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You Are Here: Gangway :: Trivia > Goofs and Other Things to Watch For
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| Sunlight, Sun... Out
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| On deck when Reverend Scott asks the other preacher John if he still wants him to give the guest sermon, Reverend Scott is in sunshine, but when the Reverend John replies, "Well, one thing's for sure... nobody's gonna sleep thru it," he's in overcast without sunlight. - Phil Dearing |
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| The Mismatched Chair
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| After the lovely establishing long shot of the salon during Nonnie's Rehearsal, there is a cut to a close up of Carol Lynley in her lavender tank singing. In the background, before she gets up and approaches her brother, we see a lit urn (not unlike those on the real Queen Mary) and, to the left of that, A WEIRD CHAIR made of black leatherette and brown wood, that is unlike anything else in the salon. What IS this? I can only assess that it is a decorative piece of furniture beyond the clear glass doors that led in and out of the salon on the left and right of the glamourous curly-cued elevator doors under The Big Window. - Paul |
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| Mystery Masks
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WHAT on EARTH are those SCARY WEIRD MARDI GRAS-like MASKS in the background in Robin and Susan's room? Are they mere Random Vacation-ish Objects of Gaiety (i.e., goofy souveniers) picked up for their parents at some sunny Grecian Port of Call? Or perhaps items the passengers had to rent to wear at another gala earlier in the cruise? Please acknowledge these, somebody, as I am frightened by them -- they are pale in color, on sticks I believe, and kinda nestled against the wall at the foot end of Robin's bed. - Paul |
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| Nonnie's Anti-Gravity Sash
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In the first shot of the Dining Room, as the camera moves down from the Happy New Year sign to the band, Nonnie's sash — a long, deep-orange thing with extremely long fringe — is visible, but behind her (that is, not wrapped around her), as if it were suspended from somewhere inside the back of her vest, dangling behind her legs like a pair of long, dead, orange snakes.
By the time the M.C. calls for attention and yells, "It is exactly fifty seconds 'til midnight!" the sash has now wrapped itself around Nonnie's waist, with one end hanging down from her right hip, and the other end across her lower belly. What's more, the end across her belly seems to have no visible means of support; it looks like a hand grabbing her right hip!
Just seconds later (in Movie Time, anyway), by the time the M.C. yells "Happy New Year!" the sash has gone back to its original position behind Nonnie's legs, no longer grabbing her around the belly and hips like some garishly-colored sci-fi monster. - JR |
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| Martin's Teabag Jump Cut and The Amazing Alfalfa Pill
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Goof (GLARING continuity error): In the opening wide shot of the Grand Salon, the camera floats down to the Rosens' table, where we see Martin dunking his tea bag into his cup. The shot cuts immediately to Martin retrieving his Bag O' Pills from his jacket. Terrible, terrible continuity (or, rather, lack of)! - JR
Goof: Martin counts out six pills — and none of them is green. But when Belle asks, "Mr. Martin, what is the little green one for?" he picks up a green pill. - JR |
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| The Centerpieces... and the Jumping Party Horn
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What About Those CENTERPIECES?
After years of studying these, from looking at stills taken off the television as an eighth-grader, to examining the exquisite frames of the DVD and various recently-acquired behind-the-scenes stills, I am able to determine many things.
The Centerpieces are mainly a blob consisting of six or seven green, beige, and yellow tissue-paper flowers, much like those sold in Mexican Bazaars, and plain, unfringed foil-cardboard horns and odd curly-cued ribbons sprouted from these flowers.
Some of these stiff curly ribbons (probably wired) sport a colorful cotton-ball on the tip. Whether the horns are held in a styrofoam or florist's foam base is unknown, but doubtful, as the foam would imbed itself in the mouthpieces, rendering then unusable for merry-making. The Long Fringed Horns, like that blown by Linda Rogo at the approach of the New Year, are actually lain in a clockwise-spiraling fashion on the table around the tissue-paper flowered "island." Cellophane-wrapped rolls of streamers (exactly like one can buy today) and plastic baggies of confetti are also placed at intervals between the longer horns.
Two distinct forms of centerpiece exist, differentiating tables of Higher-Ups from those of the Peons sitting in the sunken level of the Salon. The Rosens' Table, Captain's Table, and Purser's Table centerpieces consist strictly of the flowers-and-unfringed horn-and-ribbon construction, whereas tables in other parts of the room have a very obvious "dunce-cap" or cone-like fringed-tipped hat smack dab in the center of it. It is possible these were not implemented for cast principles' tables as the tall cone would obstruct cast member's faces.
A Tall-Cone style of Centerpiece is evident in the shot of the knot of women pulling the cloth from the table in the middle of the capsize. This is the most obvious one; others are seen at a distance throughout the salon sequences. - Paul
Now that you know everything there is possibly worth knowing about the centerpieces, let's turn to The Jumping Party Horn...
