Yes, it's been quite a while since I posted anything here... and I realize that any frequent readers I may have had have likely disappeared. But, nonetheless, I thought this was worth a post.
Some time ago, when our local used bookstore was clearing out their VHS tapes, I snagged the 20th anniversary of "Grease" for a whole dollar. Along with a CD single of the "Grease Megamix", the tape came packaged with a miniature reproduction (no reference intended) of the film's shooting script.
Admittedly, when the Special Edition DVD came out, one of the biggest disappointments was the 'deleted scenes' which were brief black-and-white fragments of existing scenes shorn of an uninteresting line or two. While the holy grail of deleted scenes (Rizzo and Kenickie's fight outside the Frosty Palace) is still lost completely, here are a few more tidbits from the shooting script that may or may not have been filmed.
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[First, the first several minutes of the movie were almost entirely different, up to the end of the opening credits.]
EXT. SEASIDE RESORT - DAY
OPEN with a small-screen ratio with a blue and white tint. It is a fashionable resort. SOUND of distant gulls.
SANDY OLSSON, a lovely ingenue, in a Rose Marie Reid swimsuit lies alone on a beach towel. "LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING" PLAYS on her portable RADIO. She looks at her watch.
EXT. HAMBURGER STAND ON PIER - DAY
DANNY ZUKO, a good-looking teenager, is wrapping up his day's work at a hamburger stand. Even though he wears a short order cook hat there is a look of a hero about him. His eyes glisten with unfulfilled romantic longing. The same SONG is PLAYING on a RADIO in the hamburger stand. He glances at the clock over the sink which reads six o'clock.
He finishes his work for the day and opens a closet where there are clothes hanging. A picture of James Dean is tacked on the inside of a closet door. He quickly grabs the clothes and begins to change.
EXT. SEASIDE RESORT - DAY
Sandy sits alone looking forsaken, tears in her eyes as the SONG continues to PLAY on her RADIO.
EXT. BEACH
Danny dashes madly along the beach away from the pier, zipping up, buttoning up and trying to make himself presentable in what he thinks are fashionable clothes, but almost everything is a little bit off.
EXT. BEACH COVE - DAY
Sandy rises, about to leave, just as Danny, breathless, slides down a sand dune toward her.
SANDY
I thought you'd forgotten.
DANNY
(still out of breath)
How could I forget?
SANDY
You know what they say about summer romances.
DANNY
No, what do they say?
Sandy looks disappointed. He looks confused.
SANDY
I have to leave in the morning. My father wants to beat the Labor Day traffic.
They look at each other for a moment then Danny kneels to the sand and pulls her with him. He looks into her eyes, then kisses her urgently. After a moment she pulls away.
SANDY
(continuing)
Oh, Danny, don't spoil it.
DANNY
This isn't spoiling it. This is making it better.
They sit side by side. He is about to put his arm around her. Then suddenly something is wrong. He stops. She opens her eyes.
SANDY
What is it?
He looks away in embarrassment. She turns his face to her.
SANDY
(continuing; tenderly)
You can tell me.
DANNY
I'm left-handed.
SANDY
Huh?
He pantomimes changing positions. They change sides.
SANDY
(continuing; as if it were precious)
Left-handed.
DANNY
In a world full of right-handed people.
They kiss again.
SANDY
I feel like this is the last time we'll ever see each other. Going to two different schools is like being in two different worlds.
They look at each other in sad acknowledgement of this impossibility.
SANDY
(continuing)
Oh, Danny, Danny, Danny. Is this the end?
He cups her face in both his hands and smiles gently at her.
DANNY
Of course not, Sandy. It's only the beginning.
GO TO COLOR IMAGE AT THE CENTER OF THE SCREEN
INTRO KENICKIE
CLOSE on an alarm clock radio.
KENICKIE, a tough, macho-to-the-teeth teenager, sits bolt upright in bed looking as if he has just been electrocuted. The pillow where his head has been is covered with grease stains. His hair stands out wildly. He shuts off the alarm and pants for breath as thought he has been running.
The VOICE of VINCE FONTAINE is HEARD on the RADIO and continues throughout the opening MONTAGE.
VINCE FONTAINE (V.O.)
This is the main brain... Vince Fontaine... beginning your day with the only way... Music, music, music... I gotta message for every scholar and fool... GET OUTTA BED; IT'S THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL... Don't be a slob... Don't get a job... Go back to class... You can pass... And to start this day off nice and fine... I'm gonna play a new old favorite of mine...
