It's Time to Revisit the 1980 Movie "Fame"

I loved the girl at the beginning who was auditioning for the acting school who performed O.J. Simpson waiting for the elevator in "The Towering Inferno."

I hated Doris Finsecker and Ralph Garci. They were a couple of self-absorbed assholes who deserved each other.

Anne Meara was excellent.

Maureen Teefy deserved a better career.

Paul McCrane grew up to be a hot hunk.

Irene Cara was OK. Never really got the fuss with her. She always came off as a rather bland Donna Summer clone. The girl who did the role on the series seemed more interesting.

Only bad part was that this movie stole Dolly Parton's Oscar.

R2 This was the first time I had seen Anne Meara do a dramatic role. I was blown away.

The series is quite good. They used to rerun it on Sunday mornings on WPIX in New York in the late 80's early 90's. Debbie was fierce! And there was a later episode with Carol Burnett and Carrie Hamilton (who was starring on it) that was very well done.

Leroy was sexy as fuck.

R2 Paul McCrane grew up to be the asshole bald surgeon on ‘ER.’ The on who gets his arm sliced off by a rotating helicopter blade.

Whatever happened to the cast of the show?

I hated the way they made Paul McCrane's character all angsty about being gay. Like there weren't a hundred other gays at the High School of Performing Arts, including Leroy himself.

Here are some questions critics asked:

Why are the students constantly "performing"; breaking out into song, going into dance routines, spontaneously playing their instruments, anywhere and everywhere?

How is Leroy admitted to the school? He's illiterate; aren't there any written tests for admission?

How does the girl who gets kicked out of the dance department end up with a singing solo at end of the movie?

Why does Cocoa, who is streetwise and has a spunky take no shit personality, get so easily persuaded to pose topless for a sleazy photographer, causing her to dissolve into little girl tears?

How does Doris Finsecker get accepted into the school after such an abysmal audition?

And last but not least: why is there only ONE gay student in the school, poor Montgomery, who is portrayed as a lonely pariah?

R9 Same questions I've always had. The movie was like a modern day, urban, gritty version of the 1940s Judy Garland-Mickey Rooney "let's put on a show in the old barn" movies, so it required a huge suspension of disbelief.

I hated how Montgomery's mother was supposedly a famous actress, yet Montgomery was living in a fleabag apartment in Times Square.

Everyone in this movie looks constantly dirty or sweaty no matter the time or setting—to the point of distraction...

Everyone looks so gross throughout and the overall setting so grimy (with no terribly likable characters to help out the story) that I never wished to see this movie more than once.

It’s also way too long and boring for the story it is telling.

It's silly and stupid and completely unrealistic, but I did like the "Hot Lunch Jam" number.

Loved this film. It came out when I was 13. It was a cable favorite of mine of the 80s, and I should buy it on Blu Ray. Every story of all the kids is entertaining and engrossing.

R9 it’s a musical. People break into song and dance all the time in them.

Function illiterates get into high school all the time. Plus Leroy coasted in on his dance ability.

Nothing to analyze too heavy here. I think they wanted the characters the audience saw to end the film.

Coco I think was so desperate for fame she was blind to what was coming from the creep.

I think they saw a spark of talent and personality and that suited them.

Montgomery wasn’t lonely. He had friends in Doris and Ralph. Of course there were many gay students, but they chose to focus on the characters that were highlighted.

So did Coco end up doing porn, or did she run away from the perv's apartment and never return after showing her horrifying looking tits?

Did Irene Cara have an eating disorder while she was filming this movie? She was bone thin, and that scene at the end where she takes her off her top - eek! She looked skeletal.

I always thought that the only character who had a hope in hell of a career in showbiz was the synthesizer nerd.

None of the rest of them had any real ability or charisma, but a really good synthesizer geek could find work playing the entire score for the kind of low-budget movies they made in the 80s.

R15 you see her singing at the end in the finale and looks fine. My guess is Coco wised up and got the hell out of there.

R18 Yes, but would the low budget porn film continue to haunt her as she sought a legitimate showbiz career?

