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"Would you ever ... swim in an integrated swimming pool?""I certainly would, Iggy. I'm a modern kind of girl. I'm all for integration."
"Aren't you a little fat for the show?"
"That's enough, Amber."
"I would imagine that many of the home viewers are also pleasantly plump or chunky."
"Oh, c'mon. The show's not filmed in CinemaScope."
I'm writing this post just after suppertime on Sept. 14, 2021. Twenty years ago, I was already in the habit of, right around that time, watching the first few minutes of my Hairspray video. It's not that I didn't like all of the movie. It's just that I found that listening to Rachel Sweet sing "Hairspray" most immediately took away any fear and despair I had. I was so paranoid after 9/11 and I didn't tell anybody. I'd just listen to "Hairspray" night after night. Eventually, after I finish The Women of 1988, Mad About You and The Kids in the Hall, I would like to write about my feelings on Hairspray as a whole. Over the years I've noticed a few things, like how no matter how many times I see an Edna get welcomed to the '60s, it's just as exciting as the first time.
Did you know that the four most famous actresses to play Tracy Turnblad all went on to make movies about body positivity*? On the one hand, the topic deserves attention. On the other hand, after playing Tracy, what else needs to be said? John Waters, who wrote, directed and co-produced Hairspray, said the 2002 musical adaptation had him "hoping whole busloads of twisted Broadway tourists go to the theater, abandon their diets and feel sexy about it." Compare Tracy (Ricki Lake) and Edna (Divine) to Amber (Colleen Fitzpatrick) and Velma Von Tussle (Debbie Harry). You can land and keep the guy of your dreams while being beloved throughout Baltimore, whether Black or white. Or you can get humiliated at the auto show. It's no contest.
*Babycakes, Beautiful Girl, Queen Sized and Dumplin'. All but the last one were made for TV.
"Oh Mom, Dad, oh Penny, my best friend, I'm so happy. Finally, all of Baltimore knows: I'm big, blonde and beautiful."
"Oh, you're a teen leader now!"
"And the showbiz offers are pouring in. Tonight we have an audition, and honey, this is only the beginning. Stick with me and we'll claw our way to the top!"
"Oh, God! Fame, fortune, glamour, and to top it off ... I'm in love!"
It was big news in 1988. John Waters, the John Waters of Pink Flamingos and Polyester, had made a movie you could take mom to see. Unfortunately, that's what most critics talked about. Nobody got his or her due, least of all Lake. She's both adorable and brazen, as single-minded as her opponents are simple-minded. You almost think that Tracy, through sheer force of will, will not only integrate The Corny Collins Show, but all of Maryland. Not only that, but she'll make sure there's plenty of time to French kiss Link Larkin (Michael St. Gerard). Lake has the fullest female role to play, but Hairspray also gives opportunities for star turns from Divine, Ruth Brown, Harry, Fitzpatrick, Leslie Ann Powers ... and even Mink Stole and Pia Zadora.
Hairspray was a movie my teenage circle of friends latched onto. Obviously, none of us were going to New York just yet, so we'd watch the movie, listen to the cast album (I wore out my first copy) and do things like emulate Mrs. Pingleton when playing parents in school plays. It's thrilling to think you're the only ones who know the moves, who have the attitude. Even now, after 20 years, I can remember why Hairspray cheered me up when I was so scared. It had a good beat and I could dance to it. It gave me something fabulous to aspire to. As Waters wrote for the cast album liner notes, "Their hair was perfect. But the world was a mess."
*The teenage couples are making out against a brick wall*
"Link, this is so romantic. *kicks rat away* I wish ... I wish I was dark-skinned."
"Tracy, our souls are Black! Even though our skin is white."
"Oh, Seaweed, Seaweed, will integration ever come?"
"Oh, Penny, my, my little white lily, we're outcasts from both societies. Black, white. Our love is taboo."
"Go to second, go to second!"
Recommended.
