Grease is 40 years old

The movie musical Grease is 40 years old. Had not thought much of that until I saw star John Travolta teaching talk show host Jimmy Fallon dance moves on TV. It has indeed been that long and to his credit, despite ups and downs in his career and his private life, John still looks great and has his dance chops down pat.

Grease, the motion picture version of the hit Broadway musical of the same title, opened in the US on June 16, 1978.  Originally written by Bronte Woodard, it was intended as a satiric take on the jukebox musical films of the ‘50s era like Rock Around The Clock. But it turned out to be such great fun and became a huge success.

It was music producer Robert Stigwood who got the film rights to Grease. After creating groundbreaking hits with artists like the Bee Gees and Donna Summer, he added box-office hits to his treasure trove when he ventured into movies. Among these was Saturday Night Fever (SNF), which fueled the disco craze worldwide to an all-time high. The now iconic SNF made superstars out of the Bee Gees and their music and of a young TV actor named John Travolta.

John was one of the regulars of the show Welcome Back Kotter. He attained stardom with the TV movie Boy in a Plastic Bubble with the hit theme song, What Would They Say. But it was the role of Tony Manero in SNF that would make him one of the biggest stars of the time. With a young actor who could sing and dance and command the box office under contract, Robert knew the time was ripe for Grease. John accepted the role of Danny Zuko and Grease dealt the final punch on his road to fame.

Directed by Randal Kleiser, Grease tells the story of high school shenanigans with focus on the relationship of bad boy Danny and good girl Sandy played by Australian country music star Olivia Newton-John. It also starred Stockard Channing and Jeff Conaway and featured big TV stars like Eve Arden and Sid Caesar. Edd Byrnes, the famous Kooky of 77 Sunset Strip was cast as TV host Vince Fontaine while singing idol Frankie Avalon was the Teen Angel. 

But I think it was Robert’s marketing savvy as a music man that lifted his Grease out of the ordinary teen musical mold. He sold the product like he would an album. He added new songs like the title theme, Grease composed by Bee Gee Barry Gibb and performed by Four Seasons frontman Frankie Valli. He gave Olivia a big love song Hopelessly Devoted To You, which was nominated for an Academy Award. Ironically, the song lost to another Robert hit, Last Dance by Donna Summer, from the movie Thank God, It’s Friday. Best of all, he had the Travolta-Newton-John duet of You’re The One That I Want, out on the radio months before Grease opened in theaters.

By the time Grease came out, there were already three hit songs from the also big-selling soundtrack album, all of them Robert’s new additions, You’re The One That I Want, Grease and Hopelessly Devoted To You. But those were not the only hits to emerge from the movie. Everybody loved the other songs, too.  Look At Me I’m Sandra Dee, Beauty School Drop Out, Born To Hand Jive, Sandy, Grease Lightning, There Are Worse Things I Can Do, plus others. 

To this day, I know of high school kids who relate a lot to the songs Summer Lovin’ and We Go Together. Of course, they also sing those songs and they watch Grease a lot. Thank heaven that a videoke version of Grease now exists. The soundtrack was the second biggest selling album of the year. Sorry it was not No. 1.  Firmly entrenched in first place and could not be budged was another Robert release with songs by the Bee Gees and from a film starring John, Saturday Night Fever.

Grease is now considered one of the greatest musicals of all time. In fact, it was the one, which dethroned The Sound of Music from the top of the musical top grossers chart after a record 14 years. Well, Grease has also been dethroned, but it took the arrival of Beauty and the Beast to kick it out of the No. 1 berth after 39 years.

I thought it was nice of John to come out on TV and promote Grease on its 40th anniversary. The guy remains immensely likeable, one of the few really whose movies I can enjoy watching again and again. He really brought back a lot of sweet memories.