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188-613: Ghostbusters is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis . It stars Bill Murray , Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman , Ray Stantz , and Egon Spengler , three eccentric parapsychologists who start a ghost-catching business in New York City . It also stars Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis , and features Annie Potts , Ernie Hudson , and William Atherton in supporting roles. Based on his fascination with spirituality, Aykroyd conceived Ghostbusters as

376-482: A New Jersey gas station. Their initial draft was completed when they left the Vineyard in mid-July 1983, and a third and near-final draft was ready by early August. When Murray flew to New York after filming The Razor's Edge (1984) to meet Aykroyd and Ramis, he offered little input on the script or his character. Having written for Murray multiple times, Ramis said he knew "how to handle his character's voice". It

564-479: A flashbulb at the tip, giving animators an origin point for the proton streams. Fake walls laced with pyrotechnics were used to practically create the damage of the proton streams. The "Psychokinetic Energy meter" ("PKE meter") prop was built using an Iona SP-1 handheld shoe polisher as a base, to which lights and electronics were affixed. The PKE meter prop was designed and built by John Zabrucky of Modern Props in partnership with an outside fabricator. The technology

752-478: A 1985 interview Bernstein described Ghostbusters as the most difficult score he had written, finding it challenging to balance the varying comedic and serious tones. He created an "antic" theme for the Ghostbusters he described as "cute, without being really way out". He found the latter parts of the film easier to score, aiming to make it sound "awesome and mystical". Early on Reitman and Bernstein discussed

940-403: A Gozer-worshipping cult in the early 20th century, designed Dana's building to function as an antenna to attract and concentrate spiritual energy to summon Gozer and bring about the apocalypse. Faced with supernatural chaos across the city, the Ghostbusters convince the mayor to release them. The Ghostbusters travel to a hidden temple located on top of the building as Dana/Zuul and Louis/Vinz open

1128-402: A burst hydrant hit by a remote-controlled car was actually sand as the water did not scale down. The "marshmallow" raining down on the crowd after it is destroyed was shaving cream. After seeing the intended 150 pounds (68 kg) of shaving cream to be used, Atherton insisted on testing it. The weight knocked a stuntman down, and they ended up using only 75 pounds (34 kg). The cream acted as

1316-635: A ceremony to open the main branch of the New York Public Library. U.S. president William Howard Taft presided over the ceremony, whose 15,000 guests included governor John Alden Dix and mayor William Jay Gaynor . The public was invited the following day, May 24, and tens of thousands went to the Library's "jewel in the crown". The first item called for was Philosophy of the Plays of Shakespeare Unfolded by Delia Bacon , although this

1504-409: A design due to executive interference, Johnson took at least three grams of cocaine and completed the final design in one night, based in part on Aykroyd's and Ramis's wish for the creature to homage Belushi. The full-size foam rubber puppet was worn by Mark Wilson and filmed against a black background. Puppeteers manipulated the model's movements with cables. Aykroyd tasked his friend, referred to as

1692-522: A driver through his limo window. When angry citizens asked Medjuck what was being filmed, he blamed Francis Ford Coppola filming The Cotton Club (1984). Aykroyd encountered science-fiction writer Isaac Asimov , a man he admired, who complained, "You guys are inconveniencing this building, it's just awful; I don't know how they got away with this!" Directly next to 55 Central Park West is the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church , which

1880-537: A family fleeing Dana's building, but the scene was cut because Jason was too scared by the setup to perform a second take. Principal photography began in New York City on October 28, 1983. On the first day, Reitman brought Murray to the set, still unsure if he had read the script. Filming in New York lasted for approximately six weeks, finishing just before Christmas. Reitman was conscious they had to complete

2068-566: A fiberglass shell with an aluminum backplate bolted to a United States Army backpack frame . Each pack weighed approximately 30 pounds (14 kg) with the batteries for lighting installed, and strained the actors' backs during the long shoots. Two lighter versions were made; a hollow one with surface details for wide shots, and a foam rubber version for action scenes. The fiberglass props were created by special effects supervisor Chuck Gaspar , based on Dane's design. Gaspar used rubber molds to create identical fiberglass shells. The "neutrino wand" had

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2256-467: A general reading room that could fit a thousand guests. During the design process, Hastings had wanted to shift the library building closer to Sixth Avenue, and he also proposed sinking 42nd Street to create a forecourt for the library, but both plans were rejected. The New York City Board of Estimate approved Carrère and Hastings's plans for the library in December 1897. Construction was delayed by

2444-489: A ghost at the New York Public Library , the university dean dismisses the credibility of their paranormal -focused research and fires them. The trio responds by establishing "Ghostbusters", a paranormal investigation and elimination service operating out of a disused firehouse. They develop high-tech nuclear-powered equipment to capture and contain ghosts, although business is initially slow. Following

2632-400: A handheld proton stream firing "neutrino wand" connected by a hose to a backpack said to contain a nuclear accelerator. Dane said he "went home and got foam pieces and just threw a bunch of stuff together to get the look. It was highly machined, but it had to look off-the-shelf and military surplus". Following Reitman's tweaks to the design, on-screen models of the "proton packs" were made from

2820-537: A harness to move around the set. Hardware consultant Stephen Dane was responsible for designing most of the Ghostbusters' iconic equipment, including the "proton packs" used to wrangle ghosts, ghost traps, and their vehicle, the Ectomobile . The equipment had to be designed and built in the six weeks before filming began in September 1983. Inspired by a military issue flamethrower , the "proton packs" consisted of

3008-439: A home there, and they worked day and night in his basement for about two weeks. Aykroyd was willing to rework his script; he considered himself a " kitchen sink " writer who created the funny situations and paranormal jargon, while Ramis refined the jokes and dialogue. They wrote separately, then rewrote each other's drafts. Many scenes had to be cut, including an asylum haunted by celebrities, and an illegal ghost-storage facility in

3196-553: A letter of protest against the plan, and Princeton history professor Anthony Grafton wrote that the proposal would inconvenience many readers. After a six-year battle and two public interest lawsuits, the Central Library Plan was abandoned in May 2014. An $ 8 million gift from Abby and Howard Milstein helped fund the renovation of the second level of stacks beneath Bryant Park. The writer Scott Sherman said that, "in

3384-403: A love interest for Aykroyd. Ramis believed it was extraneous to the fast-moving plot, however, so Reitman used the footage as a dream sequence during the mid-film montage instead. Editor Sheldon Kahn sent Reitman black-and-white reels of sequences during filming. They not only allowed him to make changes, but he considered they also helped him understand how to better pace the film. Kahn completed

3572-499: A marble attic with six 11-foot-high (3.4 m) allegorical sculptures designed by Paul Wayland Bartlett ; the figures flank three carved plaques, one each for the Astor, Lenox, and Tilden foundations. The arches contain barrel vaults with the faces of the classical deities Juno, Minerva, and Mercury on their keystones . The faces initially all depicted Minerva, but Carrere and Hastings hired sculptor Francis Tonetti-Dozzi in 1909 to redo

3760-498: A marble balustrade. According to architecture critic Henry Hope Reed Jr. , the balustrade is similar to that at Versailles 's Grand Trianon . The bays are separated by Corinthian columns. The alcoves on the Fifth Avenue facade contained figures sculpted by Frederic MacMonnies , representing beauty and wisdom. These figures sit above small fountains inside the alcoves. They were shut off from 1942 and 1957, and again from

3948-560: A new entrance at 40th Street, create the Center for Research and Learning for high-school and college students, add elevator banks, and expand space for exhibitions and researchers. At the time of approval, $ 308 million of funds had been raised, and construction was expected to be completed in 2021. The renovations began in July 2018 with the start of construction on the Lenox and Astor Room,

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4136-531: A paranormal encounter in her apartment, cellist Dana Barrett visits the Ghostbusters. She recounts witnessing a demonic dog-like creature in her refrigerator utter a single word: "Zuul". Ray and Egon research Zuul and details of Dana's building while Peter inspects her apartment and unsuccessfully attempts to seduce her. The Ghostbusters are hired to remove a gluttonous ghost from the Sedgewick Hotel. Having failed to properly test their equipment, Egon warns

4324-698: A project starring himself and John Belushi , in which they would venture through time and space battling supernatural threats. Following Belushi's death in 1982, and with Aykroyd's concept deemed financially impractical, Ramis was hired to help rewrite the script to set it in New York City and make it more realistic. It was the first comedy film to employ expensive special effects, and Columbia Pictures , concerned about its relatively high $ 25–30 million budget, had little faith in its box office potential. Filming took place from October 1983 to January 1984, in New York City and Los Angeles . Due to competition for special effects studios among various films in development at

4512-409: A scene, they're going to approve that scene, and we're going to spend nine months doing that cut. There's no second takes, no outtakes, there's no coverage. You can cut stuff, but you can't add stuff. It made [Reitman] so confined that it really bothered him". A deleted scene involved a segment at "Fort Detmerring" where Ray has a sexual encounter with a female ghost. The scene was intended to introduce

