Keeping Up Appearances

MBH (my better half) and I had been preparing our trip to New Orleans for weeks and were hoping to shed some winter weight in time for Southern Decadence. Still a few kilos off the mark, we felt a little self-conscious about the prospect of turning up to an underwear-themed party looking like gravity had gotten the best of us.

While packing, I began to wonder why a slight increase in girth should even ruffle our feathers. It’s not as though we were suddenly confined to wearing muumuus or had to consider lapband surgery. Truth is, my partner and I are just average guys lugging around a little extra weight. As we’ve aged, our metabolisms have slowed down and the slim waistline we once took for granted has given way to middle age spread. It’s a natural process that most of us deal with through healthy eating and moderate exercise.

For some, however, the process isn’t that easy. Unrealistic goals can get in the way of common sense resulting in body image conflicts and eating disorders. And, if you believe that women are the only ones affected, think again! Apparently, a quarter of Australian men in a healthy weight bracket consider themselves fat. A majority of these are gay and bisexual men. Hardly surprising given the unrealistic images of ‘perfect’ people, seemingly living on dust and water, splashed across our screens and magazines.

Whilst it’s great to be able to drool over models and fantasize about celebrities, it’s good to bear in mind that their appearance is the result of gruelling private training sessions, strict diets, grooming, not to mention heaps of airbrushing. Who wouldn’t look fabulous saddled with a chef, trainer, hairdresser, fashion/makeup experts, and a gifted photographer. The trick is not to mistake illusion for reality and allow media to set society’s benchmarks of health and beauty. If we do, we only really have ourselves to blame.

Back from New Orleans, I mustered up enough courage to step on the scales to face the fallout. My screams could be heard all the way from Sydney to Perth. Surely the dial had to be broken. MBH, who’d had the good sense not to put himself through similar trauma, reminded me that we weren’t exactly big enough to pull off an act at Sea World. Thankfully, reason kicked in before the scales flew out the window. Returning to light training at the gym, we both kept off booze and chocolate for a while and assigned ‘naughty’ food days to the weekend. Slowly, we got back in shape.

And that’s the thing. You shouldn’t have to sweat over slip-ups. If you gain unwanted weight enjoying your favourite foods, balance out your diet. If you fall off the fitness wagon, get back on it. No need to punish yourself with hard-to-follow diets or military-like workouts. Moreover, it’s ok to have different ideas about body image and not aspire to a common ideal of homogenised beauty. There is no such thing as a perfect body or perfect looks.

Besides, if everyone looked the same, the world would be a far less interesting place to live in. As the French say, “Vive la différence!”

Revisiting Rydell High Part 2

Fun and adventure were always present on the set of Grease, even when things didn’t go exactly to plan. Sean Moran, who worked on the movie as a dancer, remembers a particular instance when he and cast mates showed up to work beat red after a weekend of sunbaking. “The producers had a fit,” he says. “We all got horribly sunburnt and it took make-up forever to cover it all up.”

Despite arduous conditions on set, Moran’s favourite scene to film was the dance contest at Huntington Park High.

“The gymnasium was like an oven. Cast members prone to sweating were blow dried between each take,” he said.

“An extra fainted and was rescued by the set medic who was a 30-year-old hottie that half the boys fawned over. We loved him.”

Adding to the heat was the challenge of coordinating the couples’ dance routines and dialog.

“Olivia Newton-John was very nervous about the dancing,” Moran said. Originally, Sandy wasn’t meant to perform. But when choreographer Pat Birch saw that Olivia moved well, she included her in the Hand Jive number.

The iconic Summer Nights was shot in two segments.

“The girls filmed their part in June; the boys in early August,” Moran said. At one point between rehearsals and filming, Director Randal Kleiser and the Venice High principal got into an argument. Summer school was in session and the music was distracting students and teachers. The principle was so irate he asked cast and crew to leave.

But of all the classic scenes in Grease, You’re The One That I Want is without doubt the most talked about. Who can forget Sandy’s tight sharkskin pants. Moran said that, because the zipper on the pants was broken, it had to be stitched up while filming proceeded.

“A seam ripper was employed whenever Olivia had to use the facilities. She’d have to be sewn back into the pants afterwards.”

You’re The One That I Want, the brainchild of John Farrar, was an instant international hit and has since become the best-selling duet in pop music history. Based on its success, Farrar was recently asked to write another duet for Travolta and Newton-John. The track, I Think You Might Like It, is part of a new album that the two stars of Grease collaborated on.

Released in Australia on November 9, the holiday album, entitled This Christmas, also features Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, James Taylor, Kenny G, Chick Corea and Cliff Richard. Keeping within the Christmas spirit, all sale proceeds are going to the Jett Travolta Foundation and the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre.

Olivia says that she and John have always connected and that their bond is as strong as ever. “We’ve been through some amazing experiences together,” she said.

Who could have imagined back in ’77 that Danny and Sandy would still be rocking the charts over three decades later!

