Hairspray (1988)

Hairspray (1988)

In writer/director John Waters' outrageous, charmingly-kitsch, very funny musical comedy - it was not to be confused with Hairspray (2007) starring John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer and Amanda Bynes - the successful song-and-dance adaptation of the Tony award-winning 2002 Broadway smash hit that was based on Waters' earlier film. It was the director's first and only PG-rated film. His earlier films Pink Flamingos (1972), Female Trouble (1974) , and Desperate Living (1977) were much cruder, objectionable, and controversial.

Its poster described the tacky and conservative time period:

"1962... JFK was in The White House... John Glenn was in orbit... Cadillacs had fins... Beehives were in... And girls really knew how to tease!"

"Get Back to your Roots!"

This widely-accessible, late 80's, over-the-top 93-minute cult classic provided a nostalgic backward look at life and culture in Baltimore in the early 1960s. As an independent film with a low-budget of 2ドル.8 million, the film grossed 8ドル.2 million. It featured a tremendous rock and black R&B soundtrack (with the likes of Chubby Checker, Dee Dee Sharp, Lesley Gore, Peggy March, Gene Chandler, Gene Pitney, the Ikettes, ex-Blondie Debbie Harry and more), plus it presented burgeoning and problematic cultural issues including racism.

• the title sequence was accompanied by the film's title song "Hairspray" sung by Rachel Sweet (lyrics: "Hey girl, whatcha doin' over there? Can't you see? I'm sprayin' my hair!...(Chorus) - (Hairspray) Well, mama told me not to use it (Hairspray) Well, if I don't, I'm gonna lose it (Hairspray) Gimme, gimme control Hairspray, it's got stand-up soul"); preparations were being conducted on the set before the airing of the most popular WZZT-TV show for local teens at the time; it was the racially-segregated dance program "The Corny Collins Show" (with homage to "American Bandstand"), hosted by Corny Collins (Shawn Thompson) (and his assistant Tammy (Mink Stole)) and featuring white suburban teeny-boppers; vote tallies were being taken for female dance nominees for Miss Auto Show 1963
• the troupe of dancers on the show were members of a Council; black teens were allowed to dance on-screen but they were reserved only for the last Thursday of the month ("Negro Day"), that later was regarded as "nothin' but segregation"

• one of the show's biggest fans, the film's rebellious and outspoken but likeable heroine, was the cheery and plump Tracy Turnblad (Ricki Lake, a future talk-show host); the daughter of Wilbur Turnblad (Jerry Stiller) who worked in the Hardy Har Joke Shop, and her stay-at-home trashy mother Edna Turnblad (drag queen Divine) who ironed clothes for a living
• every weekday afternoon, Mervel high-school teen Tracy rushed home with her introverted, blonde, mousy best friend Penny Pingleton (Leslie Ann Powers) to watch the dance show, and in front of the TV in her living room (with thrift-shop decor), they learned and practiced some of the current dance moves to hit songs: (i.e., "Mashed Potato Time" and "Gravy" by Dee Dee Sharp); Tracy revealed how she was an exceptionally-talented dancer
• it was announced to the home viewers that the show was hosting a record hop at the local Parkville VFW that evening at 8 pm, before the next requested song - The Five Du-Tones singing "Shake a Tail Feather"; Tracy and Penny made plans to secretly attend; Tracy desperately wished to be picked to dance on the show and become one of the show's Council members; Tracy's mother hated the "screeching" music on the show, and thought her daughter's "hair-hopper" hairdo was "ratted up like a teenage Jezebel!"
• suddenly, Penny's high-strung, over-reactive and paranoid mother Prudence (Joann Havrilla) frantically burst into the Turnblad home to announce that she was reprimanding her daughter and permanently punishing her; she would have to wear a "P" on her dress: ("From now on, you're wearing a giant P on your blouse every day to school so that the whole world knows that Penny Pingleton is permanently, positively, punished")

