Trivia

 

     Kate Phillips was paid $125.00 for co-writing The Blob.

 

     The monster is referred to as "the mass" in the shooting script.

 

     The 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.

 

     The Blob was created with a modified weather balloon in the early shots, and in the later shots with colored silicone gel.

 

     The last time Steve McQueen was billed as "Steven".

 

     Steve McQueen was offered $2,500 or 10% of the profits. He took the $2,500 because he wasn't expecting the film to make much. It ended up grossing over 4 million dollars.

 

     The producers originally signed Steve McQueen to a three-film deal with this being the first project. McQueen was so difficult to work with during filming that he was released from his contract for the other two films.
 

     The barking for the little dog was provided by Sound Director, Gottfried Buss (information provided by Steven Buss, son of Gottfried Buss).

 

     Pamela Bickel (now Mrs. Gottfried Buss) watched Steve McQueen's dog while he was on the set. She also turned down the opportunity to take a motorcycle ride with him (information provided by Steven Buss).

 

     Royersford resident, Rosemary Neal, was asked to stand in for Aneta Corsaut for a scene in Steve McQueen's car. Corsaut was ill that evening, and Rosemary Neal had the same hairdo. She was paid $25.00 for her participation (information provided by her son, Richard Neal [via message board], and Barry Miller).


     The old man who discovers and becomes the first victim of the Blob was played by veteran character actor Olin Howland. This would be his final film in a career than spanned almost 200 films going back to the silent era.

     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.

 

     Barry Miller, a former Royersford resident, wrote in about the Jerry's Market scene. Barry, along with some friends, were extras in the scene. The scene was shot about 7:00 p.m., shortly after his Little League baseball game ended at Lewis Road and Washington Streets. If you look closely in the Jerry's Market parking lot scene (which was supposed to take place in the early morning hours), you'll see a few kids in their Little League uniforms. Extras in the scene were "paid" a hoagie for their participation.

 

     The newspaper being sold outside of Jerry's Market is the Inter-Borough Press (information provided by Barry Miller).

 

     The fire stations participating in the Jerry's Market scene were the Humane Fire Company and the Friendship Fire Company in Royersford. The fire station in the Downingtown Diner scene was the Downingtown Fire Department. Yet these two scenes were supposed to take place in the same town (information provided in part by Barry Miller).

 

     The Colonial Theatre sequence shows a poster for a film titled "The Vampire and the Robot". Although this was one of the proposed U.S. titles for Mother Riley Meets the Vampire (1952), the movie is a phoney. It is a doctored poster for Forbidden Planet (1956)
 

     The movie being shown at the Colonial Theatre was Daughter of Horror, originally released as Dementia (1955). According to Jack Harris' attorney, Jack purchased Daughter of Horror from the estate of the filmmaker. The movie was silent, so Jack added a narrator, Ed McMahon. He inserted McMahon, wearing a stocking over his head and walking through a cemetery as he spoke. Jack told Johnny Carson about it one day when they were getting a haircut together at the Beverly Hills Hotel. Carson surprised McMahon on The Tonight Show with the clip that Harris provided (information provided by Michael Ravnitzky).


     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.

     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".

     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 the television series Wanted: Dead or Alive (1958).
 

     This independent production was originally picked up by Paramount for use on the bottom half of a double bill with their in-house production of 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 I Married a Monster, so it became the main feature and more money was spent on its promotion.

 

 

Ray's Gingerbread House     In 1986, Ray Keim (a former Phoenixville resident) and his fiancé (now wife) entered a gingerbread house competition at Exton Mall (in Pennsylvania). They chose the doctor's house to recreate in gingerbread, and won first prize. The gingerbread house was pretty huge (The base was 4 square feet). After the competition they had this 20 lb gingerbread house, and didn't know what to do with it. It became a minor celebrity in town, making temporary homes at the Phoenixvilleville YMCA and the Phoenixvilleville Public Library. Finally, the current owner of the house, bought it from them. He placed it under glass in one of the front rooms. In 2003, Ray and his wife took their kids trick or treating around the old neighborhoods. They ended up at the house. The owner was having a little Halloween party in the living room. They unmasked themselves, and re-introduced themselves as the "gingerbread people." The room lit up, and the owner asked us if they wanted to SEE it! He took them into the front room, and there is was! A beautifully preserved, 17 year old gingerbread house!