In Case You’ve Somehow Never Seen Airplane
The jive jokes in 1980’s Airplane begin when two passengers, played by Norman Alexander Gibbs (credited as “First Jive Dude”) and Al White (credited as “Second Jive Dude”), sit down and begin a conversation so filled with slang that the film provides translations to help audiences follow along.
The joke is heightened when Barbara Billingsley, best known for playing “the whitest white lady on the planet” (more on that soon), offers to help flight attendant Randy (Lorna Patterson) understand the men’s complaints.
Billingsley, listed in the credits as “Jive Lady,” starts off with the immortal line, “Oh, stewardess? I speak jive.” But she is soon rebuffed.
Here are 12 stories about how the Airplane jive scenes came to be.
Share:
