105 Fun Facts About The Outsiders

The Outsiders helped create which publishing category?

Young adult: Hinton recalled that there was no such market in 1967, and her book's realism about teenage life helped publishers see one.

In The Outsiders, what kind of animal is Mickey Mouse, whom Sodapop loved as a boy?

A horse: the buckskin belonged to another man but came only when Soda called. When it was sold Soda cried all night, and ten-year-old Ponyboy saved his money for a year hoping to buy it back.

What does Cherry Valance throw in Dally's face when he keeps pestering her?

A Coke, and one Dally had just bought her. He gears up to bother her again until Johnny, the quietest of the gang, tells him to leave her alone, and Dally stalks off.

In The Outsiders, what is 'Socs' short for?

Socials, said 'soshes': Ponyboy calls them the jet set, the West-side rich kids. He notes that the papers call them a public disgrace one day and an asset to society the next.

Hinton said teen novels then were all 'Mary Jane goes to' where?

The prom: Hinton found no realistic fiction about teenagers, and she was angry at the way her school split into groups that never mixed, so she wrote the book she wanted to read.

Why did Susan Eloise Hinton publish The Outsiders as S. E. Hinton?

To hide her gender: with a boy narrating a story about boy gangs, the publisher feared a woman's name would put off male reviewers and boy readers. She kept the initials on her later books too.

The Outsiders 'died on the vine' as a drugstore paperback before its publisher noticed who was using it?

Teachers were using it in their classes, Hinton recalled, and that showed her publisher where the readers were. The novel went on to sell in the millions, carried by school reading lists.

In The Outsiders, Ponyboy is the youngest member of his school's A-squad team in which sport?

Track: Ponyboy is a good runner, and after the church fire a newspaper calls him an honor-roll student and possible future track star as it argues that the three brothers should not be split up.

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

Darrel, called Darry, is 20. He captained the football team and won a college scholarship, but with their parents dead he roofs houses and holds a second job so the brothers can stay together.

In The Outsiders, how did the Curtis brothers' parents die?

In a car crash, eight months before the story opens. The three brothers are allowed to stay together only as long as they behave, so every brush with the police puts the family at risk.

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

A gas station: Sodapop works full time at the DX. He tells Ponyboy he quit school because he was failing everything but auto mechanics and gym, and that he is happy working with cars.

Which greaser in The Outsiders is a wise-cracking shoplifter famous for his black-handled switchblade?

Two-Bit Mathews, born Keith, got his name because he always has to get his two bits in. He shoplifted the prized switchblade, and Dally later borrows it to force his way out of the hospital for the rumble.

In The Outsiders, Dally spent three wild years on the streets of which city?

New York: Dally blew off steam in its gang fights and saw people killed on its West Side, which is why Ponyboy calls him tougher, colder and meaner than the rest of the greasers.

What does Dally start carrying while the boys are in hiding?

An unloaded gun: Dally says he isn't aiming to get picked up for murder. The bluff kills him in the end, when he raises the empty gun at police who cannot know it is harmless.

In The Outsiders, who has been Sodapop's best friend since grade school?

Steve Randle, 17, knows cars inside out and can lift a hubcap quicker than anyone in the neighborhood. Ponyboy likes him only for Soda's sake, because Steve treats him as a tag-along kid.

Where do Ponyboy and Johnny meet the two Soc girls?

At a drive-in movie, the Nightly Double, where the boys sneak in over the back fence although they have the quarter to get in. Talking with Cherry there, Ponyboy first hears that things are rough all over.

Where do the Socs try to drown Ponyboy?

In a park fountain: a drunk Soc holds Ponyboy's head under until he blacks out. He comes to on the pavement beside Johnny, who is holding his switchblade and says, 'I killed him.'

Months before the story begins, what did a Soc use to cut up Johnny's face in a beating?

His rings: Johnny saw only a blue Mustang and a hand full of them. When the same car pulls up for Cherry, Ponyboy catches him staring at the three heavy rings her boyfriend wears, and works out who did it.

