TV and Movies

[Reever]

Enjoying the movie Grease on cable tonight starring Olivia Newton John and a young John Travolta.  Love the music and the memories of the 1960s.  It was truly the end of the innocence. Little did we know the Vietnam War would soon be upon us.  Love the little diddies in the movie. I believe all the actors sang their own musical numbers.

[2Kittys]

This movie seems to be on all the time, and I don't have the pay channels anymore.

[beach-mom]

I posted this a while back - just some fun trivia about one of my favorite movies!  

Allen Carr originally bought the film rights. He envisioned Elvis as Danny and Ann-Margret as Sandy.

They wanted Henry Winkler (Fonzie)  to play Danny. He didn't want to be typecast. 

John Travolta had just finished filming Saturday Night Fever. With two hit movies, he went back to Welcome Back Kotter and honored his then-current contract. He eventually left to pursue a movie career. 

Who played Danny on Broadway? Barry Bostwick was the first Danny. Patrick Swayze and Treat Williams would play Danny later. Richard Gere was an understudy and played Danny in a production in England. Jeff Conaway (Kenickie) was the original understudy for Danny on Broadway. 

The part of Sandy in the film was written for Susan Dey (Laurie on The Partidge Family). Her manager told her not to accept it. Others considered: Marie Osmond (she didn't want her future children to see her in the outfit at the end), Carrie Fisher, Linda Ronstadt, and Deborah Raffin. Allen Carr met Olivia Newton-John at a party and begged her to take the role. Olivia insisted on an audition because she thought she was too old to play a teenager (28). Her audition was the drive-in movie scene. Travolta wanted her to get the part. 

Lucie Arnaz was the first choice for Rizzo, but mom Lucille Ball was mad they wanted her to have a screen test. The producers dropped her from consideration. Lorna Luft was also considered before the part went to Stockard Channing. 

Jeff Conaway wanted Rizzo's hickeys to be real, so he took care of that! 

Jeff Conaway had a huge crush on Olivia Newton-John, to the point of being flustered when around her. He actually dated Susan Buckner (Patty Simcox) during filming. In 1980 he married Rona Newton-John (Olivia's older sister) and became a stepfather to her two children. Their marriage lasted five years. 

In the Broadway musical Kenickie sings "Greased Lightning," but John Travolta wanted to sing it. The producers asked Jeff Conaway if it was OK. At first he wasn't OK with it, but then gave in. During the filming of the song, the cast dropped Conaway, who hurt his back. This led to his life-long addiction to pain killers and his self-medicating, which resulted in his death. 

After Steven Ford was cast as Tom, he dropped out. Lorenzo Lamas was cast and dyed his hair blond for the part. 

Elvis declined the part of The Guardian Angel in "Beauty School Dropout." The day they filmed Rizzo singing "Look at me, I'm Sandra Dee," which has a line about Elvis, was the day Elvis died. 

Porn star Harry Reems was originally cast as Coach. Paramount worried about his past amid protests and gave the part to Sid Caesar. 

Olivia Newton-John came back after filming was completed to record "Hopelessly Devoted to You." Producers thought they needed a strong ballad in the film. It was nominated for an Academy award. 

Olivia Newton-John still has the leather pants from the last scene.

Rydell High is named after Bobby Rydell. 

[Alter Ego]

Grease probably has one of the strongest childhood memories for me - my father passed away when I was 10, but I still remember going to see Grease at the drive thru with the family. We actually saw it a few times.

Anyways, it’s only been recently that I’ve learned of the theory that Sandy was actually dying throughout the film (she had drowned at the beach instead of being saved by Danny), that this was all in her imagination as she was in a coma and that the final scene (the car flying) indicated that she had died and was going to heaven. It’s actually a pretty well thought out theory, with references to certain songs. The creator has apparently said “that’s a bunch of #^+%#!”, or something to that effect.

[NickNack]

@beach-mom So interesting!  Thank you for posting that.  It's hard to imagine anyone else in any of the main roles, especially Rizzo.  Stockard Channing was perfect for that part.

[Reever]

Wasn't the actress Stockard Channing who played Rizzo in her 30s while she portrayed a teenager in Grease?

Anyone else remember the days of Eskimo pie for 50 cents ?

Kids today don't understand how nice the simpler times were before gadgets and machines took over.

[proudlyfromNJ]

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@Reever wrote:

Wasn't the actress Stockard Channing who played Rizzo in her 30s while she portrayed a teenager in Grease?

Anyone else remember the days of Eskimo pie for 50 cents ?

Kids today don't understand how nice the simpler times were before gadgets and machines took over.

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@Reever  Yes, she was in her thirties. I do remember Eskimo pies but not the price. I would never give up computers. I wish we had had the internet available to use many many years ago.