Filthy Birthday to John Waters!

John Waters c.1969

Guerrilla filmmaker; trash auteur; social commenter and hilarious purveyor of outrageousness, Baltimore's favorite trashy son John Waters turns 67 today. Waters is single-handledly responsible for the career of plus-sized drag impresario Divine in his underground films of the late 60's and early 70's, while continuing to push the envelope after having gone more 'mainstream.' in the 80's and 90's.

Like many Waters' devotees, I first discovered his work in college in the 80's and his infamous (and career-making) Pink Flamingos. I remember renting it over Christmas break and watching it while my then teen-aged sister was baking cookies (even then, she was Little Betty Crocker). I kept telling her "Stay in the kitchen..." more than a few times. I haven't seen since, but have seen just about every other Waters' film available on VHS, DVD or on line. Some are very good (Cry-Baby; Serial Mom); some are fair to middling (Pecker; Cecil B. Demented) and one or two are downright terrible (A Dirty Shame). 

Regular readers know that I was lucky enough to play Edna Turblad (a character created by Waters and Divine) in a rather tumultuous though ultimately successful production of the musical version of Hairspray last year. If pressed to name my favorite Waters' movie, I'd have to split into three:

Of his early films, 1977's Desperate Living is probably the most insanely brilliant films of Waters' early works. He manages to create his personal version of Oz (he admits that The Wizard of Oz is the most influential film he's seen) in Mortville, a cardboard kingdom of criminals and perverts ruled by an insane Queen. One of Waters' few earlier films that did not feature Divine,  Desperate Living is certainly among  the most entertaining of his underground films. The trailer below is decidedly NSFW:

After 1988's Hairspray opened Waters to the mainstream, he made two more movies I absolutely adore.

1990's Cry-Baby is Waters' Rock-a-Billy musical parody starring a very young Johnny Depp in the title role and former porn-star Traci Lords in a Romeo & Juliet parody set in 1950's Baltimore. There are some amazing performances from  Polly Bergen; Amy Locane; Susan Tyrrell; Iggy Pop; Ricki Lake; Troy Donahue and even Willem Dafoe. That's not mention one of the best prison-set musical numbers since "Jailhouse Rock":

Probably my favorite Waters' film, Serial Mom is his 1994 parody of Suburban Perfection and sociopathology. Starring Kathleen Turner; Sam Waterston; Ricki Lake; Matthew Lillard; Traci Lords and a very unfortunate Patty Hearst, Serial Mom is Waters' first real (and only successful) exploration of filth in Surburbia:

Waters continues to write and lecture and can be seen in the documentary version of his one-man show, This Filthy World:

Happy Birthday, John!

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The King of Trashy Movies (Totally NSFW)

With the MCCC/JTMF production of Hairspray set to open in just a week, I thought I'd talk about the demented genius behind the original story, filmmaker John Waters.

Waters grew up in Baltimore in the 1950's, obsessed with horror movies, violence and gore. Thankfully, he channeled those obsessions into his own films, rather becoming a serial killer. 

His first full-length 16mm film, 1968's Eat Your Makeup, was about an insane nanny who kidnapped young models and forced them to model themselves to death (whatever that means). It starred Waters' dear friend Harris Glen Milstead (better known as 'Divine') as Jacqueline Kennedy(!) and was only screened once, in a church basement Waters rented out for the screening. His first commercially screened film, 1969's Mondo Trasho, starred long-time collaborators Mary Vivian Pearce; Divine and Mink Stole. It was a day in the life of a hit-and-run driver and her victim.

Next came 1970's Multiple Maniacs, about a traveling sideshow that was actually a front for a band of psychotic killers. It is infamous for the scene in which Divine has sex with a giant lobster:

In 1972, Waters released his most infamous film (the first Waters film I ever saw, ten years later), Pink Flamingos. Babs Johnson (Divine) has earned a tabloid's title as the "Filthiest Person Alive." When the title is challenged by Connie and Raymond Marbles, Babs and her family set out to prove they are filthier. I won't subject you to the infamous 'dog poop' scene, but here's one where Babs and her son Crackers (Danny Mills), break into the Marbles' home and lick everything they can to defile it. The scene culminates in Babs fellating Crackers on the sofa (though the clip below ends before that happens). Pink Flamingos also features Edith Massey as Babs' mother, who is obsessed by the Egg Man (as referenced on Cyndi Lauper's debut album, 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun').