Antonia Franceschi (Hilary) has had a decent career as a dancer, choreographer, and teacher in New York and London. She never acted much, but her performance in "Fame" is excellent, particularly the scene at the abortion clinic.

R20 For me, she was the weakest link in the movie. Terrible actress, great dancer.

R14, musicals were pure fantasy. This movie was NOT a fantasy; it was supposedly portraying the lives of kids in the High of the Performing Arts. Breaking out into song and dance was quite incongruous in the face of all the realism. In fact, it looked ridiculous

A lot of the work in the school involved reading and writing. A "functional illiterate" would never have been accepted, no matter how well he could shake his ass.

I don't think the girl kicked out the the dance department was a character that the audience wanted to see at the very end. Her ending up with a singing solo at the end was strange.

It wasn't a desire for fame that made Cocoa pose nude; it was totally out of her character to go for something like that. She wanted to succeed with her talent, not by being naked.

Doris Finsucker had NO "spark of talent and personality." She had NO talent and no discernable personality. She was a big nothing. Her getting into the school was ludicrous.

Did you actually see the movie? Montgomery was VERY lonely. He has a sorta kinda friendship with Ralph and Doris...until they hook up together. Later, Ralph even taunts Montgomery about his homosexuality. Some "friends!" As for other gay students...well, you might think Montgomery would have had some friends among them. But no, he was portrayed as a loner outcast. The homophobia of the movie was mentioned by several critics.

I read an interview with Alan Parker, who directed the movie, and he said he regretted the way he presented the Montgomery character. After watching the movie again years later, he said he wished he had made Montgomery stronger and more comfortable with himself.

If Montgomery was in the drama school, why did he get a singing solo during the graduation ceremony?

Cause it's a musical and everyone gets to sing.

I was bored to tears watching this painful teen movie.

I only saw it because I was paid to go by the local newspaper’s movie critic. He was dead with AIDS within 6 months.

I took the scene with Coco and the sleazeball to be about him taunting her about not being professional and he played on that. That if she didn’t do what he requested she was not being a professional.

But I can understand why some think it’s out of character for a supposedly street smart character like Coco.

I always have wondered if she just posed naked or he had sex with her after.

I still think Coco, being the confident, street-wise character she was, would have turned around and walked out as soon as she saw she was in some sleazy guy's rundown apartment with a single camera set up.

That whole scene just didn't fit.

Montgomery appeared to be living in a loft apartment in Times Square, not a fleabag joint. It was probably sparsely furnished because his mother was out or away touring most of the time.

Paul McCrane (the red headed kid) was such a shit actor in this. He has zero talent. I don't know who's dick he was sucking to get that role! That said, he turned out to be a really good actor after 15 years of doing theatre and bit parts. When he was on ER, I would always wonder who that great actor was that plays that dick doctor, never realizing it was the shit actor from Fame!!!

[quote]It's Time to Revisit the 1980 Movie "Fame"

They already did and called it "Glee" instead.

R9 If watch it again, a psychic told Coco that her "big break" would come from an unexpected place or source.

The guy knew she was eager to please, when she objected to his demands he started in on her. Telling her she was unprofessional and that she was acting like a little girl, your basic mind games and putting someone on the spot.

And he had her alone in his apartment and that only added to the sense of intimidation that Coco was feeling.

Great song!

Gene Anthony Ray is dead, you know.

I loved it then,I love it now. But does it depress the shit out of anyone else it was almost 40 years ago ????

Turns out Gene Anthony Ray was gay in real life.

Leroy, 'Red Light'

[quote] Turns out Gene Anthony Ray was gay in real life.

You don't say!

Gene Anthony Ray was part of a documentary and it was quite sad. He was an alcoholic, drug addict, homeless and l think had HIV AIDS. It was hard to see him like that. I can't remember where I saw the update or where he was living.

Unfortunately, he passed away.

This scene was good to.

F**K YOU, LEROY, THIS WAS MY AUDITION!

