It was 1978. Punk rock was raging and flares were on their way out. But almost overnight, the world regressed to the bubble-gum fashions, Elvis style bouffant hairstyles and rock ‘n’ roll of the Fifties as Grease immediately attracted droves of hopelessly devoted fans.
Set in 1959, the story of love-struck Danny and Sandy, set amidst a backdrop of strutting T-birds, high- school canteen dramas and lightning fast cars, was instantly a blockbuster smash, soon becoming the highest- grossing musical ever – a record only since overtaken by Les Miserables, Mamma Mia featuring Abba's hit songs and Beauty and the Beast.
On celluloid, Grease was the perfect depiction of the dramatic, romantic and fast-moving school days we secretly all wished we’d had, but behind the scenes it took an awful lot of blood, sweat and tears to make this all-singing and dancing movie musical icon.
How the Grease cast could have been very different
As the cast of friends bound around the fairground, arm in arm, for the closing shot of Grease, it’s interesting to think how different that could have looked if the production team had got who they initially wanted to cast.
Happy Days star Henry Winkler (left) was originally front-runner to play Danny Zuko but, wary of being typecast, he passed on the part to John Travolta who had starred in a travelling stage-play of Grease and had just finished Saturday Night Fever.
As well as rocketing his career, John later said the part was a great distraction in helping him cope with the death of his girlfriend, Diana Hyland, from cancer that spring.
Did you know? The opening beach scene was shot at Malibu’s Leo Carrillo State beach, a reference to the 1953 film, From Here to Eternity.
The part of Sandy was an even thornier problem as she needed to be able to carry off wholesome as well as raunchy at the end of the film. The names initially suggested were Susan Dey, Ann-Margret, Carrie Fisher and even Marie Osmond, who turned the part down as she objected to Sandy’s transformation from good girl to bad.
Producer Allan Carr (not the comedian!) then set his sights on the blonde Aussie Olivia Newton-John who he met at a friend’s dinner party one night. Olivia was unsure, having not long done the 1970 film flop Toomorrow and keen to focus on her singing career instead.
Nevertheless, she agreed to try a screen test despite panicking that she couldn’t do an American accent and at 29 wouldn’t look like a high-school student. But the team were so keen to keep her, Sandy’s accent was changed to Australian and the cinematographer agreed to use soft lenses to hide her age.
The part of Rizzo caused another issue when Lucie Arnaz was approached to do a screen test only for her mother, Lucille Ball, to allegedly call Paramount saying, “I used to own that studio! My daughter’s not doing a screen test,” and Stockard Channing was instead signed up for the role.
Even Elvis – who would in fact die while Grease was being shot – was reportedly asked to join the film as Teen Angel, but instead the part went to Frankie Avalon who spent most of the filming of the Beauty School Dropout number battling with a fear of heights as he had to descend a slippery three-storey staircase with no railings.
Did you know? Jeff Conaway who played Kenickie had to walk with a stoop so John Travolta would appear taller!
Tight fits and fevers
As for You’re the One That I Want, when Sandy unleashed her new look, Olivia Newton-John discovered the skin-tight pants she’d been asked to wear had a zip malfunction and she had to be sewn into them daily before filming. Her iconic look became synonymous with 80s makeup and fashion with her bright red lips and big hair.
There were also problems afoot in another iconic scene. While filming the drag race action over the Los Angeles river the director, Randal Kleiser, cut his foot and then walked in the river, ending up with a raging fever which saw him try to direct the next day with a soaring temperature!
The iconic Grease dance numbers
The dance routines were what made Grease so special but they certainly weren’t always easy to pull off. The outfits and dance moves of the high school dance contest scene may have been hot, but not as hot as the cast, who filmed the scene in stifling temperatures of more than 40°C Shot in Huntingdon Park High School.
There was no air conditioning and all windows or doors had to stay closed because of light and sound control. Over the several takes of that scene, many extras had to be taken out because of heat-related illness.
Meanwhile the Greased Lightnin’ number was originally meant to be a showstopper for the character Kenickie but John Travolta so wanted to sing it was instead given to his character Danny.
Sadly, during the filming of that scene, Kenickie was dropped and seriously injured his back. Tragically this began his use of prescription drugs that later spiralled into addiction that plagued him for the rest of his too-short life. He died aged just 60.