There is no movie more disgusting than Pink Flamingos, this competition of revolting characters
redefined the concept of bad taste, but attracted many followers.
Carrying out such a bizarre project couldn’t be less unusual.
It is impossible to continue talking about Pink Flamingos without mentioning its director:
John Waters.
Born on 1946, John Samuel Waters Jr. grew up in Lutherville, a suburb in Baltimore,
the city in which most of his films would be set.
As a young man he didn’t feel comfortable in such an old-fashioned environment, as he
considered it.
Besides, he already knew he was homosexual, but he couldn’t say it out loud.
However, he found refuge in cinema.
He was fascinated by strange and shocking movies, and firstly he found those qualities
in the horror genre.
One of his first idols was William Castle, who was more than just a director: for his
films, like The Tingler and The House of Haunted Hill, he designed tricks to heighten the audience’s
experience in the theatre.
John was also interested in Russ Meyer, a filmmaker specialized in erotic productions
with strong women, and in Herschell Gordon Lewis, the creator of splatter cinema.
The work of these filmmakers expressed creative freedom, audacity and a self-confidence that
made them stand out from ordinary Hollywood productions.
But that wasn’t enough for Waters, he also admired the experimental artists like Andy
Warhol, Kenneth Anger, Jonas Mekas and brothers Mike and George Kuchar.
Despite feeling out of place in Baltimore, John wasn’t alone.
He befriended another guy who would become his actor of choice: Harris Glenn Milstead.
Glenn was very shy and fat, and other boys at school used to mock him because of that.
But he also had a free spirit: as a child he would play with car toys, but just to crash
them intentionally.
John and Glenn shared their interest for cinema, camp aesthetic, big-screen stars and, later
on, drugs.
They would regularly go to bohemian bars on the sketchiest neighborhoods of Baltimore,
even though they weren’t allowed to enter.
John wanted to make films and Glenn wished to be a star.
They were young, enthusiast, and eager to triumph, but doing so by being themselves.
John’s parents noticed their son’s artistic interests and as a way to encourage him, but
specially to keep him off prison, they gave him a 8mm camera when he turned 16.
Two years later he made his first short film: Hag in a Black Leather Jacket, where a black
man marries a white woman in a wedding officiated by a member of the Ku Klux Klan.
The director was able to show it just one time in a beatnik cafeteria.
But that was enough to recover the 30 dollars he invested on shooting the film.
In his next short film, Roman Candles, John called Glenn for his cinematographic debut.
During the shooting, John suggested his friend an artistic name: Divine.
He loved it and adopted it, knowing he wasn’t exactly a drag queen, but an actor who portrays
women.
Besides Divine, John could count on a group of amateur actors that he and his friend met
during that time: unconventional young men who wanted to be part of the counterculture.
Paying homage to Dreamland Pictures, a production company created by John, the gang called themselves
the Dreamlanders.
Among the members were Mink Stole, Pat Moran, Susan Walsh, George Figgs, Mary Vivian Pearce,
Susan Lowe and David Lochary.
The director loved having his own version of Hollywood’s star system.
John himself also became a character.
Emulating his idol, Little Richard, he started wearing a thin mustache that would become
a trademark of his.
After making more short films, John and his friends felt ready to face their first feature
film: Mondo Trasho, a musical without dialogues.
Just like all the previous crazy ideas the director had, it was filled by extravagant
characters, capable of unspeakable acts, but with an endearing personality.
Just like when he made his short films, John didn’t only direct: he also wrote the script,
shot, lit the scenes and edited the whole movie.
Of course, the Dreamlanders would help him with whatever was needed.
Premiered in 1969, Mondo Trasho was the first feature made by John Waters, and also one
of the first to get him in trouble with the law.
He shot with no authorization at the Johns Hopkins University campus, with a nude actor.
He and part of the cast were arrested.
Over the years, Waters considered that Mondo Trasho should have been a short film.
Soon he would start developing his next film: Multiple Maniacs.
Here, Divine acts as the leader of a freak show which is actually a cover-up for murderers
and rapists.
Divine also takes part in two of the most disturbing scenes: one, which takes place
in a church and has Mink Stole inserting a rosary in Divine’s rectum; and the other,
where she is raped by a giant lobster.
