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Date: Thu, 9 Nov 1995 22:05:11 EST
From: Jennifer Mullen <JSM158@psuvm.psu.edu>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: redundant 3 Men & Baby info requested

In article <47uddd$7a2@ixnews6.ix.netcom.com>, Meatball Mulligan <bang@love.com> says:

>Sorry to be redundant. Can anyone provide info regarding the spook
>that is apparently visible in back room of condo? Couldn't find
>details in FAQ. Thanks

I wasn't able to find anything at cathouse, but this is an excerpt from the alt.folklore.ghost-stories FAQ, which is currently posted on said newsgroup and also available at:

ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/alt.folklore.ghost-stories/ ftp://ftp.netcom.com/pub/ob/obiwan/GhostStories/FAQs/ The FAQ is also available via the World Wide Web: http://www.lido.com/ghosts/

The FAQ is maintained by obiwan@netcom18.netcom.com

FAQ: S4.2 Three Men and a Baby

FAQ:    If I had to pick just one topic from this FAQ to post, this would
FAQ:  be the one.  There is a scene in the movie -Three Men and a Baby
FAQ:  in which some people claim to have seen the ghostly figure of a
FAQ:  small boy who was killed in the house in which the scene was filmed.
FAQ:  In some variations, the boy's parents are said to have sued the
FAQ:  movie studio, or the owners of the "house", for letting their boy's
FAQ:  name be released to the press.  There are also tales of other ghostly
FAQ:  objects being seen throughout the movie, most notably a rifle pointing
FAQ:  at the head of the "ghost boy".
FAQ:   That is the legend.  Here are the facts.  The scene in question
FAQ:  was not shot in a house, but on a soundstage in a Hollywood studio.
FAQ:  The "ghost boy" is in fact a life-sized cardboard cutout of Ted
FAQ:  Danson (who stars in the film), which had been left in the background,
FAQ:  presumably accidentally, by a crew member.  This cutout is seen in
FAQ:  full view in another scene in the movie.
FAQ:   There is no ghost boy.  No boy ever died on the set, and no one
FAQ:  involved with the movie was ever sued by the mythical parents of
FAQ:  said ghost boy.  No one appears to know how the legend started.
FAQ:  Some have suggested it was a promotional scheme perpetrated by the
FAQ:  producers of the film to get people to buy/rent/go see it.  Most
FAQ:  likely the flub was simply noticed by one or more innocent movie
FAQ:  goers, who told a friend, or perhaps a newspaper...
FAQ:  you.  She is exacting a hideous revenge on the undeformed people
FAQ:  who made fun of her in life.
FAQ:   There is a great Clive Barker movie, -Candyman-, based on this
FAQ:  sort of legend.

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And more from Russ Arcuri:

Date: Fri, 10 May 1996 09:35:49 -0400
From: Russ Arcuri <rarcuri@CENTER.COLGATE.EDU>

In a previous article, I wrote (in reference to the 'ghost boy' in "Three Men and a Baby":

> I promise to double-check tonight, but I'm fairly certain the cardboard
> cutout is *not* life-sized. Rather, it is smaller than life-sized. (Hence
> the legend about it being the ghost of a child rather than a man.)
> Picky? Yes. But in the interest of an ever-improving FAQ, yadda yadda
> yadda...

I checked last night, and there are two things of note:

1. If that cardboard cutout is supposed to be Ted Danson, it is most definitely *not* life-sized. I'd estimate it's no taller than about 4.5 feet, (about 1.5 feet short of Ted Danson's height, assuming he is approx. 6 feet tall).
2. The camera does not focus or linger on the window long enough to tell for sure, but I don't think the cardboard cutout is even supposed to be Ted Danson. What I could make out looks like a child.

Posted and mailed,
Russ "Cheers" Arcuri

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And yet more from Judith Gibbons:

From: Judes <judith_gibbons@ncet.org.uk>
Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: Re: A tidbit for the AFU documentation project
Date: 13 May 1996 07:48:07 GMT

In article <rarcuri-1005960931530001@www.colgate.edu> Russ Arcuri, rarcuri@colgate.edu writes:

>2. The camera does not focus or linger on the window long enough to tell
>for sure, but I don't think the cardboard cutout is even supposed to be
>Ted Danson. What I could make out looks like a child.

From the Movie Trivia FAQ (compiled by Murray Chapman and posted to news.answers):

# 3 Men and a Baby (1987) - When Jack's mother comes to visit Mary, you can see in the background what appears to be a little boy standing in a doorway. There is a rumor that this is the ghost of a little boy who died in the apartment in which the film was shot. This rumor is false, as the interiors were all shot on a sound stage in a movie studio. The ``ghost'' is actually a cardboard cut-out of Jack wearing a tuxedo. This prop appears later in the film, when Mary's mother comes to collect her.

Who's Jack? Is that Ted Danson?

Judes (Watched it once - fairly unmemorable)