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Hairspray
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	John Waters
Produced by	John Waters Robert Shaye Rachel Talalay
Written by	John Waters
Starring	Sonny Bono Ruth Brown Divine Debbie Harry Ricki Lake Jerry Stiller Ric Ocasek Pia Zadora
Music by	Kenny Vance
Cinematography	David Boner
Edited by	Janice Hampton
Production company	Palace Pictures
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date	February 16, 1988 (1988-02-16) (Baltimore) February 26, 1988 (1988-02-26)
Running time	92 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$2 million
Box office	$8.3 million[2]

Hairspray is a 1988 American dance comedy film written and directed by John Waters, and starring Ricki Lake, Divine, Debbie Harry, Sonny Bono, Jerry Stiller, Leslie Ann Powers, Colleen Fitzpatrick, and Michael St. Gerard. Hairspray was a dramatic departure from Waters's earlier works, with a much broader intended audience. Hairspray's PG is the mildest rating a Waters film has received; most of his previous films were rated X by the MPAA. Set in 1962 Baltimore, Maryland, the film revolves around self-proclaimed "pleasantly plump" teenager Tracy Turnblad as she pursues stardom as a dancer on a local TV show and rallies against racial segregation.

Hairspray was only a moderate success upon its initial theatrical release, earning a modest gross of $8 million. However, it managed to attract a larger audience on home video in the early 1990s and became a cult classic.^[2][3] Most critics praised the film, although some were displeased^{[citation needed]} with the overall campiness. The film ranks #444 on Empire magazine's 2008 list of the 500 greatest movies of all time.^[4]

In 2002, the film was adapted into a Broadway musical of the same name, which won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical in 2003. A second film version of Hairspray, an adaptation of the stage musical, was also released by New Line Cinema in 2007, which included many changes of scripted items from the original.

Plot

In Baltimore, Maryland in the year 1962, Tracy Turnblad and her best friend, Penny Pingleton, audition for The Corny Collins Show, a popular Baltimore teenage dance show (based on the real-life Buddy Deane Show). Penny is too nervous and stumbles over her answers, and another girl, Nadine, is cut for being black (the show has a "Negro Day" on the last Thursday of every month, she is told). However, despite being overweight, Tracy is a strong enough dancer to become a regular on the show, infuriating the show's reigning queen, Amber Von Tussle, a mean, privileged, beautiful high school classmate whose racist parents, Velma and Franklin Von Tussle, own Tilted Acres Amusement Park and have banned African Americans from going there. Tracy steals Amber's boyfriend, Link Larkin, and competes against her for the title of Miss Auto Show 1963, fueling Amber's hatred of her.

Tracy's growing confidence leads to her being hired as a plus-size model for the Hefty Hideaway clothing store owned by Mr. Pinky. She is also inspired to bleach, tease, and rat her big hair into styles popular in the 1960s. At school, a teacher brands her hairdo a "hair-don't" and sends her to the principal's office, from which Tracy is sent to special education classes, where she meets several black classmates who have been put there to hold them back academically. The students introduce Tracy to Motormouth Maybelle, an R&B record shop owner and host of the monthly "Negro Day" on The Corny Collins Show. They teach Tracy, Penny, and Link dance moves and Penny begins an interracial romance with Motormouth Maybelle's son, Seaweed. This horrifies Penny's parents, Prudence and Paddy, who imprison their daughter in her bedroom and try to brainwash her into dating white boys and oppose integration with the help of Dr. Frederickson, a quack psychiatrist. Seaweed later helps her break out of the house and run away. It is implied that she will never return, as she has finally broken free from her parents.

Undeterred, Tracy uses her newfound fame to champion the cause of racial integration with the help of Motormouth Maybelle, Corny Collins, his assistant Tammy, and her own agoraphobic, slightly overbearing, overweight mother, Edna. After a race riot at Tilted Acres results in Tracy's arrest, the Von Tussles grow more defiant in their opposition to racial integration. They plot to sabotage the Miss Auto Show 1963 pageant with a bomb hidden in Velma's towering bouffant wig. The plan literally blows up in Velma's face when the bomb detonates prematurely, and the Von Tussles are dragged away by the Baltimore police. Tracy, who had won the crown but was disqualified for being in reform school, dethrones Amber after the governor of Maryland pardons her; Tracy then shows up at the pageant, integrates the show, and encourages everyone to dance.

Cast

• 
  Ricki Lake as Tracy Turnblad, an optimistic, aspiring teenager who hopes to dance on a TV show as well as promote integration.


• 
  Divine as Edna Turnblad, Tracy's kind, plus-sized mother who is ashamed of her obesity. Divine also plays Arvin Hodgepile, the rival TV station owner who is against racial integration for his studio.


• 
  Debbie Harry as Velma Von Tussle, Franklin's wife and Amber's mother.