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

Windrixville: Dally hands them fifty dollars and tells them to hop the 3:15 freight, find the abandoned church on Jay Mountain, buy a week of food and not so much as stick their noses out the door.

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

Gone with the Wind: Johnny buys the paperback with their supplies, and its gallant Southern gentlemen remind him of Dally. He later leaves Ponyboy his copy, with a farewell letter tucked inside.

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

Robert Frost wrote it, and Ponyboy admits he never quite got what the poet meant. Johnny works it out in his last letter: you are gold when you are a kid, when everything is new.

What does Ponyboy do to his hair while hiding out?

Cuts and bleaches it: Johnny hacks off Ponyboy's long hair with his knife and bleaches it with peroxide as a disguise. It hurts, because Ponyboy calls hair the greasers' trademark, the one thing they are proud of.

What injury does Johnny suffer during the church fire?

A broken back: a falling timber catches Johnny as the boys get the last children out of the burning church. His last letter tells Ponyboy it was worth it, because those kids have more to live for.

What does the judge decide about Ponyboy at the hearing over Bob's death?

Acquitted and sent home: the judge never asks Ponyboy about the killing, only whether he likes school and what grades he makes, and then closes the case. The three Curtis brothers get to stay together.

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

Mr. Syme tells Ponyboy he is failing but will pass with a C if he writes a good semester theme. Ponyboy phones him to ask how long it can be, then opens it with the book's own first sentence.

Which movie star is on Ponyboy's mind in the opening line of The Outsiders?

'I had only two things on my mind: Paul Newman and a ride home.' The book ends on that same sentence, because the whole story turns out to be the theme Ponyboy writes for his English class.

The Outsiders made which American Library Association list for the 1990s?

Most challenged books: it shares the 1990s list with To Kill a Mockingbird and The Handmaid's Tale. Schools went on assigning it anyway.

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

That Was Then, This Is Now, from 1971, follows two foster brothers pulled apart by drugs. Ponyboy turns up as a quiet boy known as a good fighter, and the girl chasing him sets off a brawl at a dance.

Late in The Outsiders, what does Ponyboy break to make a weapon that scares off three Socs?

A pop bottle: he tells them to get back in their car or get split. Then he stoops to pick up the glass so that nobody gets a flat tire, and Two-Bit grins, because the kid has not turned hard after all.

Danny Boy O'Connor, who opened a museum to The Outsiders in Tulsa, had the 1992 hit 'Jump Around' with which group?

House of Pain took 'Jump Around' to number three in the US. O'Connor was passing through Tulsa on tour in 2009 when he went looking for the film's locations, and he ended up buying and restoring one of them.

Who directed the 1983 film of The Outsiders?

Francis Ford Coppola, billed simply as Francis Coppola, skipped the usual casting call: he sat the candidates in one room to watch each other try out for different parts, reasoning that no one knows more about acting than actors.

Who persuaded the director to make the 1983 film of The Outsiders?

A school librarian and her students: Jo Ellen Misakian of the Lone Star School in Fresno mailed him a petition with pages of children's signatures. It reminded him of his days as a camp counselor, and he had the book read.

Which actor made his feature film debut in the 1983 film of The Outsiders?

Rob Lowe was 18 and had worked only in television when he played Sodapop, the middle Curtis brother. Tulsa locals remember nights out with two no-name actors from the shoot, Lowe and Tom Cruise.

Which star of the film The Outsiders made his screen debut as a skater in the roller-disco movie Skatetown, U.S.A.?

Patrick Swayze, trained in ballet, first reached the screen in 1979 as a skater called Ace. By The Outsiders he was 29, playing the eldest brother opposite teenagers, and Hinton said he was the one actor she never felt like a mother to.

Who played Cherry Valance in the 1983 film of The Outsiders?

Diane Lane played the Soc girl who befriends Ponyboy. The boys in the cast did not spare her their pranks: she recalled finding honey all over her toilet seat and something menacing written in lipstick on her mirror.

Why did Val Kilmer turn down a role in the 1983 film of The Outsiders?

