FILM 1910: A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN
TRIVIA: All of the injuries and bruises in the film were real injuries that the actresses received during filming.
The "strawberry" bruise Renée Coleman received on her thigh while sliding into a base remained for over a year.
During filming of the World Series games, stars took turns entertaining the unpaid extras. Tom Hanks did puppet shows over the dugout, Rosie O'Donnell did stand-up comedy; and various actors pretended to be Madonna and sang her songs after the singer balked at performing for the fans.
For the famous split catch, Geena Davis had to have a stunt double slide into the split. Although Davis could do the splits, as shown, she couldn't slide into it.
Geena Davis joined the production as a late replacement for Debra Winger, a few days before filming was due to start. Davis's character was supposed to be one of the greatest female baseball players in America, and the cast had been doing baseball training for months. Within weeks, Davis had mastered the game, and was regularly beating all her co-stars.
The more mature Dottie and Kit are played by Lynn Cartwright and Kathleen Butler, but their voices are dubbed by Geena Davis and Lori Petty.
Actresses auditioning for the film had to prove they could play baseball. All the actresses cast in the film, apart from Geena Davis, did their own baseball stunts. None of the performers wanted stunt doubles.
Tom Hanks gained thirty pounds in preparation for his role. He attributed the weight he gained to a nearby Dairy Queen. All during filming, Penny Marshall encouraged Hanks to keep on eating. Meanwhile, she also told Rosie O'Donnell to eat as little as possible.
In 2012, the film was selected by the U.S. Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry archives.
Lori Petty was, in reality, a faster runner than Geena Davis, and had to run slower while appearing she was running at full speed.
Jon Lovitz had a more substantial role in the film's initial cut. During the extensive post-production editing and screening process, the filmmakers used only his meanest comments and most obvious punchlines and found the audience was roaring with laughter at everything he said. They decided to focus on those moments, cut out extraneous material, and ended up with one of the most popular elements of the final film.
The film portrays the league as initially unpopular and unprofitable, until demeaning gimmicks are used to attract male audiences. In reality, the league was popular and profitable from the start, largely because it played in towns in the upper Midwest that had no way of watching a live baseball game. Eventually, the league grew into a ten-team two-division league. The advent of televised baseball games in the early fifties, however, would lead to the demise in the popularity of the league.
The movie's line "There's no crying in baseball." was voted as the #54 movie quote by the American Film Institute (out of 100).
After league tryouts were completed, all of the players were sent to "Charm and beauty school". This is factual, as the real AAGPBL players were sent to the Helena Rubenstein Beauty Salon to be made over, and they attended Helena Rubenstein's Evening Charm School after afternoon practices where proper etiquette, hygiene and the leagues dress code were taught and reinforced.
Lori Petty and Rosie O'Donnell were the two best players and had hitting competitions. Both could hit the fences at major-league parks.
Not even Tom Hanks knew when he was going to be done "peeing." Penny Marshall was in a stall with a hose and a bucket making the noise.
In Evansville, Indiana, where the Racine games and World series was filmed, Madonnawas so rude to citizens, hotel and restaurant staff, and other locals, that her reputation is still tarnished there. She even spoke poorly of the city in interviews.
Rosie O'Donnell's character, Doris, asks "What are you a Genius?" to Dottie. Geena Davis actually has an IQ of 140. Having an IQ of 140 is actually considered the starting point for the "Genius" level.
Marisa Tomei filmed an audition tape of her playing baseball, being coached by Joe Pesci, on the set of My Cousin Vinny (1992), but according to Penny Marshall, she just wasn't a ball player.
Coaches used a Slip 'n' Slide to teach the actresses how to slide. The first three girls got concussions. They tried different training methods after that.
Sean Young and Demi Moore were both considered for Dottie. Demi had to back out because she became pregnant. Penny Marshall remarked that "Bruce literally screwed her out of the part."
Penny Marshall was the first female director to have a movie earn over 100 million at the box office, after originally being told by the studio they weren't considering her for the role of director because she was a woman, and she wouldn't be able to handle the complexities of being a director, according to Garry Marshall.
Hillary Clinton is a fan of this movie and quoted a line in a graduation speech.