• 
  Sonny Bono as Franklin Von Tussle, Velma's husband and Amber's father.


• 
  Jerry Stiller as Wilbur Turnblad, Tracy's loving, funny and encouraging father.


• 
  Leslie Ann Powers as Penelope "Penny" Pingleton, Tracy's shy best friend.


• 
  Colleen Fitzpatrick as Amber Von Tussle, snobby dancer on The Corny Collins Show.


• 
  Michael St. Gerard as Lincoln "Link" Larkin, a teenage heartthrob, Tracy's boyfriend, and Amber's ex-boyfriend.


• 
  Clayton Prince as Seaweed J. Stubbs, Motormouth Maybelle's son who loves to dance. Seaweed is Penny's main love interest.


• 
  Cyrkle Milbourne as L'il Inez Stubbs, Seaweed's little sister.


• 
  Ruth Brown as Motormouth Maybelle Stubbs, a friendly and strong-willed African American and mother of Seaweed and L'il Inez.


• 
  Shawn Thompson as Corny Collins, the eccentric host of The Corny Collins Show.


• 
  Mink Stole as Tammy, an employee and personal assistant to Corny Collins.


• 
  Joann Havrilla as Prudence Pingleton, Paddy's wife and Penny's overprotective controlling mother who doesn't approve of Penny dating Seaweed.


• 
  Doug Roberts as Patrick "Paddy" Pingleton, Prudence's husband and Penny's no nonsense father who wants to protect Penny from Seaweed.


• 
  Alan J. Wendl as Mr. Pinky, the owner of the Hefty Hideaway clothing store.


• 
  Toussaint McCall as himself (Though appearing as a man in his 50s, rather than in his 20s, as he would have been in 1962)


• 
  John Waters as Dr. Fredrickson, a psychiatrist who helps Prudence and Paddy try to brainwash Penny into only dating white boys.

Council members

• 
  Josh Charles as Iggy


• 
  Jason Downs as Bobby


• 
  Holter Graham as I.Q.


• Dan Griffith as Brad


• Regina Hammond as Pam


• Bridget Kimsey as Consuella


• Frankie Maldon as Dash


• Brooke Stacy Mills as Lou Ann


• John Orofino as Fender


• Kim Webb as Carmelita


• Debra Wirth as Shelly

Special appearances

• 
  Ric Ocasek as the Beatnik cat


• 
  Pia Zadora as the Beatnik chick

Production

John Waters wrote the screenplay under the title of White Lipstick, with the story loosely based on real events. The Corny Collins Show is based on the real-life Buddy Deane Show, a local dance party program which pre-empted Dick Clark's American Bandstand in the Baltimore area during the 1950s and early 1960s.^[5] Waters had previously written about The Buddy Deane Show in his 1983 book Crackpot: The Obsessions of John Waters.

Principal photography took place in and around the Baltimore area during the summer of 1987.^[6] The school scenes were filmed at Perry Hall High School with set locations including the library, a first-floor English class, and the principal's office.^[7] In the scene set in the principal's office, the Harry Dorsey Gough (see Perry Hall Mansion) coat-of-arms that once hung in the main lobby can be seen through the doorway.^[8] The scenes set at Tilted Acres amusement park were filmed at Dorney Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

The film was Divine's final film; he died three weeks after the film's release. Hairspray was his only film with Waters in which he didn't play the lead. Originally, Divine was considered to play both Tracy Turnblad and her mother Edna. Executives from New Line Cinema, the film's distributor, discouraged this concept, and it was eventually dropped.^[9] Instead Divine played Edna Turnblad and Arvin Hodgepile, racist TV station owner.

Deleted scenes

A handful of scenes were cut while in post-production, some of which explained certain elements seen in the film.

The first scene occurs before Tracy and Penny go the Parkville VFW record hop. Tracy is required to start her first shift working in the Hardy-Har Joke Shop. But after managing to scare away all her customers she is excused to go to the hop. The joke shop customers are still listed in the end credits of the final cut.

Another involves Tracy skipping school, stealing shoes from the Etta Gown Shop, and breaking into the Von Tussles' home, using Amber's hair bleach to bleach her hair in Amber's sink, thus explaining Tracy's change of hair color later in the film.^[5]

Another deleted scene involved live roaches crawling out of Tracy's hair at Tilted Acres. The actual filmed scene of the cockroach crawling out of Tracy's hair is cut, but still included is Amber's horrified reaction. However, she is presumed to be joking and/or lying. When discussing his decision to ultimately cut the scene, Waters explained "Bob Shaye, the head of New Line, probably correctly, said, 'This doesn't work. What is this, a Buñuel movie?' [...] And he was probably right."^[5]

A further excised scene sees Penny and Seaweed trying to take refuge at Nadine's home after Penny's escape.

