The Making of the Famous Jive Talk Scenes from Airplane! — openculture.com

Like films by the Marx brothers, Airplane! creates a feeling of giddy, exuberant anarchy by hurling a non-stop barrage of jokes at you. It is the sort of movie that viewers risk hyperventilating from laughing so much. Yet among the all gags and one-liners — “I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.”– possibly the most memorable is the famous jive talking bit. You can watch it above. The gag features two African American guys speaking with each other in an impenetrable patois of jive. Later, one of the guys — the characters are simply credited as First Jive Dude and Second Jive Dude — is suffering from a stomach ailment. When the stewardess can’t understand what they are saying, Barbara Billingsley – A.K.A. June Clever, A.K.A the whitest lady on the planet – stands up and starts to talk to the guys in fluent jive. It’s a jarring and hilarious moment. Jim Abrahams and David and Jerry Zucker, the writers and directors of the movie talk, about that scene below.

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