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Start is the first chapter on the DVD releases of Ghostbusters. This chapter shows the librarian's encounter with a ghost. None of the Ghostbusters appeared, but the logo to the movie was used in the title sequence.

Cast[]

Locations[]

Plot[]

The classic Columbia Pictures torch lady logo screen started off the movie.

The scene opened outside of the New York City Public Library with the camera's point of view looking up at the exterior of the building. A scaffolding was present on the right end. The camera drifted down on one of the lion statues. The score was foreboding. Pigeons flew off the steps. People entered and exited the library amid a cleaning project going up the stairs. A pigeon landed on the lion's head. Alice, an elderly librarian, pushed a cart of books across the South wing of the Main Reading Room. She paused and took a stack of books off an empty table. Patrons walked past and behind her. She placed the books on the lower level of the cart then continued on. A patron walked across the room. She took those books downstairs into the basement's stacks. She looked up at shelves, took a left into an aisle, scanned the shelves, looked left, and mentally counted then stopped and put the books away. A few books floated from one bookcase to the bookcase on the other side. Alice looked up to her left but didn't see anything. She continued down the aisle and went right. A short time later, Alice paused at a work station and wrote down notes on a clipboard. She picked up the clipboard and walked on. She passed by a card catalog. Several drawers opened on their own and cards shot out all over the area. Alice paused, turned around, screamed and ran, dodged drawers, and hurried through the stacks. She went left, left again, another left, turned and looked briefly, then kept running. She turned right, stopped, turned, and went left instead. She turned right, stopped, and came face to face with a ghost, who was off screen, that transmogrified. Alice screamed and her hair was blown back.

The Ghostbusters' No-Ghost logo dissolved onto the screen while some of the "Ghostbusters" song by Ray Parker, Jr. played. The complete logo appeared. The title appeared on screen. The camera was on the point of view behind the Alma Mater statue at the Low Memorial Library on Columbia University campus. People entered and exited the Department of Psychology's Weaver Hall building.

Trivia[]

Ghostbusters[]

  • The first sound effects of the movie, the Columbia lady's torch lighting up, was done with a factory programmed sound on a Yamaha DX7, the first fully digital synth.[1]
  • Ivan Reitman, Harold Ramis, and Dan Aykroyd toyed with different openings before settling on the library.[2]
  • The opening sequence in the June 6, 1983 draft takes place in a nice, converted farmhouse where a family has been bothered by incessant knocking that they're unable to trace. So the Ghostbusters are in there climbing all over the house, knocking out walls and ripping up floorboards in their nicely remodeled kitchen. And at the end of the scene, all they're able to tell them is, "Well, you've got a knocking." "We know we've got a knocking! What's causing it!" "We'll have to get back with you on that."[3]
  • Some of the filming of the library was done at the start of principal photography in New York.[4]
  • The film crew released rented pigeons outside the library when filming exterior scenes.[5]
  • Filming at the New York Public Library had to be done before 10 am.[6][7]
    • There was 5 hours to get it done between the crew's 5 am call to the library's 10 am opening. Despite the logistics of getting the reading room lit, staging and photographing, and clearing it all away, filming of exterior and interior shots was done in a part of a single day of location shooting.[8]
  • The scaffolding seen at the New York Public Library were part of an ongoing cleaning project at the time of filming. [9]
  • Originally, the library was going to be introduced by two establishing shots but on the day of filming they were combined into a single sweeping crane shot.[10]
  • In the August 5, September 30, and October 7 drafts, the librarian character is a slightly stout, studious looking girl in her late twenties.
  • The man in the white and gray sweater who walks across the Main Reading Room behind Alice later appears in Chapter 3 "Get Her!" when Roger Delacorte first appears and turns at the sound of Peter Venkman slamming the book.
  • Joe Medjuck walks across the Main Reading Room from left to right right before Alice goes down to the basement.[11]
  • In the August 5, 1983 draft, on page 2, the Librarian sees the books float across the aisle to the shelf on the other side. She suspects a co-worker named Lyle is playing a prank on her.
  • During principal photography, flying books in the library scene was deemed too obvious a concept and Dan Aykroyd suggested several volumes to be made to float mysteriously across aisles.[12]
  • The floating book effect cost $250,000.[13]
  • The room Alice goes downstairs to was filmed in the Los Angeles Public Library.[14]
  • The card catalog effect was done by physical effects supervisor Chuck Gaspar. He constructed a special bank of cabinets rigged with air hoses. It was sent to the Los Angeles Public Library shoot.[15]
  • The wall behind the card catalog was fake. Behind it, technicians pushed the drawers forward then with copper tubing, blew air through the drawers the blow the cards out.[16]
  • Harold Ramis wrote the card catalog sequence.[17]
  • When Alice screams, near her on the book shelf is "A Small Success" (1961) and on the top shelf is "The Great Man" (1957). Both were by the same author, Al Morgan.
  • Also on the higher shelf is "The History of the Kingdom of Basaruah" (1946) by Joseph Morgan and Richard Schlatter.
  • During the logo and title, a snippet of the "Ghostbusters" song plays.
  • Peter, Egon, and Ray are employed at Columbia University from the September 30, 1983 draft and on.
  • In real life, Columbia University's Department of Psychology resides at Schermerhorn Hall. Weaver Hall is a fictional creation.[18]
    • Havemeyer Hall, which is primarily dedicated to science and math, was dressed as Weaver Hall.[19]

