director ralph senensky left the production only two weeks before the end of principal photography, and was replaced by richard benett. on october 31, 1977, senensky argued with the producers about a scene featuring pink elephants in the hancock park neighborhood of los angeles, california, believing that the animals would be spooked by filming on halloween night. senensky turned out to be right. production ceased temporarily when nanette fabray was knocked to the ground by a spooked elephant. she suffered a severe concussion, bruises and back sprains and was taken to cedars-sinai medical center where her condition was reported as serious but stable. following her recovery, filming resumed on november 30.