That outfit would pull the shy Olivia Newton-John out of her comfort zone in other ways, and it even gave me the courage later on to release the song ‘Physical’. That last scene in Grease instantly changed my image. It wasn’t long before I would release an album with a cover shot by Helmut Newton, the famous German fashion photographer and close friend of my father.
On my album cover for Soul Kiss, I looked very sexy and sultry, with absolutely nothing on my back – a look Helmut created. I also held a riding crop. Me – really!
One thing was clear: Sandra Dee was no more!
The actual filming of ‘You’re the One That I Want’ presented a few challenges. I couldn’t really eat or drink that day on the outdoor set located on the grounds of John Marshall High School in Los Angeles. I limited myself to a few sips of water and no food, and joked that I was getting dehydrated and #2 might pass out. At lunch, they actually had to unstitch me to eat and then re-stitch me after a bathroom trip. It was a painstaking process, but there was no other choice, and it was definitely worth it.
That exhilarating feeling was multiplying when the cameras rolled and we began singing that great song, which was so reminiscent of the fifties.
You better shape up
’Cause I need a man
And my heart is set on you!
It was a rocky number with a bit of yodelling that was really catchy, and it had a wonderful hook.
You’re the one that I want
Oo-oo-oo, honey
The one that I want
Oo-oo-oo
The one I need. Oh yes, indeed
Oh, that John Farrar. He’s so brilliant.
‘There is a look on my face as Danny sees Sandy for the first time dressed this way. It’s pure lustful shock,’ says John Travolta. ‘I wish I could say I planned that look, but it was so organic that day on the set. I just took one look at Olivia and it was written on my face. She was the one we all wanted!
‘In that moment, she was everything mixed into one,’ he adds. ‘She was every fifties sex symbol all at once. Pow! Yet she was an original who you had never seen before. The quintessential package. Was she Marilyn? Liz? Or Ava? She was all of these things we wanted to see, but even more.
‘I got this buzz just from looking at her,’ he says.
As for the dance, which culminated in me leaping up and wrapping my legs around John’s waist, he said, ‘We improvised with her wrapping her legs around me. Pat wanted to find steps that were natural to us and we did with this jump. I knew that we had to end the song with something big or that number would be anti-climactic. You always have to put a button on a big number. Lifting her in my arms and her wrapping her legs around me was a button to that song.
‘I said, “Why don’t I lift you up in one joyous swoop?”’
I was game for anything and raced towards him. Suddenly, I was in the air. John was strong and caught me as my legs wrapped around him. We were off, racing across the high school field for the last number, ‘We Go Together’.
‘You’re the One That I Want’ was released as a single in April 1978, before the film even opened. Within weeks, it would be number one on the pop charts. Every time I turned on a radio, there were songs from the movie playing.
One last thing about that moment: I wasn’t an expert smoker. Remember how I said I tried it as a girl and hated it, and then again to develop a sultry voice (couldn’t do it, choke, choke, choke). It was Pat Birch who told me to take just one puff and then purposely toss the cigarette onto the ground, putting it out with my stiletto as John comes towards me. I was awkward about it, actually no acting needed, which showed that the newly confident Sandy still had a bit of the good girl underneath.
Number #1 was lurking, which was why she didn’t know what to do with that cig. People say it is so sweet and charming to see both Sandys struggling to come together as one.
A little thing that translated into a big moment.
We wrapped Grease in the autumn of 1977 and had the long wait until 16 June 1978, which was our official release date. As I ushered in the New Year, I was invited to see what was called the ‘unsweetened’ first cut version of the movie. This meant I’d be watching it without all of the finished music or many of the special effects. These screenings are usually top secret and ours was conducted on a grey January day on the Paramount lot where it all began.
John Travolta was there along with Alan Carr, John Farrar and a bevy of Paramount executives who were nervously hoping (and praying) that this would be a big hit. I could see the worried look in their eyes as they silently wondered, Did we indeed reinvent the movie musical? Would Paramount be seen as risk takers or fools?
Again, all that made Grease wasn’t all there that day.
The animated opening sequence was still a work in progress, and Randal was still editing the ‘Hopelessly Devoted to You’ scene. Despite these gaps, the general consensus was that Grease was ‘a fun movie’, but there was still a general anxiety about how audiences would respond to such a clean movie set in the 1950s. It was 1978 and the world was in a different place. Would those fifties ideals seem dated and silly?
We would have to wait a few months to find out.
My life as a recording artist meant a busy start to that new year. I was actually back in the studio working on a new album when I got word that the Grease premiere would take place on 2 June at Mann’s Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard, which would actually be closed down for the event. All of a sudden, it seemed quite real – and quite big.
June arrived in a flash, and suddenly John and I were rolling down Hollywood Boulevard in the actual ‘Greased Lightning’ car, a 1948 Ford Deluxe convertible. No one had seen the finished movie yet, but the word on the street was positive.
As we got closer to the theatre, we got an inkling of what was to come and began to smile at each other nervously. It was quickly becoming clear that Grease wasn’t some fifties-throwback movie. It was an event the likes of which Hollywood hadn’t seen in quite a long time, for a musical or any other movie. Later it would be described as a premiere that was as big as the one for Gone With the Wind.