The final deleted scene was a musical number which involved the teens performing an obscure 1960s dance called "The Stupidity" at the auto show just prior to Tracy being released from reform school, but again, Waters ultimately decided it wasn't appropriate, stating, "[B]asically, I thought, you know, you don't want your leading man to look stupid right in the big finale."^[5]

Reception

Critical reception

Hairspray received three stars from critics Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert.^[10]

The film currently holds a 98% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 41 reviews with an average rating of 7.8/10. It is Waters' second-highest-rated film (behind Multiple Maniacs) on the website. The critical consensus states that "Hairspray is perhaps John Waters' most accessible film, and as such, it's a gently subversive slice of retro hilarity."^[11] John Waters wrote that his all-time favorite review of Hairspray was David Edelstein's in Rolling Stone: "A family movie both the Bradys and the Mansons could adore".^[12]

Box office

Hairspray opened on February 26, 1988 in 79 North American theaters, where it grossed US$577,287 in its opening weekend. On March 11, it expanded to 227 theaters, where it grossed $966,672 from March 11–13. It ended its theatrical run with $8,271,108.^[13]

Awards

The film was nominated for six Independent Spirit Awards, and the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival.^[14]

Other works

Broadway musical

In mid-2002, Margo Lion teamed with writers Marc Shaiman and Thomas Meehan to turn Hairspray into a Broadway musical production. The show opened on August 15, 2002 starring Marissa Jaret Winokur as Tracy and Harvey Fierstein as Edna. The show went on to win eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, in 2003. The show closed on January 4, 2009.

2007 film adaptation

In 2006, New Line Cinema joined forces with Adam Shankman to adapt the Broadway show into a movie musical. The film was released July 20, 2007, starring John Travolta as Edna, Michelle Pfeiffer as Velma, Christopher Walken as Wilbur, Amanda Bynes as Penny Pingleton, Brittany Snow as Amber Von Tussle, Queen Latifah as Motormouth Maybelle, James Marsden as Corny, Zac Efron as Link, and newcomer Nikki Blonsky as Tracy. The film had a $75 million budget and earned over $200 million worldwide.^[15]

2016 live television adaptation

NBC aired a special television event of the acclaimed musical on December 7, 2016, starring Harvey Fierstein as Edna, Ariana Grande as Penny Pingleton, Kristin Chenoweth as Velma, Martin Short as Wilbur, Dove Cameron as Amber Von Tussle, Jennifer Hudson as Motormouth Maybelle, Derek Hough as Corny, Garrett Clayton as Link, and newcomer Maddie Baillio as Tracy. It was well received by critics and was seen by 9.05 million viewers, with a ratings share of 2.3 in the 18–49 demographic, and a 5.9 overnight household rating.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was released in 1988 by MCA Records. The album featured one original song by Rachel Sweet and eleven other songs mostly from the early 1960s by Gene Pitney, Toussaint McCall and The Ikettes, among others. Two songs, "You Don't Own Me" and "Mama Didn't Lie", came out in 1964 and 1963 respectively.

Additional songs

Other songs appear in the film, but are not on the soundtrack, due to licensing restrictions, because many of the songs listed were on Cameo Parkway Records, a recording label owned by Allen Klein.^{[clarification needed]}

• "Limbo Rock" – Chubby Checker
  


• "Let's Twist Again" - Chubby Checker


• "Day-O" – Pia Zadora
  


• "Duke of Earl" – Gene Chandler
  


• "Train to Nowhere" – The Champs
  


• "Dancin' Party" – Chubby Checker


• "The Fly" – Chubby Checker


• "The Bird" – The Dutones (not to be confused with The Five Du-Tones, who are also featured on the soundtrack)


• "Pony Time" – Chubby Checker


• "Hide and Go Seek" – Bunker Hill
  


• "Mashed Potato Time" – Dee Dee Sharp
  


• "Gravy (For My Mashed Potatoes)" – Dee Dee Sharp


• "Waddle, Waddle" – The Bracelets


• "Do the New Continental" – The Dovells
  


• "You Don't Own Me" – Lesley Gore
  


• "Life's Too Short" – The Lafayettes

Home media

Hairspray was issued for the first time on VHS and LaserDisc in 1989 by RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video. New Line reissued the film on VHS in 1996.

The film was released on DVD by New Line in 2002. The disc included an audio commentary by John Waters and Ricki Lake and a theatrical trailer. It was released on Blu-ray on March 4, 2014.^[16]

See also

• Cross-dressing in film and television


• Racial integration


• African-American Civil Rights Movement in popular culture


• Multiculturalism

References

External links

• 
  Hairspray on IMDb


• 
  Hairspray at Box Office Mojo
  


• 
  Hairspray at Rotten Tomatoes
  


• 
  Hairspray at Metacritic