Dear Dumbasses:

The Coco scene is about her AMBITION and what she would do to achieve it. Duh.

I thought this would be a fun thread but in typical DL fashion, you all have to overthink it and denigrate it.

It’s a CLASSIC. Get over it.

Signed,

Bruno’s Father

I also think that the reason a one time celebrity would allow themselves to be seen in such dire straights, is because they want help. The don't know where to get help, and have exhausted all their relationships. I hope someone helped him before he passed away.

Lets all sing the body electric. Look back on Venus, look back on Mars.

Debbie Allen remembers Gene Anthony Ray

Gene Anthony Ray was diagnosed with AIDS a few years before he died at age 41 from a stroke.

Why did Gene Anthony Ray get fired from Fame?

I loved the closing song,

Also, you morons, Lisa didn't quit the school. She transferred to the acting department.

Young Paul Crane looks like Prince Harry

[quote] Maureen Teefy deserved a better career.

Did she? She kind of reminds me of that Sandy Dennis I’m on the verge of a nervous breakdown kind of acting.

R48 Yeah, she was all, "F*ck it, if I can't dance I'll switch to the drama department."

Was Gene really fired from the show? I just figured they had to move on with new students.

He had such a sad life. So much talent.

I got a kick out of Doris' mother, Mrs. Hunsucker

I had such a crush on Paul McCrane from that film.

I first watched this late at night on HBO when it first came to cable. I was 14. I remember being so excited after I watched it and feeling like anything was possible.

I remember thinking Ralph was ugly

Irene Cara had some scary pancake titties.

Très jolie, Coco, Très jolie!

Um, no...no.

yes r57 I was surprised how ugly Irene Cara's boobs were and was shocked she would show them. Nowadays the actress would have some fake titties.

While I agree that Ms Cara’s ta-tas were less than bodacious, (to quote An Officer And A Gentleman) I love everything else about this movie. Especially Anne Meara. I was in HS in NYC in 1980, so I’m the same age as the characters, and watching it back then it seemed the movie captured lots of real and current moments — even within the inherent unreality of a musical. I still sometimes sing “The Body Electric” to myself.

"Also, you morons, Lisa didn't quit the school. She transferred to the acting department."

The question is, you dipshit, how she ended up with a singing solo. She'd indicated no singing talent before.

Irene Cara's tits weren't like "pancakes." I'd say they more resembled raisins.

Are all the the young people in OPs photo still alive? I know they're not young anymore but I don't think any of them are old enough to have died from elderly people illnesses. I don't know any of their names or who is who to IMDB them.

All are alive except the previously mentioned Gene Anthony Ray.

Sing out, Coco!

The TV cast is having a reunion at CHILLER next month in Jersey but I only want to get Lee Curreri on the original movie.

I had a crush on Lee Curreri. During the "Fame" era he was pretty as a girl, beautiful blue eyes, flowing curly hair. Now he looks like shit. He's FAT. Someone once said he's come to resemble Ron Jeremy. And at some point he shaved his head. I guess he thought being totally bald and fat would look better than having long hair and being fat. Nope! Bald or with short or long curly hair, he still looks like a fat fuck.

Stop making fun of Coco's breasts.

Breast augmentation was not as common back then and even if Irene Cara opted for the procedure it would have been obvious - the surgical boob job technique was not exactly perfected back then - so even if she got them "done" everyone would be pointing and laughing at how fake her breasts looked.

I don't know how anyone can look at poor Coco's crying face in the scene, the look in her eyes, and then make fun of her body.

(It's a shame that Irene Cara's career came to an end. She always seemed genuinely nice, she has a beautiful voice and she is a good actress.)

Thanks for the info, R63

This was the first of the three “Fs” as I think of the musicals that defined the 80s for me: Fame, Flashdance and Footloose. I had their soundtracks and played them endlessly. They each had their strong points and their weaknesses, but they all ended on a high note and with optimism, which I was surprisingly drawn to despite being a pessimistic person.

Of course Irene did two of their defining songs of the three movies. I have a special place in my heart for Is It OK if I Call You Mine? as a lonely gay boy.