4700-704: A scholar's center, on the second floor. The Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the 40th Street entrance with minor modifications in March 2019. That August, the NYPL announced that the lions outside the Main Branch's front entrance would be restored in September and October at a cost of $ 250,000. The Center for Research in the Humanities opened on the second floor in October 2019. The NYPL began presenting

4888-458: A seductive ghost in Ray's dreams. Roger Grimsby , Larry King , Joe Franklin , and Casey Kasem make cameo appearances as themselves; Kasem in a voice-only role. In addition, Kasem's wife, Jean , appears as the tall guest at Louis' party; along with Debbie Gibson and porn star Ron Jeremy . Director Ivan Reitman provided the voice to Slimer and other miscellaneous ghost voices. Ghostbusters

5076-436: A separate air supply due to the foam's toxicity. There were three different heads for the suit, built from foam and fiberglass, with different expressions and movements controlled by cable mechanisms. The costume was filmed against scale models to finish the effect. The effects team was able to find only one model of a police car at the correct scale and bought several, modifying them to represent different vehicles. The water from

5264-428: A single stone lion as its logo. Their original names, "Leo Astor" and "Leo Lenox" (in honor of the library's founders) were transformed into Lord Astor and Lady Lenox (although both lions are male), and in the 1930s they were nicknamed "Patience" and "Fortitude" by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia , who chose the names because he felt that the citizens of New York would need to possess these qualities to see themselves through

5452-589: A skin irritant after hours of filming, giving some of the cast rashes. Johnson also sculpted the Zombie Cab Driver puppet. It was the only puppet shot on location in New York City. Johnson based it on a reanimated corpse puppet he had made for An American Werewolf in London (1981). Johnson and Wilson collaborated on the Library Ghost, creating a puppet operated by up to 20 cables running through

5640-648: A storage annex in Bryant Park to the west. The expansion was planned to cost $ 2   million, but was never built. After Hastings died in 1929, it was revealed that his will contained $ 100,000 for modifications to the facade, with which he had been dissatisfied. A theater collection was installed in the Main Reading Room in 1933. Two years later, the Bryant Park Open-Air Reading Room was established, operating during

5828-546: A supernatural and a psychological interpretation of the events described. In this example, ambiguity adds to the effects of both the supernatural and the psychological. A similar example is Charlotte Perkins Gilman 's story " The Yellow Wallpaper ". Supernatural film is a film genre that encompasses themes related to gods, goddesses, ghosts, apparitions, spirits, miracles, and other extraordinary phenomena. These themes are often blended with other film genres, such as comedy , science fiction , fantasy , and horror . Historically,

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6016-405: A video for ShoWest , a theater-owner convention, to promote the film. Columbia spent approximately $ 10   million on marketing, including $ 2.25   million on prints, $ 1   million on promotional materials, and $ 7   million on advertising and miscellaneous costs including a $ 150,000 premiere for a hospital and the hotel costs for the press. Including the budget and marketing costs, it

6204-668: A well-known supernatural Internet character is the Slenderman , a tall faceless being associated with the forest. Another well-known internet urban legend is the Backrooms , an endless liminal space of moist carpet, humming fluorescent lights and monotone yellow wallpaper. The Backrooms are commonly depicted as being inhabited by supernatural monsters known as Entities. New York Public Library Main Branch The Stephen A. Schwarzman Building (commonly known as

6392-758: Is based out of the Rose Main Reading Room and the Bill Blass Public Catalog Room. The division contains 43 million items in more than 430 languages. The Irma and Paul Milstein Division of U.S. History, Local History and Genealogy houses one of the largest publicly available genealogical collections in North America. Though the division contains many New York City-related documents, it also contains documents collected from towns, cities, counties, and states across

6580-598: Is brought to Egon by police officers and claims he is "Vinz Clortho, the Keymaster". The Ghostbusters agree they must keep the pair separated. Peck returns with law enforcement and city workers to have the Ghostbusters arrested and their containment unit deactivated, causing an explosion that releases the captured ghosts. Louis/Vinz escapes in the confusion and makes his way to the apartment building to join Dana/Zuul. In jail, Ray and Egon reveal that Ivo Shandor , leader of

6768-519: Is how he often worked. Aykroyd pitched his concept to Brillstein as three men who chase ghosts and included a sketch of the Marshmallow Man character he had imagined. He likened the Ghostbusters to pest-control workers, saying that "calling a Ghostbuster was just like getting rats removed". Aykroyd believed Ivan Reitman was the logical choice to direct, based on his successes with films such as Animal House (1978) and Stripes (1981). Reitman

6956-523: Is located directly east of Bryant Park , on the site of the Croton Reservoir . The architectural firm Carrère and Hastings constructed the structure in the Beaux-Arts style, and the structure opened on May 23, 1911. The marble facade of the building contains ornate detailing, and the Fifth Avenue entrance is flanked by a pair of stone lions that serve as the library's icon. The interior of

7144-663: Is located on the east side of the block bounded by Fifth Avenue on the east, 40th Street on the south, Sixth Avenue on the west, and 42nd Street on the north. The north end of the building sits above entrances to the Fifth Avenue station of the New York City Subway , serving the 7 and <7> ​ trains. The station was built as part of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company's Flushing Line , and

7332-489: Is reached by a grand marble stairway extending west from the terrace at 41st Street. Two lion sculptures, made of Tennessee marble and sculpted by the Piccirilli Brothers based on a design by Edward Clark Potter , flank the stairway from 41st Street. According to one legend, the lions flank the steps so patrons could read "between the lions". They are a trademark of the New York Public Library, which uses

7520-743: Is stepped on by the Marshmallow Man. Other locations included New York City Hall , the New York Public Library main branch, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts , Columbus Circle , the Irving Trust Bank on Fifth Avenue , and Tavern on the Green . Firehouse, Hook & Ladder Company 8 in the Tribeca neighborhood was used as the Ghostbusters' headquarters. Columbia University allowed its Havemeyer Hall to stand in for

7708-539: Is up in the top ten on the charts". Music was required for a montage in the middle of the film, and " I Want a New Drug " by Huey Lewis and the News was used as a temporary placeholder because of its appropriate tempo. Reitman was later introduced to Parker Jr. who developed "Ghostbusters" with a similar riff to match the montage. There were approximately 50 to 60 different theme songs developed for Ghostbusters by different artists before Parker Jr.'s involvement, though none

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7896-463: The Astor and Lenox Libraries into the New York Public Library in 1895, along with a large bequest from Samuel J. Tilden and a donation of $ 5.2 million from Andrew Carnegie , allowed for the creation of an enormous library system. The libraries had a combined 350,000 items after the merger, which was relatively small compared to other library systems at the time. As a point of civic pride,

8084-1122: The English Romanticism genre, created in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was donated by the estate of oil financier Carl Pforzheimer in 1986. According to the New York Public Library's website, the collection contains works from English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley ; Shelley's second wife Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley and her family members, including William Godwin , Mary Wollstonecraft , and Claire Clairmont ; and other contemporaries including " Lord Byron , Teresa Guiccioli , Thomas Jefferson Hogg , Leigh Hunt , Thomas Love Peacock , Horace Smith , and Edward John Trelawny ". The Rare Book Division requires pre-registration for researchers before they are allowed to enter. The collection includes 800 incunable works published in Europe before 1501, Americana published before 1801, and American newspapers published before 1865, as well as over 20,000 broadsides , old atlases , and works about voyages. The division also contains rare Bibles , including

8272-517: The Great Depression . Patience is on the south side, to the left of the entrance stairway, and Fortitude on the north, to the right. The lions were restored in 1975 and in 2007–2011, and they were restored once again in late 2019. The Fifth Avenue pavilion consists of a portico with six Corinthian columns and three archways. The Corinthian columns are placed on pedestals with rosettes and Greek-fret molding. These columns support

8460-522: The Great Recession of 2008. In 2012, a Central Library Plan was announced; the plan included closing the nearby Mid-Manhattan Library and Science, Industry and Business Library and turning the Main Branch into a circulating library. Over a million books would have been stored in a New Jersey warehouse shared with Princeton University and Columbia University . The plan was controversial; academics, writers, architects and civic leaders signed

8648-894: The Hebrew language . The division, founded in 1897, contains documents and books from the Astor and Lenox Libraries; the Aguilar Free Library ; and the private collections of Leon Mandelstamm, Meyer Lehren, and Isaac Meyer. The division is named for the Dorot Foundation , who made a formal endowment for the Chief of Division in 1986. The Henry W. and Albert A. Berg Collection of English and American Literature contains rare books, first editions, and manuscripts in English and American literature. The collection includes over 35,000 works from 400 individual authors. The collection

