When Jack Arnold was directing The Incredible Shrinking Man, he needed the 3-inch character to catch giant drops of water to drink. They were falling from a hot water heater that the shrinking man was standing under. But water doesn’t fall in giant drops.
One problem that Jack had already solved was how to make a giant match for the shrinking man to strike on the floor. The effects man called a match company and asked if they could make a five-foot-long match with a nine-inch head. They did, using the same chemicals on the match head that they used to make the smaller ones with. It worked perfectly when they shot it. But the giant water drops was a different matter.
Jack said: “On the set, I suddenly remembered when I was a boy and found some balloons in my father’s bedroom drawer. I didn’t know why he had those balloons, but I took some, filled them with water and dropped them on people from my roof. So now I wondered if those balloons might work.”
Jack wanted to test out his idea and asked for one of the men to give him a condom. No one answered. He pushed and finally one guy pulled one out and shyly gave it to him.
Jack said: “We tested one on the set and it made a perfectly shaped, giant drop. So, I ordered 100-gross of them.” (14,400) I put a conveyer belt above the set with the propman loading water-filled condoms onto it. The giant drops fell toward the floor with perfect timing.
“When we finished the movie, I was called into the studio boss’ office surrounded by his accountants.”
“The movie looks great,’ the boss said. ‘But what’s this charge for 100-gross of condoms?”
"Ah, come on fellas," I said. "It was a tough shoot. We had a wrap party."
Don't recall seeing the movie, but it was probably quite difficult to come up with all those shrinking scenes. The overly large chair was easy, but fighting the spider realistically was not.
Ron