The new title song GREASE BLASTS on the SOUNDTRACK as each of the main characters is introduced.
NOTE: The background in each introduction is a sort of limbo in which only the character and certain vital props are used. As each character is introduced, they will occupy a large portion of the center screen. At the conclusion of their introduction, they will continue their actions in panels that frame the center action. In this sequence the audience is the mirror into which each of the characters is looking.
INTRO FRENCHY
CLOSE on a pink angora sweater. First disembodied arms are SEEN protruding from the tight sleeves. The hands hold the neck of the sweater, stretch it and slowly, painfully -- like something being born -- FRENCHY's head appears. She is a basically plain teenaged girl, with close cropped hair. She reaches OFFSCREEN and produces a flamboyant wig which she places on her head, transforming herself. She begins to comb out the wig.
INTRO DOODY
CLOSE on a Howdy Doody puppet.
Another ALARM GOES OFF as if in time to the music as DOODY, a teenager who looks like Howdy Doody opens his eyes and smiles at the puppet he has slept with. Then his features set as if he is remembering who he is. He throws the puppet aside and gets up.
INTRO JAN
JAN, an overweight girl who has the posture of a hen and wears baggy clothes, eats a piece of buttered-jellied toast as she contemplates the grim reality of her appearance. She turns sideways trying to hold in her stomach and as she does a glob of jelly falls on her jumper. She spits on a napkin and tries to rub it out.
INTRO SONNY
If SONNY could choose to be any animal it would be either a stallion or a prize bull. He blows the cobwebs off his toothbrush, looks at it in distaste, tosses it away, picks up a vicious looking long-handled comb and rakes it through his greasy hair. There is such a deposit of grease on the comb that there is hardly any room for his hair to get through. He practices looking tough.
INTRO RIZZO
CLOSE on a head that looks like a minefield of torpedo rollers. A long, lacquered nail is thrust into each roller, deftly withdrawing it while another finger holds the curl in place.
RIZZO looks like a cross between Ava Gardner and Annette Funicello and she works hard at it. She repeats the roller withdrawal with practiced precision.
INTRO PUTZIE
PUTZIE is a ruddy guy with an air of quiet derangement. He brushes his teeth as if he were operating a pneumatic drill, the foaming toothpaste encircling his mouth with a clown's makeup.
INTRO MARTY
MARTY, a breathing pastry, looks at her reflection. She is curvaceous every place but at the top. She grabs a box of Kleenex and remedies that situation by stuffing her bra.
CLOSE ON VARIOUS SHOTS
A hand reaches into a stuffed closet and pulls out a mass of crinolines.
A tube of Brylcreem is squeezed directly onto an already greasy head. Hands begin to massage the grease into the hair.
A can of spray net is held directly above a beehive hairdo and is sprayed like a crop duster.
A Thunderbird jacket is taken from a closet.
A brown bag lunch is picked up off a table, as a rapid tatto is HONKED out by a CAR HORN.
CUT TO:
EXT. STREET
A carload of students drive along with the top down.
CUT TO:
EXT. STREET
Students on foot making their way to school.
CUT TO:
EXT. STREET
A yellow school bus filled with very active students drives along.
EXT. RYDELL HIGH SCHOOL
From HIGH POV the school is still and deserted. An American Flag flutters in the breeze. Suddenly, cars, bicycles, busses and students on foot APPEAR pouring down the driveway and into the parking lot in a rousing FINALE, a choreographed procession not unlike a Busby Berkeley production number.
The cars are decorated in 50's emblems and decals with glimpses of each of the major characters (except for Danny and Sandy).
Students hang out of car windows, sit on convertible backs, ride on hoods, roofs and running boards -- hooting and hollering with youthful energy as the finale reaches is crescendo.
[Note that in the final film, the school exterior is already occupied; this opening is more reminiscent of "Grease 2."]
EXT. PARKING LOT
As the production number ends, the students suddenly become real people again breaking into groups and heading towards the building.
[The following scene IS in the film, just in another spot, and rewritten.]
A Studebaker pulls up and Rizzo gets out in her Pink Ladies jacket. She stands for a moment looking toward the school in bored resignation as the others rush around her.
Marty and Jan coming walking up.
MARTY
Hey, Riz!
JAN
Great to be back, huh?
RIZZO
It was great when we were Freshmen. It was good when we were Sophomores. It was okay when we were Juniors. But now that we are Seniors, it's just boring, boring. I can't wait for this year to be over so life can really begin.
