72-480: Polyester is a 1981 American comedy film directed, produced, and written by John Waters , and starring Divine , Tab Hunter , Edith Massey , and Mink Stole . It satirizes the melodramatic genre of women's pictures , particularly those directed by Douglas Sirk , whose work directly influenced this film. The film is also a satire of suburban life in the early 1980s, involving topics such as divorce, abortion, adultery, alcoholism, racial stereotypes, foot fetishism, and
144-450: A cult following around Renay, who appeared in at least two dozen other films. Following the murder of her husband, a suburban housewife and her maid agree to be exiled to Mortville, a shantytown ruled by a tyrannical queen regnant . Neurotic and delusional suburban housewife Peggy Gravel and her overweight maid, Grizelda Brown, go on the lam after Grizelda smothers Peggy's husband Bosley to death. A cross-dressing policeman arrests
216-568: A hot rod . Waters was privately educated at the Calvert School in Baltimore. After attending Towson Jr. High School in nearby Towson , and Calvert Hall College High School , he graduated from Boys' Latin School of Maryland . While still a teen, he made frequent trips into downtown Baltimore to visit Martick's , a beatnik bar, where he and Milstead met many of their later film collaborators. He
288-457: A bouquet of roses, viewers are subjected to a series of mostly foul-smelling odors, and thus fall victim to the director's prank. The ten smells (developed by 3M per Waters in the supplements section of the DVD release) are: A video release omits the onscreen flashing numbers as well as the opening introduction explaining Odorama. This version, created by Lorimar-Telepictures , was shown on cable TV in
360-563: A cultural award from the French government. In 2023, Waters received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . His friends and collaborators Mink Stole , Greg Gorman , and Ricki Lake spoke at the induction. Waters brought a photo of his parents to the unveiling, dedicating the honor to them. Waters' star was placed in front of Larry Edmunds Bookshop on Hollywood Boulevard , a store Waters frequents. Desperate Living Desperate Living
432-593: A director for almost two decades. In 2007, Waters became the host ("The Groom Reaper") of 'Til Death Do Us Part , a program on America's Court TV network. In 2008, he planned to make a children's Christmas film, Fruitcake starring Johnny Knoxville and Parker Posey . Filming was set for November 2008, but the project was shelved in January 2009. In 2010, Waters told the Chicago Tribune that " Independent films that cost $ 5 million are very hard to get made. I sold
504-442: A fictional character. Waters has had his fan mail delivered to Atomic Books, an independent bookstore in Baltimore, for over 20 years. Puffing constantly on a cigarette, Waters appeared in a short film, shown in film art houses, announcing that "no smoking is permitted" in the theaters. The spot was directed by Douglas Brian Martin and produced by Douglas Brian Martin and Steven M. Martin. They also created two other short films, for
576-582: A garbage collector named Herbert, whom Queen Carlotta's guards later shoot to death. Coo-Coo hides in Peggy and Grizelda's house with her dead lover. When Peggy betrays Coo-Coo to the Queen's guards, Grizelda fights them and dies when the house collapses on her. Peggy, however, joins the queen in terrorizing her subjects, even infecting them (and Princess Coo-Coo) with rabies . Eventually, Mortville's denizens, led by Mole, overthrow Queen Carlotta and execute Peggy by shooting
648-528: A gun up her anus. To celebrate their freedom, the townsfolk roast Carlotta on a spit and serve her, pig-like, on a platter with an apple in her mouth. Art director Vincent Peranio built the exterior sets for Mortville on a 26-acre farm in Hampstead, Maryland , owned by Waters' friend, Peter Koper . The exterior sets were largely constructed of plywood and rubbish Peranio and Waters had collected from around Baltimore. Production manager Robert Maier recalled
720-404: A local drive-in , which the young Waters watched from a distance through binoculars, had a greater effect). Cry-Baby was also a product of Waters's boyhood, because of his fascination as a seven-year-old with the " drapes " then receiving intense news coverage because of the murder of Carolyn Wasilewski , a young "drapette", and his admiration for a young man living across the street who had
792-427: A local screening celebrating the director. Odors, especially Francine's particularly keen sense of smell, play an important role. To highlight this, Waters designed Odorama, a "scratch-and-sniff" gimmick inspired by the work of William Castle and the 1960 film Scent of Mystery , which featured a device called Smell-O-Vision . Special cards with spots numbered 1 through 10 were distributed to audience members before