[quote]This movie was NOT a fantasy; it was supposedly portraying the lives of kids in the High of the Performing Arts. Breaking out into song and dance was quite incongruous in the face of all the realism. In fact, it looked ridiculous...

Gawd, you are such a philistine!

Lots of films, including EVERY musical are works of IMPRESSIONISM, like a Monet, or a Degas! The music blends seamlessly in "Fame" to better tell the story through music, song and dance! Are you not aware that representational art is only one style of storytelling?

Why not camp out at MoMA and complain that "the waterlilies don't look real"?

I moved to NYC as a drama student just months after seeing "Fame", and it is EXACTLY what one would find in that era. Gritty, grimey, rough-edged and yes, somewhat unlikable. That's what the city was all about then. I think it holds up exceptionally well. The finale is emotionally inspiring and beautifully done.

R69, Flashdance and Footloose used their soundtracks prominently but neither was a musical.

Leave Irene's tatas alone!

They are out there on their own!

Leroy was so fuckin hot in the Red Light audition. And the dancing was so comparatively innocent compared to the raunchy dancing now. I love the Fuck You Leroy girl when she says, "I didn't wanna go to this ass lickin' school anyway!"

I hated the general consensus that because Montgomery was gay he was destined to be alone. As others have said, there must have been a zillion gay boys in that school. The heteronormativity was particularly glaring in that setting.

Anyway, this movie warped me when I saw it many times over at the theater when I was 16. The scenes of wild dancing (lunchroom, in the street) were my favorites, I loved everyone doing their own things in the chaos. It was freeing to see and emulate.

[quote] I thought this would be a fun thread but in typical DL fashion, you all have to overthink it and denigrate it.

How DARE you not like something I like? I thought this would be a place where everyone would have the same opinion as MINE!

Who cares about her breasts? Irene Cara was the hairiest girl ever. It was repulsive. She had thick eyebrows, and also sideburns!

"I dig his black ass!"

Montgomery seems pretty well adjusted throughout the film. I would guess there would be lots of gay kids at an arts school but this was 1980 and gay characters were still new to film. I'm guessing they had to make him a bit asexual in order to get the character in the film. Mainstream movies with gay sexually active teenagers just would have been too much for the censors.

It's taken, Goldilocks @ r76.

Loved Irene Cara, I remember decades ago at the Oscars she sang 'Here's To The Losers', a tribute to all the loser films. It played kinda like a kick in the cunt rather than a tribute to slighted good films. Have never been able to find it since, dammit, she sang it really well

UD - Found it, SO glad she posted ti

the girl dancing with Leroy was wearing CLOGS; she deserved not to advance for that reason alone.

she never should have brought a better dancer with her.

I don't have a problem with Montomgery being so miserable about being gay; I was in hs, but I didn't go to a performing arts school.

Mrs. Finsecker was very Doris Roberts-like.

Anne Meara deserved an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. That scene where she tells off Leroy for bothering her was so good. I also thought Cara was deserving. She was heartbreaking in that scene where she undresses on tape.

[quote]Stop making fun of Coco's breasts.

Please accept our apologies.

[quote] The question is, you dipshit, how she ended up with a singing solo. She'd indicated no singing talent before.

You are quite possibly the stupidest person to ever post on Datalounge. And that's saying something.

Didn’t we just have this thread a few months ago?

The did a show reunion this summer in the UK...what teh hell is going on with his kitchen?

[quote]Anne Meara deserved an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. That scene where she tells off Leroy for bothering her was so good.

So agree about Meara. Irene Cara was nominated for the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical with Sissy Spacek - Coal Miner's Daughter, Bette Midler - Divine Madness, Dolly Parton - 9 to 5, & Goldie Hawn - Private Benjamin

"Fame" was nominated for 6 Oscars and won 2 for Best Song "Fame" and Best Score. It was the first film in the history of the Academy Awards to have two songs nominated in the Best Song category.

R64 Oh, my gosh, she was so cute! And a total pro at only 8 years of age!

