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Sixty seven years ago today one Glenn Harris Milstead, better known to the world today as Divine, was unleashed on an unsuspecting world. Born into a very conservative and relatively wealthy Baptist household in Baltimore, Divine was self-admittedly spoiled in his youth: "I was an only child in, I guess, your upper middle-class American family. I was probably your American spoiled brat." Although Divine was indulged at home, he suffered terrible bullying at school for his effeminate personality and for being overweight. By the age of 17, after starting sessions with a therapist, Milstead had begun to understand that he was perhaps bisexual, with the eventual realization that he was in fact gay (note: Divine never considered himself to be transgender or transsexual and for that reason I use am using the pronoun he although some folks use she). At the age of 18, he enrolled in beauty school where the world of drag first began to grab his interest and a star, albeit one on the fringes, would be born.
In 1963, a mutual friend named Carol Wernig introduced Divine to a young John Waters, a meeting that would eventually launch two remarkable careers.
From 100 Years: John Waters Meets Divine:
When Carol introduced Glenn Milstead to John Waters in 1963, cinema history was made in Lutherville of all places. Waters would give Glenn the name "Divine," go on to shoot 16 films in Baltimore (nine of them featuring Divine), and put the region on the map as a legitimate site for film and TV production.
"I used to see Divine waiting for the bus when my father took me to school," Waters says. "He tried to dress preppy-ish and tried to fit in, but you could see that would be completely impossible for him. I always joked that he was the girl next door, but he actually lived about six houses away."
Waters figures he most likely met Divine while talking to Carol on her front lawn, and she doesn't recall the exact circumstances, either. "But I do remember being surprised by him," says Waters. "He was feminine, but he wasn't Nellie. He was very, very unlike what he was in the movies." (That's probably a good thing, considering some of Divine's exploits in Waters's films including, most famously, eating dog excrement in Pink Flamingos.)
Yes, you read that right. If you have never seen any of these John Waters movies starring Divine, that little celluloid moment will come as quite a shock. Actually, there are many many moments in these films that will shock you. Waters' counterculture films were made to outrage and to poke an already roiling society in the eye. Niall O'Conghaile, in an
excellent article at Dangerous Minds, explains the importance of Divine with great perspective:
I shouldn't need to explain to the readers of Dangerous Minds how important a figure Divine was, not just to gay people, drag queens or the plus-sized, but to freaks, misfits and outcasts anywhere and everywhere. I mean, you just gotta love Divine. Anyone who flaunts their flaws that proudly and boldly, turns them into cornerstones of their appearance in fact, should be held up as an inspiration to everyone.
Divine's legacy has gotten stronger since Milstead's death in 1988, and in a strange way Divine has come to represent a time when society was both more conservative, but oddly more liberal. What film star would gulp down real, live dog shit on screen these days and be called a hero? I think we need Divine now more than ever, so it's no surprise to me how truly iconic she has become in recent years.
The
article I reference above also contains a fascinating interview with Lotti Pharriss Knowles, the producer of the upcoming feature documentary
I Am Divine. Yes fans, a documentary of the life of Divine is currently in the works. How fabulous is that?
We are beyond excited to present to you a brand new documentary about the most beautiful woman in the world... the filthiest person alive... the legendary, the outrageous, the one and only... DIVINE!
I AM DIVINE will be a definitive biographical portrait of Harris Glenn Milstead, a.k.a. Divine, and will honor him in just the way he always craved—as a serious artist and immortal star. We'll tell Divine's entire story, from his early days as a misfit youth in Baltimore through his rise to infamy as a cult superstar. Like the characters he portrayed in numerous films, Divine was the ultimate outsider. He transformed himself from a bullied schoolyard fat kid to a larger-than-life personality and underdog royalty as his alter-ego Divine. Divine stood up for millions of gay men and women, female impersonators, punk rockers, the ample figured, and countless other socially ostracized people. With a completely committed in-your-face style, he blurred the line between performer and personality and revolutionized pop culture.
As outrageous and fun as its subject, I AM DIVINE will combine movie clips, rare home movies and photos, television appearances and live performance footage with brand new interviews with John Waters, Ricki Lake, Mink Stole, Tab Hunter, Holly Woodlawn, Michael Musto, Bruce Vilanch, mother Frances Milstead (who provided her final interview just months before she passed away), and many more of Divine's family, friends, colleagues, and devotees.
In 1988, the movie
Hairspray was released. This mainstream John Waters film would be Divine's last role. Only three weeks after it was released, Divine would be found dead in the Regency Hotel in Los Angeles at the age of 42. His cause of death was an enlarged heart. I was with friends at a bar in the Castro when I learned he had died. We all shed a tear and lifted our glass to this talented icon we all loved so dearly.
TOP COMMENTS
October 19, 2012
Thanks to tonight's Top Comments contributors! Let us hear from YOU
when you find that proficient comment.
From cohenzee:
Here is a comment from earicicle in Laura Clawson's diary on a Scott brown supporter that had me laughing. Even gets into the spirit of the season with a great reference to baseball.
From lone1c
In NCJim's diary What a Difference a Day Makes, Hatrax lays out a winning idea for a National Geographic documentary.
From your diarist Steveningen:
In Ian Reifowitz's Pew Latino Poll diary about marriage equality, Wee Mama gives us this shimmering gem.
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TOP MOJO
October 18, 2012
(excluding Tip Jars and first comments)
Got mik!
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TOP PHOTOS
October 18, 2012
Enjoy jotter's wonderful PictureQuilt⢠below. Just click on the picture and it will magically take you to the comment that features that photo. Have fun, Kossacks!
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