Goof (continuity): In the shot of the Rosens' table favoring Belle (a particularly good shot comes as she steals a bite of Manny's cake), look at the centerpiece; the bright red party horn sits upward at about a 45-degree angle, its hole pointing in the general direction of Gangster Man (you'll see the left hand of Gangster Man, mostly obscured by Too Tan to Live, Too Young to Die Coppertone Nova Girl, on the table, his gold wedding band shining brightly).
In a subsequent shot favoring Martin, as he explains what his vitamins are supposed to do (especially as he delivers the line, "The growth part doesn't work..."), look over Manny's right shoulder (between Manny and Belle, from the back) and notice: The red party horn has magically shifted position: It is now plugged into the opposite side of the centerpiece, closer to Blinky Gracious Gold-Daisied Poncho Lady (Elizabeth Rogers), and pointing skyward (er, ceiling-ward), at perhaps 80 or 85 degrees! - JR |
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| Taras, a.k.a. Boy on a Dolphin, and the Horseacopias
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While the Grand Salon of the S.S. Poseidon — a purportedly Greek ship — is decidedly Egyptian in decor, there are (besides The Cat This Ship is Named After) splashes of Grecian-ity here and there, spotted only with a sharp eye and quick finger on the Pause button. During a lovely long discussion with Paul as we stop-framed through every last detail in the Salon simultaneously while 700 miles apart, I (JR) was able to grab the fleeting frames shown here, which Paul describes...
Where to Find Taras, a.k.a. Boy on a Dolphin: During a quick, blurry pan as Linarcos follows The Captain out of the dining room. (That's Willard the Waiter to Linarcos's left, by the way.) Taras, a.k.a. Boy, is at the far left, above the steward serving the Vague Lady in Bright Lavender and Vague Nelson Rockefeller Man, lit from below; the statue's shape is more clearly outlined by its own shadow on the wall:
Later, in a much more stable shot, as the M.C. begins the countdown to midnight (as the celebrants face the stage with their backs to the camera), look to the left third of the frame; against the wall is Taras-Boy. Also, below and to the right (your right) of Taras-Boy, notice the gentleman standing a few feet out from the wall, wearing a gold, Nehru-type jacket and holding a cloth=-covered champagne bottle. We will be discussing The Golden Busmen later. - JR
Eternal Questions
Why are the wall murals Egyptian if the ship is supposed to be Greek? Because they were re-used. They originally appeared in Fox's Cleopatra, and, like the Venus bust which was floating around in a prop-room warehouse, were simply pulled and re-implemented for the Salon.
What are the Vague Pieces of Art in the trestles of the far walls flanking the Big Tall Windows? On the Christmas-Tree end, the concave indentations in the walls (duplicating ones on the real Mary) each contained a gold sculpture of a Boy on a Dolphin, sitting atop a marble base on a larger gold base. These are gone post-capsize.
The opposite end of the room also had identical trestles, containing big copper urn-like vases, in the same general shape as the lit urns near the doors. These were lit from within, and remained intact, as they can be seen when various characters climb the tree, and are in the background of every single one of the Capsize Fly-By shots [see Dining Room Extras]. - Paul
What We Know About Taras, a.k.a. Boy on a Dolphin: "Taras was, according to Greek mythology, the son of Poseidon and of the nymph Satyrion. Taras is the eponymous founder of the Greek colony of Taras (Tarentum, modern Taranto), in Magna Graecia. ... On the coinage of the ancient city of Taras, the son of Poisedon [sic] is depicted on a dolphin, sometimes with his father's trident in one hand; the same image is depicted on the modern city emblem. According to Anton Boras of the Mythology Association of Chicago, Illinois Taras is not the son of Poseidon. New evidence has been found in an excavation site north of Athens to prove that Taras is actually the son of Gaia and Leonidas of ancient Sparta." - from Wikipedia, where you can see a picture of a coin depicting Taras riding his dolphin. - JR
What We Think We Know About the Taras Statue in TPA: I'm told the statue used in TPA was recycled from an episode of TV's "Batman" ("The Joker Is Wild," season 1, episode five; 1966). - JR
 A Horseacopia
Stranger pieces of art, in the forms of horses rising out of a sort of fluted, horn-like cornucopia, stand at either side of the 3-D Poseidon Wall Statue. These are also gold, and rest on rounded wooden bases. No doubt they are figures steeped in Mythology, but as I am not familiar with such icons I simply call these pieces Horseacopias. - Paul
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| The Mystery Statue and The Plant
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Scott looks away from The Plant, which has obviously won a staring contest and established dominance over the normally intrepid minister. - JR (Photo courtesy of Jim Avey)
The Naked Mystery Statue was used before, in 1953's How to Marry a Millionaire (pictured above and below). 20th Century-Fox was frugal, to put it politely, often recycling set pieces (see our notes on Hello, Dolly!, this section), and Irwin Allen even moreso. It's no secret that Allen's longtime costumer Paul Zastupnevich, limited by a very tight budget, reused a number of monster costumes from one episode of "Lost In Space" to the next, repainting and/or attaching appliances (and sometimes vegetable matter) to them. - JR
A planter box obviously graced the Dining Salon, and my guess is that it stood at the base of and a few feet away from the Large Window (not the one that explodes, but the one flanked by the linen-service areas).
