On the production of The Blues Brothers (John Landis, 1980): Principal photography

Filming began in July 1979, with the film’s budget still not settled. For the first month, things ran smoothly on and off the set. When Weiss saw the supposedly final $17.5 million budget, he reportedly joked “I think we’ve spent that much already.”

In the next month, the production began falling behind schedule. Much of the delay was due to Belushi’s partying and carousing. When not on the set he went out to familiar Chicago haunts of his such as Wrigley Field. People often recognized him and slipped him cocaine, a drug he was already using heavily on his own, hoping to use it with him. “Every blue-collar Joe wants his John Belushi story,” said Smokey Wendell, who was eventually hired to keep it away from the star. As a result of his late nights and drug and alcohol use, Belushi would often miss unit calls (the beginning of a production day) or go to his trailer after them and sleep, wasting hours of production time. One night, Aykroyd found him crashing on the sofa of a nearby house, where Belushi had already helped himself to food in the refrigerator.

Cocaine was already so prevalent on the set (like many other film productions of that era) that Aykroyd, who used far less than his partner, claims there was actually a section of the budget set aside for purchases of the drug during night shooting. The stars had a private bar, the Blues Club, built on the set, for themselves, crew and friends. Carrie Fisher, Aykroyd’s girlfriend at the time, says most of the bar’s staff doubled as dealers, procuring any drug patrons desired.

The original budget was quickly surpassed, and back in Los Angeles Wasserman grew increasingly frustrated. He was regularly confronting Ned Tanen, the executive in charge of production for Universal, in person over the costs. Sean Daniel, another studio executive, was not reassured when he came to Chicago and saw that the production had set up a special facility for the 70 cars used in the chase sequences. Filming there, which was supposed to have concluded in the middle of September, continued into late October.

On the set, Belushi’s drug use worsened. Fisher, who herself later struggled with cocaine addiction, says Landis told her to keep Belushi away from the drug. Wendell was hired to clear any from the places Belushi visited off-camera. Nevertheless, at one point Landis found him with what he described as a “mountain” of cocaine on a table in his trailer, which led to a tearful confrontation between them where Belushi admitted his addiction and feared it could eventually kill him.

After Aykroyd and Belushi’s wife Judy had a talk with him about his antics, the production returned to Los Angeles. Filming there again ran smoothly, until it came time to shoot the final sequence at the Hollywood Palladium. Just beforehand, Belushi fell off a borrowed skateboard and seriously injured his knee, making it unlikely he could go through with the scene, which required him to sing, dance and do cartwheels. Wasserman persuaded the city’s top orthopedic surgeon to postpone his weekend plans long enough to stop by and sufficiently anesthetize Belushi’s knee, and the scene was filmed as intended.

mrs-jake-blues:

Literally the funniest thing how many people that reblog John stuff from me are like I WANT TO KILL ALL MEN I HATE MENNNN then why do you like John lol go stan Jane curtin

In honour of the late, great John Belushi, I made a small doll of him in the classic SNL Bee suit. The eyebrow is what really sets this doll apart from all other bee dolls. Springs can be used for the antennae to make them more similar to the source material, but yarn keeps him cuddly. 

Difficulty: Beginner

Yarn: Yellow, Black, Skin, Brown

Hook Size: 3.5mm

Crochet Stitches Used: chain, single crochet, slip stitch

Body/Head

Round 1: Using black yarn, ch 2, 6sc in second ch from hook. (6)

Round 2: 2sc in each st. (12)

Round 3: (2sc in first st, 1sc in next st) around. (18)

Round 4: (2sc in first st, 1sc in next 2 stitches) around. (24)

Round 5: In BLO, sc in each st around. (24)

Round 6-8: Sc in each st around. Switch to yellow at end. (24)

Round 9-10: Sc in each st around. Switch to black at end. (24)

Round 11-12: Sc in each st around. Switch to yellow at end. (24)

Round 13-14: Sc in each st around. Switch to black at end. (24)

Round 15-16: Sc in each st around. Switch to yellow at end. (24)

Round 17: (sc2tog, 1sc in next 2 stitches) around. (18)

Round 18: (sc2tog, 1sc in next st) around. Switch to skin at end. (12)

Round 19: (2sc in first st, 1sc in next st) around. (18)

Round 20: (2sc in first st, 1sc in next 2 stitches) around. (24)

Round 21-23: Sc in each st around. Place safety eyes between rows 22 and 23. Begin stuffing. (24)

Round 24: (sc2tog, 1sc in next 2 stitches) around. (18)

Round 25: (sc2tog, 1sc in next st) around. (12)

Round 26: sc2tog around. (6)

Fasten off. Sew hole shut with tail.

Using black yarn, sew one eyebrow flat across the top of the eye (approx. 1 row above) and sew the other pointing upwards in raised fashion.

Hair

Using brown yarn, cut several strands and use slip knots to create the hair.

Antennae

Round 1: Using yellow yarn, ch 2, 5sc in second ch from hook. (5)

Round 2: sl st, ch 20, cut yarn, leaving a long tail.

Unhook your hook and slide it through two stitch holes across either side of the project, rehook the last loop and pull the work through so that approx. five chains are visible on either side.

Round 3: 5sc in second ch from hook. (5)

Fasten off and sew in ends.

Dolly Parton And Mick Jagger Backstage At The Bottom Line, 1977

You know what wasn’t happening in New York City in 1977? Country music. Punk rock was happening, disco was happening, and early hip hop was happening – all cutting-edge stuff. Country music was as far from the cutting edge as could be. But Dolly Parton didn’t much care, as you might expect. Big hair, big voice, big smile – big, you know, everything – Dolly Parton has never given the impression that she frets too much about what other people think.

And so in May 1977, Dolly was booked for three performances at New York City’s Bottom Line. (Though she was a fish out of water in New York, she wasn’t totally without fans – like Barbra Streisand and Bette Midler, she was a favorite of urban gay communities.) On this occasion, some boldface names of the nightlife scene came to the 400-seat venue to see her. After all, she was Dolly. Mick Jagger, Bruce Springsteen and John Belushi – all of whom had respect for country music – were all in the crowd that night, and Dolly blew the doors off the place.

–from a pretty fun listicle I found