He stayed with a stage play, thinking it the right thing to do. Years later he said he would not make the same choice again, because great careers came out of that film, Tom Cruise's among them.

What cameo does S. E. Hinton make in the 1983 film of The Outsiders?

A nurse: she tends Dally in the hospital scene. Hinton spent the whole shoot in a chair set up next to the director's, and the young actors came to treat her as the den mother of the greasers.

What do Ponyboy and his brothers all like to eat for breakfast in The Outsiders?

Chocolate cake: their mother never allowed it with ham and eggs, but with the parents gone the eldest brother was easily talked round. Sodapop makes sure there is one in the icebox every night, and bakes one fast if there is not.

Who sang 'Stay Gold', the theme song of the 1983 film of The Outsiders?

Stevie Wonder wrote the words and sang it, and the director's father scored the film. The title is Johnny's dying plea to Ponyboy, itself borrowed from the poem the two boys share in hiding.

In 2005 the director re-released The Outsiders with more than twenty minutes restored, under what subtitle?

The Complete Novel put back scenes cut in 1983, when the studio found the film long. He also traded much of his late father's romantic score, which he had never dared question, for what greasers would have played, like early Elvis Presley.

Which other S. E. Hinton novel did the director film in Tulsa straight after The Outsiders?

Rumble Fish began shooting in Tulsa in July 1982, weeks after The Outsiders wrapped, and much of the crew simply stayed in town. He made it in black and white, and both films reached cinemas in 1983.

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

La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego staged it from February to April 2023 and extended the run by popular demand. A Chicago world premiere had been announced for the summer of 2020, but it never opened there.

Which folk duo co-wrote the songs for the Broadway musical of The Outsiders?

Jamestown Revival: the producers wanted songwriters from outside Broadway, and the Texas folk duo won the job with their song 'Stay Gold'. The score then took them about nine years.

Which Oscar-winning actress became a producer of The Outsiders on Broadway?

Angelina Jolie signed on as a lead producer in 2023, saying her daughter had taken her to see the show during its first run. Her teenage daughter Vivienne worked on it too, credited as a producer's assistant.

In The Outsiders, where does Dally take Ponyboy and Johnny to eat after their days in hiding?

Dairy Queen: after days of baloney the two gorge on barbecue sandwiches and banana splits. Johnny is finishing his fifth sandwich when he announces they are going back to turn themselves in.

Around the time she wrote The Outsiders, S. E. Hinton did badly in which high school class?

Creative writing: one account has her averaging a D, another failing outright. She put it down to minding her book more than the classwork, and her teacher was not pleased that she told the story in every interview.

Which studio made the film of S. E. Hinton's novel Tex, starring Matt Dillon?

Walt Disney made Tex in 1982, after losing money on a run of wholesome family films. It went out rated PG from a studio known for G, and Hinton herself has a cameo.

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

The Margaret Edwards Award cited The Outsiders and her next three novels. Her 1988 citation calls it by an earlier name, the Author Achievement Award, because the prize was renamed for Edwards only later.

In The Outsiders, what does Ponyboy learn that he and the Soc girl Cherry both love to watch?

Sunsets: Cherry guesses that he watches them, and he realises the one she sees from her patio is the one he sees from his back steps. It is what persuades him their two worlds are not so different.

Which Tulsa high school did S. E. Hinton attend while she was writing The Outsiders?

Will Rogers High School is where she wrote it, angry that everyone kept to their own little group and would not make friends outside it.

What is Cherry Valance's real first name in The Outsiders?

Sherri: she tells Ponyboy when they first meet that she is called Cherry because of her red hair. He has just explained that his own odd name is real, and that his brother's birth certificate really does say Sodapop.

In The Outsiders, which Soc tells Ponyboy he will not show up for the big rumble?

Randy Adderson asks Ponyboy into his car on the day of the fight and says he is sick of it all. Win or lose, he tells him, greasers will still be greasers and Socs will still be Socs.