Thoughts:
-- "Ooohie! Tiddly popper, I am a whopper! Motormouth Maybelle is my name, and, sweetheart, dancing is my game! Motormouth, Motormouth, Motormouth!"
-- Box Office: Grossing nearly $6.7 million on a $2.7 million budget, this didn't appear to be widely released.
-- Awards Watch: Hairspray was nominated for six Independent Spirit Awards -- Best Feature, Best Director, Best Female Lead, Best Supporting Male (Divine), Best Supporting Female (Harry) and Best Screenplay -- but lost all of them, mostly to Stand and Deliver.
Recommended.
Thoughts:
-- "Ooohie! Tiddly popper, I am a whopper! Motormouth Maybelle is my name, and, sweetheart, dancing is my game! Motormouth, Motormouth, Motormouth!"
-- Box Office: Grossing nearly $6.7 million on a $2.7 million budget, this didn't appear to be widely released.
-- Awards Watch: Hairspray was nominated for six Independent Spirit Awards -- Best Feature, Best Director, Best Female Lead, Best Supporting Male (Divine), Best Supporting Female (Harry) and Best Screenplay -- but lost all of them, mostly to Stand and Deliver.
-- "Let's do some reefer. We'll get high and I'll iron the chick's hair." "Reefer?" "Drugs?" "Loco weed. When I'm high, I am Odetta. ... Let's get naked and smoke."
-- Critic's Corner, in general: "If nothing else is worth the price of admission to this movie, perhaps you will be persuaded by the prospect of Zadora reading from Allen Ginsberg's 'Howl,'" Roger Ebert wrote. "In a man's suit, Divine manages to look only half-dressed," according to Janet Maslin. Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times: "A triumph of camp sensibility at its most perceptive and least precious."
-- Critic's Corner, the racial aspect: "Only Waters could find an equation between the absurdity of a hair style or dance craze and the absurdity of oppressing people just because they happen to be Black," Thomas wrote. Maslin: "Waters' general facetiousness creates such an odd mood in which to air these issues that this aspect of the story simply misfires."
-- Critic's Corner, the racial aspect: "Only Waters could find an equation between the absurdity of a hair style or dance craze and the absurdity of oppressing people just because they happen to be Black," Thomas wrote. Maslin: "Waters' general facetiousness creates such an odd mood in which to air these issues that this aspect of the story simply misfires."
-- "Practice makes perfect. I oughta know. Don't forget, I was Miss Soft Crab in 1945 and that title wasn't handed to me on a silver platter, I worked for it. Now, c'mon! A-one, two, a one-two-three, pony! ... Mashed Potatoes. ... FASTER!"
-- Favorite council member, anyone? As much fun as it is to watch Josh Charles as Iggy, I have to give the guys division crown to John Orofino as Fender. Up until this viewing, I never noticed how hostile Fender gets after Tracy drops him for Link. For girls, it's gotta be Kim Webb as Carmelita (the incredulous point to her natural boobs clinched it), but I also paid attention to Regina Hammond as Pam (the platinum blonde).
-- I'm not sure if Debbie Reynolds' actual nervous breakdown was common knowledge at the time Hairspray was being filmed (she described it in her first autobiography, released in 1988), but the point is I occasionally think "Did poor _________ have a nervous breakdown?" when looking up celebrity news.
-- "I watch that tramp and I'm embarrassed to be white." "You know, Edna, I've been reading about these kids. Maybe Tracy could be some sort of campus leader." "Wilbur, it's the times. They're a changin'. Something's blowing in the wind. ... Fetch me my diet pills, would'ja, hon?"
-- Next: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. On deck: Another Woman.
-- "I watch that tramp and I'm embarrassed to be white." "You know, Edna, I've been reading about these kids. Maybe Tracy could be some sort of campus leader." "Wilbur, it's the times. They're a changin'. Something's blowing in the wind. ... Fetch me my diet pills, would'ja, hon?"
-- Next: Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. On deck: Another Woman.
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