40 Fun Facts About 9 to 5

What did Dolly Parton click together on the set of 9 to 5 to create the theme song's typewriter beat?

Her fingernails, long acrylic ones, gave Dolly Parton a clacking rhythm, and she built the song around it on set. Her album credits even list her on vocals and nails.

In 9 to 5, what does Violet Newstead accidentally put in Franklin Hart's coffee instead of sweetener?

Rat poison came in a box nearly identical to the sweetener, so a distracted Violet grabbed the wrong one. Hart never drank it: his desk chair malfunctioned and he knocked himself out first.

Which US president wrote in his diary that 9 to 5 was funny but its pot-smoking scene made him mad?

Ronald Reagan watched the comedy with Nancy on Valentine's Day 1981, weeks after taking office. He felt the scene endorsed the drug for young viewers and wished the women had simply got drunk.

9 to 5 was the second-biggest box office hit of 1980, behind which other 20th Century Fox release?

The Empire Strikes Back took about $209 million in North America, roughly double the office comedy's $103 million. One studio released both, giving it the year's top two hits.

Which comedian played Violet Newstead, the widowed supervisor passed over for promotion, in 9 to 5?

Lily Tomlin played Violet, a twelve-year veteran who once trained Franklin Hart and still gets treated like his secretary. Jane Fonda cast her after long wanting to work with her.

In 9 to 5, what does Violet Newstead steal from a hospital, believing she has killed Franklin Hart?

A dead body ended up in her car because Violet feared an autopsy would expose her mix-up with the coffee. It turned out to be a stranger, so the women quietly returned it.

Which relative of Dolly Parton took over her role as Doralee Rhodes in the 9 to 5 television sitcom?

Her sister Rachel Dennison, the youngest of the twelve Parton children, played Doralee from the show's first episode to its last. It was the only acting role of her career.

Which duet with Kenny Rogers gave Dolly Parton her only other Hot 100 number one after 9 to 5?

Islands in the Stream returned her to the top as half of a duo. As a solo artist, Dolly Parton reached number one on the Hot 100 only with the song she wrote for the film.

Dolly Parton reunited with her 9 to 5 co-stars with a cameo in the final episode of which Netflix comedy?

Grace and Frankie starred Jane Fonda and her old office ally for seven seasons before the third member of the trio turned up in the finale. The cameo completed a reunion four decades in the making.

Why does Judy Bernly take her first job as a secretary at the start of 9 to 5?

Her husband left her for his own young secretary, pushing a lifelong housewife into an office for the first time. Jane Fonda prepared by studying women who began work late after a divorce.

Which actor, later the sexist soap opera director in Tootsie, played Franklin Hart in 9 to 5?

Dabney Coleman made such a convincing office tyrant that comic villains became the roles he was best known for. He rejoined two of his captors on screen in The Beverly Hillbillies.

At the end of 9 to 5, chairman Russell Tinsworthy takes Franklin Hart away to work in which country?

Brazil was the reward Hart never wanted: Tinsworthy, delighted by the office's soaring productivity, drafted him for a multiyear project there. The changes he took credit for were the women's.

Where do the women of 9 to 5 hold Franklin Hart prisoner while they wait for evidence against him?

His own bedroom became the jail once the women learned the invoices they needed as proof would take four to six weeks to arrive. They ran the office in his name while he was out of sight.

Which singer and talk show host re-recorded 9 to 5 with Dolly Parton for the documentary Still Working 9 to 5?

Kelly Clarkson was personally invited by Dolly Parton, and their version slowed the tune into a midtempo ballad to suit the documentary. The two later sang it live on her daytime show.

Which superhero sequel plays Dolly Parton's 9 to 5 over an opening sequence of its hero at work?

Deadpool 2 has Ryan Reynolds's antihero cue the music himself before a string of contract killings. The joke is that a hired killer's bloody shift is just another working day.

In 9 to 5, Violet Newstead's fantasy of killing Franklin Hart is staged in the style of which genre?

A fairy tale is how Violet pictures doctoring his coffee and tipping him out of a window. Judy imagines hunting him like big game, while Doralee turns his own harassment on him.

Which reform do the women of 9 to 5 introduce in Franklin Hart's name while he is held captive?

A daycare center opened in the office alongside flexible hours, job sharing and equal pay, all approved with a forged signature. Productivity rose 20 percent, and Hart got the credit.

Dolly Parton's 9 to 5 lost the Best Original Song Oscar to the title song of which film?

Fame, sung by Irene Cara, took the Oscar, and its film became the first to land two nominees in the category. Willie Nelson's On the Road Again lost that night too.

Which Scottish singer's 9 to 5 was renamed Morning Train in America because of Dolly Parton's hit?

Sheena Easton's single came out in Britain months before the film, then went to number one in America under its new name. It reached the top less than two months after the Parton hit had last been there.

Before it was rewritten as a comedy, 9 to 5 was first planned as what kind of film?