The roar of the crowd was deafening. It was as if we’d arrived at an Oscars ceremony or a major rock concert.
‘It was nothing short of phenomenal,’ John Travolta reminds me. ‘It was exactly what the Beatles went through when they arrived in the US. I was ready, but even I couldn’t believe it. It was something I had to witness with my own eyes. But I knew this was historical.’
Hollywood Boulevard was a complete madhouse.
I never expected the kind of pandemonium surrounding me, or the thousands of fans who lined up on each side of the street, almost causing a full-scale riot. There I was in my gorgeous little pink poufy prom dress made by my dear Aussie friend, costume designer Fleur Thiemeyer, who also designed for Rod Stewart, Poison, Pat Benatar and KC and the Sunshine Band, to name a few.
That night, I allowed both Sandy #1 and #2 to attend by mixing bangs with longer, curly hair. John looked every bit Danny Zuko in black pants, a black tee and a greaser-type leather jacket with large silver zippers that caught the swirling spotlight shooting between us and the night sky.
It wasn’t long before things got really out of control. We pulled up in front of Mann’s to walk the red carpet only to have kids begin to climb and then jump down off the barricades. Even before we stepped out, they were climbing all over the car, and when they couldn’t get inside they started rocking it back and forth while the rest of the crowd pushed harder trying to get to us. People were screaming loudly and clapping wildly while security discouraged them from actually getting in the car with us! We were tossed around and jostled back and forth, but it wasn’t too scary. It was exhilarating!
‘They really want to see this movie,’ I whispered to John and we burst out laughing.
Finally, we made our way inside the theatre, and the excitement inside was every bit as raucous as what was going on outdoors. The cheers felt
like a big ocean wave. Saturday Night Fever had now been out for six months and John wasn’t just a huge movie star. He was an icon.
Before the movie started, actresses dressed like Rydell High School cheerleaders, complete with pom-poms and skirts, ran from the back of the house down towards the screen to do an opening cheer. That was all we needed. The already frantic pitch of the venue was turned up about a hundred notches to almost deafening. The entire audience began to cheer with the girls as they stood, arms overhead, going wild. And these fans hadn’t even seen a frame of the move yet!
And then the lights dimmed.
The opening credits began to roll.
John and I appeared as our cartoon characters and the audience continued to explode into laughter and joyous applause. It was so hilarious, so perfect. They loved it! The cartoon was a last-minute addition and it changed everything. It set the mood and allowed audiences to feel comfortable leaving behind today as they took the trip back to yesterday. It was a brilliant move on Randal’s part.
By the end of that animated sequence, the line between 1978 and the fifties began to blur and then disappear. We were time travelling back – and everyone was along for the ride.
John and I sat with Randal, Alan and the rest of the cast, and the relief from our section was palpable. By the time we got to Sandy #2, the crowd was gasping, cheering, wolf-whistling and then singing along to songs that they already knew from the early radio releases – another genius idea.
From that moment on, Grease would take on a life of its own in cultural history.
Both Saturday Night Fever and Grease weren’t really supposed to be big box office hits. At least that’s what the experts said.
I prefer to quote screenwriter William Goldman, who once famously said, ‘Nobody knows anything.’
After the premiere came the red-hot, invite-only after party on the Paramount lot. It was amazing, although I don’t remember too much of it because I was meeting someone new about every second. Isn’t it strange how big life events like that now seem like a blur? I do remember that I shed my poufy prom dress and changed into Sandy #2 by wearing a skin-tight pink shirt and purple spandex pants, shades of the sharkskin ones in the finale. We danced all night long. Finally, the girl who went to work at age fifteen went to the high school prom!
It wasn’t long before John and I were off to London for the European premiere in the legendary Leicester Square. This time around, we left the ‘Greased Lightning’ car at home and arrived in a big black limo. I expected a far calmer experience, but was a thousand per cent wrong. Once again, the fans were beyond excited, gathered in large masses, and many actually broke down barriers set up by those nice London bobbies. Again, they climbed on the roof of our car while trying to slide through the windows to ‘meet’ us. Exciting, yes, but it was also scary this time around because we weren’t expecting the frenzy.
John Travolta remembers, ‘Honestly, I didn’t think we would make it. The limo started to cave in from the top. The fans were about to come in through the roof because they were pounding and jumping to break through to meet us. Everyone underestimated the impact of the movie. There weren’t enough police around, so the crowds just took over.’
A little shaken and rattled, we somehow managed to walk the red carpet and wave to all our London fans.
Fleur made me another pink number for this event. We would work together for many years to come, collaborating on all my stage costumes as she travelled the world with me on tour. I really admire her talent and great knowledge of colour. Sandy #1 and #2 were both grateful for her eye.
Within a month, Grease became the highest-grossing movie musical of all time, and it remained that way until 2017 when a movie called Beauty and the Beast stole the crown. (Grease is still at number two followed by Chicago and La La Land.) Grease was shot for only $6 million and would eventually gross over $400 million worldwide, smashing box office records. The soundtrack spent three months at number one, while the song ‘You’re the One That I Want’ sold over 10 million copies.
