# Surely you can't be serious **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 2, 2026, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358 "2026-07-02T14:35:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2026, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/61 "2026-07-02T23:44:44Z")
> [@Raza](#): > > I know it’s been discussed before but I really recommend a double feature of Zero Hour and Airplane! I watched _ **Zero Hour** _ on Canadian TV a few years back and laughed heartily at the start of every scene. I loved Nielsen as a member of the RCMP in _ **Due South** _. Of course, that series couldn’t have been anything other but funny just because of the way it was written. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/62 "2026-07-03T00:27:24Z")
And no one has mentioned Nielson as the handsome, brave, resolute Commander J.J. Adams in _Forbidden Planet._ ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/63 "2026-07-03T00:32:45Z")
The precursor of James Tiberius Kirk! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/64 "2026-07-03T00:53:59Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > I remember him as the captain in the original Poseidon Advenenture And Forbidden Planet. Which I didn’t see until this century, well after he’d been cemented in my head as a comic, which made his serious role somewhat jarring. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/65 "2026-07-03T01:29:13Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > > [@msmith537](#): > > > > I remember him as the captain in the original Poseidon Advenenture > > And Forbidden Planet. Which I didn’t see until this century, well after he’d been cemented in my head as a comic, which made his serious role somewhat jarring. - From what I remember, Stack, Neilsen, Bridges and Graves , all dramatic actors at that point, were instructed to treat the insanity as deadly serious. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/66 "2026-07-03T03:38:34Z")
> [@Raza](#): > > As an aside, in the past fortnight the missus was watching a selection of disaster movies (1970-80s). My Lord, they were insufferable for me to watch _now_. Cheesy, overacted, padded. And hair. I’ve been watching them all-- what a hoot! TCM was showing them all during June. Interesting fact: Maureen McGovern sang sappy songs in **The Poseidon Adventure** , **The Towering Inferno** , and **Airplane!**. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/67 "2026-07-03T03:46:57Z")
Oh - saw thread title and thought John McEnroe would be the OP. 😧 ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/68 "2026-07-03T04:11:23Z")
Time to pick nits: Maureen McGovern had the hit single with **The Morning After** , but did not sing the song for the movie (Carol Lynley didn’t, either). The singer was Renee Armand, who sang on several John Denver albums and toured with his group, among other gigs during the ‘70s. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/69 "2026-07-03T04:25:13Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > > [@Raza](#): > > > > My Lord, they were insufferable for me to watch _now_. Cheesy, overacted, padded. And hair. > > But back then they were **so** popular. They were the Marvel superhero films of their day. They just kept coming out and people wanted more. And now I feel we should all take a moment to listen to Killdozer’s tribute to Irwin Allen. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-xy-kUckbTw/hqdefault.jpg "Man Vs Nature") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xy-kUckbTw) ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/70 "2026-07-03T11:28:44Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > Time to pick nits: Maureen McGovern had the hit single with **The Morning After** , but did not sing the song for the movie (Carol Lynley didn’t, either). The singer was Renee Armand, who sang on several John Denver albums and toured with his group, among other gigs during the ‘70s. To nitpick further, I think McGovern appeared in _Airplane!_ as a nun, and sang a brief snippet of “R-E-S-P-E-C-T” (leading to one of the jive dudes throwing up), but that was all. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/71 "2026-07-03T11:54:34Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > From what I remember, Stack, Neilsen, Bridges and Graves , all dramatic actors at that point, were instructed to treat the insanity as deadly serious. Indeed, one of the central conceits of _Airplane_ was to hire aging dramatic actors–exactly the sort of actors who would have been cast in one of the disaster movies of the time–and have them give exactly the sort of performance they would normally give, despite all the ridiculousness happening around them. It’s interesting that Nielsen is the only one who was able to parlay that into a career renaissance. Lloyd Bridges famously didn’t get it. There’s a story that he was very confused during the entire shoot, saying that he didn’t understand the jokes. Robert Stack finally said to him, “Lloyd, we _are_ the joke.” ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/72 "2026-07-03T13:31:14Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > It’s interesting that Nielsen is the only one who was able to parlay that into a career renaissance. In the book mentioned above (which I bought immediately after seeing it here), Lloyd Bridges’ son, Beau, says his dad’s career was “reinvented” by _Airplane!_ > We were so happy to see it happen, my brother and I and our family, because we always felt he had a real funny bone in there. Rarely did he get a chance to show his comic chops. Airplane! really started it for him in that arena. It was wonderful, because he did have a great sense of humor, and it finally came to light with that wonderful movie. I just loved it. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/73 "2026-07-03T14:03:25Z")
The Towering Inferno. I waited for decades to see that one again, and it didn’t age well. It was awesome on a big movie screen, but lost something on my small tv. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/74 "2026-07-03T14:30:15Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > Lloyd Bridges’ son, Beau, says his dad’s career was “reinvented” by _Airplane!_ Lloyd was great as the befuddled USN Admiral in _ **Hot Shots** _. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/75 "2026-07-03T14:32:14Z")
> [@salinqmind1](#): > > The Towering Inferno. I waited for decades to see that one again, and it didn’t age well. Especially not after 9/11. None of the movies in that Killdozer clip have. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/958977/32.png) [@salinqmind1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind1)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/76 "2026-07-03T14:51:15Z")
Oh, for sure, it was unnerving watching it again for that reason alone. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/77 "2026-07-03T15:07:58Z")
A few years back, my younger daughter (who is now 30) came home after seeing _ **Airplane!** _ somewhere for the first time. As I talked with her, I realized she missed the real joke about “the old woman speaking Jive” and had to explain who Barbara Billingsley was and why that scene was so goddamned funny. When I first saw the movie in 1980, the cinema was of course full of Baby Boomers like me, and they all shouted “Hey, that’s Beaver’s mom!” and laughed heartily when Barbara came on the screen. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/78 "2026-07-03T15:08:53Z")
And then the president in Hot Shots II. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/79 "2026-07-03T15:11:47Z")
Not all. I had no idea that old lady was the same actress as had played Beaver’s Mom 30 years prior. And yes, I had watched at least some LitB when it was current and I was 6-10yo. To me all the humor was the idea of Jive in the first place, and that any grayhaired white woman could speak it. And yes, the movie came out at about the time of peak Jive / ebonics, etc. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2026, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358/80 "2026-07-03T15:16:32Z")
Yes, but Barbara was the ideal 1950s American housewife and mother, not just “any grayhaired white woman.” Ward Cleaver would have been spinning in his grave if he had heard her speaking Jive to the Soul Brothers (if I may be allowed to use that term). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/surely-you-cant-be-serious/1031358.md?page=5)