• the dance show's most popular star was rich-girl, spoiled blonde snob Amber Von Tussle (Colleen Fitzpatrick, aka Vitamin C), whose cute boyfriend and handsome dance partner was Link Larkin (Michael St. Gerard); Amber's wealthy, pushy, racist, pro-segregation parents, who owned the whites-only Tilted Acres amusement park, were:
  • Franklin Von Tussle (Sonny Bono)
  • Velma Von Tussle (Debbie Harry), a nasty stage mom with a wild hair-do, who was voted "Miss Soft Crab" in 1945
• Tracy and Penny snuck out from their homes to attend and try out at the VFW Record Hop; Tracy began participating with choreographed line-dancing to "Madison Time" (by Ray Bryant); afterwards, she listened as Corny introduced fast-talkin' black WEDD deejay Motormouth Maybelle (Ruth Brown), who hosted the once-a-month "Negro Day" show and was called "The Queen of Baltimore Soul"

• the dance contest began with everyone partnering up for "The Pony" by Chubby Checker - Tracy danced with Fender (John Orofino) as her partner; three couples were finalists, and Tracy ended up being chosen as the fan favorite based upon an "Applause-O-Meter", beating out Amber and Link, and impressing Motormouth with her talent; with her win, Tracy was told that she was eligible to try out and audition the next day before the other Council dancer members in the WZZT-TV studio; during the next slow dance song, Gene Pitney's "Town Without Pity," Amber spitefully insulted Tracy by calling her a "whore"
• the next day in front of the Council members, Tracy found herself competing against Penny and black contestant (and pro-integrationist) Nadine Carver (Dawn Hill) dancing to The Dovells' "Do the Continental"; during the "spotlight" (mock interview) portion of the competition, Tracy was confident in her answers, although Amber found a chance to cruelly criticize Tracy: ("Aren't you a little fat for the show?"); Tracy calmly defended herself: ("l would imagine that many of the home viewers are also pleasantly plump or chunky"), but Amber kept up the nastiness: ("Oh, come on. The show's not filmed in Cinemascope"); the 'fat-joke' criticisms prompted Corny to suspend Amber from the Council for the remainder of the day; Tracy's superior performance gave her the victory, and she immediately become one of the show's regulars (and a member of the Corny Collins Council)
• although Tracy's mother Edna had downplayed her daughter's hairstyle and dancing obsessions, when Penny arrived to alert them to Tracy's debut appearance on live television that afternoon, dancing to Gene Chandler's "Duke of Earl," Edna was both shocked ("She's all peroxided up") and thrilled about Tracy's newfound popularity; by phone, Edna was alerted by her friend Hilda that a telegram had been sent to request the next dance to be "Ladies Choice" - and they watched as Tracy selected Link, Amber's boyfriend, for a slow dance (Barbara Lynn singing "You'll Lose a Good Thing"); while watching from home, the suspended Amber was seething with raging jealousy; she realized that "white trash" Tracy was taking over her spotlight by choosing to dance with Link, and she tossed away her friendship ring
• Tracy arrived home, jubilant about her success: "l'm so happy! Finally, all of Baltimore knows -- I'm big, blonde, and beautiful," and Edna enthusiastically volunteered to be Tracy's business manager: "Stick with me, and we'll claw our way to the top!"; Tracy exclaimed: "Fame, fortune, glamour, and to top it off, I'm in love!"
• that evening (to the tune of Jan Bradley's rendition of Curtis Mayfield's "Mama Didn't Lie"), Edna encouragingly took Tracy to shop at Hefty Hideaway, specializing in clothes for plus-sized and "big-boned" ample ladies; the owner Mr. Pinky (Alan Wendl) even offered to sponsor and hire Tracy as his store model - with "one free outfit a month"; on the way home with lots of packages, mother and daughter also entered the local Beauty Academy to splurge even further with gigantic hairdos; Tracy praised her Mom's new modern look: "Mama, Welcome to the Sixties"
• however, at school in her geometry class, Tracy's new (and illegal) "ratted" and "feathered" hair-do blocked the view of the student seated behind her; she was sent to the Principal's office; meanwhile, mean-girl Amber was spreading malicious gossip to her girl-pals about Tracy being a "whore" and for being "adopted"; in Principal Davidson's (Jay Hillmer) office, Tracy claimed she was "the height of teen fashion," but was still disciplined and demoted to the Special Education class that Tracy knew was reserved for "retards and the black kids you try to hold back"; there, she learned that many of her classmates were black students sent there to keep them from excelling in school

