Up until Hairspray, John Waters’actors never signed releases or contracts, and no commercial entity permitted in writing its products or names to be used. I just recently read a piece by James Egan, author of John Waters: Interviews, who first met John during Female Trouble after John had called his company to purchase a liability…
Category: John Waters & Underground Films
Underground Films Blog
Werner Herzog Discovers that John Waters is Gay
This short clip is from a wide-ranging conversation in the little-known 2007 documentary, On the Ecstasy of Ski-Flying: Werner Herzog in Conversation with Karen Beckman, shot and edited by Laura Hanna. After I first met John Waters, it took me a few weeks to ask him what it took Herzog 30+ years: “Is this man…
Divine- The First Rapper c.1974 (Accidentally)
In his early movies, John Waters just lifted music for his sound tracks from a friend’s record collection ignoring copyright or licensing permissions. There wasn’t money for such things in underground movies, so he just put it off until later. Female Trouble’s title song (called Female Trouble) was its only piece of legal music. With…
My Movie Dates with John Waters
I first met John Waters as a crew member on Female Trouble, his follow-up to his ground-breaking film, Pink Flamingos. We hit it off well as young movie-crazy counter-culturists from the Baltimore suburb of Towson. Working together nearly every day until Female Trouble was released, we also became Friday night drinking buddies in the “art…
The Censored Scene in John Waters’ Hairspray
Though his three previous films, Female Trouble, Desperate Living, and Polyester had New York premiers and national press coverage, Hairspray was John Waters’s breakthrough to the big time. It was quite unexpected. He had searched for years to raise money for a raunchy, never-produced Pink Flamingos 2, and out of desperation shelved it in favor…
The Mystery of David Lochary
David Lochary was the leading man in most of John Waters’ earliest films, beginning with the 8mm Roman Candles and ending with Female Trouble. In many ways, from his bright blue dyed hair to his fanatic, original obsessions and perceptive wit, he helped shape the look and content of Dreamland. Due to his death at…
Cookie Mueller — Underground Movie Star
Cookie Mueller was an amazingly complex person. She was a daring and fearless artist. She was always on the fringe, and always broke, but was always dedicated and hopeful. I saw Cookie a lot in New York City because we lived in the same downtown neighborhood and hung out in the same places. But she…
Edith Massey’s Long-lost Brother, the College Professor
Yesterday while snooping through my office shelves, I pulled out a book by one Morris Grodsky, titled The Home Boy’s Odyssey: The Saga of the Journey from Orphan Boy to Criminalist. The title page was inscribed “To Robert Maier with appreciation for your efforts on behalf of my sister Edith (Edie)”. Yes, Morris was Edith…