Which rule do both sides accept before the big rumble in The Outsiders?

No weapons: Cherry brings word that the Socs will fight the greasers' way, with fists alone. The rule rattles some of the greasers' allies, who are used to grabbing chains, blades or pieces of pipe.

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

Spring Break took $5.9 million from 1,493 theaters that weekend. The Outsiders made $5.1 million from only 829, so it finished second while drawing far more per theater.

In The Outsiders, where is Sodapop's girlfriend Sandy sent to live, ending their romance?

Florida: Sandy goes to her grandmother's there after her parents refuse to let her marry a sixteen-year-old. Soda's letter to her comes back unopened, and only then does Ponyboy see that his easygoing brother had troubles too.

In S. E. Hinton's novel The Outsiders, how does Dallas Winston die on the night Johnny dies?

Shot by police is the death he chooses: with Johnny gone, he provokes the officers who corner him, and Ponyboy realises Dally wanted to die.

In The Outsiders, what do Ponyboy and Johnny believe started the fire at the abandoned church?

Their own cigarette is what the boys blame, so they feel responsible for the children trapped inside. Ponyboy smashes a window with a rock and climbs in after them.

In The Outsiders, what does Cherry Valance do for the greasers after the death of her boyfriend Bob?

Spies on the Socs is her answer to guilt over the killing: she brings the greasers word of the other side's plans and offers to testify that Johnny fought back in self-defence.

S. E. Hinton modelled the Greasers and Socs of The Outsiders on what from her own teenage life?

Her school's rival gangs gave her both names: the Greasers and the Socs were real groups, and she wrote from the Greasers' point of view because she wanted to empathise with them.

In the 1983 film of The Outsiders, which young actor played Johnny Cade, the greaser who kills Bob?

Ralph Macchio took the part so seriously that he stayed out of the pranks his castmates played on one another, which became legendary on the set.

In The Outsiders, what does Ponyboy's oldest brother do to make him run away after he comes home late?

Slaps him hard enough to knock him against the door: nobody in the family had ever hit Ponyboy, and his brother is still shouting that he didn't mean it as Ponyboy bolts.

In The Outsiders, which car do Bob Sheldon and his friends drive, a sight that terrifies Johnny?

A blue Mustang carried the four Socs who beat Johnny so badly months earlier that his friends thought he might be dead. He has sworn to kill the next person who jumps him.

After Bob's death in The Outsiders, how do Ponyboy and Johnny get out of Tulsa to reach their hideout?

By freight train: on Dally's instructions they slip into an open boxcar, dodging a railroad worker, and Ponyboy falls asleep before they jump off in the countryside.

In The Outsiders, what does Johnny's last letter say the 'gold' in the poem Ponyboy recited means?

Being a kid is gold, Johnny writes, because everything is still new, like dawn; it only turns to day once you get used to it all.

In The Outsiders, which visitor does the dying Johnny Cade refuse to see in his hospital room?

His mother gets no welcome: Johnny, who has been beaten at home for years, says to tell her to leave him alone for once, then passes out from the effort.

In The Outsiders, which line does Cherry Valance say to Ponyboy on the night they meet?

"Things are rough all over" is her answer to the story of Johnny's beating, after she insists that not all Socs are like his attackers. Ponyboy is sceptical at first.

In the 1983 film of The Outsiders, which future superstar had a small role as Sodapop's best friend?

Tom Cruise was still a supporting player, though already intense: a castmate recalled him going "ballistic" over having to share a room during auditions.

In The Outsiders, what does Johnny decide to do after several days in hiding, against Dally's advice?

Turn himself in is Johnny's plan because he has no record and hopes to be let off easy. Dally pleads against it, afraid that jail would harden Johnny the way it hardened him.

In The Outsiders, where could Ponyboy be sent if the orphaned Curtis brothers are split up?

A boys' home is the threat hanging over the family once Ponyboy has run away. A newspaper article arguing that the brothers should not be separated is what makes him see the danger.

In The Outsiders, what does a distraught Dallas Winston rob straight after watching Johnny die?