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#1732881192068864-484: A lottery ticket from Peggy, Mole wins the Maryland Lottery and uses the money to obtain gender reassignment surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital . However, Muffy is repulsed by Mole's phalloplasty and insists he cut it off, so Mole gives himself a penectomy . Most of Mortville's social outcasts—criminals, nudists , and sexual deviants—conspire to overthrow Queen Carlotta, who banishes Coo-Coo after she elopes with
936-546: A miscarriage, causing Francine to call an unwed mothers' home. Two nuns come and transport Lu-Lu to a Catholic home. Bo-Bo and his friend, who come to trash the Fishpaw house on Halloween, shoot Francine’s mother (La Rue), but she retrieves the gun and shoots Bo-Bo dead. After Lu-Lu flees the unwed mothers' home, she returns home to find Bo-Bo's dead body; she is so distraught that she attempts suicide. Francine comes home and faints after witnessing her daughter's suicide attempt—and
1008-568: A motel tryst and demands a divorce. Francine then falls into alcoholism and depression, exacerbated by her children's behavior; Lu-Lu is impregnated by her degenerate boyfriend Bo-Bo Belsinger, and she announces she is getting an abortion. Soon after, Dexter is arrested at a supermarket for stomping on a woman's foot, and the media reveals that he is the “Baltimore Foot-Stomper” who has been serially attacking and terrorizing local women. Lu-Lu attempts to go to an abortion clinic, but anti-abortion picketers attack her. She returns home and tries to induce
1080-486: A summer home in Provincetown , Waters mainly resides in Baltimore. All his films are set and shot there. He is recognizable by his trademark pencil moustache . As a gay man, Waters is an avid supporter of gay rights and gay pride . In a 2019 interview, he said that he dislikes publicly discussing his personal life, adding that he had a partner but that they both preferred to keep the relationship private. Waters
1152-493: A taped line on the floor. Waters has characterized his art as conceptual: "The craft is not the issue here. The idea is. And the presentation." In November 2020, Waters promised to donate 372 artworks from his personal collection, including some of his own work as well as pieces by 125 artists, including Andy Warhol , Roy Lichtenstein , Cy Twombly , Cindy Sherman and more, to the Baltimore Museum of Art. In recognition of
1224-492: A teenager, "tak[ing] LSD and see[ing]...movies all the time". Waters was often on LSD while making his early films, claiming in a 2016 interview "I was on LSD [during Multiple Maniacs ], I don't remember [how long it took to shoot the film]!" He tried LSD again in his 70s, and documented the experience in his 2019 book Mr. Know-It-All . Waters was a smoker before quitting around 2004, saying "the only thing I've ever regretted in my whole life [was] smoking cigarettes. Because it
1296-417: Is a 1977 American black comedy film directed, produced, and written by John Waters . The film stars Liz Renay , Mink Stole , Susan Lowe , Edith Massey , Mary Vivian Pearce , and Jean Hill . It is the third installment of what Waters has labeled the "Trash Trilogy", which also includes Pink Flamingos (1972) and Female Trouble (1974), and the only one to not feature Divine . The film generated
1368-477: Is a class-conscious snob. She compounds her daughter’s troubles by robbing her blind, constantly deriding her obesity, and berating her for befriending her former housecleaner Cuddles Kovinsky; Cuddles is a “simple-minded” woman who tries to console Francine with " seize-the-day " bromides and has inherited a large sum of money from a wealthy, former employer. After Francine discovers Elmer having an affair with his secretary Sandra Sullivan, she confronts them during
1440-1032: Is also on the advisory board of the Provincetown International Film Festival , and has hosted events and presented awards there every year since it was founded in 1999. He is a contributor to Artforum magazine and author of its year-end Top Ten Films list. Waters hosts an annual performance, "A John Waters Christmas", which was launched in 1996 at the Castro Theatre in San Francisco, and in 2018 toured 17 cities over 23 days. In 2017, Waters began hosting an annual "Camp John Waters" event in Kent, Connecticut . Adult fans from as far away as Australia and Chile "relive their sleepaway camping days" with an "extra- campy theme weekend". Notable guests have included Debbie Harry , Patricia Hearst , Kathleen Turner , Mink Stole and Randy Harrison . In 2019,
