr. Hallen, the calendar on the wall reveals that it is July 1957.
Final film of Olin Howland (the farmer who is the first victim of "The Blob").