Rizzo gives a world-weary sigh and starts toward the school. Marty and Jan adopt her air and the three of them walk along with their noses skyward as several excited younger girls rush past and look at them as though envying their exhaulted positions.
CUT TO:
[And we join the T-Birds in more or less the same scene that appears in the film; except that Kenickie is already with them (and delivers the "You're not supposed to eat this, you're supposed to bury it" line).]
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[A brief scene that takes place before Sandy enters the principal's office:]
INT. HALLWAY
Both sides of the hall are lined with lockers and students are busily applying locks and decorating the insides of them to match their personalities. There is also a lot of ritualistic, un-self-conscious hair combing, by members of both sexes.
Frenchy and Sandy come down the hall.
FRENCHY
You better check in the office to find out what homeroom you got. Pray you don't get old lady Lynch, the math teacher.
SANDY
Is she bad?
FRENCHY
Bad? All I know is she flunks people in homeroom.
Sandy grimaces and heads for the office.
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[Before the Pink Ladies are seen at the lunch table...]
INT. CAFETERIA - CLOSE - ELABORATELY FOLDED HANDKERCHIEF
PULL BACK TO SHOW that it rests on the ample bosom of MRS. OVERTON, the chubby dietitian who beams over the serving dishes of murky substances.
She wears a white uniform complimented by aqua costume jewelry.
Sandy and Frenchy come down the line with trays.
FRENCHY
That's Mrs. Overton, the dietitian. Everybody calls her Mrs. Over-a-ton. If you're friendly with her, she gives you extras... Hi, Mrs. Overton.
Mrs. Overton beams and walks toward the line. Her voice is as sugary as most of her dishes.
MRS. OVERTON
Hello, darlin'. We got peach cobbler today.
FRENCHY
This is Sandy Olsson. She's new.
She looks at Sandy and puts her hand to her heart.
MRS. OVERTON
Why, dear, you're nothing but skin and bones.
She picks up a dessert plate, slides two cobblers on it and slides it onto Sandy's plate with a wink.
MRS. OVERTON
(continuing)
Just remember, men like women with meat on their bones. My husband hasn't looked at another woman in thirty years.
FRENCHY
(sotto voce)
The reasion is he can't see around her. Come on, I wantcha to meet the Pink Ladies.
Sandy stifles a giggle as they line up for the cash register.
Mrs. Overton picks up a dessert and nibbles on it as she walks down the line where Danny and Doody are in line stuffing themselves as they go. They also shake bowls of jello in imitation of the voluptuous Marty who walks past in a tight skirt and sweater set.
Doody copies whatever Danny does.
Danny swallows part of a stuffed tomato as Mrs. Overton walks up.
MRS. OVERTON
The hash is good today.
DANNY
It always is on Monday.
The boys continue on down the line. Doody decides to do something on his own, takes a spoon and takes a big bite out of a dish of applesauce.
Danny sees this, does a take and shakes his head sadly.
DANNY
(continuing)
Hey, man, that applesauce will put you outta commission.
DOODY
Why?
DANNY
Saltpeter.
Doody grabs his throat as if dying. Danny shakes his head and goes on down the line, grabbing the dessert off the tray of a passing girl, taking a few bites and tossing it in the drink cooler.
Danny looks at the cashier as he arrives with his empty tray.
DANNY
(continuing)
No appetite today. Must be the early lunch period.
Doody catches up and they head out of the cafeteria.
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[Before cutting away from the Pink Lady lunch table:]
RIZZO
(rising; fake English accent)
I'm going to have a Viceroy on the verandah!
FRENCHY
Which means, Sandy, she's sneaking behind the cafeteria garbage dump for a ciggie-butt. You get caught; you get suspended.
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[As the Pink Ladies set off for class after lunch:]
EXT. RAMP
The Pink Ladies walk under a ramp as the Thunderbirds climb over the top, not seeing each other.
SONNY
Her knockers. Tell me about her knockers.
Danny sculpts an overly endowed female form in the air and Putzie pretends to grab them in the air. A flicker of uncertainty crosses Danny's face as the others laugh.
SONNY
(continuing)
One hour with me and she'd be my slave for life.
DANNY
That's because one hour with you makes the brain go bye-bye.
PUTZIE
What about her hinie?
DOODY
I'm a leg man myself.
KENICKIE
You'll take anything you can get.
A BELL RINGS and the boys split up.
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That takes us up to the bonfire... more coming soon!