Irene was pretty in Sparkle

Does anybody else remember that before Irene sang the body electric, she sang on The Electric Company?

So I'm assuming Ralphs little sister was raped by some guy who broke into their apartment. Is that how everybody else understood it?

R83/IHOP

Apology accepted. I'm glad you found within yourself to this matter with sensitivity and a sense of maturity.

(Do you guys still serve that Coco Hot Lunch Special? Two small pancakes with a side of Leroys - three extra large sausage links - for $3.99 if you order before noon? Some stores call it Coco's Big Break? Do you still snap pictures of people while they eat it?)

R91 What exactly happened to Ralph's sister was not made clear. A man grabbed her and assaulted her but apparently she got away before he could penetrate her.

R22 of course I’ve seen the movie. Many times. Did YOU read my post at all? This is a movie, not reality. So kindly stfu.

Can you spot Isaac Mizrahi's appearances in two scenes?

I love the young girl who says “excuse me” in one if the hallway scenes. I wonder if she said it instinctively and got upgraded as a principal or if she was told to say it by Parker.

I thought Tony Cox the little person from Bad Santa had died but I guess not.

John Cusack plays the violin in the final scene.

That Russian kid playing the violin in the final shot was HOT.

Love the late 70s and early 80s NYC Street scenes, I grew up there at the time and remember the energy as off the chart.

Did Anne Meara let Gene Anthony Ray graduate? I always assumed not.

Well R101 - he's in the commencement performance - so maybe she was actually a big softie.

I learned many things from the movie "Fame" when I first saw it when it came out--I was a gay 15 year-old involved in community children's theatre in the Midwest,, so I was very interested in what it told me:

*Gay boys in NYC are lonely twilight creatures who hide away by themselves in Times Square apartments. They are so unwanted that their mothers, if wealthy, will not even buy them very much furniture. There is only one of them per high school.

*Cafeteria workers at the High School for the Performing Arts just love it if you dance on the lunchroom tables, and will rock out as you do so

*You can be admitted to the HSPA even if you are paralyzed with sobbing during your audition and your mother keeps taking flash photos of you

*Freddie Prinze's death was so traumatizing for young Hispanic comedians that it is at the root of all their psychological problems

*Breasts of girls from NY are flat and unappealing (I had never seen them before except for my mother's)

*If you get thrown out of the HSPA dance department, there's always the drama department, where they may discover you have a beautiful voice

*You can get all the way to the end of the four-year academic program at the HSPA without the English teachers ever realizing you are illiiterate, which means that that must be one terrible English department

*Apparently the HSPA serves blue stew in its cafeteria

*The students at HSPA can improvise dance and music at the drop of a hat, and care nothing about blocking street traffic

*It doesn't matter if you have rich chilly dysfunctional parents because if you get knocked up they'll give you a credit card to get an abortion (this one turned out to be true)

In the big "Fame" scene where the kids are dancing in the streets you can see up the street past Howard Johnson's the marquee of Sandy Duncan in "Peter Pan" at the Lunt-Fontanne and across the street Danny Aiello in the boxing play "Knockout" at the now demolished Helen Hayes Theater.

The Freddie Prinze revelation may be the weirdest moment in the whole movie.

R103, you left out that all tuba players take their tubas into the stall and play it when they shit. It throws unsuspecting creepers off the sound of your farts as they climb over you dropping a deuce to get a peek at raisin nippled slut ballet dancers who crave BBC.

did anyone here attend a high school performing arts school? What was your experience?

"You are quite possibly the stupidest person to ever post on Datalounge. And that's saying something."

You are quite possible the cuntiest cunt to ever cunt on Datalounge. And that's saying something. Now do fuck off, you imbecile.

R108 Well, you are stupid love

R46 that video is full of shit. Gene Anthony Ray was one of the few cast members there on the entire run. If he was ever fired, they relented and rehired him.

I saw him in the musical version of Carrie playing the Travolta role.

Here are the final season credits. He's there. Maybe he was fired from the NBC version, but they brought him back for the syndicated version.