And it lifted my career into the stratosphere, while John became an iconic movie superstar.
Pretty much everyone in the summer of 1978, from little kids to grandparents, saw Grease at least once, and sometimes two, three or four times. (When I perform now, I always ask who in my audience has seen Grease and just about every hand goes up. Blows my mind!) There really was something in it for everyone. Despite those early nerves, the executives were thrilled because no Paramount picture ever grossed $100 million so quickly, with the soundtrack eventually selling 100 million copies.
I’m often asked why Grease hit such a nerve with audiences around the world, and the easy answer to me is that it transports people back to a happier time when the world seemed nicer and choices were simple. Everyone can relate to someone in the cast – either they were that person or they knew that person, thanks to clever writing by Jim and Warren. I believe that the film says so much about the beauty of first love and the importance of lasting friendships that carry you through both good times and bad.
I’ll always be Sandy to a lot of people, and that’s fine with me. John says that he feels like we were part of history and he wouldn’t trade Grease for anything. I must say that I agree. Grease did so much for us on so many different levels.
Even now, eight-year-olds come up to me after one of my concerts and call me Sandy, or (my favourite), ‘Look, it’s Sandy Newton-John!’
The twenty-year-old pants were voted the third most iconic movie outfit of all time, and they sit in my closet now. I’ve never tried them on since – well, maybe once this year just to see – and I’m not telling! I’m so thrilled I hung on to them. For a few years, I even wore the jacket in my show, but then I’d leave it backstage after the number. One day my amazing publicist Michael Caprio said to me, ‘Is this the original jacket from the movie? Are you crazy? These will be worth a lot one day.’ So I retired the outfit. This year, I’ll auction the pants and jacket off and donate the proceeds to my Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre in Melbourne.
John and I were approached several times to do Grease 2, which was released in 1982 but I don’t think the material ever got to a script stage that we thought could work. As I look back, I’m glad we didn’t do it. You can’t capture greased lightning in a bottle twice, and it was best that we left it alone.
I do have a funny vision for Grease 3 in my head, where Danny and Sandy meet up in an old people’s home and we still have all the moves.
We can do the hand jive from our wheelchairs!
Oo-oo-ooo, honey!
The wheels are in motion.
There were those in my inner circle who told me that my post-Grease life would be very different – and they were a hundred per cent on the mark. That point was driven home when I began to tour again and found myself in France, where the movie was a huge hit. I had a night off before my show and wanted to blow off some steam. Why not go to one of those fabulous Paris clubs and dance?
I just wanted to blend in on the dance floor like any other Parisienne out on the town for the night. Armando Cosio, my hair and make-up artist, put a long black wig on my head and I wore something very un-Sandy-like, a bohemian white outfit, while Lee put on a suit. This was just about as un-Sandy and un-Danny as we could be. An hour later, after this well-thought-out preparation, we arrived at a French discotheque – and in one second, I heard a chorus of ‘Bonsoir, Olivia! Bonsoir, Lee! Je t’aime Grease!’
Comment dites-vous impossible to hide? Even for one night!
My new motto: why not just embrace it? I pulled off the wig and had a great time.
A few months later in 1978, I released my tenth album, Totally Hot, with a sexy cover showing me in all leather leaning on a wall in homage to Sandy’s transformation in Grease. Songs including ‘Deeper Than the Night’ and ‘A Little More Love’ raced up the charts, and the album immediately hit the top ten in the US. It went platinum as the Grease soundtrack also rocketed
to platinum.
It was thrilling, but exhausting, plus I was a little bit lonely. Despite that fun time in Paris, Lee and I didn’t see a future for our relationship. After we broke up, I really needed time to reconnect with myself, family and friends, in the cherished haven of my ranch-style home in Malibu. It sat on three acres bordered by wild hilly countryside, and it was my secluded paradise.
The main living space was large and open, and there were a few bedrooms and an office. The master suite was the entire second level and had the most stunning pitched wood ceilings, as well as a fireplace and a gorgeous balcony to sit out on at night. The land was covered in fruit trees and meandering pathways, and there was also a pool, a tennis court and a barn. Could I have horses – many horses? I couldn’t wait to spend time there, unwind and just take a moment to breathe.
Spending time with my animals is always the perfect way for me to find my centre again. After gifting me with Judge, Lee gave me a new baby, a sleek pitch-black Tennessee walker from Aspen, Colorado.
We met this horse when I was filming a TV special with John Denver and I was taken with his beauty. However, this poor horse was a stallion and a little too much for me to handle. On the advice of a vet, I had him gelded. He was not happy, and on my first ride with him after his gelding, he bolted on a steep hill. I had one foot in the stirrup for balance at the time when he took off. I couldn’t get my other leg over, so I fell off. Shaken, I was quite badly hurt, and had neck and back issues that laid me up for a long time. It really wasn’t his fault, though; the poor boy was probably in pain.
Soon I rescued three other horses. One of them was a racehorse named Straight Pipes. I also had Alex, a big chestnut quarter horse. And when I bought the house in Malibu, a sweet old boy named George had come with the property.
Don't Stop Believin' Page 10