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SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER catapulted John Travolta to stardom when it opened Dec. 16, 1977, but he was already wildly popular from the TV series “WELCOME BACK, KOTTER.”

When “KOTTER” premiered two years earlier, Travolta was a young actor who’d done some commercials and hoped to break out playing Vinnie Barbarino, one of four tough NYC high school kids known as Sweathogs. The show’s real star was Gabe Kaplan, who played Gabe Kotter, a teacher and former Sweathog, himself. Travolta, however, emerged as the show’s biggest star — a new teen heartthrob who made the ratings soar.

FEVER was part of a $1M deal Travolta signed with producer Robert Stigwood in 1976 for three films to be released by Paramount. It was based on the article “Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night” by Nik Cohn, which ran in New York Magazine in June 1976. Cohn’s story wasn’t as familiar to moviegoers as a hit stage play or best-selling novel would have been, but what really steered FEVER to success was its disco soundtrack by The Bee Gees. Originally, the film was to have been called “Saturday Night,” but when Stigwood and director John Badham (WAR GAMES) heard The Bee Gees’ song “Night Fever,” they immediately decided to make it part of what became a memorable movie title.

The Bee Gees were brought in by Stigwood, who’d been the Gibb Brothers’ manager for years. Stigwood, whose RSO Records was a major music business force then, met with them in France, where they were mixing a live album and had no time to read a screenplay. But they told Stigwood they’d already written & recorded some songs that might work in the movie — like “Stayin’ Alive,” “Night Fever” & “How Deep Is Your Love?”

During production, Travolta wasn’t dancing to The Bee Gees’ music because it didn’t get put into the film until post-production. What he  danced so well to were mostly songs by Stevie Wonder and other Motown stars. After finishing their album, The Bee Gees jumped into action, reportedly writing most of FEVER’s soundtrack in just one weekend. FEVER’s double-LP became the top selling soundtrack ever at the time, winning four GRAMMY’s in 1979, including Best Album.

FEVER, which cost $3M to make, did $94.2M domestic and $237.1M worldwide while bringing Travolta a best actor Oscar nomination. Stigwood & Travolta’s next project was the movie version of the stage hit GREASE (1978), which had a $6M budget and did $190.1M domestic and $396.3M worldwide.

Travolta’s deal let him pick the third film in the package — the romantic drama MOMENT BY MOMENT (1978), co-starring Lily Tomlin. It cost a then pricey $8M to make, but only grossed $11M domestic — nearly torpedoing Travolta’s booming career.