A drama was the plan until Jane Fonda decided every version felt too preachy. She kept cutting anything that smacked of a soapbox, even scenes her director liked.

Which Harold and Maude screenwriter directed 9 to 5 and rewrote its script as a comedy?

Colin Higgins was hired partly to make room in the script for all three stars. Dolly Parton, making her first film, was glad to find him quiet and low-key.

The title of 9 to 5 came from an association of women office workers founded in which US city?

Boston was home to the group, started by an old friend of Jane Fonda, and its members' stories about their jobs gave her the idea. It grew out of a newsletter for the city's office workers.

How did screenwriter Patricia Resnick research office life before writing the first draft of 9 to 5?

Going undercover at an insurer, she posed as a secretary at a huge brokerage to see the job from the inside. Her director later gathered more stories from focus groups of office workers.

Although 9 to 5 seems set in Los Angeles, its opening credits mostly show the downtown of which city?

San Francisco supplies most of the shots, including an electric Muni bus and the Ferry Building clock. Principal photography otherwise took place mainly in Los Angeles.

The song 9 to 5 won Dolly Parton two of which honors, for best country song and female country vocal?

Grammy Awards went to the song in both country categories, and it was up for Song of the Year as well. It also earned nominations for an Oscar and a Golden Globe.

Dolly Parton re-recorded 9 to 5 as 5 to 9 for a 2021 Super Bowl commercial for which company?

Squarespace aired the reworked song during Super Bowl LV, four decades after the original topped the charts. The new title turned the working day on its head.

Which US senator often took the stage to Dolly Parton's 9 to 5 during her 2020 presidential campaign?

Elizabeth Warren used it as walk-on music, but the singer's camp had not signed off. Parton's manager said they did not approve requests of a political nature.

Which critic gave 9 to 5 three stars out of four and called Dolly Parton a natural-born movie star?

Roger Ebert found the plot almost too preposterous but said watching her do anything in the film was a pleasure. Reviews were mixed, though praise for the newcomer ran through many of them.

Why does Franklin Hart have Maria Delgado fired in 9 to 5 after a tip from his assistant Roz?

Discussing her salary with a co-worker was enough to cost Maria her job. She returns part-time once the women launch their job-sharing scheme.

What crime do the women of 9 to 5 catch Franklin Hart committing, giving them leverage to blackmail him?

Selling off inventory and pocketing the proceeds was his secret sideline. Once freed from captivity, he simply bought the stock back before anyone could prove it.

Who frees Franklin Hart from captivity in 9 to 5 after returning from a cruise?

His wife Missy adores him and has no idea he cheats, so she set him free without a second thought. Her timing gave him just long enough to cover his tracks.

What is the name of the firm where Violet, Judy and Doralee work under Franklin Hart in 9 to 5?

Consolidated Companies is the setting on film, but the TV spin-off moved the women twice, first to American House and later to Barkley Foods International.

How does Doralee Rhodes stop Franklin Hart in his office when he tries to blackmail her in 9 to 5?

She hogties him and gags him with a scarf, living out the rodeo revenge she had daydreamed about earlier. That improvised capture turns into weeks of kidnapping.

According to the closing captions of 9 to 5, Judy Bernly falls in love with and marries which man?

The Xerox representative gets a single line in the captions, a tidy happy ending for the office's newest recruit. Doralee's caption sends her off to sing country and western.

Which star of The West Wing played Violet Newstead when 9 to 5: The Musical opened on Broadway in 2009?

Allison Janney earned a Tony nomination for the part, in a show with music and lyrics by Dolly Parton. Broadway was less kind to the production, which closed after a little over four months.

Which actress played Violet in the 9 to 5 sitcom, where the character's maiden name became Fernandez?

Rita Moreno, an Oscar winner for West Side Story, played Violet across the show's three network seasons. Jane Fonda served as an executive producer for the first two.

Which actor, Captain McCluskey in The Godfather, played chairman of the board Russell Tinsworthy in 9 to 5?

Sterling Hayden often said he disliked film acting and did it mainly to pay for his schooners and sea voyages. The cameo was among the last roles of his screen career.

Which labor organizer, an old friend of Jane Fonda, founded the group that gave 9 to 5 its title?

Karen Nussbaum began organizing after working as a secretary herself and seeing how office staff were treated. The TV spin-off later featured a kindly salesman named Harry Nussbaum.

9 to 5 ranks number 74 on which American Film Institute list, unveiled in June 2000?

100 Years...100 Laughs counted down the funniest American films, chosen from 500 nominees. The theme song made a separate AFI list of great film songs at number 78.

Before Dolly Parton's 9 to 5, which 1968 hit was the only woman's single to top both country and pop charts?

Harper Valley PTA, by Jeannie C. Riley, stood alone for 13 years until the office anthem matched it. Dolly Parton had recorded her own cover of the Riley hit on a 1969 album.