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Yes, "Animal House" was filmed at SN-Oregon
November 7, 2002
'Animal House' memories linger in Eugene, Cottage Grove
By KAREN McCOWAN
The Register-Guard
EUGENE - There are certain advantages to living in the house where Hollywood filmed classic scenes for a classic comedy.
When members of the University of Oregon's Sigma Nu chapter want to impress potential pledges, for instance. All they have to do is point out the staircase in their foyer and mention three words: the motorcycle scene.
If a Sigma Nu wants to persuade a girl to come to a party in the fraternity's basement, he can sweeten the invitation by dropping four words: the toga party scene.
Twenty-five years ago this month, the colonial-style frat house on East 11th Avenue was virtually occupied by the cast and crew of "National Lampoon's Animal House."
Doug Benson, then a Sigma Nu computer science major, remembers using the frat's fire escapes to go to and from class, so as not to interrupt filming.
But it was worth it to have a front-row seat for the filming of what became No. 36 on the American Film Institute's "Top 100 Funniest Films of All Time."
Now 46 and back at the fraternity as an adviser, Benson will never forget watching a stunt double do that motorcycle scene.
"They shot it at least four times," he recalled. "The front door would fly open and he would roar in from a ramp outside and right on up the stairs. A couple times he didn't make it all the way ... I was afraid there wouldn't be any stairs left by the time they were through."
He was also just plain afraid.
"It takes a lot of guts to ride a motorcycle 50 miles an hour up a staircase and stop it right here, instead of going on out that window," Benson said from a narrow, second-story landing.
Back in 1977, the R-rated satire was so controversial, local chapter members opted not to tell national Sigma Nu officials about their participation until filming was over.
A wise move, it turned out. A regional spokesman later denounced the film as "detrimental to the fraternity system."
But, if anything, Sigma Nu gained a certain cachet because of its role in the film, which is among the 50 top moneymakers of all time.
"It didn't make me join," said Spencer Miles, a Tillamook computer science major who is Sigma Nu's current president. "But it was cool. People get a kick out of it."
Some Cottage Grove residents hired as extras for scenes shot there shared the 1977 fraternity official's dim view of the film's nudity and crudity.
Many who participated in a mock homecoming parade and other scenes filmed in downtown Cottage Grove had no clue about raunchier scenes filmed on and around the University of Oregon.
Kathleen Dunnavin, now 85, was a 60-year-old homemaker when she played a woman shopper in a grocery store scene.
"Oh, my good night!" she said. "I had no idea it was that kind of picture until my husband took me to see it in Eugene. I remember thinking, `Oh, I hope nobody from home recognizes me!"'
Jana Hughes was a Lincoln Middle School ninth-grader when her 4-H horse group was hired to ride in the parade. She remembers her parents driving her to the premiere at the McDonald Theater.
"My mom thought some parts were a little risque, but my dad loved it," recalled Hughes, now a home health care provider and a mother, herself.
"Both of my kids have seen the movie - we own it," she said. "They don't recognize Mom, but they think it's good."
Though some downtown Cottage Grove merchants complained at the time that filming disrupted business, feelings for "Animal House" have clearly mellowed over the years.
Next summer, in fact, the Chamber of Commerce will mark the film's 25th anniversary with a celebration.
The city is planning an outdoor screening of the film July 4, complete with a food fight at intermission and a fireworks show afterward. Then, on July 5, they will re-enact the film's sabotaged homecoming parade, followed by a dance that night.
"The Kingsmen (who sang `Louie, Louie' in the film) have committed to come," historical society spokeswoman Karen Kempf said. "And we've contacted the Guinness Book of World Records about trying to hold the world's largest toga party."
The community, which last year celebrated the 75th anniversary of Buster Keaton filming "The General" locally, wants to hear from any area residents involved with any aspect of the film.
"We'd like to do interviews for a documentary," Chamber director Tom Flowerday said. "We're also looking for memorabilia to display at the community center."
The dilapidated prison halfway house that served as the "Animal House" exterior was torn down in 1986, but many of the film's campus backdrops are still around.
The exterior of the Sigma Nu house, for instance, served as the sorority where John Belushi's "Bluto" character climbed a ladder to window peep at half-clad co-eds. Also recognizable are UO dormitories and athletic fields, the EMU "fishbowl," Knight Library and Johnson Hall.
The Dexter Lake Club, where Bluto and the boys tangled with local toughs, is now Demeter's Cafe. The former bar is now a craft boutique. But owner Sherrie Sims says the neon sign immortalized in the film still lights up.
Also still intact is the downtown Cottage Grove building - then a car dealership - where a runaway parade float crashed through the wall and into a car on the showroom floor.
Russ Kaleese, then 24, was a mechanic at Holloman Ford. "I was inside when they crashed it through," he recalled. "Everybody applauded. Then it was, `OK - clean it up and get back to work.' The building had a roll-up door, and they'd framed in a fake front. It's amazing how quickly they could create that illusion and move on."
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