867-5309: Only this time it's God, not Jenny

In 1981, one-hit wonders Tommy Tutone had their sole hit "Jenny [867-5309]". The song was a source of unlimited grief for telephone customers unlucky enough to have that combination of numbers as their own.

Now, 12 years later, Hollywood decides to make a similar contribution to national grief with Bruce Almighty. The Jim Carrey vehicle which topped to box office in its opening over Memorial Day weekend has God (played by Morgan Freeman) trying to reach Bruce Nolan (Carrey) by repeatedly leaving a phone number on his pager. For years, books, movies and TV shows have been using 555-(directory assistance) prefixed fake numbers, because the use of an actual number would cause problems. Apparently, Universal Studios ran a case of amnesia on this account and God's number turns out to be Dawn Jenkins' cell phone number. If that wasn't enough, Nolan's pager number matches the one to a South Carolina woman. Fee Fi Fo Fum, I smell some lawsuit-based income.


Related: Movie execs made sure that the number didn't work in Buffalo, NY. But they never checked out other locations ... [courtesy: lockergnome]