• during P.E. class group exercises, Amber angrily shunned Link for agreeing to dance with Tracy, and then later, during a dodgeball game, Amber (who was shouting out epithets: "thunder thighs" and a "fat retard") pummeled Tracy in the face with the ball and knocked her out; Amber was further aggravated when Link revived Tracy on the ground, and then politely asked her: "Tracy, would you go steady with me?"
• in the next afternoon show, Tracy was dancing Chubby Checker's "Let's Twist Again" with Link; she flashed her friendship ring from him toward the camera; she also modeled Hefty Hideaway's "Big is Beautiful" clothes for Mr. Pinky during one of the show's live paid-advertisements
• Penny, Tracy, and Link took the city bus to Maybelle's R&B small record shop ("Motormouth Records") on North Avenue in a predominantly black neighborhood; the white threesome entered the shop and found a large group of black teens happily dancing to records spun by Maybelle; they were greeted by Maybelle's young daughter L'il Inez (Cyrkle Milbourne) who idolized Tracy; Tracy's friend Penny also met her classmate Seaweed (Clayton Prince), the teenaged son of Motormouth Maybelle, who called Tracy "the baddest white dancer in town"; they danced some new moves (The Du-Tones' "The Bird" and Brian Setzer's "The Dirty Boogie"), as Penny partnered up with Seaweed, and Link with Tracy
• Penny didn't know that she was being stalked and was about to be persecuted again by her mother Prudence, who was against inter-racial dating, and thought Penny had been "snatched"; she had followed everyone there in a taxi; after seeing the mixed group of dancers through the shop's front window, she entered, began threatening everyone with a knife, and then dragged Penny away
• during the next day's "white-only" dance show ("Pre-Teen Day") as young kids danced to Chubby Checker's "The Fly," Penny had invited Seaweed and L'il Inez to attend, but they were prohibited from entering at the stage door due to their skin color; a protest-demonstration was initiated, joining in Penny's chant: "Segregation never, integration now!"; as a local group The Lafayette's performed: "Life's Too Short" for the audience, Corny was notified about the "trouble" outside, and was willing to let the "little black girl" attend, but he was undermined by the TV show's strict anti-integration station chief-manager Arvin Hodgepile (also Divine); Tracy's mother urged her daughter to not get involved: "You can't change the world's problems in one day"; Tracy protested and started chanting: "Two, four, six, eight. TV's got to integrate!"; Velma impertinently asked Tracy's mom: "Is your daughter mulatto?"; as Lesley Gore's "You Don't Own Me" played, Corny discussed the protest with Arvin, who blurted out: "Baltimore is not ready for integrated dancing!"
• that evening, the black teenagers attended their own dance show led by Motormouth Maybelle, who told "black Baltimore" that they must "fight fight fight" to end segregation by attending a protest at the next afternoon's show at Tilted Acres; her "main man" Toussaint McCall (as Himself) was introduced to sing "Nothing Takes the Place of You"