The Real Ghostbusters[]

Ghostbusters: Answer The Call[]

IDW Comics[]

  • On page 2 of Ghostbusters Year One Issue #2, Roger refers to the Library Ghost scaring Alice at the start of the first movie.
  • On page 6 of Ghostbusters Year One Issue #2, in panel 4, in the lower right seated is Joe Medjuck like his cameo but dressed like his later cameo in Chapter 14: Welcome Aboard.

Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord Trivia[]

  • The story trailer, released on June 1, 2023, reuses two shots from the first movie: the point of view from behind the Alma Mater statue at the Low Memorial Library and people entering and exiting the Department of Psychology's Weaver Hall building.

References[]

  1. Peter Bernstein (2019). Cleanin' Up The Town: Remembering Ghostbusters (2019) (Blu-Ray ts. 20:29-20:33). Bueno Productions. Peter Bernstein says: "And the very first note is a factory programmed sound on this DX7."
  2. Harold Ramis (2019). Cleanin' Up The Town: Remembering Ghostbusters (2019) (Blu-Ray ts. 23:40-23:46). Bueno Productions. Harold Ramis says: "We played with different openings for a while, before we settled on the library opening. We played with different versions of that."
  3. Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 36 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Harold Ramis says: "Prior to that, it had been set in a nice, converted farmhouse where this family has been bothered by incessant knocking that they're unable to trace. So we're in there climbing all over the house knocking out walls and ripping up floorboards in their nicely remodeled kitchen. And at the end of the scene, all we're able to tell them is, 'Well, you've got a knocking.' 'We know we've got a knocking! What's causing it!' 'We'll have to get back wit you on that.' It was a little cruel -- and not very dynamic -- but it sort of touched on the mundanity of some supernatural phenomena."
  4. Joe Medjuck (2005). Ghostbusters- Commentary (2005) (DVD ts. 12:25-12:27). Columbia TriStar Home Video. Joe Medjuck says: "No, this was the first day of principal photography. "
  5. John Rothman (2019). Cleanin' Up The Town: Remembering Ghostbusters, Deleted Scenes (2019) (Blu-Ray ts. 2:35-2:43). Bueno Productions. John Rothman says: "They had boxes of pigeons. They were releasing their own pigeons."
  6. Joe Medjuck (1999). Ghostbusters- Commentary (1999) (DVD ts. 00:46-00:52). Columbia TriStar Home Video. Joe Medjuck says: "This is the New York Public Library. Upstairs in it. They let us in until 10 in the morning. So we had to work really quickly."
  7. Ivan Reitman (2005). Ghostbusters- Commentary (2005) (DVD ts. 07:45-07:46). Columbia TriStar Home Video. Ivan Reitman says: "All before 10:00. "
  8. Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 16 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Paragraph reads: "Exteriors of the New York Public Library and scenes within its main reading room consumed only part of a single day's location shooting. From a logistics standpoint, the interiors were especially demanding since the expansive reading room had to be lit, the action staged and photographed, and then everything cleared away -- all within the few short hours available between the crew's 5 a.m. call and the library's 10 a.m. opening to the public."