8836-572: The Main Branch , the 42nd Street Library , or just the New York Public Library ) is the flagship building in the New York Public Library system in the Midtown neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City . The branch, one of four research libraries in the library system, has nine divisions. Four stories of the structure are open to the public. The main entrance steps are at Fifth Avenue at its intersection with East 41st Street. As of 2015 ,

9024-507: The Mid-Manhattan Library in 1970. During the 1970s, the New York Public Library as a whole experienced financial troubles, which were exacerbated by the 1975 New York City fiscal crisis . As a cost-cutting measure, in 1970, the library decided to close the Main Branch during Sundays and holidays. The library also closed the Main Branch's science and technology division in late 1971 to save money, but private funds allowed

9212-700: The Middle Ages and Renaissance periods, notable people's and entities' papers, publishing archives, social and economics collections, and papers about the New York Public Library's history. The division supplements similar divisions at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem , and the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center . The Dorot Jewish Division contains documents about Jewish subjects and

9400-469: The Yale School of Drama , and began walking on all fours and howling like a dog during her audition. It was her suggestion for Dana to become possessed by Zuul; Reitman said this solved problems with the last act by giving the characters personal stakes in the events. Weaver also changed Dana's occupation from a model to a musician, saying that Dana can be somewhat strict, but has a soul because she plays

9588-469: The second-highest-grossing film of 1984 in the United States and Canada , and the then-highest-grossing comedy ever. It was the number-one film in theaters for seven consecutive weeks and one of only four films to gross more than $ 100 million that year. Further theatrical releases have increased the total gross to around $ 295.2 million, making it one of the most successful comedy films of

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9776-435: The tropes of supernatural fiction with those of detective fiction . Supernatural fiction and drama has supernatural elements blended into a story about the characters' internal conflict and/or a dramatic conflict between the protagonist, human and/or supernatural world, society and between groups. The author of The Rise of Supernatural Fiction, 1762–1800 states that the origins of supernatural fiction come from Britain in

9964-706: The 1980s. In 2015, the Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry . Its theme song, " Ghostbusters " by Ray Parker Jr. , was also a number-one hit. With its effect on popular culture, and a dedicated fan following, the success of Ghostbusters launched a multi-billion dollar multimedia franchise . This included the popular animated television series The Real Ghostbusters (1986), its follow-up Extreme Ghostbusters (1997), video games , board games, comic books , clothing, music, and haunted attractions . Ghostbusters

10152-468: The 20th century, supernatural fiction became associated with psychological fiction . In this association, descriptions of events that occur are not explainable through the lenses of the natural world, leading to the conclusion that the supernatural is the only possible explanation for what has been described. A classic example of this would be The Turn of the Screw (1898) by Henry James , which offers both

10340-931: The American Society for Psychical Research , which gave him the idea of trapping ghosts. He was also drawn to the idea of modernizing the comedic ghost films of the mid-20th century by comics such as Abbott and Costello ( Hold That Ghost , 1941), Bob Hope ( The Ghost Breakers , 1940) and the Bowery Boys ( Ghost Chasers , 1951). Aykroyd wrote the script, intending to star alongside Eddie Murphy and his close friend and fellow Saturday Night Live ( SNL ) alumnus John Belushi , before Belushi's accidental death in March 1982. Aykroyd recalled writing one of Belushi's lines when producer and talent agent Bernie Brillstein called to inform him of Belushi's death. He turned to another former SNL castmate, Bill Murray, who agreed to join without an explicit agreement, which

10528-421: The Astor and Lenox Libraries. In March 1896, the trustees of the libraries ultimately chose a new site along Fifth Avenue between 40th and 42nd Streets, because it was centrally located between the Astor and Lenox Libraries. At the time, it was occupied by the obsolete Croton Reservoir , remnants of which still exist on the library floor. The library's trustees convinced mayor William L. Strong to give them

10716-468: The Ectomobile. According to Aykroyd, the actual vehicle was "an ambulance that we converted to a hearse and then converted to an ambulance". Early concepts featured a black car with purple and white strobe lights giving it a supernatural glow, but this idea was scrapped after cinematographer László Kovács noted that dark paint would not film well at night. The concept also had fantastic features such as

10904-752: The John Peirce Company; and for electric equipment to the Lord Electric Company. Work progressed gradually on the library: the basement was completed by 1903, and the first floor by 1904. However, exterior work was delayed due to the high cost of securing large amounts of marble, as well as frequent labor strikes. When the Norcross Brothers' contract expired in August 1904, the exterior was only halfway completed. During mid-1905, giant columns were put into place and work on

11092-525: The Main Branch continued to grow, and in 1961, the New York Public Library convened a group of six librarians to look for a new facility for the circulating department. The library bought the Arnold Constable & Company department store at 8 East 40th Street, at the southeast corner of Fifth Avenue and 40th Street across from the Main Branch. The Main Branch's circulating collection was moved to

11280-601: The Main Branch moved to the nearby Mid-Manhattan Library in 1970. Additional space for the library's stacks was constructed under adjacent Bryant Park in 1991, and the branch's Main Reading Room was restored in 1998. A major restoration from 2007 to 2011 was underwritten by a $ 100 million gift from businessman Stephen A. Schwarzman , for whom the branch was subsequently renamed. The branch underwent another expansion starting in 2018. The Main Branch has been featured in many television shows and films. The consolidation of

11468-472: The Main Branch occurred during the 1960s. The city government allocated money for the installation of fire sprinklers in the main branch's stacks in 1960. In 1964 contracts were awarded for the installation of a new floor level above the south corridor on the first floor, as well as for replacement of the skylights. By the mid-1960s, the branch contained 7 million volumes and had outgrown its 88 miles (142 km) of stacks. The circulating facilities at

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11656-549: The Main Branch. Initially, the Main Branch was opened at 1 p.m. on Sundays and 9 a.m. on all other days, and it closed at 10 p.m. each day. This was to encourage patrons to use the new library. By 1926, the library was heavily patronized, with up to 1,000 people per hour requesting books. The library was most used between 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 3:30 to 5:50 p.m., and from October through May. The most highly requested books were those for economics and American and English literature, though during World War I geography books were

11844-535: The Marshmallow Man because of its deviation from the realism of the rest of the film. Reitman recalled that approximately 200 people were recruited off the streets to view the film in a theater on the Burbank lot. It was during the opening library scene Reitman knew the film worked. Audiences reacted with fear, laughs, and applause as the Librarian Ghost transformed into a monster. The fateful Marshmallow scene

12032-625: The Mid-Manhattan Branch's collection while that building was closed for renovations. The Mid-Manhattan Branch's collection of pictures was also temporarily relocated to the Main Branch until the circulating library reopened in 2020. In November 2017, the New York Public Library board approved a $ 317 million master plan for the Main Branch, which would be the largest renovation in the branch's history. The plan, designed by architecture firms Mecanoo and Beyer Blinder Belle , would increase publicly available space by 20 percent, add

12220-501: The Mid-Manhattan and Donnell branches, the latter of which had already found a buyer. Nicolai Ouroussoff , former architecture critic for The New York Times , opined that Foster's selection was "one of a string of shrewd decisions by the library that should put our minds at ease". By 2010, while renovations on the Main Branch were ongoing, the New York Public Library had cut back its staff and budget in other branches following

12408-661: The New York Public Library's founders wanted an imposing main branch. While the American Museum of Natural History and the Metropolitan Museum of Art 's Fifth Avenue branch were both located on prominent sites facing Central Park in Manhattan , there was no such site available for a main library building; furthermore, most of the city's libraries were either private collections or small branch libraries. Several sites were considered, including those of

12596-429: The New York phase before they encountered inhospitable December weather. At the time, choosing to shoot in New York City was considered risky. In the early 1980s, many saw the city as synonymous with fiscal disaster and violence , and Los Angeles was seen as the center of the entertainment industry. In a 2014 interview, Reitman said he chose New York because "I wanted the film to be   ... my New York movie". As Reitman

12784-555: The Polonsky Exhibition of The New York Public Library's Treasures, the first-ever permanent exhibition of valuable objects in the library system's collections, at the building in late 2021. The entrance on 40th Street opened to the public in June 2023, and the rest of the renovation, which included a public plaza, a cafe, new restrooms, an elevator, and a visitor center, was completed the next month. In November 2023, while

12972-457: The Sedgewick Hotel manager, and Slavitza Jovan as Gozer (voiced by Paddi Edwards ). It also features astrologist Ruth Hale Oliver as the Library Ghost, Alice Drummond as the Librarian, Jennifer Runyon and Steven Tash as Peter's psychological test subjects, Timothy Carhart as a violinist, and Reginald VelJohnson as a corrections officer. Playboy Playmate Kymberly Herrin appears as

13160-729: The U.S., as well as genealogies from around the world. The division acquired the holdings of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society in 2008. The Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division was created in 1898. It contains more than 20,000 atlases and 433,000 sheet maps, dating to as early as the 16th century. The collection includes maps on local, regional, national, and global scales as well as city maps , topographic maps , and maps in antiquarian and digitized formats. The Manuscripts and Archives Division comprises over 5,500 collections. These include, 700 cuneiform tablets, 160 illuminated manuscripts from

