1. People are fascinated by motion pictures, so no subject is too trivial to provoke interest.
2. Most moviegoers don’t bother to read the credits, but even credits have devoted fans.
3. Early moviemakers did not list the names of actors; they were afraid that if the public knew their names, the actors would become popular and would demand more money.
4. Today’s credits often list accountants and caterers. Sometimes filmmakers promise to list people in return for their services.
5. Fans of credits quiz one another on definitions; they ask each other the meaning of words like gaffer and best boy.
6. Filmmakers have experimented with credits and have created alternatives to the usual roll of names.
7. Fahrenheit 451 told the story of a world where books were banned. The credits were spoken so that no words would appear on the screen.
8. This was not the only time spoken credits were used. The most infamous use of spoken credits took place in the 1930s and stemmed from racism.
9. An Austrian film called Episode was released with traditional credits, and, as usual, the director’s name was prominently featured at the end.
10. The director, Walter Reisch, was Jewish, and the Nazis of Germany did not want his name to appear before movie audiences.
11. The movie was released in Germany with spoken credits; music played in the background.
12. When the director’s name was mentioned, the background music swelled, and the actor’s voice was drowned out.
13. Students of credits make interesting discoveries; many directors cast family members in bit parts.
14. Superman the Movie holds the record for having the most names in the credits. The film lists 457 people.
15. The individual with the most screen credits was not an actor or a director. He was Cedric Gibbons.
16. Gibbons was an MGM art director. He had a clause in his contract promising that MGM would list him on every film the studio made in the United States.
17. MGM honored this contract, and Gibbons’ name appears in the credits of 1500 motion pictures.
18. Some credits tell stories. Most of them involve contract disputes.
19. Fritz Lang’s Hangmen Also Die list Lang as a scriptwriter whose script was used; it also lists Bertold Brecht whose script was not used.
20. Brecht was angered by Lang’s version of his original storyline. He won a court decision to be listed separately in the movie credits.
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