1512-405: Is the replica electric chair in the hall. They range from Taschen art tomes such as The Big Butt Book to Jean Genet paperbacks and a Hungarian translation of Tennessee Williams with a pulp fiction cover. In one corner sits a doll from the horror spoof Seed of Chucky , in which Waters appeared. It feels like an eccentric professor's study, or a carefully curated exhibition based on the life of
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#17328811920681584-543: The 2003 Tony Awards ; and a film adaptation of the Broadway musical was released in theaters on July 20, 2007, to positive reviews and commercial success. Cry-Baby , itself a musical, also became a Broadway musical . In 2004, the NC-17 -rated A Dirty Shame marked a return to Waters' earlier, more controversial work of the 1970s. Having received mixed reviews and bombing at the box-office, it would prove to be his last film as
1656-513: The Dreamlanders . More recently, he performs in his touring one-man show This Filthy World . Waters also works as a visual artist and across different media, such as installations , photography, and sculpture. The audiobooks he narrated for his books Carsick and Mr. Know-It-All were nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album in 2015 and 2020, respectively. In 2018, Waters
1728-588: The Film Society of Lincoln Center celebrated its 50th anniversary at a gala where John Waters spoke in tribute to the Center along with Martin Scorsese , Dee Rees , Pedro Almodóvar , Tilda Swinton , Jake Gyllenhaal , Michael Moore , Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan . Since the early 1990s, Waters has been making photo-based artwork and installations that have been internationally exhibited in galleries and museums. In 2004,
1800-566: The Gagosian Gallery in Los Angeles. Waters has been represented by C. Grimaldis Gallery in Baltimore, Maryland, since 2002 and by Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York since 2006. Waters's pieces are often comical, such as Rush (2009), a super-sized, tipped-over bottle of poppers (nitrite inhalants), and Hardy Har (2006), a photograph of flowers that squirts water at anyone who traverses
1872-868: The New Museum in New York City presented a retrospective of his artwork curated by Marvin Heiferman and Lisa Phillips. His most recent exhibition John Waters: Indecent Exposure was exhibited at the Baltimore Museum of Art from October 2018 to January 2019 and later traveled to the Wexner Center for the Arts . Prior to that, Waters exhibited Rear Projection in April 2009, at the Marianne Boesky Gallery in New York and
1944-574: The Nuart Theatre (a Landmark Theater ) in West Los Angeles, California , in appreciation for their showing Pink Flamingos for many years. It is shown immediately before any of Waters' films, and before the midnight showing of The Rocky Horror Picture Show . Waters played a minister in Blood Feast 2: All U Can Eat , directed by Herschell Gordon Lewis . In the 1980s, Waters taught inmates at
2016-552: The Patuxent Institution , a Maryland prison. He was hired to teach literature, but his classes also encompassed discussions of film. In 1985, he made a film with his students called Reckless Eyeballs , but it was not intended for release and was never publicly screened. Waters is a board member of the Maryland Film Festival , and has selected and hosted a favorite film there each year since its launch in 1999. He
2088-564: The University of Baltimore in 2023. In 2017, Waters received Timeless Star honors from the Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association (now GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics). The group's career achievement award goes to an entertainment figure "whose exemplary career is marked by character, wisdom and wit." In 2018, Waters was named an Officier of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres ,
2160-514: The British Film Institute ran a programme to celebrate 50 years of Waters films which included all of his early films, some previously unscreened in the UK. In 2014, Waters was nominated for a Grammy for the spoken word version of his book, Carsick . His follow-up record, Make Trouble , was produced by Grammy-winning producer, Ian Brennan , and released on Jack White 's Third Man Records in
2232-717: The United States from Victoria, British Columbia , Canada, as a child, he is the great-great-great-grandson of George P. Whitaker of the Whitaker iron family . Waters grew up in Lutherville, Maryland , a suburb of Baltimore. His boyhood friend and muse, Glenn Milstead, later known as Divine , also lived in Lutherville. Waters lived at 313 Morris Avenue in Lutherville from his early teenage years until he moved out in his early twenties. Waters and Milstead shot many of their early films at
Polyester (film) - Misplaced Pages Continue