This planter also contains a Big Gold Naked Lady (!!) which is actually a copy of the Venus de Milo. We see this item in some of the rare stills of the extras rehearsing their moves in the Salon set, and only from very far away in the New Year's Long Shots in The Film itself. The statue's head resembles a clump of gold balloons just in front of the window unless one knows what to look for.
THE PLANT, however, gets a lot of coverage, especially post-capsize.
We see it first in long-shot when Acres calls down to Scott from the marquee-like ledge over the linen pantry. It is up in the far left corner of the picture. The Gold Naked Lady and The Other Plant that flanked her is gone, but the one remains.
We see it again, and EVER so clearly when Scott makes his Final Appeal. The Plant, a yellow-green fern, hangs unmoving from its box, toward the right immediate foreground of the longshot in which Scott addresses the crowd from on high. Whether it is plastic (silks weren't on the scene yet!) or real, it must have had a WELL established root system to have stayed in place as it does.
Of some note as well are the Scary Dramatic Shadows that suddenly appear in the follow-up long shot immediately after Acres calls down to Scott. First the walls are plain and wooden-looking, then we see Scott respond, and as the cut goes back to the long shot of Acres replying, there are suddenly very spooky and dramatic shadows cast across the walls. - Paul Wilson
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| Mystery Horns and The Random Flatulent Noise
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CONTROVERSIAL. This never-completely-satisfactorily explained sound effect occurs pre-capsize, during the sequence in which Acres pours champagne for Scott and/or India Lady. Scott yells "Happy New Year" at Acres, Acres replies "Thank you sir;" applause sounds in the background as a musical bit ends; and a FART NOISE HAPPENS. Okay, okay, it sounds like a chair squonk on a bare linoleum floor, but we KNOW the Salon is carpeted. It is NOT a random instrument, as the band has finished its bit, and it is not a visible sound created by any prop movement within the shot. The consensus from Mount Poseidon List Members, after many months of debate surrounding the controversial quack-like sound and extensive analysis of sound WAVS isolating the noise, is that it must be some sort of intake of air on Gene Hackman's part after he makes his salutation. A laugh, a snort, a snicker done while inhaling.
I just don't know.
Also of note, on a the topic of sound, and within seconds of the aforementioned scenario, is the inexplicable presence of HORNS in the musical piece "To Love," which plays behind the Rogos' vacation dialogue, and becomes Susan and Terry's Groovy Dance Music. The band did not have a horn section.
However, an item of interest that I feel may explain this is the Errant Audio-Cassette Tape which flies through the air at the end of the capsizing!
We see the Piano fall down the length of the Salon, then we see Vicki Lawrence Stripper Lady [see Dining Room Extras] and Accompanying Male Companion plunge the same distance in two separate shots. AFTER they land, and BEFORE the male companion's foot kicks up, a white or clear audio-cassette tape arcs through the air.
Yes.
I used to think it was a credit card, a Kleenex(tm) Pocket Pak, or most certainly some random debris, but no, as I frame-by-framed it and watched the play of light off of it as it arcs through the air, just as the Gold Drape on the left tumbles down, it is clearly recognizable as a shiny plastic thing, the thickness exactly that of a cassette tape, and the two holes very visible in one or two frames.
Was this as accident? Somehow I do not think so. Since we are witnessing the disintegration of the Band's Stage Area, the piano, drums, canopy, New Year's Banner and so on, it is not terribly unlikely that the musicians may have had back-up cassettes to play as filler during breaks, OR, OR, the tape may have plugged into an Electric Organ or synthesizer to provide the Mystery Horns we hear in the instrumental "To Love." WOULD a prop-master be this dedicated? A very good question. Only Set Decorater Raphael Bretton would know for sure. - Paul |
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| Ill-Logic: Who's a Target?
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On the Bridge, regarding the radar screen picking up the wave: "That's a frightening target, sir — and getting closer."
Since when was something coming at you a "target"? The Ship is the target, not the wave! - JR |
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PoseidonAdventure.com All logos and trademarks are property of their respective owners. Excerpts used under U.S. Code : Title 17 : Section 107. Everything else, including design and graphics, Copyright © 1996-2011 Joyce A. Rogers. All rights reserved.
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