Early Sunday morning my wife and I went to see the new movie musical "Hairspray" at Tinseltown in Medford. Going to a movie on Sunday morning is something of an experiment that seems to work out for us. I like to go to movies in the evening but my wife always falls asleep. She likes to go in the early to late afternoon but that makes it difficult for me to do work around the house as I am not a morning person. So we have been trying to go Sunday mornings. That leaves the rest of the day to do work with no deadline to start getting ready for a movie.
The new movie "Hairspray is a lot of fun and I highly recommend it. I am a sucker for movies set in the early 60's. The story is about a young chubby high school girl played by Nikki Blonsky( a new comer) who live in Baltimore and wants to be a regular on a local Baltimore teen dance show on TV called "The Corny Collins Show". A local version of American Bandstand with Corny Collins as a stand in for Dick Clark. After she gets on the show she leads an effort to integrate the show so Black Americans are not relegated to the one day of the month called "Negro Day." Movie Director John Walters in 1988 made the original "Hairspray" which was the basis for a later Broadway musical play. This movie has brought the play to the big screen. John Walter is seen in a cameo at the start of the movie as a "flasher." Nikki Blonsky is very good for the part of the chubby girl and her personality carries the movie with the help of a good supporting cast. John Revolting..... I mean Travolta plays her mother in drag. The movie is very "camp" and we both enjoyed it very much. It is a musical in the tradition of South Pacific or Oklahoma with original music. A good way to spend a Sunday morning. To read more about the movie click on the title for a link to the Internet Movie Data Base site on the movie. Where were you in 62?