She also devoured a raw cow heart for another scene.
According to Waters, Divine was punk even before punk existed.
Multiple Maniacs was first screened in a church and pissed off the censorship board, who couldn’t
withhold it, even though they tried.
Besides that, Divine showed audiences that her level of commitment in John’s films
was absolute.
Her friend could ask her anything and she would do it gladly.
Now that he had more confidence as a filmmaker, Waters was ready to carry out his most ambitious
underground project.
The idea came to him in one of his trips to California.
Traveling with David Lochary, he was surprised after seeing a whole parking lot filled with
vans and entire families living there.
The director thought of a story about a family with that kind of lifestyle... but, of course,
it would be a grotesque, decadent family that defied the status quo.
For this new film, Waters once again had his loyal Dreamlanders by his side.
Divine would portray a criminal called Babs Johnson, who acts as the matriarch of a repugnant
and perverted family.
Adding to that premise, the film would include murder, cannibalism and incest.
Stole and Lochary would be Connie and Raymond Marble, the couple of villains who try to
surpass Babs’ family in their levels of abomination.
Just like in Waters’ previous films, Dreamlanders would work for no pay, just for the sake of
making art.
The director would also work in almost every aspect.
But since this was supposed to be a more elaborate film, more expenses started to appear.
Waters’ only source of financing were his parents, and the most they had given him was
five thousand dollars for his previous film, Multiple Maniacs.
Now he would need at least twice that amount.
Once again, his parents helped him and gave him 10 thousand dollars.
But this time, Waters made them both swear to never ever see the film.
Waters knew exactly how to invest his money.
He spent 100 dollars in an old caravan that would be the Johnson’s home.
He used another 100 dollars to pay Vincent Peranio, who would take the role of production
designer for the film.
Peranio came from working with the director in Multiple Maniacs, where he built the giant
lobster.
This time, he was in charge of making the interiors of the Johnson’s van.
Other than that, he asked for two plastic pink flamingos that would be at the entrance,
which gave meaning to the title of the movie: Pink Flamingos.
Waters was determined to create a more quality piece.
He would shoot in color and with a more professional crew, so he put some money on hiring a cameraman
who would carry a 16mm camera.
As it was a color film, the aesthetics would be more elaborated.
Mink Stole and David Lochary had to change their hair color.
Meanwhile, makeup artist and stylist Van Smith faced the challenge of giving Divine a unique
look.
They were looking for a mix between Jayne Mansfield and Clarabell the Clown, star of
the famous TV show Howdy Doody.
Divine agreed to shave half of her head off so Smith could draw huge eyebrows that would
later become the character’s trademark look.
Another crucial detail was the film’s main location.
Thanks to a friend of Waters called Bob Adams, the crew could shoot at a farm in Phoenix,
Maryland.
Over there, the director and his friends put up some kind of hippie commune which would
serve as their filming base.
They were so stigmatized because of living in such conditions, that, according to Waters,
people believe to this day that he still lives in a van.
To make matters worse, that Phoenix “set” had no running hot water and received just
enough energy to keep some lights on.
Considering this, Divine spent the nights at Susan Lowe’s house and would wake up
before sunrise to get the makeup done and be taken to the location.
After this location inconvenience, Waters had it much easier when it came to shooting
the Marble’s house scenes.
This was because everything was shot in the house were he and Mink Stole were staying
during production.
Although Waters was able to shoot Pink Flamingos more professionally, his crew members and
cast still had to work and live their every-day lives during the week days.
In fact, Stole had to use a wig to hide her red hair when she was not acting.
The director was the only one that could invest all his time on the film, and he would get
everything ready to shoot during the weekends.
Production took six months, between 1971 and 1972.
During shooting, Waters also decided to fire the cameraman, who didn’t feel comfortable
with some scenes.
The director took the camera and shot everithing that was left by himself.
Even though ten thousand dollars was a generous amount, it soon ran out.
As some props were still missing, Peranio started stealing them from other places.
Divine also stole some things, and even got arrested, but told the police he was a method
actor and was portraying a criminal.
From the start, Waters knew that the last scene of Pink Flamingos needed to be the filthiest.
It starts with a dog defecating on the sidewalk, then Divine shows up, grabs the feces and
takes them to her mouth to pleasurably chew them.
