51 replies to this topic

[Scott]

Here at Blues Brothers Central, we're very privileged to have among our membership some people who were part of the cast in the first film, and they have been gracious enough to share their stories with us.

Illinois Nazi:
http://www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1255

Concert scene extras:
http://www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2562
http://www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/forum/showthread.php?p=48989#post48989

Orphan at St. Helen's:
http://www.bluesbrotherscentral.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3764

This post will be updated as more cast members share their stories with us. Kudos to JacobSteinAFM for finding these back for me and for being the go-between guy with one of the concert scene extras on IMDB.

[bbcentral]

Thanks for posting this Scott

I'm hoping I can find some way to get these stories on the new site. We'll worry about that when it finally launches though
(Maybe before Christmas? But what year lol)

[BluesBrotherFan]

Hi,
I love those stories. Thanx for posting them.

[JolietChick]

yes ty very much for posting these stories scott! they are very interesting.

[Fulmernator]

As Egon SPengler would no doubt say, "Fascinating."

[Father Elwood]

Fulmernator said:

As Egon SPengler would no doubt say, "Fascinating."

:-) Egon...

Anyway, I nearly EXPLODED when I saw/read these. My gawd. This is just too awesome, Scott.

[20elwood02]

Hey, I haven't posted here in a while buit I just found this:
http://www.nbc.com/Late_Night_with_Conan_O'Brien/travels/chicago_video.shtml
You can view some videos of Conan O'Brien in Chicago. Check out "Mr. T's Chicago Tour". He talks about being an extra in the movie, too, though his exact place in the movie seems unkown. ;-)
"Conan and Li'l Ed`s Chicago Blues" is funny, too.
Enjoy! :-)

[Scott]

His exact place in the movie is highlighted with an arrow pointing to him.

[20elwood02]

Yeah, I saw that of course. ;-) But don't you think that that was meant as a joke made by the team producing the show? "Well, he says he's been threre, we'll just show you some random guy."
Or can you really recognise him?

[Scott]

It looks like him to me.

[ORANGE WHIP]

i wasnt there, but the police car pileup on the grass embankment was shot on US Route 12 in Wauconda, IL.
My grandafather lived just on the other side of 12 and said he watched them film that scene from the roof of his house.

im jealous.

[elwood rocks]

iv got a question 4 an extra in the concert seen how many takes did it take to get it right:BB:

[tdinu]

Me and my sister were extras in the mall scene. I was there for 3 days and my sister was there for 5. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life. We got to meet both John and Dan. John asked my sister to go to the Blues Bar with them, but Gil Combs, who is a stunt man we became friends with advised her against it. I was 16 at the time and my sister was 17.

[elwood rocks]

kl:BB:

[rkweiss]

Hi,
I'm new to BB Central. i was there. I was the Producer of the film. I'll take questions if anybody is interested.
Best,
Bob Weiss

[tdinu]

Bob I have a question for you. Where you there for all the Dixie mall shootings? If so do you remember John Landis asking a kid to run across the middle of the mall where the cars where driving? He said, hey you and pointed at me. He said when I yell action I want only you to run straight across to the other side. I said OK. He was up on the camera boom near the car dealership and where the felt paintings and hanging pots where. When he yelled action, I started to run, tripped forward, did one somersault roll and got right up and kept running. Everyone of the other extra's said that for sure would be left in the movie. Of course it wasn't.
My question to you is, do you have access or do you know someone who has access to the outtakes from the mall scene? I would love to see it, because many others that weren't there don't believe me. Thanks in advance, Tony.

[rkweiss]

Tony,
Although I am not certain, I am fairly sure that all the original dailies have been lost to history or destroyed. You might be shocked to learn that various working versions of the movie were also lost. Back in the days before studios realized how valuable all the content it is, there were regular house cleanings in the film vault to make room for new stuff. We went to look for some scenes to include in a VHS special edition and discovered that the film was apparently dumped so Universal could have shelf space for things like "The New Leave It to Beaver." Yikes! BTW, we found a copy of a preview print and were able to salvage some scenes from it. Sorry we don't have your mall "stunt."
Best,
Bob
P.S. Attached, please find two stills from the shooting of the mall scene.

Attached Files

•  BB Mall_1_207KB.jpg   207.42K   48 downloads
•  BB Mall_2_207KB.jpg   207K   55 downloads

[tdinu]

Bob those are fantastic. If you have any more that would be awesome. My sister "dated" Gil Combs, from Stunts Unlimited for a while during and after the shooting. He actually came to our house for dinner a couple times, and he came over to a friend of mines house and played in a pick-up football game. When I was stationed in Calif. at Edwards AFB, my sister came to visit me and she went and spent about a week with Gil at his place near LA.
I greatly appreciate you responding.

[rkweiss]

I will see what I can uncover.
Best, Bob

[TK826]

Really ?
Mr. Weiss... here?

That's fantastic.

I grew up in Wauconda IL, and was lucky enough to see the staging and partial shooting of the embankment pile-up, there off of Rt 12.

.. The image is still vivid to this day.

Thanks for stopping in and thank you for posting the above photos.
- That has to be the best shot of the door star I have ever seen.
I think it should be a a great help to those of us building replica cars.

As mentioned above, if you have any others your able to share... please do.

I would expect there will be a fair amount of question about to fly.
... I know I'll be back with a few.

- Thanks again.