“Grease” Actor Reveals Flubbed Line That Made It into the Final Cut: ‘It Means Nothing’

Barry Pearl, who portrayed the youngest member of the T-birds, recalled the one line that he was shocked to see in the final cut of the movie musical

NEED TO KNOW

• Barry Pearl recalled accidentally saying a line that “meant nothing” while improvising insults to Lorenzo Lamas’ character in Grease
• “It’s not a put-down, it’s nothing,” he said of the insult that he never expected to make the final cut of the film
• Since starring in the 1978 film, Pearl reunited with some of his costars, including John Travolta, at a Grease sing-along last June

Barry Pearl accidentally went a little off-script while playing Doody, the youngest member of the T-Birds, in Grease.

While speaking to ReMIND Magazine at the Hollywood Show in Los Angeles, the 76-year-old actor revealed that one of his lines in the iconic 1978 movie musical was never intended to make it into the final cut of the film. 

“When we're in the bleachers, before we sing ‘Summer Nights,' we're making fun of Tom Chisum, Lorenzo [Lamas'] character,” Pearl recalled of the scene in which the greaser gang is poking fun at the athletes on the field. “He's running in his football stuff, and he puts his foot in his helmet, and we say, ‘You really put your foot into it this time, Chisum!' ”

“Michael [Tucci], who's an authentic Italian, as I'm an authentic Jew — I'm supposed to be Italian in this, at least that was my choice — Michael uses the word when he puts somebody down, ‘you're a real gavone,' ” he continued. “A ‘gavone' is like a nerd. That's Italian: You gavone, you stupid person.”

Noting that he had taken a liking to the term, Pearl had planned to use it while improvising insults for the football player. 

“I wanted to call him, ‘You're a real gavone,' or ‘Hey gavone,' at which point Michael actually said it, ‘What a gavone,' ” he explained. “And at that point, I already had the ‘G' coming out of my mouth. So, I said, ‘Gumdrops, man,' ” 

“It means nothing! It's not a put-down, it's nothing,” he emphasized. “And that's the shot that they've got in the movie! You see, you say, I got a Pepsi in my hand, a yellow squirt gun on the other hand, and ‘Gumdrops, man!' And they kept it!”

More than four decades after his flubbed line was etched in history forever, Pearl reunited with some of his former costars — including John Travolta, Tucci, Kelly Ward, Didi Conn and director Randal Kleiser — during an appearance at a Grease sing-along at the Hollywood Bowl last June. 

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To make the surprise appearance even more special for fans, Travolta, 72, was dressed as an older version of Danny Zuko, sporting gray hair and a black leather jacket. 

“Tonight at the Hollywood Bowl, for the first time, I surprised everyone at the GREASE Sing-A-Long and dressed up as Danny Zuko,” he wrote on Instagram alongside a video of himself walking out onto the stage. “No one knew. Not even the cast. Thank you for a great evening.”

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