(Long Island, NY) On October 8, 2006 I was invited to “Female Trouble” New York Private Screening with Director John Waters at the Director’s Guild Theatre on 57th Street, New York City.
Underground movie director and now Hollywood director Mr. John Waters has always been a huge and wonderful inspiration in my show business career so I was thoroughly exasperated and smittenly thrilled to be invited to this special screening. This rarely seen cult underground film, “Female Jungle” is about the tawdry life of Dawn Davenport portrayed splendidly by fabulous cult drag queen actor “Divine”.
The film begins with Miss Davenport as a loving schoolgirl to later as a crazed mass murderer – all of which happens because of her parents’ refusal to buy her cha-cha heels for Christmas. Outraged, distressed and despondent Miss Davenport flees from her home on Christmas day and is raped. She becomes a single mother, glamorous model and flirts with criminal behavior before her inevitable rendezvous with the electric chair.
This classic cult film was written and directed by Mr. Waters in 1974. His films are now famous for their exposure of the hideous reality in United States suburbia. In truth “Female Trouble” depicts suburban life as dysfunctional exposing teenage pregnancy, rape and domestic violence in the home. We now as Americans in the 21st Century see this today on Reality TV.
Hollywood director Mr. John Waters with Cognac Wellerlane
For this particular film, Mr. Waters amateurish editing and filming technique is quite effective in the context of the film and the unforgettable Divine’s performance on the trampoline is over the top and quite outrageous making this a favorite to John Water’s fans.
Film director, John Waters grew up in the 1950’s in Baltimore Maryland. Mr. Waters has always had a facination with violence and gore, both on the screen and in real life making him extraordinary from other children growing up in America at that time. In collaboration with his eccentric friends as his cast he started filming and producing silent 8mm and 16mm films in the mid-’60s; he screened these in rented Baltimore church halls to underground audiences drawn by word of mouth and street leafleting campaigns. His shocking films at the time drew a discreet audience because of their content and humor. Waters continued to make low-budget shocking movies with his Dreamland repertory company until Hollywood crossover success came with Hairspray (1988) in 1987.
He discovered “Divine” who became his leading lady in most of his early films. Divine was originally born Harris Glen Milstead just after the end of WWII,. He later became Baltimore’s most outrageous resident eventually becoming the international icon of bad taste cinema, as amusingly entertaining transvestite performer, Divine.
Divine met film director & good friend, John Waters, at high school in Baltimore, and the two decided to create, star and direct several of these wonderful taboo breaking cult films in the early 1970s.
At the end of the screening I asked Mr. Waters what was his favorite Divine character? He replied that he always had a fondness for the movie Hairspray and Divine’s Character Edna Turnblad; Rickie Lake’s mother in the film was his favorite.
Mr. Waters has always acknowledged that he has been inspired by many influential people in the entertainment industry such as Otto Preminger, Liberace, Herschell Gorden Lewis, Russ Meyer, Pier Paolo Pasolini and my favorite Hollywood bombshell movie star Jayne Mansfield.
Today darlings, what truly is amazing about Mr. Waters is that he still goes to see just about every movie that comes out and hardly ever rents movies.Outside of the theatre, Entertainment Photographer Shane Gritzinger did a little photo op of brilliant director John Waters and myself. We both spoke for a while, “Keep making wonderful films”, I replied as Mr. Waters said goodbye to me as he and his entourage slipped away into a New York Cab.
