60 Fun Facts About The Outsiders

In what year was The Outsiders first published?

It arrived at the height of the 1960s and has never gone out of print. Hinton was still a teenager when it came out.

Which publisher released the novel?

The same publisher later reported that the book still sells more than half a million copies a year.

In which city is the novel set, though it is never named in the text?

Hinton grew up there and based the greasers and Socs on gangs at her own high school.

What is 'Socs' short for?

It is pronounced 'SOH-shiz'. The greasers use it for the wealthy west-side kids who jump them.

How old was S. E. Hinton when she started writing the novel?

She wrote most of it the following year as a high school junior, and it was published when she was 18.

Why did S. E. Hinton publish under her initials rather than her full name?

Susan Eloise Hinton kept the initials for the rest of her career, partly to keep her private and public lives separate.

Roughly how many copies has the novel sold?

As of 2017 it was still selling over 500,000 copies a year, largely thanks to school reading lists.

How old is narrator Ponyboy Curtis at the start of the story?

He is the youngest of the three Curtis brothers, gets good grades and runs track.

What is the first name of the oldest Curtis brother, who raises the other two?

Everyone calls him Darry. He is 20, athletic and strong, and the gang's unofficial leader.

How did the Curtis brothers' parents die?

Their deaths eight months earlier leave the oldest brother working two jobs to keep the family together.

Where does the middle Curtis brother, a high-school dropout, work?

He is described as the handsome, funny one of the family, and Ponyboy adores him.

Which greaser is a wise-cracking kleptomaniac known for carrying a switchblade?

His real first name is Keith. In the film he pulls the blade when the Socs confront the group after the drive-in.

For how many years did Dally live on the streets of New York City?

That hardened past makes him the roughest and most volatile of the greasers, though he cares deeply about Johnny.

What does Dally carry with him at all times?

That habit is fatal at the end of the story, when he points it at police after Johnny's death.

Who is Sodapop's best friend since grade school?

In the 1983 film the part went to a young Tom Cruise.

Where do Ponyboy and Johnny meet the two Soc girls?

Ponyboy connects with one of them, and it is the first time he has really talked with a Soc.

Where do the Socs try to drown Ponyboy?

That attack ends with Johnny stabbing Bob, which sends the two boys on the run.

Which Soc does Johnny stab and kill?

He was Cherry's boyfriend and considered the leader of the Socs. He had badly beaten Johnny months earlier.

In which town do the boys hide out in an abandoned church?

They get there by hopping a freight train, on Dally's instructions.

Which novel does Ponyboy read aloud to Johnny while they hide?

Johnny later gives Ponyboy his own copy, and a farewell letter is tucked inside it.

Which poet wrote 'Nothing Gold Can Stay', the poem Ponyboy recites at sunrise?

It gives the story its most famous line, 'Stay gold, Ponyboy.'

What does Ponyboy do to his hair while hiding out?

For a greaser, losing his hair is a real sacrifice; it is his identity as much as his disguise.

What injury does Johnny suffer during the church fire?

A piece of the roof falls on him while he is rescuing trapped children.

What does the judge decide about Ponyboy after the hearing?

The ruling that Bob's death was self-defense keeps the Curtis family together.

What is the name of Ponyboy's English teacher, who assigns the theme that becomes the novel?

He says he will pass Ponyboy if he writes a decent theme, which Ponyboy begins with the book's own opening line.

Which movie star is on Ponyboy's mind in the novel's opening line?

'I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home.' The book ends by circling back to that sentence.

Where did the novel rank on the ALA's list of most challenged books of 1990-1999?

Objections cite gang violence, underage smoking and drinking, and slang, yet it is a middle-school staple.

Which later Hinton novel features Ponyboy Curtis in a supporting role?

Published in 1971, it follows two close friends whose bond is tested by drug dealing.

Which 2006 video game based its Greasers and Preppies on The Outsiders?

Rockstar Games' school-set title borrowed the class rivalry wholesale.

In what year did the Outsiders House Museum open in Tulsa?

The building had served as the Curtis brothers' home in the film; a musician bought it sight unseen and restored it.

Which hip-hop artist bought the house used as the Curtis home and turned it into a museum?

The House of Pain member first spotted the house in 2009 and finally bought it in 2016.

