Fun Facts I Learned at Work

(a.k.a. stuff I found interesting after being asked to research "disco" by my boss) - Saturday Night Fever was Gene Siskel’s favorite movie. He even owned John Travolta’s famous "white suit" from the film. That’s right. Gene Siskel. The famous movie critic. Said it was his favorite. Of all the movies he’d seen, and as a film critic, that had to be, like, a lot, "Saturday Night Fever" was his favorite. Go figure. - Long before Jason Blair, Nik Cohn, who wrote the article "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night" for New York Magazine in 1976 that later became the basis for "Saturday Night Fever," admitted to making the whole thing up in 1997. That’s right - he just lied. And because of that one, little lie, disco exploded. With visual aids, this is a better way to keep children honest than that whole George Washington and the cherry tree deal. - "Maneiro" is common slang for cool in Brazil that was taken from the name of John Travolta’s character in "Saturday Night Fever," Tony Manero. The updated use of this slang is "fique maneiro" for "get jiggy." I wonder if Will Smith knows about this global association with John Travolta... - The largest disco was held in 1979 at the Buffalo Convention Center in New York with 13,000 attendees. At last count, 12,998 of them are now ashamed to admit they were there. - The "Minuscule of Sound" in England, the world’s smallest disco, is 32 square feet with 8 foot ceilings and holds only 14 people at a time. So, if you spill a drink, literally everyone has cause to be mad at you. - Peter Stewart of England discoed for the longest amount of time - boogieing the night (or multiple nights) away for 408 hours. - The world’s largest disco ball weighs over 1,000 pounds and is found in Salt Lake City, Utah. Derek Dyer, creator of the mirrored monstrosity, claims he fashioned it "to promote and celebrate diversity around the world." - The now classic pose John Travolta strikes in "Saturday Night Fever" (right hand pointing towards the sky) is actually known as "the bus stop." I want to meet the guy who got a bus that way. He should probably be credited with the beginnings of metrosexuality. - "I Will Survive" was the b-side of Gloria Gaynor’s 1979 single release. Record executives thought "Substitute" was bound to be the hit off of Gaynor’s "Love Tracks" album. For the sake of anyone who’s had to listen to heartbroken drunk girl at a karaoke bar, don’t you kind of wish they’d been right? - Donna Summer’s "Love to Love You Baby" is 17 minutes long. Repetitive? Sure - but still catchy. - Donna Summer is actually Donna Sommer. There was a typo on her first single, and the spelling stuck. Still, I must ask, "typo" or glorious pop career move? What if Britney were a Britanny? Maybe she wouldn’t have ended up where she is today...and maybe that would have been a good thing... - In 1966, Australian media outlets reported that the Bee Gees had been killed. While the family had been in a car accident, the future disco stars were unharmed. Take a moment to imagine how different the world would if the Bee Gees hadn’t "stayed alive"? (I love puns. I hate puns. I love puns. I hate puns...) - With a $400 loan from friends, the Bee Gees bought all available copies of their first single, "Wine and Women," so that it would get radio play in their native Australia. Note to self: it turns out that money, again, is the key to success...