2304-521: The United States. The Independent Film Channel released reproduction Odorama cards for John Waters film festivals in 1999. Waters expressed his delight at having audiences actually "pay to smell shit" on the 2004 DVD release commentary track. Paramount Pictures used the Odorama name and logo as part of the Rugrats Go Wild release in 2003, upsetting Waters when he learned that New Line Cinema had let
2376-734: The apparent suicide (by hanging) of the family dog Bonkers, based on a suicide note left near the dog's dangling body. Some time later, Francine's life begins to look up, as Dexter is released from jail, having been rehabilitated; Lu-Lu suffers a miscarriage from her suicide attempt, and she is contrite about her past, becoming an artistic flower child who embraces macramé . Francine quits drinking, confronts and rebukes her mother, and finds new romance with Todd Tomorrow. Todd proposes marriage to an elated Francine, but she discovers that Todd and La Rue are romantically involved and conspiring to embezzle her divorce settlement, drive her insane and sell her children into prostitution. Elmer and Sandra break into
2448-503: The challenges of shooting without adequate facilities, how the cast and crew overwhelmed the farm's septic system, how heavy rains nearly washed away the set, and how "charmed" Waters seemed through it all. The Mortville interiors were filmed in a 5000-sq-ft, second-story loft in a rented warehouse located in Fells Point, Baltimore . The space was unheated, noisy, and poorly suited for film production according to Maier. Desperate Living
2520-421: The comedy film Hairspray (1988), which was later adapted into a hit Broadway musical and a 2007 musical film . Other films he has written and directed include Desperate Living (1977), Polyester (1981), Cry-Baby (1990), Serial Mom (1994), Pecker (1998), and Cecil B. Demented (2000). His films contain elements of post-modern comedy and surrealism . As an actor, Waters has appeared in
2592-691: The copyright lapse. The 2011 film Spy Kids: All the Time in the World used a scratch-and-sniff card branded "Aromascope", advertised as providing the fourth dimension in its "4D" format. Odorama cards were recreated by Midnight Movies, Little Joe Magazine, and The Aroma Company to allow viewers to interact with Polyester as intended for a screening at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in June 2011. Polyester received some positive reviews from
2664-408: The donation, the museum named its rotunda after Waters, but Waters also insisted the museum name an all-gender bathroom after him. Both the rotunda and the bathroom were renamed for Waters in time for the opening of the first exhibition of his bequeathed collection, Coming Attractions: The John Waters Collection on November 20, 2022. Waters, who serves on the museum's board of directors, has stated
2736-623: The fall of 2017. Waters received his second Grammy-nomination in 2020 for Mr. Know-It-All: The Tarnished Wisdom of a Filth Elder . In 2015, he received the Ted M. Larson Award at the Fargo Film Festival for his contribution to filmmaking. In 2016, Waters received an honorary degree from the Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore during the college's undergraduate commencement ceremony. He received an honorary doctorate from
2808-466: The film was "no longer happening". Waters has often created characters with alliterated names for his films, such as Corny Collins, Cuddles Kovinsky, Donald and Donna Dasher, Dawn Davenport, Fat Fuck Frank, Francine Fishpaw, Link Larkin, Motormouth Maybelle, Mole McHenry, Penny and Prudy Pingleton, Ramona Ricketts, Sandy Sandstone, Sylvia Stickles, Todd Tomorrow, Tracy Turnblad, Ursula Udders, Wade Walker and Wanda Woodward. On September 18, 2023, Waters
2880-522: The films Sweet and Lowdown (1999), Mangus! (2011), Excision (2012), and Suburban Gothic (2014), as well as the Child's Play franchise with the film Seed of Chucky (2004) and the third season of the television series Chucky (2024). He hosted and produced the television series John Waters Presents Movies That Will Corrupt You (2006). Throughout his career, Waters often collaborated with actor and drag queen Divine and his regular cast of
2952-409: The first Republican I'd ever vote for." Bidle later said: "We are polar opposites when it comes to our politics, religious beliefs. But that's what I loved about the whole trip. It was two people able to agree to disagree and still move on and have a great time. I think that's what America's all about." Although he has maintained apartments in New York City and San Francisco's Nob Hill , as well as
Polyester (film) - Misplaced Pages Continue