On the TV series Billy Hufsey invited male dancers into his trailer for a bit of bj action.

R105 I believe that scene re-popularized Freddy Prinze.

To me, that was a powerful scene.

R109, you are an asshole, sweetie. And stupid, too!

Coco.

R103 I'm hoping you can solve a mystery for me.

You found Coco's breasts to be unappealing. You are a gay male. What appeal were Coco's, or any other woman's breasts, supposed to hold for you? Are you able to flip back and forth and at one moment be sexually interested in women's bodies and the next minute you are only sexually interested in men's bodies?

A lot of gay males on this thread making comments about Irene Cara's body. (Weird, considering that y'all supposedly prefer men.)

Coco's tits turned us gay.

Maureen Teefy is 65 years old??? Boy, do I feel old. I remember when this movie would play continuously on HBO back in the 80s.

It literally feels like yesterday. Where has all the time gone?

Here's some info about the reality of New York’s High School for the Performing Arts (or Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, as it's now known) from an article in the NY Post:

Competition is insanely fierce to gain admission, especially to LaGuardia. Out of 9,000 applicants last year, 664 were accepted. Prospective students have to audition (would-be drama majors must perform two monologues) and have good grades.

Students at LaGuardia study the same academic subjects that other city students do, but they also have a few hours of training in their field tacked on, like four dance classes a day.

“A lot of things you’d notice people doing were cutting the academics,” Lewis says. “You would have your music in the morning and the academics in the afternoon, and we’d cut those. We’d go down to Radio City and watch the taping of some TV shows. One of our friends got busted when he had won some money on a game show, and his mother saw him on TV.”

“People think it’s this weird high school — they don’t even think we have academic classes,” says Taylor Amari, a junior dance major at LaGuardia. “It’s exactly the same as a regular school. We’re just here longer.”

I liked Fame's Times Square 1980 so much better than the Disney tourist trap it has become today.

No, R35, I put it in the toilet.

[quote]Was Gene really fired from the show? I just figured they had to move on with new students.

I didn't really understand where this came from. Gene Anthony Ray was not fired from the show after season two; in fact, he stayed with the series for the entire six seasons it was on the air. After Leroy finally graduated at the start of (I believe) season five, he was appointed the assistant dance teacher at the school. (Not only was it a convenient way of keeping Gene in the show, it also served to cover the hole left by Debbie Allen, who had begun to cut back her appearances to focus on outside projects.) IIRC, at the end of season six, Debbie, Gene and Carlo Imperato (Danny) had all decided to leave the show, which was what led the producers to just say enough and pull the plug. So while that video posted at R46 may have other factual information in it, it is way off base about that.

[quote]Whatever happened to the cast of the show?

Of the show's principal actors, Gene Anthony Ray, Carrie Hamilton (Reggie), Albert Hague (Mr. Shorofsky), Michael Thoma (Crandall) Ken Swofford (Morloch), Ann Nelson (Mrs. Berg), and Graham Jarvis (Dyrenforth) all passed. (Several of the show's background dancers from the early seasons also reportedly died from AIDS.) As for the show's living cast members, Carol Mayo Jenkins (Mrs. Sherwood) left the business to become an acting professor. Erica Gimpel (Coco) has worked consistently through the years as have Jesse Borrego (Jesse), Nia Peeples (Nicole) and Cynthia Gibb (Holly). Besides Debbie Allen, probably the most successful cast members since the end of the series are Janet Jackson (Cleo) and Michael Cerveris (Ian), who has won two Tony awards for his work on Broadway.

Apologies to R110 and R111 -- I hadn't seen your posts when I posted at R122 about Gene.

R122 I figured it out. I think.

According to show runner William Blinn, GAR was often late. They worked it into once storyline where Miss Grant replaces him in a role for being late several times. This was meant to be a message to Gene.

He didn't get the message, so they had to suspend him during season 2. I guess after that, he got his act together. Or at least just stopped being late as often, because he was on for the entire run.

