What did Bluto yell that caused such a reaction?
Some say “Alligator!” or “‘Gator!” while others say, “Do the turtle!” or just “Turtle!” I watched the Collector’s Edition Widescreen DVD with English sub-titles turned on. All that showed was “[Indistinct Shout].” Finally, NBC-TV’s Making of Animal House special which aired June 30, 2001, has answered this question. John Landis says Bluto yells “Gator,” the name of a popular dance craze of the ’60’s. See for yourself! In A Futile and Stupid Gesture, Josh Karp explains how Doug Kenney got Bluto and the rest of the cast doing the gator: “During the toga party scene… Doug looked at Belushi, screamed, ‘Hey John, we ought to do the gator,’ fell to the floor, and appeared to have an epileptic seizure. Landis had no idea what was going on and asked Doug about it, who explained that it was, in fact, a real dance. Confirmed by Belushi and Miller, the moment stayed in the film.” • Several times in the film Otter whistles the main theme (“Peter’s Theme”) from Sergei Prokofiev’s Peter and the Wo
