Who’s Up for a Toga Party? The Story Behind the Cult Classic ‘Animal House’

The Main Writer Was a Tortured Genius

Matty Simmons, head of National Lampoon, decided to make ‘Animal House’ for a few reasons. It wasn’t just for publicity – it was also partly to make sure one man stayed on the magazine’s writing staff. That man was Doug Kenney, the one who drew the rats on the paintings. In 1978, Kenney was National Lampoon’s main writer and basically held the magazine together. Terrified that his main star was about to jump ship, Simmons came up with the movie project to keep Kenney aboard.

/pop-culture/you-guys-up-for-a-toga-party-the-true-story-behind-the-cult-classic-animal-house/img/animalhouse14_MobileImageSizeReigNN.jpg

Source: Twitter

A child prodigy, Kenney had more than regular talent. He was able to pick any book off a shelf, read a passage aloud, and continue reading in the style of the book, making up the plot as he went along. He later invented the style of comedy that the National Lampoon became famous for. Kenney could put on and take off personalities the way people do with clothes. And he took this intense brain to create comedic films about sex, drugs, and vomit.

But in 1980, two years after Animal House made him a hot commodity, Kenney fell to his death from a cliff off the coast in California. The death was ruled accidental, but his friends figured otherwise.

Who’s Up for a Toga Party? The Story Behind the Cult Classic ‘Animal House’

Richard Pryor Kinda Saved the Film

There was one scene that studio execs were scared about, even in the politically incorrect world of 1978. The roadhouse scene involved a bar and African-American guys, and Universal was anticipating riots in the theaters. Universal head Ned Tanen was adamant that the scene is cut, but the producers fought back the only way they knew how.

/pop-culture/you-guys-up-for-a-toga-party-the-true-story-behind-the-cult-classic-animal-house/img/animalhouse16_MobileImageSizeReigNN.jpg

Source: The Grapevine – The Root

They screened the film for Richard Pryor, who was at the time, the biggest African-American comedian in Hollywood. Pryor’s reaction saved the scene and even the integrity of the film. According to an interview with John Landis from the New York Times, a note landed on Tanen’s desk, “From the desk of Richard Pryor.” It read: “Ned, Animal House is (expletive) funny, and white people are crazy.” That was all it took.

Who’s Up for a Toga Party? The Story Behind the Cult Classic ‘Animal House’

No One Realized Kevin Bacon Was In the Movie

It’s funny considering how popular Kevin Bacon is now and how no one really knew he was even in this movie. In 1978, Kevin Bacon was unknown enough to play a smarmy Omega pledge called Chip Diller. Bacon was actually busy serving bacon (and other food) as he was waiting tables at the time. He went to film the shoot and returned to waiting tables. Then when the movie came out, his face was suddenly appearing on every theater screen in America.

/pop-culture/you-guys-up-for-a-toga-party-the-true-story-behind-the-cult-classic-animal-house/img/animalhouse17_MobileImageSizeReigNN.jpg

Source: IMDb

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Bacon said people didn’t believe him that he was in the movie. After ‘Animal House,’ he had to wait two years for another movie role – the quickly murdered character in ‘Friday the 13th.’ It wasn’t until 1982’s ‘Diner’ that his career took off.

Who’s Up for a Toga Party? The Story Behind the Cult Classic ‘Animal House’

The Real Delta House was Way Worse

A big part of writing the script was deciding which antics from Miller’s real past a mainstream movie would get away with. Miller suggested all kinds of material, including real-life scenes of things that are way worse than just vomiting. Although the general chaotic, gross-out tone stuck, most of the awfulness was cut out by Landis, who claimed the Deltas were just too disgusting to root for. He was probably right. It’s hard to imagine the lovable Bluto putting out fires by simply barfing on them.

/pop-culture/you-guys-up-for-a-toga-party-the-true-story-behind-the-cult-classic-animal-house/img/animalhouse18_MobileImageSizeReigNN.jpg

Source: ABC News

Animal House never got a sequel, regardless of the demand. Before the newspapers hit the tables, studio execs were banging on the writers’ doors, their eyes replaced with gigantic dollar signs. The main reason the movie stands alone is that all of the proposed sequels were too crazy to make.

One proposal involved a reboot with an all-female cast. Then there was a proposed script that took D-Day’s character into Central America and had him lead a revolution (Rambo style). The writers decided to choose a script that reunited the cast in 1967 San Francisco to wreak havoc in the Summer of Love. But, Doug Kenney died in 1980, and John Belushi followed suit about a year later. So the plans for a sequel were axed.

Speaking of Rambo, check out this piece on all things Rambo!

Who’s Up for a Toga Party? The Story Behind the Cult Classic ‘Animal House’

It Inspired a Terrible TV Spinoff

Following the success of the spinoff show M*A*S*H, TV execs spent the decades of the ’70s and ’80s trying to make spinoffs of every successful comedy movie they could get their hands on. 1979’s ‘Delta House’ was nowhere even remotely close to M*A*S*H. The movie blog The Dissolve explained how Ivan Reitman came back to produce, John Hughes took over the script, and D-Day, Flounder, Hoover, and Dean Wormer all reprised their roles.

/pop-culture/you-guys-up-for-a-toga-party-the-true-story-behind-the-cult-classic-animal-house/img/animalhouse20_MobileImageSizeReigNN.jpg

Source: logos.fandom.com

But the trouble was due to network TV in the year 1979, which was way too squeaky clean for anyone’s standards. The result was a very boring Delta House with no real animalistic qualities whatsoever.

Let’s see what the stars of ‘Animal House’ are up to today…

Who’s Up for a Toga Party? The Story Behind the Cult Classic ‘Animal House’

Karen Allen is Now 67

Allen made her film debut with ‘Animal House,’ taking the role of Katy. In interviews done for the 30th anniversary of the film, Karen revealed some interesting stuff about her nude scene. Landis wanted her to bare her bottom, but she was very reluctant to do so. Donald Sutherland stepped in said he would bare his as well. She said in the interview: “I thought he was so sweet to do that, so I sort of let go of my objections and said, ‘Okay, if Donald Sutherland is going to bare his bottom, by golly, I’ll bare mine too!’”

/pop-culture/you-guys-up-for-a-toga-party-the-true-story-behind-the-cult-classic-animal-house/img/animalhouse22_MobileImageSizeReigNN.jpg

Source: WTOP

After ‘Animal House,’ she appeared in ‘The Wanderers,’ in 1979, and ‘A Small Circle of Friends’ in 1980. She also appeared as a guest star in the 1979 pilot episode of ‘Knots Landing.’ But her career-changing role came when the blockbuster hit ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’ (1981) came out, in which she played the Marion Ravenwood, the love interest of Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford). Her latest project is a movie called ‘Colewell,’ where she plays a character named Nora.

ֲ© 2021 History by Day all rights reserved