Grease

OLIVIA NEWTON JOHN: THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES

Olivia Newton John always held a special place in my heart because of her role in Grease. Grease was written by a guy who grew up in a Chicago suburb like the one I grew up in. In high school there were two groups – the Greasers and the Ivy League style kids. The Greasers had oily pompadours and sinister black leather jackets. The Ivy Leaguers wore penny loafers and v-neck sweaters. Greaser girls wore tight clothes and more make-up. Greasers were less likely to go to college, but they were definitely sexier. Grease, the play, opened in a small theater in Chicago and was SUCH a hit, it was on Broadway the following year – despite the raunchy and politically incorrect dialogue. That’s where I saw it and fell in love. In the film version Olivia Newton John was the perfect Sandy Dumbrowski – and she will always be remembered for that- and the fact that I never heard a negative piece of gossip about her.
(Above, a few years ago, Olivia attended a Grease event with a life size cutout of Sandy.)

Photo: Pacific Coast News

JULIANNE HOUGH WORE A WEDDING DRESS TO THE EMMYS

Okay, it was the Creative Arts Emmy Awards, not the televised Emmys, but that still doesn’t explain the shotgun wedding dress. It’s white lace and unmistakably Victorian. Julianne Hough IS engaged to Canadian hockey player Brooks Laich, so maybe she’s giving the gown a trial run. Not only does it look like a wedding dress, but it looks like a COUNTRY WESTERN Tammy Wynette wedding dress. Either way, it’s not Julianne’s best look. Her special “Grease” did win four awards. This season she’s graduated to judge on Dancing with the Stars.

Photo Credit: Pacific Coast News

THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM GREASE: LIVE

Fox is promoting their musical Grease:Live all over town. And this is just the beginning. Castmembers Julianne Hough and Vanessa Hudgens led a class at SoulCycle in Hollywood to music from the show. Our source happened to be driving on Sunset Blvd and came upon a crowd staring up at the huge Grease:Live billboard in front of Chateau Marmont. Cast members in full costume climbed up to the sign and danced to the music. Gaping drivers caused a nice traffic jam, but more people will be tuning in to Fox on Jan 31.

Photo Credit: RS

CARLY RAE JEPSEN: CAN THIS HAIRCUT BE SAVED?

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Granted, Carly Rae Jepsen IS from Canada, but that’s no excuse for this haircut! Yikes. When is the last time you saw hair this awful? It’s almost Appalachian. The Call Me Maybe singer turned up at The Peoples Choice Awards with this shag/mullet. Of course, she IS set to appear in Grease: Live on Fox on January 31, as Frenchy, who sings “Beauty School Dropout” – but the show is set IN THE 50’s when pony tails and bee hives were in style. (Come to think of it, the late, great Amy Winehouse would have been perfect in Grease.) Whether Carly chose this hair for HERSELF or for the show- it’s a huge mistake either way.

Photo Credit: Pacific Coast News

OLIVIA NEWTON JOHN: THIS WAS YOUR LIFE!

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It must feel WEIRD to come face to face with a life size version of yourself in 1978, but Olivia Newton John, 65, made the best of it. To the delight of tourists, Olivia showed up at Madame Tussaud’s Hollywood Wax Museum in Las Vegas to welcome her own wax figure to the collection. The wax Olivia was dressed up in spandex and leather as Sandy – her much-loved character from Grease that inspired so many young girls.

Photo Credit: Pacific Coast News

LOURDES LEON IS FOLLOWING IN MADONNA’S FOOTSTEPS

And so it begins…Madonna’s 17 year old offspring Lourdes Leon is making progress in her pursuit of stardom. Not only is she helping design the Material Girl fashion collection, but Lola has landed a significant role in her La Guardia High School production of the musical classic “Grease.” Lourdes cleverly by- passed the good girl role of Sandy, and auditioned for the wisecracking bad girl Rizzo. Rizzo is a fast greaser girl and a leader of the Pink Ladies clique. Plus she has all the best lines! It’s the same part her mother would have wanted to play in high school. (Above , Lourdes on vacation in August)

Photo Credit: Pacific Coast News

JEFF CONAWAY SAYS HE’S A VICTIM OF “ELDER ABUSE” BY HIS GIRLFRIEND

How time flies. Not too many years ago Jeff Conaway, 60, was dancing and singing in “Grease” and landed a role on the hit TV series “Taxi.” Now he’s accusing his girlfriend of ELDER ABUSE! The drug addled Conaway (a “Celebrity Rehab” failure) claims that his drug buddy/former fiancee Vikki Lizzi set him up and called the cops on him. (Jeff has a history of taking painkillers that make him fall and injure himself, thus causing the need for more painkillers.) He insists she injected him with painkillers against his will and planted cocaine in his house before a police bust. He also told Radaronline that she stole money and forged checks. Both have restraining orders against each other. If he lives long enough, Charlie Sheen could end up in a situation like this.

OLIVIA NEWTON LIVES HAPPILY EVER AFTER

Olivia Newton John and her husband John Easterling are making a happy departure at LAX. They divide their time between her place in Malibu and his home in Florida where his business, the Amazon Herb Co, is located. Before she married John, Olivia was shocked when her boyfriend of nine years, cameraman Patrick McDermott “disappeared” off a fishing boat. He is suspected of living in Mexico in disguise and faking his own death to avoid money problems. He did Olivia a favor when he got lost.

MARIAH CAREY'S OBSESSION WITH SPANDEX

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Photo Credit: Splash News

We’ve been asking ourselves where Mariah Carey got this fixation with spandex. Finally we got an answer. When Mariah was a little girl, she fell in love with the movie Grease and wanted to grow up and be just like Olivia Newton John. Every Halloween for years after, Mariah dressed up as Sandy in Grease – she danced around in a black spandax outfit just like Olivia wore. Mariah may have outgrown Grease, but she never outgrew spandex.