That part is at 15:40 on this tape. This whole video is actually a worthwhile listen if you're a fan of the television series.

r116, since by your logic gay men are forbidden from commenting on or having any aesthetic appreciation of Irene Cara's breasts because she is a woman, then clearly you also must believe straight men and lesbians must be equally forbidden from commenting on or having any aesthetic appreciation of any man's secondary sexual characteristics.

Thus, clearly according to you, no lesbian nor any straight man may ever say they find Donald Trump's ass unattractive (nor Garrett Clayton's ass or Matthew McConaughey's ass attractive), or offer any aesthetic opinion of such asses.

What a strange idea you have of what people are allowed to do!

Thanks, R124. That's great info and I will check out the video.

Lesbians and straight men! Avert your eyes! r116 does not believe you are in any way allowed to have any aesthetic opinion regarding Matt's ass!

R125 Men and women are certainly allowed to appreciate beauty, or show their disdain for what they do not find beautiful, in either gender regardless of their sexuality.

I just find these very detailed complaints about a woman's body parts to be a bit strange coming from men who are only sexually attracted to other men.

"Coco's breasts had no appeal."

Appeal.

Sorry. I just assumed that a woman's breasts or her figure in general was supposed to "appeal" to a gay man.

Don't mind me. This really is a topic for a whole other thread. Carry on, ye haters of Coco's tits.

GAR's tardiness gave dancer Michael DeLorenzo extra exposure, which he wouldn't have otherwise got, which led to lead roles in shows like New York Undercover.

Coco's Tits: DL Really Knows Ye

[quote]there was a later episode with Carol Burnett and Carrie Hamilton (who was starring on it) that was very well done.

That episode, from the 6th and final season, was called "Reggie and Rose" and it was absolutely wonderful, thanks of course to the two lovely performances from Carol and Carrie.

That final season was fantastic by the way. The previous one was arguably the show's most lackluster but they really got back in the game with season six. It was nice to see the show go out on a high note.

[quote] Sorry. I just assumed that a woman's breasts or her figure in general was supposed to "appeal" to a gay man.

It's so odd how you just keep repeating this claim: I think you've made it four times now on this thread. yet you have yet to clarify why you believe this is so. Are only straight men and lesbians allowed to find women aesthetically attractive or unattractive? Who made that ruling? Does this mean gay men and straight women cannot find Marilyn Monroe's breasts attractive, or Beyonce's legs, or Elizabeth Taylor's face?

Please don't just assert this argument again, but instead actually explain your reasoning as to why you believe such universal rules are in place.

[quote] Don't mind me.

Obviously you don't believe this at all, or you would not keep reasserting your claim.

I'm just happy people are talking about me again, even if it is in reference to my hideous tits.

R118 Maureen Teefy was the Gabrielle Carteris of the "Fame" cast. She was 27 years old when she was cast as a high school freshman.

I agree. There are actually some really strong episodes in the later episodes. The show kinda stopped being cheesy and was trying to be more serious. Sometimes it may have tried too hard, like when they killed off Nicole and even the producers regret how they killed her off.

The last episode was really good. A perfect way to end a series finale.

Although I thought Cara was terrific in the movie, Gimpel was an excellent recast. I thought she would have had a bigger career but she's worked steadily and has a good agent. And playing Coco will mean a lifetime of conventions.

Shirley was always my spirit-animal.

R136 "You lookin' at one happy lady!"

How come everyone always forgets that I was in it.

R138 I never have Boyd, aren't you ill?

Ouch r138, that was a painful scene.

As I recall, the character of Montgomery was only briefly in the "Fame" tv series, although he was prominently featured in the movie. More homophobia. I guess having a teenage gay boy on a tv series was considered unacceptable.

He was on the first season. Gwen Verdon played his mother, IIRC. He was not gay though.

Yes he was, R142, but it was played down. He was played by a hideous looking actor named PR Paul who was fired after Season 1.

I don't remember a single reference to his being gay. I'll have to break out the dvds.

And I thought he was cute.

I think Debbie's dance with Gwen Version is one of the great moments of '80s television.