13348-515: The United States, with shelf space for 3.5 million volumes spread across 375,000 square feet (34,800 m ). The projected final cost was $ 10 million, excluding the cost of the books and the land, representing a fourfold increase over the initial cost estimate of $ 2.5 million. The structure ultimately cost $ 9 million to build, over three times as much as originally projected. Because there were so many visitors during

13536-622: The Viking, with designing the Marshmallow Man, asking for a combination of the Michelin Man and the Pillsbury Doughboy in a sailor hat. The Marshmallow Man outfit was built and portrayed by actor and special effects artist Bill Bryan, who modeled his walk on Godzilla . There were eighteen foam suits, each costing between $ 25,000 and $ 30,000; seventeen of them, worn by stuntman Tommy Cesar, were burned as part of filming. Bryan used

13724-499: The ability to dematerialize and travel inter-dimensionally. Two vehicles were purchased, one for the pre-modification scenes. Dane designed its high-tech roof array with objects including a directional antenna, an air-conditioning unit, storage boxes and a radome . Because of its size, the roof rack was shipped to Manhattan on an airplane, while the car was transported to the East Coast by train. Sound designer Richard Beggs created

13912-427: The architecture of "this interesting and important building". In 1971, New York Times architectural critic Ada Louise Huxtable wrote, "As urban planning, the library still suits the city remarkably well" and praised its "gentle monumentality and knowing humanism". Architectural historian Kate Lemos wrote in 2006 that the library "has held a commanding presence at the bustling corner of 42nd Street and Fifth Avenue as

14100-421: The backdrop. The set was built three stories off the ground to allow for filming from low angles. The first three floors and street-front of Dana's building were recreated as sets for filming, including the climactic earthquake scene where hydraulics were used to raise broken parts of the street. Broken pieces of pavement and the road were positioned outside the real location to create a seamless transition between

14288-441: The books from the Astor and Lenox Libraries. Late in the construction process, a proposal to install a municipal light plant in the basement of the Main Branch was rejected. By late 1910, the library was nearly completed, and officials forecast an opening date of May 1911. Carrère died before the building was opened, and in March 1911, two thousand people viewed his coffin in the library's rotunda. On May 23, 1911, officials held

14476-424: The branch contains an estimated 2.5 million volumes in its stacks . The building was declared a National Historic Landmark , a National Register of Historic Places site, and a New York City designated landmark in the 1960s. The Main Branch was built after the New York Public Library was formed as a combination of two libraries in the late 1890s. The site, along Fifth Avenue between 40th and 42nd Streets ,

14664-448: The branch's operating hours. Vartan Gregorian took over as president of the New York Public Library in 1981. At the time, many of the Main Branch's interior spaces had been subdivided and extensively modified, with offices in many of the spaces. The main exhibition room had been turned into an accounting office; the reading room's furniture had metal brackets screwed onto them; and there were lights, wires, and ducts hung throughout

14852-400: The building contains the Main Reading Room, a space measuring 78 by 297 feet (24 by 91 m) with a 52-foot-high (16 m) ceiling; a Public Catalog Room; and various reading rooms, offices, and art exhibitions. The Main Branch became popular after its opening and saw four million annual visitors by the 1920s. It formerly contained a circulating library , though the circulating division of

15040-460: The cards into the air. These had to be collected and reassembled for each take. Reitman used a multi-camera setup to focus on the librarian and the cards flying around her and a wider overall shot. The floating books were hung on strings. Randy Cook was responsible for creating the quarter-scale stop-motion puppets of Gozer's minions Zuul and Vinz, the Terror Dogs, when in motion. The model

15228-511: The cello. John Candy was offered the role of Louis Tully. He told Reitman he did not understand the character and suggested portraying Tully with a German accent and multiple German Shepherds , but the filmmakers felt there were already enough dogs in the film. Candy chose not to pursue the role. Reitman had previously worked with Rick Moranis and sent him the script. He accepted the role an hour later. Moranis developed many aspects of his character, including making him an accountant, and ad-libbed

15416-463: The city. Against his earlier advice, Egon instructs the team to cross their proton energy streams at the dimensional gate. The resulting explosion destroys Gozer's avatar, banishing it back to its dimension, and closes the gateway. The Ghostbusters rescue Dana and Louis from the wreckage and are welcomed on the street as heroes. In addition to the main cast, Ghostbusters features David Margulies as Lenny Clotch, Mayor of New York , Michael Ensign as

15604-541: The containment unit is nearing capacity and supernatural energy is surging across the city. Peter meets with Dana and informs her Zuul was a demigod worshipped as a servant to "Gozer the Gozerian", a shapeshifting god of destruction. Upon returning home, she is possessed by Zuul; a similar entity possesses her neighbor, Louis Tully. Peter arrives and finds the possessed Dana/Zuul claiming to be "the Gatekeeper". Louis

15792-413: The creation of Boss Film Studios, and the hiring of many conceptual designers including comic book artists Tanino Liberatore (whose work went unused) and Bernie Wrightson (who helped conceive several ghost designs), and storyboarder Thom Enriquez, whose designs contributed to the "Onion Head ghost". Edlund's previous work on the supernatural horror film Poltergeist (1982) served as a reference for

15980-408: The development of more distinct identities for the characters: Peter as the cool, modern salesman; Ray as the honest, enthusiastic technician; and Egon as the factual, stoic intellectual. Reitman thought the most difficult parts of the writing were determining the story's goal, who the villain was and their goal, why ghosts were manifesting, and how a towering Marshmallow Man would appear. The creature

16168-603: The division to reopen in January 1972. The lions in front of the Main Branch's main entrance were restored in 1975. By the end of the decade, the Main Branch was in disrepair and the NYPL trustees were raising money for the research library's continued upkeep. The NYPL system was so short on funds that the research library was only open 43 hours a week until 1979, when Time Inc. and the Grace Krieble Delmas Foundation jointly donated $ 750,000 to extend

16356-511: The end of January 1984, after between 55 and 62 days of filming. The short production schedule and looming release date meant Reitman edited the film while it was being shot. There was often only time for a few takes. Reitman sometimes found making an effects-laden movie frustrating, as the special effects had to be storyboarded and filmed in advance; there was no option to go back and produce new scenes. As Gross described it: "[Y]ou storyboard in advance, that's like editing in advance. You've got

16544-572: The end, elected officials in New York City had to save the NYPL from its own trustees." In May 2014, one of the rosettes in the ceiling of the Rose Main Reading Room fell to the floor. The NYPL closed the Rose Main Reading Room and the Public Catalog Room for renovations. The $ 12 million restoration project included restoring the rosettes and supporting them with steel cables, as well as installing LED lamp fixtures. The NYPL commissioned EverGreene Architectural Arts to recreate

16732-430: The exterior and most of the interior was not finished. Contractors started painting the main reading room and catalog room in 1908, and began installing furniture the following year. Starting in 1910, around 75 miles (121 km) worth of shelves were installed to hold the collections that were designated for being housed there, with substantial room left for future acquisitions. It took one year to transfer and install

16920-442: The extraordinary elements funnier, and that focusing on realism from the beginning would make the Marshmallow Man more believable by the end. He also wanted to portray the Ghostbusters' origins before starting their business: "This was beginning of the 1980s—everyone was going into business". After the meeting, they met Harold Ramis at Burbank Studios . Reitman had worked with Ramis on previous films and believed he could better execute

17108-610: The fictional Weaver Hall, on the condition the university not be identified by name. Filming moved to Los Angeles, resuming between Christmas and the New Year. Due to the film's use of practical effects, skilled technicians were needed who resided mainly in the city and soundstages that were non-existent in New York. Despite its setting, most of Ghostbusters was filmed on location in Los Angeles or on sets at Burbank Studios. Location scouts searched for buildings that could replicate

17296-498: The fifteen large windows in the Main Reading Room were blacked out, though they were later uncovered. In the following years, the Main Reading Room became neglected: broken lighting fixtures were not replaced, and the room's windows were never cleaned. Unlike during World War I, war-related books at the Main Branch did not become popular during World War II. A room for members of the United States Armed Forces

17484-680: The film would take a big budget due to its special effects and popular cast. Reitman reportedly said they could work with $ 25–30 million; varying figures have been cited. Price agreed, as long as the film could be released by June 1984. Reitman later admitted he made up the figure, basing it on three times the budget for Stripes , which seemed "reasonable". This left 13 months to complete the film, with no finished script, effects studio, or filming start date. Reitman hired his previous collaborators Joe Medjuck and Michael C. Gross as associate producers . Columbia's CEO Fay Vincent sent his lawyer Dick Gallop to Los Angeles to convince Price not to pursue