• in the shadows outside while kissing, Tracy was falling in love with Link: ("I wish I was dark-skinned"), and Penny was equally romantic with Seaweed: ("Our love is taboo') and even went to "second-base" (touching above the waist); the two couples were forced to flee into a nearby beatnik pad when Tracy's mother came looking for her
• they met up with a Beatnik Cat (Ric Ocasek), a painter, and Beatnik Chick (Pia Zadora) who was singing "Day-O"; Tracy bragged about being an "integrationist" although the Chick thought she was "uncool" with her "hair-hopper" hairstyle; Penny was called a "checkerboard chick" for being with Seaweed; the Chick offered to smoke a "reefer" ("locoweed") with them to "get high" ("Let's get naked and smoke") and also suggested ironing and flattening out Tracy's wild hair; fearing becoming addicted, the two couples quickly fled as the Chick began quoting from Alan Ginsberg's "Howl":
  • "I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving, hysterical, naked, dragging themselves....angel-headed hipsters looking for a fix burning up for the ancient heavenly connection"
• outside the beatnik pad, Penny was accosted by her strict and prejudiced parents, who subjected her to the efforts of demented quack-psychiatrist Dr. Fredrickson (director John Waters) to convert her back into dating only whites; he approached her with a spinning, psychedelic pinwheel to hypnotize and brainwash her against dating Seaweed, and then assaulted her with a strait-jacket; at the same time, Tracy was dragged away by her mother: "This neighborhood is certainly no place for a star"; Penny was locked up in her bedroom and subjected to the doctor's cruel treatments
• the next day's 3 PM taping of a special dance show was held at the grand opening of the segregrated amusement park Tilted Acres (owned by Amber's antagonistic and resistant parents), a protest was organized outside the entrance by Motormouth Maybelle, with demonstrators chanting: "Tilted Acres is not fair-- racist people everywhere!"; the Von Tussle couple were interviewed and vowed: "Segregation today. Segregation tomorrow. Segregation forever!" [Note: This was a quote later made famous by Alabama Governor George Wallace.]
• during the dance show, the two most popular dancers, Amber and underdog Tracy, were both vying for votes for the prestigious Miss Auto Show 1963 crown, and it was a close-race; the competitive and mean-spirited Amber Von Tussle introduced the dancers to a new dance move "The Limbo Rock" (by Chubby Checker) - it required bending backwards under a limbo bar, and she knew that Tracy would be embarrassed; Tracy's parents watched the live TV show from home, as Edna thought to herself: "It's the times. They're a-changin'. Something's blowin' in the wind" [Note: A reference to two of Bob Dylan's folk songs.]
• Tracy retaliated by introducing The Bracelettes' "Waddle, Waddle," but then Amber falsely accused Tracy of having roaches in her hair ("That girl's got roaches in her hair!"); everything came to a confrontational climax at the same time when the black and white protestors outside the park entered and a race-riot broke out, prompting Hodgepile to end the show's taping; as she screamed "Police brutalisty," Tracy was arrested by police during the melee and put in a van, Link was beaten and seriously injured (with fractured kneecaps and he ended up in a wheelchair), and Seaweed was also wounded; however, the head-bandaged Seaweed was able to cut the imprisoning iron bars on Penny's bedroom window, to help her escape from her parent and Dr. Fredrickson poking her with a fluorescent electric cattle prod
• at the Auto Show 1963 pageant held in Baltimore's new Armory, Corny had organized another show taping to take place; Tracy was absent and unable to attend - still detained at Montrose Reformatory (a reform school), and her parents were promoting her release by chanting: "Free Tracy Turnblad!"; just in case if Amber lost the Miss Auto Show 1963 contest to Tracy, Amber's parents were planning to sabotage the Auto Show by bombing it (by detonating a bomb stashed inside Velma's towering bouffant wig); the Governor John Millard Tawes (Leo Rocca), who opened the Auto Show, was aghast that there were protesting pro-integration picketers outside his Governor's mansion; as he entered, Motormouth Maybelle and L'il Inez cleverly handcuffed themselves to the Governor, to assert pressure on him to release Tracy
• the announcement of the winner of Miss Auto Show at the Armory revealed that Tracy had technically won, but station-manager Arvin Hodgepile declared that the absent Tracy was ineligible and therefore disqualified, and Amber was the real victor; to celebrate her win, Amber introduced a new dance known as "The Roach Dance" (by Gene and Wendell), and dedicated it to Tracy; by this time, the Governor had exonerated Tracy and announced her release from the Reformatory; she arrived at the Auto Show to rightfully accept the honor with her adoring fans; Corny Collins also rebelled against the station manager and declared that the dance show was now integrated (there would be no more "Negro Day")

• Tracy - wearing a "Hefty Hideaway" dress decorated with roaches - taught everyone how to dance "The Bug" (performed by Jerry Dallman and The Knightcaps), including her mother (with another "Hefty Hideaway" bug dress) and others on the show

• during the dance, L'il Inez stole Amber's crown (as she sat on the throne) to give it to Tracy, just as the Von Tussle's bomb spontaneously exploded, sending Velma's flaming wig onto Amber's head in place of the crown, and blackening Velma's face; the police promptly arrested Amber's parents; Tracy rightfully received her Miss Auto Show crown on the throne, and then urged the entire audience, "Let's dance!"