  9. Ivan Reitman (2005). Ghostbusters- Commentary (2005) (DVD ts. 00:25-00:41). Columbia TriStar Home Video. Ivan Reitman says: "Now we actually shot this in New York at the Public Library. But unfortunately there was scaffolding everywhere because they were cleaning the building... "
  10. Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 17. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Paragraph reads: "In a deviation from the scripted text, the two exterior establishing shots -- designed to introduce the New York Public Library -- were ultimately combined into a single sweeping crane shot in which the camera tilted down the face of the building, coming to rest on one of the edifice's distinctive stone lions."
  11. Joe Medjuck (2005). Ghostbusters- Commentary (2005) (DVD ts. 00:56-00:59). Columbia TriStar Home Video. Joe Medjuck says: "And this handsome young man is me 15 years ago crossing the screen. "
  12. Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 18 annotation. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Paragraph reads: "During principal photography, it was decided that the flying books concept was too obvious an effect. At Dan Aykroyd's suggestion, several volumes were instead made to float mysteriously across the aisles, exchanging places while the librarian's back is turned."
  13. Harold Ramis (2005). Ghostbusters- Commentary (2005) (DVD ts. 01:27-01:29). Columbia TriStar Home Video. Harold Ramis says: "$250,000. "
  14. Ivan Reitman (2005). Ghostbusters- Commentary (2005) (DVD ts. 00:59-01:07). Columbia TriStar Home Video. Ivan Reitman says: "And through the magic of cinema, as she [Alice] walks down the stairs we are now shooting in the Los Angeles Public Library. "
  15. Shay, Don (November 1985). Making Ghostbusters, p. 19. New York Zoetrope, New York NY USA, ISBN 0918432685. Paragraph reads: "From these drawings, physical effects supervisor Chuck Gaspar was able to construct a special bank of cabinets, rigged internally with air hoses to spew cards on cue The card catalogues were then transported to the Los Angeles Public Library where the sequence was shot."
  16. Harold Ramis (1999). Ghostbusters- Commentary (1999) (DVD ts. 01:42-01:54). Columbia TriStar Home Video. Harold Ramis says: "She's walking past. The wall is fake. Behind the wall are technicians who push these drawers open and they're using copper tubing, they're blowing air through drawers to blow the cards out. One at a time."
  17. Harold Ramis (1999). Ghostbusters- Commentary (1999) (DVD ts. 02:12-02:14). Columbia TriStar Home Video. Harold Ramis says: "And I wrote that moment."
  18. Joe Medjuck (2005). Ghostbusters- Commentary (2005) (DVD ts. 02:40-02:44). Columbia TriStar Home Video. Joe Medjuck says: "There's no Weaver Hall but this is Columbia University. "
  19. Spook Central-Columbia University Line reads: "In reality, Weaver Hall is actually Havemeyer Hall, a classroom building primarily dedicated to science and math. Columbia's Psychology department is actually located in Schermerhorn Hall."
  20. Peter Venkman (2009). The Real Ghostbusters - "The Haunting of Heck House" (1990) (DVD ts. 08:09-08:23). Time Life Entertainment. Peter says: "Yeah, you're probably okay unless it heard about our first case. You know, the one at the New York Public Library. Where books started flying out of the bookcases. Hundreds and hundreds of guided missiles. Well, let's just hope they never saw the movie made about all that. Toodles."

Gallery[]

Behind the Scenes[]

 
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