3024-437: The grotesque touches that make his other films such perennial favorites on the weekend Midnight Movie circuit. Here's one that can just as well be shown in the daytime. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a score of 94% based on reviews from 31 critics, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The critics' consensus states, "As proudly tacky as its titular fabric, Polyester finds writer-director John Waters moving ever so slightly into
3096-404: The helicopter used to shoot the opening scenes had to make an emergency landing on a nearby golf course while it was open. After the helicopter was cleared for safety, it was towed from the fairway using a flatbed. This was Insley's third collaboration with Waters and his first as lead cinematographer. Insley also photographed Hairspray and Cry-Baby . Three songs are featured. Polyester
3168-752: The house to murder Francine, but Dexter and Lu-Lu kill them; Dexter steps on Sandra's foot, causing her to accidentally shoot Elmer, and Lu-Lu uses her macramé to strangle Sandra. When Cuddles arrives with her German chauffeur/fiancé Heintz, their car runs over La Rue and Todd, killing them. The film concludes with a happy ending for Francine, her children, and newlyweds Cuddles and Heintz. The Dreamlanders , Waters' usual acting troupe, serve minor roles in Polyester , compared to Waters' previous films Desperate Living , Female Trouble and Pink Flamingos , which starred several Dreamlanders in major roles. Only two, Divine and Edith Massey , receive top billing. This movie
3240-454: The house, dubbing the front lawn the "Dreamland Lot". The film Lili inspired an interest in puppets in the seven-year-old Waters, who proceeded to stage violent versions of Punch and Judy for children's birthday parties. Biographer Robrt L. Pela says that Waters's mother believes the puppets in Lili had the greatest influence on Waters's subsequent career (though Pela believes tacky films at
3312-460: The idea, got a development deal, got paid a great salary to write it—and now the company is no longer around, which is the case with many independent film companies these days." In October 2022, it was announced that Waters will adapt his novel, Liarmouth , into a film. Village Roadshow Pictures was set to produce, with Waters writing and directing. However, in November 2024, it was reported that
3384-462: The influence of the drug. Waters had received a copy of Liz Renay's autobiography My Face for the World to See and wanted to offer her a role in the film. He went to see Renay in a burlesque show in Boston, then traveled to Los Angeles to offer her the role of Muffy St. Jacques. He offered her only a brief outline of the story, withholding some of the more graphic details for fear that she might refuse
3456-609: The interview did not go well, with Waters later remarking: "It turned into kind of a disaster." Waters advocated for the parole of former Manson family member Leslie Van Houten , writing in his 2010 book Role Models , "Her crime was a long, long time ago and she has paid her dues to society". After Van Houten was paroled in 2023, Waters said he would not speak further about her, in deference to her privacy. Throughout his life, Waters has been open about his recreational drug use, including marijuana and LSD , particularly with regard to his creative process. Waters began using LSD as
3528-492: The mainstream press. Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote: Ordinarily, Mr. Waters is not everyone's cup of tea — but Polyester , which opens today at the National and other theaters, is not Mr. Waters' ordinary movie. It's a very funny one, with a hip, stylized humor that extends beyond the usual limitations of his outlook. This time, the comic vision is so controlled and steady that Mr. Waters need not rely so heavily on
3600-551: The mainstream without losing any of his subversive charm." The 2000 single " Frontier Psychiatrist " by the Australian electronic music group The Avalanches samples the film. John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films , including Multiple Maniacs (1970), Pink Flamingos (1972) and Female Trouble (1974). Waters wrote and directed
3672-489: The mainstream, even garnering an R rating (his previous films were all unrated or rated X—the equivalent of the Motion Picture Association of America 's present-day NC-17 rating). The film is set in a middle-class Baltimore suburb instead of its slums and bohemian neighborhoods, the setting of Waters' earlier films. During an interview on The Ghost of Hollywood , cinematographer David Insley revealed that
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#17328811920683744-451: The museum will acquire all of his art after his death. With the motif "My life is so over-scheduled, what will happen if I give up control?", Waters completed a hitchhiking journey across the United States from Baltimore to San Francisco, turning his adventures into a book titled Carsick . On May 15, 2012, while on the hitchhiking trip, Waters was picked up by 20-year-old Myersville, Maryland , councilman Brett Bidle, who thought Waters