All of this happens in just one shot, without cuts, to confirm there were no tricks.
The shot was the last one to be filmed and it required a strange logistical approach.
First, the director needed to make sure Divine was willing to eat real excrement.
Of course, the answer was positive.
Next step was feeding the dog raw meat for three days.
When the time came to shoot, Waters and his crew followed the dog for three hours before
he could go do his business.
In the end, he defecated just before they ran out of natural light.
After finishing the scene, Divine called a hospital emergency hot line saying her son
had eaten dog feces, and asked if there could be any harmful effects.
The nurse told her that the worst thing that could happen was that the boy might get worms.
Luckily for the actor, he didn’t have any health issues... however, for years he would
have to put up with questions about the experience of eating dog feces.
After the shooting was complete, Waters locked himself up in the editing room.
Since the story was supposed to have a voice-over narrator, he wanted to hire Mr. Ray, a renowned
Baltimore presenter.
But when Ray rejected the offer, Waters decided to do all the voice-over work by himself,
using the alias Mr. J. Another crucial detail would be the music.
Waters went through his record collection from the 50s and 60s.
But just like with Mondo Trasho, he never considered purchasing the rights and licenses
for the songs.
By 1997, he got almost all of them, and was able to edit a CD for the 25th anniversary
of the film’s premiere.
It was only necessary to make two changes: “Sixteen Candles” by The Crests, was replaced
by “Happy, Happy Birthday, Baby”, by The Tune Weavers, and “The Rite of Spring”,
by Igor Stravinsky had to be deleted.
Years later, Waters advised young filmmakers to think through the songs they would use,
to avoid legal headaches and money problems.
Pink Flamingos had its premiere in the third annual Baltimore Film Festival, on March of
1972.
The three screenings were full.
Then it was screened at a theatre dedicated to horror and gay porn in Boston.
Little by little it would find a new and wide audience.
Ben Barenholtz, a distributor and the creator of the concept Midnight Movies, chose it to
be part of a repeated screening in New York.
He had already successfully screened El Topo, by Alejandro Jodorowsky, and thought he could
achieve the same success with Waters’ film.
He wasn’t wrong: an unprejudiced audience received Pink Flamingos with open arms, and
celebrated such a feast of decadence and grime.
But not all audiences were happy.
Least of all, the censorship board.
Copies of Pink Flamingos were confiscated several times, and Waters had to go to court,
accused of obscenity.
He always pleaded guilty because, according to him, a fine was way cheaper than lawyer’s
fees.
Besides, all the controversy gave him a lot of free publicity.
Pink Flamingos established John Waters as a terrorist of bad taste and as an icon of
underground cinema.
He continued filming independently, with works such as Female Trouble and Desperate Living,
but he was also able to shoot big budget productions thanks to New Line Cinema.
He would direct personal and more commercial works like Polyester, Hairspray, Cry Baby,
and Serial Mom.
He also wrote books, acted in other directors’ movies and gave talks at universities.
He became very popular when he appeared on the fifteenth episode of The Simpsons’ 8th
season called Homer’s Phobia.
His character is called John and owns a shop of strange objects, where a pink flamingo
stands out.
Divine also earned wide recognition.
During the 70s, and part of the 80s, she became a disco music star, but never stopped filming.
Besides her adventures alongside Waters, she participated in films like Trouble in Mind.
After that, he wanted to launch a more professional acting career without using his stage name
and took a secondary role in the popular sitcom Married… with Children.
But on March 7, 1988, before making his debut, he died from a hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
in his sleep.
He was 42, but stayed alive in many aspects.
He became an icon of sexual diversity, and inspired the design for Ursula, the main villain
of Disney’s Little Mermaid.
Pink Flamingos continues to be screened in film cycles and festivals, where it can be
discovered by new generations.
John Waters usually attends these screenings and, inevitably, but with the great humor
he’s known for, stays afterwards to answer questions about the infamous final scene.
Pink Flamingos came into being thanks to a group of dementedly brave artists, who sacrificed
everything to achieve a masterpiece.
John Waters, Divine, and all the Dreamlanders spat on the face of the establishment and
gave us the most scatological and equally beloved cult movie.