Who directed the 1983 film adaptation?

He was billed simply as Francis Coppola and made a second Hinton film, Rumble Fish, the same year.

Who persuaded the director to make the film?

Jo Ellen Misakian of Lone Star Elementary in Fresno wrote to him on behalf of her seventh and eighth graders.

Which actor made his feature film debut in the 1983 movie?

He played the middle Curtis brother, Sodapop.

What was the film's budget?

It went on to gross $25.8 million and opened second at the box office behind Spring Break.

Which future star was scouted for the film after appearing in the roller-skating movie Skatetown, U.S.A.?

He played the eldest brother, Darry, seven years before Ghost.

Which of these actors auditioned for the film but was NOT cast?

Timothy Hutton, Sean Penn, Robert Downey Jr., Anthony Michael Hall, Scott Baio and Dennis Quaid also read for parts and missed out.

Val Kilmer turned down a role in the film. Why?

The play was The Slab Boys. Top Gun did not come until 1986.

What cameo does S. E. Hinton make in the film?

She co-wrote the screenplay with the director and appears in the hospital scene.

Which two non-actors appeared uncredited as rival gang members in the rumble scene?

The Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist and the future Hockey Hall of Famer both got into the mud.

Who wrote and sang the film's theme song 'Stay Gold'?

The rest of the score was composed by Carmine Coppola, the director's father.

How long was the film's original cut, before it was trimmed to the 91-minute theatrical version?

The 2005 'Complete Novel' DVD restored 22 minutes and swapped in a rock soundtrack.

When were the filming dates for the 1983 movie?

The shoot took place in Tulsa, with the cast famously pranking each other throughout.

C. Thomas Howell won which honor for playing Ponyboy?

The film earned four Young Artist nominations in total; Diane Lane was also nominated.

How long did the 1990 television series based on the story last?

It picked up right after the film's ending, with a completely different cast in the same roles.

Where did the stage musical have its world premiere in 2023?

A Chicago premiere had been planned for 2020 but was cancelled by the pandemic.

Which folk duo wrote the songs for the Broadway musical?

They collaborated with Justin Levine, who co-wrote the book with playwright Adam Rapp.

How many Tony Awards did the musical win in 2024?

Its twelve nominations converted into four wins, including Best Musical and Best Direction for Danya Taymor.

Which Oscar-winning actress is among the musical's producers?

She shares the credit with Tony winner LaChanze and the film's director, under his American Zoetrope banner.

Which Broadway house did the musical open in on April 11, 2024?

The cast visited Tulsa to see the real locations before opening.

In which magazine was 'Nothing Gold Can Stay' first published in 1923?

It then appeared in the collection New Hampshire, which won the 1924 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

What was the first Hinton novel adapted for the screen after The Outsiders was written?

Tex reached cinemas in July 1982, eight months before The Outsiders film, with Matt Dillon starring.

S. E. Hinton was the first-ever recipient of which ALA honor, in 1988?

The American Library Association gives it for lifetime contribution to writing for teens.

Which is the only one of Hinton's young adult novels never made into a film?

Published in 1988, it was her final YA novel.

Hinton was inspired by rival gangs at the Tulsa campus she attended. Which was it?

She wanted to write from the greasers' point of view so people would stop being 'so quick to judge'.

What is Cherry Valance's real first name in the novel?

The Soc girl refuses to visit Johnny in hospital because he killed her boyfriend Bob, yet secretly spies for the greasers out of guilt.

Which Soc, Bob's best friend, tells Ponyboy he will not take part in the final rumble?

He expresses remorse for the gang war and doubts that the rumble will end the feud.

At which Fresno school did the librarian work who got her students to petition Coppola to make the film?

Jo Ellen Misakian's campaign changed the mind of a director who had never intended to make a film about teen angst.

Which film beat The Outsiders to the top of the US box office on its opening weekend in March 1983?

The Outsiders took $5.1 million from 829 theaters that weekend and went on to gross $25.8 million worldwide.

How many minutes of additional footage did Coppola's 2005 DVD cut, The Complete Novel, restore?

Coppola also rebalanced his late father Carmine's romantic score with 1960s pop and new music by Michael Seifert and Dave Padrutt.