June 12, 1981 –
A bizarre coincidence for sure, but Mel Brooks’ History of the World Part 1 and Lucas/ Spielberg’s Raiders Of The Lost Ark both premiered on this date.
According to Mel Brooks, the Moses scene was a last minute addition. “Sometimes, you will get very lucky, and the set will give you ideas for jokes“, Brooks said in a 2012 interview with the Directors Guild of America. One day, he was gazing out at the scenery that had been built for the caveman segments, when the gears in his head started turning. “I immediately thought, ‘Well, where do I go from here?‘” Brooks recalled. Heading into the shoot, his plan was to “skip the Bible and go to Rome.” But eventually, he realized that the Stone Age set might enable him to explore another chapter in world history. With a few minor alterations, Brooks converted his fake caves into a mountaintop, and the Moses bit was born.
During filming in Tunisia, nearly everyone in the cast and crew got dysentery except Steven Spielberg. It is thought that he avoided illness by eating only the food he’d brought with him: a lot of cans of Spaghetti-O’s.
Aren’t you glad that you know all of this.
The Haus of Dcaligari 