3816-409: The pair and gives them an ultimatum: go to jail or be exiled to Mortville, a filthy shantytown ruled by the evil Queen Carlotta and her treasonous daughter, Princess Coo-Coo. Peggy and Grizelda choose Mortville, and engage in lesbian prison sex . They become associates of self-hating lesbian wrestler Mole McHenry, who wants a sex change to please her lover, Muffy St. Jacques. After confiscating
3888-449: The religious right. Polyester was filmed in Waters' native Baltimore, Maryland, like many of his previous films. It featured a gimmick called Odorama, whereby moviegoers could smell what they were viewing on-screen with special scratch-and-sniff cards (a stylistic tribute to the work of William Castle , whose films typically featured attention-grabbing gimmicks). Following Stunts , it
3960-400: The role. Renay accepted the offer and flew to Baltimore for three weeks of shooting (which was, reportedly, all that the production could afford to pay Renay for her services). As with Waters' previous films, the premiere was held in the auditorium of the University of Baltimore . A brief controversy arose when lesbian groups attacked the film for its depiction of lesbianism, and for taking
4032-433: The show, in the manner of 3D glasses . When a number flashed on the screen, viewers were to scratch and sniff the appropriate spot. Smells included the scent of flowers, pizza, glue, gas, freshly cut grass, and feces. For the first DVD release, the smell of glue was changed due to, as Waters states, "political correctness". The gimmick was advertised with the tag "It'll blow your nose!" After being prompted to scratch and sniff
4104-511: The title of a defunct prolesbian magazine. New Line Cinema blew the film up from 16 to 35 mm and opened it at midnight in Manhattan , though the original poster (featuring a cooked rat on a plate) was rejected by The New York Times to run, forcing a new poster to be created three days before the opening. The new poster featured Liz Renay in a screaming pose, fashioned from a production still. Critics from Good Housekeeping walked out of
4176-467: Was a bartender at Pete's Hotel. Waters's early campy movies present exaggerated characters in outrageous situations with hyperbolic dialogue. Pink Flamingos , Female Trouble and Desperate Living , which he labeled the Trash Trilogy , pushed hard at the boundaries of conventional propriety and censorship. Waters's 1981 film Polyester starred Divine opposite former teen idol Tab Hunter . It
4248-458: Was a great fan of the music of Little Richard when growing up. He has said that, ever since he shoplifted a copy of the Little Richard song " Lucille " in 1957, at the age of 11, "I've wished I could somehow climb into Little Richard's body, hook up his heart and vocal cords to my own, and switch identities." In 1987, Playboy magazine employed Waters, then aged 41, to interview his idol, but
4320-724: Was a homeless hitchhiker standing in the pouring rain. Feeling bad for Waters, he agreed to drive him four hours to Ohio . The next day, indie rock band Here We Go Magic tweeted that they had picked John Waters up hitchhiking in Ohio. He was wearing a hat with the text "Scum of the Earth". In Denver , Colorado, Waters reconnected with Bidle (who had made an effort to catch up with him); Bidle then drove him another 1,000 miles (1,600 km) to Reno , Nevada. Before parting ways, Waters arranged for Bidle to stay at his San Francisco apartment: "I thought, you know what, he wanted an adventure, too ... He's
4392-518: Was a nightmare giving up. It's the only thing the government ever told me that was true: It does kill you!" In 2022, Waters said that if he were to write his younger self a letter, he would say "quit smoking [cigarettes] and do everything else". Documentary appearances In 1999, Waters was honored with the Filmmaker on the Edge Award at the Provincetown International Film Festival . In September 2015,
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#17328811920684464-611: Was a send-up of women's pictures , an exploitative film genre popular from the 1950–1960s and typically featured bored, unfulfilled, or otherwise troubled women, usually middle-aged suburban housewives, finding release or escape through the arrival of a handsome younger man. Women's pictures were typically hackneyed B-movies, but Waters specifically styled Polyester after the work of the director Douglas Sirk , asking Insley to make use of similar lighting and editing techniques, even using film equipment and movie-making techniques from Sirk's era. By chance, Insley viewed some of Sirk's films at
