The Origin Of Airplane!'s Hilarious "Don't Call Me Shirley" Gag

Screen rant ^ | June 7, 2019 | Padraig Cotter

[DoodleBob]

[Fledermaus]

In the sequel I laughed when Shatner and the lunar base folks would go “swoosh “ when the doors opened.

[Cletus.D.Yokel]

It’s a gag from the vaudeville act of Henny Youngman.
Milton Berle used it, too.
Get it right.

[Bratch]

[Sicon]

Leslie Nielsen and Lloyd Bridges were absolutely brilliant in that movie.

[workerbee]

Can you even imagine that now?!?!!?

[Huskrrrr]

I’ve used that gag more times than I can remember.

[Olog-hai]

... with the comedy being heavily inspired by the 1957 b-movie Zero Hour! ...

The movie used the same screeenplay, almost verbatim, with comedic variations. The main character has the same name albeit with spelling altered (Ted Stryker/Striker).

[OttawaFreeper]

I, of course, like Lorna Patterson in this movie.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

The only scene I remember from Airplane II is when Shatner appears to be seen in a monitor, but then the door opens and we were just looking at him through a window.

That was hilarious!

[Fledermaus]

Cute girl

[Gay State Conservative]

later

[Burma Jones]

The genius of that movie was playing something that silly with serious actors playing it straight. Bridges, Nielsen, Peter Graves and Robert Stack — four older guys who had always played serious/tough-guy roles — made that movie.

If you’re a fan of the movie like I am, you owe it yourself to buy the new book that they ZAZ guys just put out last year. Tells the whole story from the inside - fascinating. It’s on Amazon - Surely You Can’t Be Serious: The True Story of Airplane!

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

I ran into Leslie Nielsen at my gang’s Sunday brunch bistro venue on Sunset Blvd sometime in the late 80’s. After the Airplane films came out. He looked unmistakenly, immutably like Leslie Nielsen, I can tell you that. I remember that he was the police department captain in innumerable TV detective episodes, always the straight man. I just shook his hand and said I hoped he made 500 times the amount of money he made on Airplane than he had on all those endless TV series. He just smiled and thanked me.

[dfwgator]

Or when they would make the Star Trek “Shhh” sound when the doors were opening.

[Jyotishi]

“Shirley, you jest” (with or without a comma) is common on FR.

[TauntedTiger]

Thank you for pointing that out. I knew it was older than Airplane! It’s a great movie, so why claim something that isn’t true?

[Texas resident]

The movie took from another movie “The high and the Mighty”. Robert Stack was a pilot. John Wayne was in that flick also.
Lots of parallels.

[Hot Tabasco]

It’s a gag from the vaudeville act of Henny Youngman. Milton Berle used it, too. Get it right.

Never heard of that and it's likely they didn't either.........

Thanks for the trivia tho......

[Sicon]

Thanks! I’ll have to check that out!