A grocery store is his target. Minutes later he phones the Curtis house from a payphone to say he is on the run, and the whole gang rushes out to meet him.

In The Outsiders, what does Ponyboy's stern oldest brother do at the hospital that shows he cares?

Starts crying, something Ponyboy has not seen him do in years. It makes Ponyboy realise that his brother is strict because he is terrified of losing someone else he loves.

In S. E. Hinton's novel The Outsiders, where do the greasers and the Socs meet for their big rumble?

A vacant lot is the battleground, where twenty greasers line up against twenty-two Socs. Ponyboy notices that the Socs don't look as if they are going to a fight at all.

In The Outsiders, which injury from the rumble keeps Ponyboy in bed for days afterwards?

A concussion, from a Soc's kick to the head, combines with exhaustion and shock to keep him asleep and delirious from Saturday night until Tuesday.

In The Outsiders, Ponyboy feels a kinship with Pip, the hero of which Dickens novel he reads for school?

Great Expectations speaks to him because Pip "felt marked lousy because he wasn't a gentleman", which is just how Ponyboy feels as a greaser.

In The Outsiders, why is a group of young children at the remote church when it catches fire?

A school picnic brought them there. When the grown-ups in charge realise some are missing, shouts from inside reveal a huddle of children aged about eight or younger.

In The Outsiders, which food does Johnny buy a week's supply of, leaving Ponyboy sick of eating it?

Baloney is nearly all they eat for four or five days in hiding, so when Dally finally turns up and drives them to a restaurant they gorge themselves on banana splits.

In The Outsiders, Ponyboy's oldest brother was captain of which high school team before he had to work?

Football won him a college scholarship, but with his parents dead he had to take a job instead to keep the family together.

In The Outsiders, Ponyboy recognises Cherry Valance from his high school, where she holds which role?

Cheerleader is how he knows her, so he is surprised when she turns friendly towards him and Johnny, two younger and less threatening greasers, once Dally has walked off.

What did S. E. Hinton suffer after the sudden success of her debut novel The Outsiders?

Writer's block left her depressed after her debut. David Inhofe, the classmate she later married, made her write two pages a day, and that produced her second novel.

In The Outsiders, what does Ponyboy angrily call Cherry Valance when she says she cannot visit Johnny?

A traitor "to your own kind and not loyal to us" is his outburst. He feels ashamed as soon as he sees she is about to cry, and the two part as friends.

In The Outsiders, which charge does Johnny face for Bob's death while newspapers call him a hero?

Manslaughter is the charge waiting for Johnny. He never stands trial: he dies in hospital that very night, minutes after the greasers win their rumble.

In The Outsiders, why does Ponyboy get home at two in the morning, enraging his oldest brother?

He dozed off stargazing beside Johnny in the freezing cold, daydreaming of a life in the country where his parents were alive again. Johnny woke him far too late.

In The Outsiders, what does Ponyboy do to the drunk Socs who corner him, prompting their attack?

Spits at them, his answer to being called "white trash with long hair". Moments later he is overpowered and blacks out.

In The Outsiders, what work does Ponyboy's oldest brother do, pulling a muscle on the job?

Roofing houses is the hard labour he takes on at twenty. Ponyboy laments that his brother has to "work like an old man" just to take care of the two of them.

While recovering at home in The Outsiders, what does a shaken Ponyboy insist about Bob's death?

That he killed Bob is what Ponyboy tells a visiting Soc, adding that Johnny is not dead. The visitor is asked to leave because Ponyboy is still "racked up mentally and emotionally".

In The Outsiders, what does Sodapop drop as he bolts from the house, revealing his heartbreak over Sandy?

An unopened letter, one he wrote to her that came back unread, is the clue. Only then does Ponyboy see that his brother had troubles of his own that nobody had noticed.

In The Outsiders, the greasers' one rule besides 'Stick together' is which other piece of advice?

"Don't get caught" is the rule, explained when Cherry is taken aback by how casually the greasers talk about a coming fight between two of their own.