17672-559: The film, but Price disagreed. Gallop returned to the head office to report that Price was "out of control". As the title "Ghostbusters" was legally restricted by the 1970s children's show The Ghost Busters , owned by Universal Studios , several alternative titles were considered, including "Ghoststoppers", "Ghostbreakers", and "Ghostsmashers". Price parted ways with Columbia early in Ghostbusters ' production and became head of Universal Pictures , at which point he sold Columbia

17860-405: The final concept, and R/GA animated the logo for the film's opening. According to Gross, two versions of the logo exist, with one having "ghostbusters" written across the diagonal part of the sign. Gross did not like how it looked and flipped the diagonal bar to read top left to bottom right instead, but they later removed the wording. According to Gross, this is the correct version of the sign that

18048-405: The final scene at the building, city officials allowed the closure of the adjacent streets during rush hour , affecting traffic across a large swath of the city. Gross commented that, from the top of the building, they could see traffic queuing all the way to Brooklyn . At various points, a police officer drew his gun on a taxi driver who refused orders; in a similar incident, another officer pulled

18236-415: The firm was not the lowest bidder. After a private ceremony to mark the start of construction was held in August 1902, a ceremonial cornerstone was laid on November 10, 1902. The cornerstone contained a box of artifacts from the library and the city. The architects awarded the contract for the library's stacks to Snead & Company ; for drainage and plumbing to M. J. O'Brien; for interior finishes to

18424-432: The first Gutenberg Bible to be brought to the U.S., the first Native American language Bible, and the first Bible created in the U.S. In addition, it includes first editions and copies from notable writers, including William Shakespeare , copies of The Pilgrim's Progress printed before 1700, Voltaire 's entire work, and Walt Whitman 's personal copies of his own work. The division houses rare artifacts as well, such as

18612-545: The first book printed in North America and the first English-language book printed in the U.S. The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs was created by a gift of the Wallach family in 1987. The collection includes over one million works of art as well as 700,000 monographs and periodicals . The New York Public Library's Main Branch measures 390 feet (120 m) on its north–south axis by 270 feet (82 m) on its west–east axis. The library

18800-488: The first full cut three weeks after filming concluded. The final cut runs for 105   minutes. The Ghostbusters score was composed by Elmer Bernstein and performed by the 72-person Hollywood Studio Symphony orchestra at The Village in West Los Angeles, California . It was orchestrated by David Spear and Bernstein's son Peter . Elmer Bernstein had previously scored several of Reitman's films and joined

18988-457: The first week of the Main Branch's opening, the New York Public Library's directors initially did not count the number of visitors, but guessed that 250,000 patrons were accommodated during the first week. The construction of the Main Branch, along with that of the nearby Grand Central Terminal , helped to revitalize Bryant Park. The Main Branch came to be regarded as an architectural landmark. As early as 1911, Harper's Monthly magazine praised

19176-562: The future library building, which was exhibited at New York City Hall in 1900. Whether John Mervin Carrère or Thomas S. Hastings contributed more to the design is in dispute, but both architects are honored with busts located at the bottoms of each of Astor Hall's two staircases. In a later interview with The New York Times , Carrère stated that the library would contain "twenty-five or thirty different rooms", each with their own specialty; "eighty-three miles of books" in its stacks ; and

19364-405: The gate between dimensions and transform into demonic dogs. Gozer appears as a woman and attacks the Ghostbusters, then disappears when they attempt to retaliate. Her disembodied voice demands the Ghostbusters "choose the form of the destructor". Ray inadvertently recalls a beloved corporate mascot from his childhood, and Gozer reappears as a gigantic Stay Puft Marshmallow Man that begins destroying

19552-492: The genre of science fiction . Amongst academics, readers and collectors, however, supernatural fiction is often classed as a discrete genre defined by the elimination of "horror", "fantasy", and elements important to other genres. The one genre supernatural fiction appears to embrace in its entirety is the traditional ghost story . The fantasy and supernatural fiction genres would often overlap and may be confused for each other, though there exist some crucial differences between

19740-522: The ghost designs in Ghostbusters . Gross said it was difficult to balance making the ghosts a genuine threat while fitting the film's more comedic tone. Special effects artist Steve Johnson sculpted the gluttonous, slimy, green ghost then known as the "Onion Head ghost" on set due to the puppet's unpleasant smell. The creature was given the name "Slimer" in the 1986 animated television series The Real Ghostbusters . The Slimer design took six months and cost approximately $ 300,000. After struggling to complete

19928-534: The group that crossing the energy streams of their proton pack weapons could cause a catastrophic explosion. They capture the ghost and deposit it in an ecto-containment unit under the firehouse. Supernatural activity rapidly increases across the city and the Ghostbusters become famous; they hire a fourth member, Winston Zeddemore , to cope with the growing demand. Suspicious of the Ghostbusters, Environmental Protection Agency inspector Walter Peck asks to evaluate their equipment, but Peter rebuffs him. Egon warns that

20116-509: The idea that Ghostbusters would feature popular music at specific points to complement Bernstein's original score. This includes "Magic" by Mick Smiley, which plays during the scene when the ghosts are released from the Ghostbusters headquarters. Bernstein's main theme for the Ghostbusters was later replaced by Ray Parker Jr. 's " Ghostbusters ". Bernstein personally disliked the use of these songs, particularly "Magic", but said, "it's very hard to argue with something like ["Ghostbusters"], when it

20304-423: The increased demand for books, new shelves were installed in the stockrooms and the cellars by the 1920s to accommodate the expanded stacks. However, this still proved to be insufficient. The New York Public Library announced an expansion of the Main Branch in 1928. Thomas Hastings prepared plans for new wings near the north and south sides of the structure, which would extend eastward toward Fifth Avenue, as well as

20492-513: The interiors of buildings being filmed in New York. Reitman tried using the interior of Hook & Ladder 8, but was unable to take it over long enough because it was an active fire station. Interior firehouse shots were taken instead at the decommissioned Fire House No. 23 in downtown Los Angeles. The building design, while common in New York, was a rarity in Los Angeles. An archival photograph of an active crew in Fire House No. 23 from 1915

20680-405: The length of the stacks in the Main Branch. The space could accommodate 3.2 million books and a half-million reels of microfilm. The new stacks were connected to the Main Branch via a tunnel measuring 62 ft (19 m) or 120 ft (37 m) long. Once the underground facilities were completed, Bryant Park was completely rebuilt, with 2.5 or 6 feet (0.76 or 1.83 m) of earth between

20868-422: The lengthy speech at Tully's party. Sandra Bernhard turned down the role of the Ghostbusters' secretary Janine Melnitz, which went to Annie Potts. When she arrived for her first day of filming, Reitman rushed Potts into the current scene. She quickly changed out of her street clothes and borrowed a pair of glasses worn by the set dresser which her character subsequently wore throughout the film. William Atherton

21056-442: The library asked the city to take over responsibility for the Main Branch's circulating and children's libraries. As part of the modernization of the Main Branch, newly delivered books started being processed in that building, rather than at various circulation branch libraries. The rear of the library's main hall was partitioned off in 1950, creating a bursar's office measuring 42 by 13 ft (12.8 by 4.0 m). Minor repairs at

21244-403: The library was adding 150,000 volumes to its collections annually, which could not fit within the stacks of the existing building. In the late 1980s, the New York Public Library decided to expand the Main Branch's stacks to the west, underneath Bryant Park. The project was originally estimated to cost $ 21.6 million and would be the largest expansion project in the Main Branch's history. It

21432-411: The library was closed for Thanksgiving , protestors demonstrating for Palestine caused $ 75,000 in damage to the facade, amid a budget crisis for the NYPL. There are nine divisions at the New York Public Library's Main Branch, of which eight are special collections . The General Research Division is the main division of the Main Branch and the only one that is not a special collection. The division

21620-405: The library's trustees to donate their collections of rare English and American literature. After Henry died, the collection was dedicated in his memory. The Berg Reading Room was formally dedicated in October 1940. During the 1930s, Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers helped maintain the Main Branch. Their tasks included upgrading the heating, ventilation, and lighting systems; refitting

21808-465: The library, with two rounds. The rules of the competition's first round were never published, but they were used as the basis for later design competitions. Entrants submitted 88 designs, of which 12 were selected for a semi-finalist round and six went on to a finalist round. About a third of the designs, 29 in total, followed the same design principles outlined in Billings's original sketch. Each of

21996-409: The months before its debut, a teaser trailer focused on the "No ghosts" logo, helping it become recognizable far in advance, and generating interest in the film without mentioning its title or its stars. A separate theatrical trailer contained a toll-free telephone number with a message by Murray and Aykroyd waiting for the 1,000 callers per hour it received over a six-week period. They also appeared in

22184-448: The most demanded because of the ongoing war. It was estimated that 4   million people per year used the Main Branch in 1928, up from 2   million in 1918 and 3   million in 1926. There were 1.3   million books requested by nearly 600,000 people through call slips in 1927. By 1934, though annual patronage held steady at 4   million visitors, the Main Branch had 3.61   million volumes in its collection. Due to

