Trivia: All of the singing in this film was dubbed by adult vocalists.
Trivia: Alan Parker's idea of having a film featuring a cast of only children was suggested by his son.
Trivia: Over 1000 custard pies were thrown during this film.
Trivia: The splurge guns you see did not actually fire the 'splurge'. Director Alan Parker first tried wax balls with cream but these hurt when fired, so in the end the splurge guns actually fired ping pong balls which the actors fired at nothing, and what you see on screen is clever editing between this and shots of actors being hit by handfuls of cream thrown at them by others.
Answer: He didn't have the money to pay the diner bill, so he called the operator, in the phone booth, to call the diner number to test the line.