4536-468: Was also Massey's final collaboration with Waters before her 1984 death. Dreamlander perennials Mink Stole , Mary Vivian Pearce , Cookie Mueller , Sharon Niesp, Marina Melin, Susan Lowe and Jean Hill have plot integral roles; however, they are much smaller compared to earlier films. Principal photography took place over the course of three weeks in October 1980. Polyester was the first Waters film to skirt
4608-660: Was among the earliest films that New Line Cinema produced. Early 1980s housewife Francine Fishpaw watches her upper-middle-class family's life crumble in their suburban Baltimore home. Her husband Elmer is a polyester-clad lout who owns an adult movie theater , causing anti-pornography protesters to picket the Fishpaws' house. Francine's Christian beliefs are offended by the behavior of her children—Lu-Lu, her spoiled, promiscuous daughter, and Dexter, her delinquent, glue-sniffing son who derives sexual pleasure from stomping on women's feet. Francine's cocaine-snorting mother La Rue
4680-473: Was chosen to take over for the role of Mole McHenry. This was also Waters' first film without David Lochary , because of Lochary's addiction to drugs. Waters said, "The reason that David wasn't in Desperate Living is because of PCP . That's all that's to it. I know that's why he wasn't in the film, and he knows it, too." Lochary died a few weeks after the film's release, when he injured himself while under
4752-580: Was edited for 10 weeks in the basement of editor Charles Roggero's home. It was Waters' first film with original music, by Chris Lobingier and Allen Yanus, to provide a "cheesy Doctor Zhivago -type score". Desperate Living is the only feature film Waters made without Divine prior to the actor's death in 1988. Divine had to reluctantly back away from the film because he was committed to appearing in Women Behind Bars . Susan Lowe , who had appeared in small or supporting roles in Waters' previous films,
4824-412: Was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . Dreamlanders Ricki Lake and Mink Stole were among the guest speakers. Waters is a bibliophile , with a collection of over 8,000 books. In 2011, during a visit to the Waters house in Baltimore, Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson observed: Bookshelves line the walls but they are not enough. The coffee table, desk and side tables are heaped with books, as
4896-580: Was named an officer of the Order of Arts and Letters in France. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2023. Waters was born on April 22, 1946, in Baltimore , Maryland, one of four children born to Patricia Ann (née Whitaker) and John Samuel Waters, a manufacturer of fire-protection equipment. He was raised Catholic by his mother, though his father was not Catholic. Through his mother, who immigrated to
4968-413: Was one of the first movies I ever saw. It opened me up to villainy, to screenwriting, to costumes. And great dialogue. I think the witch has great, great dialogue. Waters has stated that he takes an equal amount of joy and influence from high-brow "art" films and sleazy exploitation films. In January 1966, Waters and some friends were caught smoking marijuana on the grounds of New York University , and he
5040-600: Was soon kicked out of his dormitory. He returned to Baltimore, where he completed his next two short films, Roman Candles and Eat Your Makeup . They were followed by the feature-length films Mondo Trasho and Multiple Maniacs . Waters's films became Divine's primary star vehicles. All of Waters's early films were shot in the Baltimore area with his company of local actors, the Dreamlanders —which, in addition to Divine, included Mink Stole , Cookie Mueller , Edith Massey , David Lochary , Mary Vivian Pearce , Susan Walsh , and others. Waters met Edith Massey while she
5112-432: Was the first time that Waters was not the primary camera operator for his own work, as he had started collaborating with local film student David Insley. Since then, his films have become less controversial and more mainstream, although works such as Hairspray , Cry-Baby , Serial Mom , Pecker and Cecil B. Demented still retain his trademark inventiveness. Hairspray became a hit Broadway musical that swept
5184-427: Was underage and could not enter the bar proper, but loitered in the adjacent alley, where he relied on older patrons to slip him drinks. Waters's first short film was Hag in a Black Leather Jacket . MGM's The Wizard of Oz (1939) had a profound effect on Waters' creative mind. He said about it: I was always drawn to forbidden subject matter in the very, very beginning. The Wizard of Oz opened me up because it
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