Flamingos was followed by Female Trouble in 1974 and probably Waters' most insane film, Desperate Living in 1977. In Desperate Living, Peggy Gravel (Stole) and her maid Grizelda (Jean Hill) murder Peggy's husband and go on the lam, ending up in a cardboard kingdom atop a garbage dump, called Mortville. Mortville is ruled by Queen Carlotta (Massey) and her daughter Princess Coo-Coo (Pearce). It features lesbian glory-holes, FtM transgenderism and cannibalism, among other things. It may well have been partially inspired by Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus.

In 1981, Waters got 1960's heartthrob Tab Hunter (Damn Yankees) to appear as Divine's lover in the first movie to be filmed in Odorama ("Smelling is Believing!"), Polyester.  Patrons were given a scratch and sniff card and instructed to smell-by-number. The odors included fish, feet, flowers, glue and pizza. Divine played the improbably named Francine Fishpaw:

Seven years later, Waters made his first "mainstream" hit, Hairspray. It starred Divine; Sonny Bono; Jerry Stiller; Debbie Harry; Pia Zadora; Ric Ocasek and future talk-show hostess Ricki Lake in a Baltimore fairy tale about a chubby high-school girl who manages to break both weight and race barriers on a TV dance show. It would go on to inspire both the musical in which I am currently appearing and the musical movie which starred John Travolta in the same role as Divine, Harvey Fierstein and Uncle P. Divine also appeared as Arvin Hodgepile, the man who owned the TV station which aired "The Corny Collins Show."

Waters followed Hairspray with Cry-Baby in 1990. Starring and up-and-coming Johnny Depp, Cry-Baby was Waters' "Romeo and Juliet," in which a boy from the wrong side of the tracks falls for a debutante. New Jersey's own Amy Locane co-starred along with Susan Tyrell; Polly Bergen; Iggy Pop; Ricki Lake; porn legend Traci Lords; Willem Dafoe; Patricia Hearst; Warhol discovery Joe Dellesandro and 50's icon Troy Donahue in the semi-musical parody. This is my favorite number:

The team behind the musical version of Hairspray tried (unsuccessfully) to strike gold again with a stage version of Cry-Baby in 2008.

Waters followed up next with 1994's Serial Mom, starring Kathleen Turner; "Law and Order" star Sam Waterston; Matthew Lillard, Lake; Lords and Stole. Beverly Sutphin appears to be the perfect suburban mother, even though she kills anyone who stands in the way of her family's success. Serial Mom may well be my personal favorite Waters film:

Now that's a movie I can see adapted into a Broadway musical!

Sadly, Waters seems to have lost his edge in his most recent recent films.1998's Pecker is amusing at best, while 2000's Cecil B. Demented lacks the true outsider feel of his earlier films. And 2004's A Dirty Shame is just plain bad. Of course, that simply may be the result of America's desensitization to shocking material. Sex and violence are so commonplace in today's media, Waters' brand of filmmaking may well end up being relegated among the films of Warhol, Corman and Coppola as products of the '70's  Independent Film boom. 

These days, Waters divides his time between his beloved Baltimore, San Francisco, New York and Provincetown, MA. His trademark pencil mustache made an appearance as the Flasher in the musical film adaptation of Hairspray and will next be seen in the horror film, Excision. His 2006 one-man show This Filthy World, is available on DVD.

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The Most Divine Thing You'll See This Week

Those of you born after after the 1970's have probably only seen Divine as Edna Turnblad* in John Waters' most successful (and most mainstream) film, Hairspray. The photo on your left, however, is from what is probably Divine's most notorious role, Babs Johnson in Waters' 1972 cult hit Pink Flamingos, the story of a competition to find the "Filthiest Family in the World." Flamingos features Divine performing an act so depraved, I won't even mention it here (if you know the film or its reputation, you know what I'm talking about). Now, Uncle P may ask his actors to do some outrageous things -- and they usually trust me enough to do them -- but I can't see me asking anyone to do what Waters asked Divine to do. And if I did, they'd all say "You have finally gone too far!" (They'd probably say something else, but I try to keep it as clean as I can here at the Revenge). 

