What good red-blooded American doesn’t love the 1978 movie Grease? I mean c’mon… summer lovin’… grease lightning… brusha brusha brusha… rama lama lama ka dinga da dinga dong, shoobop sha wadda wadda yippity boom de boom. Okay, now we’re getting carried away. But for those who were young and alive in the 1970’s, Grease is permanently emblazoned on our minds. So for all of these reasons and more, it was exciting to have a little Grease reunion at the Hollywood Show in Burbank on October 8, 2011.
No, of course they didn’t get John Travolta or Olivia Newton-John (although they at least tried for Sid Caesar). But as I’ve already told you, Frankie Avalon did show up, as did Edd Byrnes and Eddie Deezen (whom I talked to briefly about Midnight Madness). And so did a nice handful of the other celebrities involved with the film, whom I had never met before.
For starters, the movie’s director Randal Kleiser was present and accounted for. He was a nice guy who was trying to sell some book and/or service to aspiring filmmakers. I’m not quite sure that his film career was quite auspicious enough that I’d be turning to him for advice on how to make it in the industry, but he wasn’t pushy about it, so I didn’t mind listening to his spiel. I mean, don’t get me wrong, he’s successful and all – and has directed a number of harmlessly fun films like Big Top Pee-Wee, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, The Blue Lagoon, and Honey, I Blew Up the Kid, but none of his post-Grease films ever quite equaled the success of the blockbuster that included Beauty School Dropout.
So I’m sure you’re more interested in the actors who showed up. The T-Birds. The Pink Ladies. And the other nerds who populated the school. We’ve got some of them all…
First off, there’s Doody. What an unfortunate name he had. It’s amazing that he was ever accepted into the T-Birds with a name like that. He was played by Barry Pearl, and he didn’t do much in the way of movies after Grease. But he did stay in the business making occasional stage and TV appearances, most recently as Arnold in the national run of Happy Days, the Musical. Honestly, when guys like Barry keep a low profile, it’s all the more fun to actually get to meet them at celebrity shows like this. He was super nice and had the jacket with him that he wore in the film.
Note the jacket behind us
Doody #2. I’m so immature.
Dinah Manoff had a pretty good run in the 1970’s and 1980’s. She played Marty Maraschino, one of the Pink Ladies in Grease, and also had a starring role as Elaine Lefkowitz in the comedy soap opera Soap. She’d then go on to the roll of Carol in the successful sitcom Empty Nest (more about that in a future posting). Dinah also had a supporting role in the Oscar winner for Best Picture in 1980, Ordinary People.
The Pink Ladies pledge is to act cool, to look cool, and to be cool
Perhaps the most memorable of the supporting Pink Ladies was Jamie Donnelly. Yes, she was the freaky ‘brusha, brusha, brusha’ girl named Jan who seemed to be eating in every scene she stole. In fact, if you watch closely, you’ll notice her incorporating her food into many of the dancing musical numbers. She went on to do most of her work on stage, but if you squint just right you might catch her in an episode of Monk and the more recent comedy Cyrus. You might not recognize her in the picture that I took with her though, as her hair has gone from jet black to snow white. By the way, I really like all of the Grease celebrities, but Jamie was the friendliest of them all.
Looks like she continued to brusha
She signed what was perhaps the most eerily memorable snapshot from the entire film
Last but not least was Susan Buckner, rounding out the Grease reunion – and this posting. Prior to her role in Grease as the snobbish Patty Simcox, Susan was a top ten finalist for the Miss America contest, and a member of the Krofftettes, a dance troupe that performed water ballet routines in the Sid & Marty Krofft production of The Brady Bunch Variety Hour. She completely retired from acting and now directs children’s theatre for an elementary school. She too was exceptionally nice.
The ‘nerd’ of the bunch ended up being the hottest – as per usual
Musicals from the 70’s don’t get much more iconic than Grease, and I had a blast meeting this handful of celebrities who were involved with it. It’s a shame that Jeff Conaway‘s death precluded his involvement with the reunion. As of this writing, I’ve now met a dozen people involved with the film.
Celebrities of the Fall 2011 Hollywood Show will continue…
Doody. Ha!
Eric Hubble
July 6th, 2012
Love that movie.
Bev
July 7th, 2012