![]() “Those films have a campy, queer aesthetic that is important to the LGBT community,” he said. Those films, in all of their trashy glory, also have important cinematic significance, said Todd Wiener, motion picture archivist with the UCLA Film & Television Archive. It was this outrageous energy between New York and Baltimore. The Andy Warhol crowd was coming to Baltimore. “Nobody supported them or encouraged them,” he said. It also took courage to make those movies in Baltimore, Egan said. Divine helped make drag radical and subversive.” Before Divine, a lot of the drag world was trying to be pretty and feminine, or doing Judy Garland impersonations. “Those films have been hugely influential in pushing boundaries in humor. ![]() They wanted to scare hippies and become famous, and it worked,” Schwarz said. “John Waters and Divine were making those films to shake up the love generation. In 1967’s “Eat Your Makeup,” Divine dressed as Jackie Kennedy in a re-enactment of the Kennedy assassination, and in 1970’s “Multiple Maniacs,” Divine played a homicidal criminal who goes on a killing spree and is raped by a giant lobster. Waters christened her “Divine,” and her behavior shocked audiences. Being the Divine character was an empowering thing for him.”ĭivine was rebellious, outrageous, trashy, campy and wicked. He was able to take all that trauma and channel it into the Divine character, and throw everything that people made fun of him for back in their faces. “When he met John Waters and the other Dreamland folks, he found a group that accepted him, loved him and encouraged him. “As a teenager, Divine was picked on, teased and abused mercilessly,” Schwarz said. Together they created a character who mocked conventional, “pretty” drag queens. One of Milstead’s first attempts at drag was in 1963 - he arrived at a party dressed as an astonishingly passable Elizabeth Taylor.Įventually, Milstead became friends with Waters, who also lived in Lutherville, and joined his acting troupe, Dreamlanders. The teenager was bullied and abused by classmates because he was overweight and for his perceived effeminacy. She redefined motherhood,” Egan said, chuckling.īorn in Baltimore in 1945, Milstead was 12 when he and his parents moved to Lutherville, Md., a Lutheran enclave and superconservative area outside the city. “She was tremendously violent, shooting people and beating up people. “She did outrageous sexual acts, like having sex in church,” Egan said. You couldn’t have a stronger leading lady. “Divine took the star image one step further. “Divine was this amazing new woman on the screen, the next level of Joan Crawford on acid,” Egan said. “Divine is an inspiration to misfits, outsiders, rebels and freaks to be who you are.” “It’s been over 25 years since his death, and I started getting concerned that Divine’s legendary status might be in jeopardy, particularly with a younger generation,” said “I Am Divine” director Jeffrey Schwarz. Milstead’s life includes his humble beginnings as an overweight, teased Baltimore youth and then his status as underground royalty who thrilled and titillated audiences with trashy and campy film work and disco performances. The 86-minute film tells the story of Harris Glenn Milstead, better known by his stage persona - Divine. But here she comes a 300-pound drag queen saying, ‘I’m the most beautiful woman in the world.’ She pushed the limits of what it meant to be a woman.”ĭivine’s story is told in the documentary “I Am Divine,” which will be screened today at the Art Theatre as part of the QFilm Festival, the annual showcase of LGBT films. “Divine redefined what it meant to be a woman,” said Egan, author of the book “John Waters: Interviews.” “Previously, you had to be wafer-thin like Audrey Hepburn. ![]() She also was a trailblazer for women, said James Egan, a screenwriting professor at USC who knew Divine. LONG BEACH > Divine, the big-haired, arch-eyebrowed, 300-pound drag queen who appeared in John Waters’ films, was outrageous and shocking.
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