Hairspray

Written as a parody of a pop music program he had seen on television in his youth, HAIRSPRAY was John Waters' first film for a large audience. The comedy about a dance competition in Baltimore in 1962, where music by African-Americans is played but non-whites are refused entry, combines wry humor, the music and pastel colors of the time, anti-racist commitment and sympathy for people who do not conform to the norms of mainstream society. Debbie Harry plays Velma von Tussle, "a racist, power-hungry mother" (DH) with a beehive who wants to make a star out of her daughter, who conforms to normative ideals of beauty, and resorts to unfair means to boot out her biggest rival, a chubby outsider. The cast united Sonny Bono and the queen of R&B, Ruth Brown, with John Waters regulars Mink Stole and his muse Divine in a double role. (hjf)