Born Harris Glenn Milstead in Baltimore, MD in 1945, Divine found his true calling when Milstead met outre filmmaker John Waters in the 1960's. Divine was often the star of Waters' films, appearing in movies with titles like Mondo Trasho; Multiple Maniacs; Female Trouble and Polyester,  playing characters with names like 'Francine Fishpaw' and 'Hilly Blue.' And while Divine would work with other directors like Paul Bartell (Eating Raoul), it was Hairspray that finally brought Divine to the attention of Hollywood. Sadly, Milstead passed away of an enlarged heart at the age of 42 in 1988, one night before he was to tape an appearance on Fox's trashy sitcom "Married... with Children."

Now, director Jeffrey Schwarz has a new documentary coming out next year, chronicling the life and career f the bigger than life drag performer, appropriately titled I Am Divine. The first teaser just hit the web and you know I had to share. Please enjoy (via):

Of course, my favorite Divine-inspired moment has to be this sketch from SCTV, featuring the late John Candy as Divine as Peter Pan:

Hilarious.

Divine had a short, but legendary career as an actor and Disco singer and will always have a special place in the hearts of fans of weird cinema everywhere...

*A role Uncle P will be taking on in the stage musical version next spring... Oy!

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Um... Gross

Uncle P is still not at his best. In fact, I may well need the item on your right. I truly hope that none of you ever feel as awful as I have for the last three days or so. 

It was ginger ale, saltines and chicken and rice soup for me today, though I truly think (or at least hope) the worst is behind me.

If you are visiting western Florida this week, I hope you are able to avoid whatever is plaguing that particular region of the country. My sister has reported at least two more cases among people she knows beside her husband and Yours Truly.

Rest assured, I am doing everything I can to get to get back to normal (or whatever serves as 'normal' for me). Certainly, the unending coverage of the impending Royal nuptials don't help.

And while today may well be Good Friday for millions of Christians around the globe, it is also filthy filmmaker John Waters' birthday, which can only add to our collective nausea (or delight, depending on how you feel about his body of work). 

In the late 60's and mid 70's, Waters was an underground auteur, creating bizarre and hilarious commentaries on society, starring Harris Glen "Divine" Milstead as any number of tragic females reacting and revolting (literally) against the establishment. The lat 80's saw Waters' most mainstream film to date, Hairspray, which in turn has been made into a Broadway musical* and a musical film. Waters remains a GLBT icon, though his films have seen decreasing acclaim as the subjects he once tackled become less taboo as time marches on. 

Personally, I love many of Waters' films, including Desperate Living; Crybaby; and Serial Mom. Of course, as a college student in the early 80's (Jeez, I am OLD), the ultimate John Waters' film was Pink Flamingos, in which Divine actually eats... no, I won't say it. You know what I'm talking about anyway... I may puke again just thinking about it...

*As a side note, Uncle P is scheduled to play Edna in a 2012 production of said musical. I hope I will have fully recovered by then...

More, anon.

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The Gayest Thing You'll See This Week

Oh man. I seriously love whoever wrote this MSNBC piece about today's tea-bag tax protest. Obviously, the right-wing nutjobs who organized the whole thing had no idea what the term "tea-bagging" refers to (and if you don't know, you have no business reading this blog - or we need to have a serious conversation...). Anyway, watch the clip (thanks to my friend and fellow blogger, Steven Rader) and then tell me what you think they're really talking about, here:

The sexual innuendos just don't stop. They're going to take a "licking" and a "tongue lashing." "In a nutshell" the "Teabag Mouthpieces" will get "firm support," even though they are somewhat "tight-lipped" about their "personal taste of tea-bagging." They're even going to need a "Dick Army." OMG! My sides hurt. There's got to be a whole "sackful" of double entendres in that newscast! Please, someone call John Waters, ASAP!

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