In The Outsiders, which character comes looking for Dally after Dally slashes the tires on his car?

Tim Shepard leads the other big greaser gang in town. Scraps like this one are routine between him and Dally, who still count each other as friends.

In The Outsiders, why does Dally hit Ponyboy hard across the back as he escapes the burning church?

His jacket was on fire, so the blow that knocks Ponyboy out is really Dally beating out the flames. Ponyboy only learns this later, in the ambulance.

In The Outsiders, what does Bob Sheldon's best friend say the spoiled Soc really wanted from his parents?

To be told no, just once: his parents gave in to everything and never punished him. After his death, Mrs Sheldon suffers a nervous breakdown.

In The Outsiders, which friend of Cherry Valance hits it off with a wisecracking greaser?

Marcia even hands the joker her phone number before the girls leave with their boyfriends, but he tears it up once she has gone.

In The Outsiders, what has troubled Ponyboy since his parents' funeral, so Sodapop shares his bed?

A nightmare he can never remember first woke him screaming on the night of the funeral. It kept coming back, so Soda began sleeping beside him.

Which network aired the 1990 television series that picked up the story of The Outsiders after the film?

Fox launched it with a 90-minute pilot that drew 14.1 million viewers, making it the highest-rated drama in the network's history at that point.

According to Ponyboy in The Outsiders, his oldest brother joins the big rumble for which reason?

For pride, Ponyboy decides, as he works out that every member of the gang fights for something different: Sodapop does it for fun. Ponyboy cannot say why he fights himself.

Late in The Outsiders, Ponyboy's oldest brother calls him which pet name, usually kept for Sodapop?

Little buddy slips out while he is scolding Ponyboy for smoking in bed and keeping a messy room. It is the first time he has ever used the name for his youngest brother.

In the slang of The Outsiders, 'tough' means rough, but what does the greasers' word 'tuff' mean?

Cool and sharp is the meaning, so calling something tuff is high praise. The same slang has 'rank' for anything inferior and 'dig' for understanding or appreciating it.

In The Outsiders, which job is the only thing lawbreaker Dally Winston is said to do honestly?

Jockey is his one straight line of work: Dally lies, steals and has been to jail, yet he never fixes a race.

In The Outsiders, the abandoned church where Ponyboy and Johnny hide stands on top of which peak?

Jay Mountain is where Dally sends them, but the two city boys have no idea how to find it, so Ponyboy has to ask a farmer on a tractor for directions.

In The Outsiders, why do the Curtis brothers never lock the front door of their house?

So friends can stay over: any of the gang who needs somewhere to sleep can simply walk in, and they do, wandering into the kitchen at breakfast without knocking.

Under the terms agreed before the big rumble in The Outsiders, which side is declared the loser?

The first to run lose, as a Soc spells out before the fight begins. In the end it is the Socs who break and flee, and the greasers are declared the winners.

In The Outsiders, how does the dying Johnny respond when Dally tells him the greasers won the rumble?

He says it's useless: "fighting's no good", Johnny mumbles. His eyes only glow when Dally, the friend he hero-worships, tells him he is proud of him.

In S. E. Hinton's novel The Outsiders, what colour is Dally Winston's hair, which he dislikes oiling or cutting?

White-blond, so fair it is almost white, and it falls over his forehead in wisps because he dislikes haircuts as much as hair oil. Ponyboy gives him an elfish face and ears like a lynx.

In The Outsiders, how does Johnny let the sleeping Ponyboy know he has gone to buy supplies?

A note in the dust on the church floor is all Ponyboy finds when he wakes alone. Johnny comes back with food and a novel he remembered Ponyboy wanting to read.

S. E. Hinton started The Outsiders at fifteen and wrote most of it during which year of high school?

Junior year is when the bulk of it was written, and she was eighteen by the time the book was published.

In The Outsiders, what does Ponyboy tell a farmer that he and Johnny are doing when he asks for directions?

Playing army is his cover story: he says he has to "report to headquarters", and it frightens him how easily the lie comes.