22372-522: The most votes from the jury, nearly withdrew from the competition. All of the finalist designs were in the Beaux-Arts style. Ultimately, in November 1897, the relatively unknown firm of Carrère and Hastings was selected to design and construct the new library. The jury named the firm of Howard & Cauldwell and McKim, Mead, & White as runners-up. Carrère and Hastings created a model for

22560-447: The mural in the Bill Blass Public Catalog Room, which had been severely damaged during its 105-year history. The NYPL also replaced its historic chain-and-lift book conveyor system with a new delivery system using "book trains" . The restored Rose Main Reading Room and Bill Blass Public Catalog Room reopened on October 5, 2016. Starting in August 2017, the Main Branch hosted an interim circulating library at 42nd Street, housing part of

22748-443: The name had been cleared. Medjuck contacted the studio, urging them to secure permission to use the word as the title. The building at 55 Central Park West served as the home of Weaver's character and the setting of the Ghostbusters' climactic battle with Gozer. The art department added extra floors and embellishments using matte paintings , models, and digital effects to create the focal point of ghostly activity. During shooting of

22936-914: The neighborhood grew up around it". The Main Branch also took on importance as a major research center. Norbert Pearlroth , who served as a researcher for the Ripley's Believe It or Not! book series, perused an estimated 7,000 books annually from 1923 to 1975. Other patrons included First Lady of the United States Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis ; writers Alfred Kazin , Norman Mailer , Frank McCourt , John Updike , Cecil Beaton , Isaac Bashevis Singer , and E. L. Doctorow ; actors Helen Hayes , Marlene Dietrich , Lillian Gish , Diana Rigg , and Princess Grace Kelly of Monaco; playwright Somerset Maugham ; film producer Francis Ford Coppola ; journalists Eliezer Ben-Yehuda and Tom Wolfe ; and boxer Joe Frazier . The Main Branch

23124-636: The new library, though controversial for its time, formed the basis of the Main Branch. Once the Main Branch was opened, the Astor and Lenox Libraries were planned to close, and their functions were planned to be merged into that of the Main Branch. In May 1897, the New York State Legislature passed a bill allowing the site of the Croton Reservoir to be used for a public library building. The Society of Beaux-Arts Architects hosted an architectural design competition for

23312-815: The number one film of the weekend, ahead of premiering horror-comedy Gremlins ($ 12.5   million), and the adventure film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom ($ 12 million), in its third week of release. The gross increased to $ 23.1 million during its first week, becoming the first major success for the studio since Tootsie (1982). The film remained number one for seven consecutive weeks, grossing $ 146.5   million, before being ousted by Purple Rain in early August. Supernatural fiction In its broadest definition, supernatural fiction overlaps with examples of weird fiction , horror fiction , vampire literature , ghost story , and fantasy . Elements of supernatural fiction can be found in writing from

23500-464: The objections of mayor Robert Anderson Van Wyck , who expressed concerns that the city's finances were unstable. As a result, the planned library was delayed for a year. The Board of Estimate authorized a bond measure of $ 500,000 in May 1899. The next month, contractor Eugene Lentilhon started excavating the Croton Reservoir, and workers began digging through the reservoir's 25-foot-thick (7.6 m) wall. After spending seven weeks tunneling through

23688-582: The origin of supernatural fiction in his essay " Supernatural Horror in Literature " (1927). He also goes on to describe the literary genre's roots in Gothic literature. The description in Wuthering Heights (1847) of the natural surroundings in which the novel takes place and the eerie mood it evokes is cited as one of the first instances of supernatural horror's being evoked in literature. In

23876-452: The outer two keystones. The archways lead to the first floor of the structure, which is one story above ground level. The arches contain bronze doors with marble frames and triangular pediments. Hastings had drawn up a new design for the portico in 1921, but this was never constructed. George Grey Barnard also designed pediments for sculptures to be installed above the main entrance, representing "Life" and "Painting and Sculpture". When

24064-399: The park surface and the storage facility's ceiling. The extension was opened in September 1991 at a cost of $ 24 million; however, it only included one of two planned levels of stacks. Bryant Park was reopened in mid-1992 after a three-year renovation. The Catalog Room was renamed in 1994 for fashion designer Bill Blass , who gave $ 10 million to the NYPL. The Main Reading Room

24252-515: The periodical room, was completed in 1983 with a $ 20 million gift from Reader's Digest editor DeWitt Wallace . The exhibition room reopened in May 1984 and was renamed the Gottesman Exhibition Hall. The Catalog Room was restored starting in 1983. Ten million catalog cards, many of which were tattered, were replaced with photocopies that had been created over six years at a cost of $ 3.3 million. In addition, room 80

24440-436: The primary elevation of the building. A terrace wraps along the Fifth Avenue elevation. The terrace is 90 feet (27 m) deep and contains a granite balustrade. The present design of the terrace dates to 1988, when it was resurfaced with granite, bluestone, and cobblestones. The terrace contains movable chairs and tables. Along the eastern edge of the terrace are two rows of Japanese locust trees. The Fifth Avenue entrance

24628-417: The primary goal of supernatural films was not to terrify audiences but to offer entertainment, often in whimsical or romantic contexts. The film genre is part of several hybrid genres , including supernatural comedy films, supernatural horror films , supernatural religious films, and supernatural thriller films. Supernatural beings have also seen common uses in internet creepypastas and urban legends ;

24816-456: The project early on, before all the cast had been signed. Reitman wanted a grounded, realistic score and did not want the music to tell the audience when something was funny. Bernstein used the ondes Martenot (effectively a keyboard equivalent of a theremin ) to produce the "eerie" effect. Bernstein had to bring a musician from England to play the instrument because there were so few trained ondists. He also used three Yamaha DX7 synthesizers. In

25004-472: The renovation and expansion of the building, and the library announced in April 2008 that the main branch building would be renamed in his honor. As a condition of the gift, Schwarzman's name had to be displayed at each public entrance. Later that year, British architect Norman Foster was chosen to design the Main Branch's renovation. To pay for the renovations, the New York Public Library was attempting to sell

25192-484: The renovation. The Reading Room reopened on November 16, 1998. The same year, the New York State government allocated funding for the Main Branch to install computers and other electronic devices. The Reading Room received new workstations, and the space was also redecorated to accommodate patrons' laptops. The bungalow in the Library's South Court was taken apart the same year. A four-story glass structure

25380-453: The reservoir site, after they gave him studies showing that the size of New York City's library collection lagged behind those of many other cities. Dr. John Shaw Billings, who was named the first director of the New York Public Library, had created an early sketch for a massive reading room on top of seven floors of book-stacks, combined with the fastest system for getting books into the hands of those who requested to read them. His design for

25568-438: The restoration of the main exhibition room, which was redesigned by Davis Brody and Cavaglieri. Workers erected a temporary construction fence around the library's terraces in 1982. As part of a greater renovation of Bryant Park, Laurie Olin and Davis Brody redesigned the terraces, while Hugh Hardy redesigned the kiosks within the terraces. Several rooms were restored as part of the plan. The first space to be renovated,

25756-455: The roles. Hudson auditioned five times for the role of Winston Zeddemore. According to him, an earlier version of the script gave Winston a larger role as an Air Force demolitions expert with an elaborate backstory. Excited by the part, he agreed to the job for half his usual salary. The night before shooting began, he received a new script with a greatly reduced role; Reitman told him the studio wanted to expand Murray's part. Aykroyd said Winston

25944-425: The roof was begun; the roof was finished by December 1906. The remaining contracts, totaling $ 1.2 million, concerned the installation of furnishings in the interior. The interior and exterior were largely constructed simultaneously. The building's exterior was mostly done by the end of 1907. The pace of construction was generally sluggish; in 1906, an official for the New York Public Library stated that some of

26132-407: The sculptures were erected in 1915, he unsuccessfully sued the installers for $ 50,000 because they did not fit with his vision. On either side of the Fifth Avenue entrance pavilion, there are alcoves with sculptures of figures inside them, followed by five bays of windows. Each bay contains arched windows on the first floor and rectangular windows on the second floor, above which is an attic with

26320-666: The second half of the 18th century. Accounts of the Cock Lane ghost were featured in the newspapers in 1762, and an interest in Spiritualism was also currently prevalent. There was a need for people to see real ghosts and experience them vicariously through the writings of fiction. S. L. Varnado argues in Haunted Presence: The Numinous in Gothic Fiction that the beginning of an interest in

26508-428: The semifinalist designs were required to include specific architectural features, including limestone walls; a central delivery desk; reading rooms with large windows; and stacks illuminated by sunlight. The six finalists were selected by a jury composed of library trustees and architects. The jury relaxed the requirement that the proposals adhere to a specific floor plan after McKim, Mead & White , which had received