INFO: Follow Luke Brighty on Twitter via @brightlights_66

Revisiting Rydell High

 

Grease has been the word for 35 years. It is the most successful movie musical ever. According to recent stats, the film was shot on a budget estimated at just over $6 million –equivalent to $20 million in today’s economy. Since its 1978 release, it has wowed audiences of all ages, cultures and generations and has grossed almost $395 million worldwide, a return close to twenty times its cost.

Allan Carr, the movie’s producer, said in an interview that making Grease was a pleasure, from first to last day. Cast and crew were like a big family. Openly-gay actor and dancer Sean Moran, who plays Moose in the movie, agrees.

“We all became very close,” he said.

“I met the love of my life on that shoot.”

A lot of the cast members had worked on Broadway doing the play so they knew the characters well. However, much of the film’s success is owed to choreographer, Pat Birch. She was instrumental in setting up complicated scenes and always put the dancers to good use. They weren’t just itinerant figures. They were the heart of the high school.

“Pat always felt that Greased Lightning was one of the most intricate numbers to film,”Moran said.

“We shot it in two long days. Because we only had a couple of outfits each and the prop tyres were so greasy, wardrobe was a big concern.”

In the stage version, the number is heavy with sexual innuendo. The show refers to Saran wrap as a substitute for condoms.

“As the movie was PG they had John Travolta running around the car with plastic wrap, which really made no sense at all,” he said.

There is a brief glimpse of him rubbing his crotch with it in the sequence. Blink an eye and you’ll miss it. Younger audiences usually do. But then again, so do most adults. What a fascinating time the 1950s must have been.

Jeff Conaway, who plays Kenickie in the movie, was initially meant to perform Greased Lightning. Moran says that Conaway wasn’t at all pleased when changes were made to the script and the song went to Travolta.

“There were a few meetings over it. Jeff had played Danny Zuko on Broadway. John had only played the role of Doody. But John was the star of the movie…”

These days, the cast are spread out all over the world. They all stay in touch by email, phone or through Facebook. Every now and then, they reunite when one of them directs the stage show or when the sing-a-long plays at the Hollywood Bowl.

“Picture it: 18,000 people all dressed up in Grease costumes watching and singing with the movie. It’s amazing!” Moran said.

INFO: Follow Luke Brighty on Twitter via @brightlights_66

Embracing The Spirit Of The Deep South

“Are you crazy? Didn’t you hear Hurricane Isaac is now headed our way?” said the airport porters as MBH (my better half) and I arrived in Louisiana. “We’re Aussies,“ I argued. “We’re used to natural disasters.” My partner and I had made travel arrangements with friends to visit New Orleans, eager to experience the “Gone with the Wind” style plantation homes and meander through the jazz-filled streets of the French Quarter. The bonus of the gay Southern Decadence weekend also meant that nothing, including Mother Nature, was going to keep us away.

Keen to get our bearings, we immediately headed out to explore the city. Whilst most businesses were busy stacking sandbags in doorways and boarding up windows, Bourbon Street, the city’s famed gay stretch, had ‘Yes, we’re open during the hurricane’ signs appear on bar doors faster than you could say ‘Katrina’.

As inner west Sydney gay men, MBH and I are spoiled with the diverse mix of culture and people, gay and straight, on our doorstep. The Big Easy is similar yet unique in its down to earth 1950s neighbourly feel. Because of the lock-down and a curfew imposed by city officials, the storm had the community banding together. They kindly opened up their beautiful homes and mansions – some the size of Tara - to friends and strangers, including us, the new kids in town.

A highlight of our stay was enjoying the local tradition of sitting out on the stoop in front of our friends’ homes in the evening, relaxing and chatting with passers-by over a beer or a glass of wine. Background, sex, origin, income, age and race didn’t seem to matter. So long as you were agile with a bottle-opener and enjoyed a good yarn, you were invited to park your bum on a step. Now that is something you don’t see in Sydney very often.

Launched in the early 1970s by fifteen friends marching through the French Quarter in drag, Southern Decadence has mushroomed over the years to a world-famous gay celebration attracting more than 110,000 revellers. Unlike Sydney’s Mardi Gras, it’s smaller and more intimate with lots of private house parties. Surprisingly, everyone behaves and there’s practically no violence on the streets or in the bars – Kings Cross, listen and learn!

As Sydneysiders, MBH and I presumed we’d seen everything a gay scene has to offer. Well, in New Orleans, anything goes and I mean… anything! Pushing us to the bar counter for drinks, our new friends laughed as our eyes popped. There before us, danced two hot go-go boys, naked and semi-erect, collecting dollar bills around their ankles. And even at private parties, many men were naked and ‘playful’ whilst we felt overdressed wearing nothing but our aussieBum underwear.

Although Sydney is our home of choice, the genuine side of southern hospitality and the caring nature of “Naw-linians”provided MBH and I with great memories of a close-knit community that welcomed us with open arms and reminded us what true friendship is all about. For that we’ll always be grateful.