26696-455: The setup time finalizing the contract, leaving only ten months remaining to build the effects studio, shoot the scenes, and composite the images. The Boss Film Studios' team was split to complete work on Ghostbusters and MGM's science-fiction film 2010: The Year We Make Contact . The $ 5 million effects came in at $ 700,000 over budget. The strict filming schedule meant most of the effects shots were captured in one take. Gross oversaw both

26884-504: The siren from a recording of a leopard snarl, cut and played backward. In the script, Aykroyd described the Ghostbusters clothing and vehicle as bearing a no symbol with a ghost trapped in it, crediting the Viking with the original concept. The final design fell to Gross, who had volunteered to serve as art director . As the logo would be required for props and sets, it needed to be finalized quickly, and Gross worked with Boss Film artist and creature design consultant Brent Boates who drew

27072-479: The space. Gregorian organized events to raise money for the library, which helped raise funds for the cleaning of the facade and the renovation of the lobby, roof, and lighting system. Architectural firm Davis Brody & Associates , architect Giorgio Cavaglieri , and architectural consultant Arthur Rosenblatt devised a master plan for the library. Before the master plan was implemented, the D. S. and R. H. Gottesman Foundation gave $ 1.25 million in December 1981 for

27260-418: The stunt happened. Similarly, the scene of Weaver rotating in the air was performed on set using a body-cast and mechanical arm concealed in the curtains, a trick Reitman learned working with magician Doug Henning . Ghostbusters was screened for test audiences on February 3, 1984, with unfinished effects shots to determine if the comedy worked. Reitman was still concerned audiences would not react well to

27448-482: The summer. The reading room was meant to improve the morale of readers during the Great Depression , and it operated until 1943, when it closed down due to a shortage of librarians. In 1936, library trustee George F. Baker gave the Main Branch forty issues of the New-York Gazette from the 18th century, which had not been preserved anywhere else. In 1937, the doctors Albert and Henry Berg made an offer to

27636-461: The supernatural comes from humanity's craving for the experience of the divine , so that even the old mythological tales of the knights of King Arthur give the reader a sense of the presence of "holy" things. The author does then go on to trace this influence further into the future with the Gothic literature movement. The famous horror writer H. P. Lovecraft cites man's fear of the unknown as

27824-485: The time, Richard Edlund used part of the budget to found Boss Film Studios , which employed a combination of practical effects , miniatures, and puppets to deliver the ghoulish visuals. Ghostbusters was released on June 8, 1984, to critical acclaim and became a cultural phenomenon. It was praised for its blend of comedy, action, and horror, and Murray's performance was often singled out for praise. It earned $ 282.2 million during its initial theatrical run, making it

28012-464: The title for $ 500,000 plus 1% of the film's profits. Given Hollywood's accounting practices—a method used by studios to artificially inflate a film's production costs to limit royalty or tax payouts—the film technically never made a profit for Universal to be owed a payment. Aykroyd, Ramis, and Reitman began reworking the script, first at Reitman's office, then sequestering themselves and their families on Martha's Vineyard , Massachusetts . Aykroyd had

28200-422: The tone he intended for the script than Aykroyd. He also felt Ramis should play a Ghostbuster. After reading the script, Ramis joined the project immediately. Although the script required considerable changes, Reitman pitched the film to Columbia Pictures executive Frank Price in March 1983. Price found the concept funny, but was unsure of the project, as comedies were seen to have limited profitability. He said

28388-421: The top of the structure's exterior. The massing of the library building was intended to highlight its primary public spaces. There is a gable roof above the public catalog room, which is on axis with the main entrance on Fifth Avenue, as well as a hip roof above the main reading room, which runs north–south near the western end of the building. The Main Branch faces Fifth Avenue to the east; this comprises

28576-481: The torso that controlled aspects such as moving the head, arms, and pulling rubber skin away from the torso to transform it from a humanoid into a monstrous ghoul. The original Library Ghost puppet was considered too scary for younger audiences and was repurposed for use in Fright Night (1985). The library catalog scene was accomplished live in three takes, with the crew blowing air through copper pipes to force

28764-426: The treads on the branch's marble staircases; painting the bookshelves, walls, ceilings, and masonry; and general upkeep. The WPA allocated $ 2.5   million for the building's maintenance. In January 1936, it was announced that the Main Branch's roof would be renovated as part of a seven-month WPA project. In 1942, the main exhibition room was converted into office space and partitioned off. During World War II,

28952-505: The two genres. Fantasy usually takes place in another world, where fantastical creatures or magic are normal. In supernatural fiction, though, magic and monsters are not the norm and the mystery of such things is usually closely intertwined in the plot. The supernatural genre highlights supernatural creatures or happenings within the real world. Moreover, supernatural fiction also tends to focus on suspense and mystery and less on action and adventure. Occult detective fiction combines

29140-493: The two shots. DeCuir said: "They had one night to dress the street. When people went home early in the evening everything was normal, and when the little old ladies came out to walk their dogs in the morning, the whole street had erupted. Apparently, people complained to the New York Police Department and their switchboard lit up." For the scene where Dana's apartment explodes outwards, Weaver stood on set as

29328-416: The wall, Lentilhon determined that the floor of the reservoir could only be demolished using dynamite. Work on the foundation commenced in May 1900, and much of the Croton Reservoir had been excavated by 1901. In November 1900, work was hindered by a water main break that partly flooded the old reservoir. Norcross Brothers received the general contract, although this was initially controversial because

29516-637: The white marble and pollution and moisture were corroding the ornamental statuary. In December 2005, the Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division space, with richly carved wood, marble, and metalwork, was restored. In 2007, the library announced that it would undertake a three-year, $ 50 million renovation of the building exterior, which had suffered damage from weathering and automobile exhaust. The marble structure and its sculptural elements were to be cleaned; three thousand cracks were to be repaired; and various components would be restored. All of

29704-566: The work was scheduled to be completed by the centennial in 2011. Library director Paul LeClerc said in 2007 that "my ambition is for this to be the building you simply must see in New York at nighttime because it is so beautiful and it is so important." By late 2007, library officials had not yet decided whether to try to restore damaged sculptural elements or just clean and "stabilize" them. Cleaning would be done either with lasers or by applying poultices and peeling them off. The businessman Stephen A. Schwarzman donated $ 100 million toward

29892-437: Was a publicity stunt, and the book was not in the Main Branch's collection at the time. The first item actually delivered was N. I. Grot's Nravstvennye idealy nashego vremeni ("Ethical Ideas of Our Time"), a study of Friedrich Nietzsche and Leo Tolstoy . The reader filed his slip at 9:08 a.m. and received his book seven minutes later. The Beaux-Arts Main Branch was the largest marble structure up to that time in

30080-534: Was also used for major works and invention. Edwin Land conducted research at the building for his later invention, the Land Camera , while Chester Carlson invented Xerox photocopiers after researching photoconductivity and electrostatics at the library. During World War II , American soldiers decoded a Japanese cipher based on a Mexican phone book whose last remaining copy among Allied nations existed at

30268-487: Was approved by the city's Art Commission in January 1987, and construction on the stacks started in July 1988. The expansion required that Bryant Park be closed to the public and then excavated, but because the park had grown dilapidated over the years, the stack-expansion project was seen as an opportunity to rebuild the park. The library added more than 120,000 square feet (11,000 m ) of storage space and 84 miles (135 km) of bookshelves under Bryant Park, doubling

30456-603: Was aware of the film's outline while Belushi was still a prospective cast member; this version took place in the future with many groups of intergalactic ghostbusters, and felt it "would have cost something like $ 200   million to make". Aykroyd's original 70- to 80-page script treatment was more serious in tone and intended to be scary. Reitman met with Aykroyd at Art's Delicatessen in Studio City, Los Angeles , and explained that his concept would be impossible to make. He suggested that setting it entirely on Earth would make

30644-645: Was chosen for the role of Walter Peck after he had appeared in the Broadway play Broadway . Peck was described as akin to Margaret Dumont 's role as a comedic foil to the Marx Brothers . Atherton said: "It can't be funny, and I don't find [the Ghostbusters] in the least bit charming. I have to be outraged." The role of the Sumerian god Gozer the Gozerian, envisioned as a business-suited architect,

30832-427: Was closed in July 1997 for renovations designed by Davis Brody Bond. The restoration entailed cleaning and repainting the ceiling, cleaning the windows, refinishing the wood, and removing partitions within the room. Workers also replaced desk lamps and installed energy-efficient window panes. The space was renamed the Rose Main Reading Room, after the children of a benefactor who had given $ 15 million toward

31020-470: Was constructed at Stage 12 on the Burbank Studios lot. It was one of the largest constructed sets in film history and was surrounded by a 360-degree cyclorama painting. The lighting used throughout the painting consumed so much power that the rest of the studio had to be shut down, and an additional four generators added, when it was in use. Small models such as planes were hung on string to animate

31208-434: Was created in 1940 with a donation from Albert Berg in memory of his brother Henry, and was formally endowed in 1941. The initial collection comprised 3,500 books and pamphlets created by over 100 authors. An additional 15,000 works came from Owen D. Young , who donated his private collection to the library in 1941. The Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle is a collection of around 25,000 works from

31396-661: Was decided early on that Ramis's character would be the brains of the Ghostbusters, Aykroyd's the heart, and Murray's the mouth. Aykroyd drew inspiration from fiction archetypes : "Put Peter Venkman, Raymond Stantz, and Egon Spengler together, and you have the Scarecrow , the Lion , and the Tin Man ". His concept called for the Ghostbusters to have a boss and to be directed into situations, but Ramis preferred they be in control "of their own destiny" and make their own choices. This led to

31584-812: Was deemed suitable. Huey Lewis was approached to compose the film's theme, but was already committed to work on Back to the Future (1985). During the thirteen-month production, all the major special effects studios were working on other films. Those that remained were too small to work on the approximately 630 individual effects shots needed for Ghostbusters . At the same time, special effects cinematographer Richard Edlund planned to leave Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and start his own business. Reitman convinced Columbia to collaborate with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), which also needed an effects studio, to advance Edlund $ 5 million to establish his own company, Boss Film Studios . According to Edlund, lawyers used much of

31772-445: Was designed to not be overly fancy or sleek, emphasizing the characters' scientific backgrounds combined with the homemade nature of their equipment. The Ectomobile was in the first draft of Aykroyd's script, and he and John Daveikis developed some early concepts for the car. Dane developed fully detailed drawings for the interior and exterior and supervised the transformation of the 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor ambulance conversion into

31960-585: Was erected on the site of the South Court, an enclosed courtyard on the Main Branch's south side, starting in the late 1990s. The structure cost $ 22.2 million and included a floor area of 42,220 square feet (3,922 m ). Opened in 2002, the South Court structure was the first permanent above-ground addition to the Main Branch since its opening. The pop-up reading room in Bryant Park was re-established in summer 2003. The "room" contained 700 books and 300 periodicals. By 2004, streaks were already blackening

32148-554: Was estimated the film would have to make at least $ 80   million to turn a profit. The premiere of Ghostbusters took place on June 7, 1984, at the Avco Cinema in Westwood, Los Angeles , before its wide release the following day across 1,339 theaters in the United States (U.S.) and Canada. During its opening weekend in the U.S. and Canada, the film earned $ 13.6   million—an average of $ 10,040 per theater. It finished as

32336-534: Was followed in 1989 by Ghostbusters II , which fared less well financially and critically, and attempts to develop a second sequel paused in 2014 following Ramis's death. After a 2016 reboot received mixed reviews and underperformed financially, a second sequel to the 1984 film, Ghostbusters: Afterlife (2021), was released, followed by Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire (2024). After Columbia University parapsychology professors Peter Venkman , Ray Stantz , and Egon Spengler experience their first encounter with

32524-470: Was heavy and unwieldy, and it took nearly thirty hours to film it moving across a 30-foot (9.1 m) stage for the scene where it pursues Louis Tully across a street. For the scene where Dana is pinned to her chair by demonic hands before a doorway beaming with light, Reitman said he was influenced by Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). A rubber door was used to allow distortion as if something

32712-535: Was hung in the background of the Ghostbusters' office. Filming in the main reading room of the New York Public Library was only allowed in the early morning and had to be concluded by 10:00 am. The basement library stacks were represented by the Los Angeles Central Library as Reitman said they were interchangeable. The Millennium Biltmore Hotel stood in for the scenes set at the fictional Sedgewick Hotel. Principal photography concluded at

32900-477: Was inspired by Dan Aykroyd's fascination with and belief in the paranormal, which he inherited from his father, who later wrote the book A History of Ghosts ; his mother, who claimed to have seen ghosts; his grandfather, who experimented with radios to contact the dead; and his great-grandfather, a renowned spiritualist . In 1981, Aykroyd read an article on quantum physics and parapsychology in The Journal of

33088-412: Was inspired by the cover of a journal on abstract architecture for Egon's appearance, featuring a man wearing a three-piece tweed suit and wire-rim glasses, his hair standing straight up. He took the character's first name from a Hungarian refugee with whom he attended school, and the surname from German historian Oswald Spengler . Apart from the three main stars, Medjuck was largely responsible for casting

33276-565: Was known for not committing to projects until late. Price agreed to fund Murray's passion project The Razor's Edge , believing if it failed it would lose little money, and hoping the gesture would secure Murray's commitment to Ghostbusters . Michael Keaton , Chevy Chase , Tom Hanks , Robin Williams , Steve Guttenberg , and Richard Pryor were also considered for the role. Christopher Walken , John Lithgow , Christopher Lloyd , Jeff Goldblum , and Keaton were considered to portray Egon. Ramis

33464-520: Was met with a similar reaction, and Reitman knew he would not have to perform any re-shoots . The screening for fellow industry members fared less well. Price recalled laughing as the rest of the audience sat deadpan; he rationalized an industry audience wants failure. Murray and Aykroyd's agent Michael Ovitz recalled an executive telling him, "Don't worry: we all make mistakes", while Roberto Goizueta , chairman of Columbia's parent, The Coca-Cola Company , said: "Gee, we're going to lose our shirts". In

33652-585: Was one of many elaborate supernatural entities in Aykroyd's initial treatment, originally intended to emerge from the East River only 20 minutes into the film. It stood out to Reitman but concerned him because of the relatively realistic tone they were taking. Meanwhile, Reitman searched for a special effects studio, eventually recruiting Richard Edlund in the same two-week span. Murray was considered essential to Ghostbusters ' potential success, but he

33840-448: Was opened in 1926 with a ceremony at the Main Branch. The marble on the library building is about three feet thick, and the structure is composed entirely of Vermont marble and brick. Most of the exterior of the building is made of white Vermont marble, which includes both perpendicular and parallel cuts. The lowest section of the walls is made of granite, and there are also bronze windows, doors, grilles, and fixtures. Tennessee marble

34028-445: Was opened in 1943. In 1944, the New York Public Library proposed another expansion plan. The stacks' capacity would be increased to 3 million books, and the circulating library in the Main Branch would be moved to a new 53rd Street Library . The circulating library at the Main Branch was ultimately kept for the time being, though its single room soon became insufficient to host all of the circulating volumes. Subsequently, in 1949,

34216-404: Was originally intended for Paul Reubens . When he passed on the idea, Yugoslavian actress Slavitza Jovan was cast and the character changed to one inspired by the androgynous looks of Grace Jones and David Bowie . Paddi Edwards was uncredited as the voice of Gozer, dubbing over Jovan's strong Slavic accent. Reitman's wife and their children, Jason and Catherine , filmed a cameo appearance as

34404-646: Was renovated into a lecture hall called the Celeste Bartos Forum in 1987. Offices were relocated to former storage rooms on the ground level. Other divisions were added to the Main Branch during the 1980s, such as the Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle in 1986, and the Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs in 1987. The terraces on Fifth Avenue reopened in 1988 after they were restored. Meanwhile,

34592-574: Was the role intended for Eddie Murphy , although Reitman denied this. Gregory Hines and Reginald VelJohnson were also considered for the part. Daryl Hannah , Denise Crosby , Julia Roberts , and Kelly LeBrock auditioned for the role of Dana Barrett, but Sigourney Weaver attracted the filmmakers' attention. There was resistance to casting her because of the generally serious roles she had played in Alien (1979) and The Year of Living Dangerously (1982). She revealed her comedic background, developed at

34780-406: Was trying to come through it, while grips concealed in a trapdoor beneath the chair, burst through it while wearing demonic dog-leg gloves. Made before the advent of computer-generated imagery (CGI), any non-puppet ghosts had to be animated. It took up to three weeks to create one second of footage. For Gozer, Slavitza Jovan wore red contact lenses that caused her a great deal of pain, and she wore

34968-421: Was used for the library's flagpole pedestals, seats, and lion sculptures. During construction, the builders conducted quality checks on the marble, and 65 percent of the marble quarried for the Main Branch was rejected and used in other buildings such as Harvard Medical School . The exterior is composed of 20,000 blocks of stone, each of which is numbered. An elaborate cornice with sculpted figures wraps around

35156-459: Was used throughout Europe. The bottom left to top right version was used in the United States as that was the design of the No symbol there. Medjuck also hired John DeCuir as production designer . The script did not specify where Gozer would appear, and DeCuir painted the top of Dana's building with large, crystal doors that opened as written in the script. The fictional rooftop of 55 Central Park West

35344-458: Was working with comedians, he encouraged improvisation , adapting multiple takes and keeping the cast creations that worked, but directing them back to the script. Some guerrilla filmmaking took place, capturing spontaneous scenes at iconic locations around the city, including one shot at Rockefeller Center where the actors were chased off by a real security guard. A scene was shot on Central Park West with extras chanting "Ghostbusters" before

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