If you look at the comments section, some dummies insist on making it a competition. And they insult one lady or the other. So silly. Both these woman clearly have respect for each other. They make those cute, snarky comments, but that's part of the show. Makes it fun.

Class, sass! I wanna BE Gwen!

R132

Please re-read my post. (Especially the part about, "...regardless of their sexuality.")

If you are unable to answer my question then just say so.

[quote]Sometimes it may have tried too hard, like when they killed off Nicole and even the producers regret how they killed her off.

Nia Peeples was reportedly pissed about it. She said why would a girl as smart as Nicole be stupid enough to get into a car with a drunk driver? I agree, it didn't make much sense.

From what was said at the time, though, the rest of the cast was not sorry to see her go. She was allegedly a diva on-set who was demanding more screen time (despite the fact she and Jesse were often the center of many episodes) and the producers said with 14 other principal cast members, they could not afford to spend any more time on those characters than they already had, so her being written out actually came as a relief to all.

I wonder if Billy Huffsey made the male dancers swallow.

Could someone explain to me how Doris's little brother was 12 when she enrolled in the school and 12 when she graduated 4 years later?

Agree with R144 -- I don't recall much if anything being said in the series about Montgomery being gay. IIRC, they kind of wrote that part of his character out of the show, though I could be wrong. I also thought PR Paul was a cute guy then.

Here is a pic of him from I believe a couple of years ago:

Billy Hufsey:

Valerie Landsburg:

Carlo Imperato:

The MOVIE fame,not the goddamn tv show,people !

R153 Carlo was hot stuff. I was crushing on him big time. He matured nicely too.

They Sidney Shorr'd Montgomery in the TV show.

First day of school: Mrs. Sherwood's English class.

Anne Meara was perfect in this role.

[quote] I had a crush on Lee Curreri. During the "Fame" era he was pretty as a girl, beautiful blue eyes, flowing curly hair. Now he looks like shit. He's FAT. Someone once said he's come to resemble Ron Jeremy. And at some point he shaved his head. I guess he thought being totally bald and fat would look better than having long hair and being fat. Nope! Bald or with short or long curly hair, he still looks like a fat fuck.

The fate of 99% of American-Italian men.

R136, if the DL could be condensed into one person, it would be Shirley

Thread winner -- R159

I had a wank or a few... dozen... ogling this very image in my teens.

This movie always made me kinda sad, even as a kid. You always got the feeling that none of these kids would amount to much. They just weren't stars. Maybe that was the point of the film?

I was a heterosexual 13 year old female who had only just developed breasts and I could not believe how unbelievably ugly Coco's tits were. It was the main thing my peers and I discussed about the movie at the time. I was so embarrassed for her.

Like a dog in the yard.

Some women have very small tits. I don’t know why this is shocking...

The movie was alright, not that great. I never felt any of them would amount to much. None were stars. And I wonder if that was the point.

Also... I don’t know why DL rewrites history as much as they do. The Montgomery character felt real. How many HS students were out loud and proud, especially in 1980??? Give me a fucking break.

None, R165. The Montgomery character in S1 WAS gay, they didn’t “straighten him.”

Being gay was major taboo then. The fact they even included a gay character is a big deal for 1980.

What people couldn't understand was why poor Montgomery seemed to be the ONLY gay student in the school. Of course a school like that would be teeming with gays; why did he seem so alone?

R168 Exactly. It wasn't the fact that he was gay. It was the fact that we were supposed to believe that there wasn't a single other gay person in the HIGH SCHOOL OF THE PERFORMING FUCKING ARTS he could befriend and confide in.

If Montgomery had been a gay teen in a high school in Topeka, Kansas, then we might buy the insecurity and isolation. In a creative arts high school in Manhattan? Uh, no.

Alan Parker has said he regrets the depiction of Montgomery

Homophobia was still very rampant in Manhattan, 1980.

R171 Regardless, 50% of the student body at the high school was probably gay. Montgomery would have had allies.

50%?! Let’s not stretch it.

Many straights were in those schools during that period.

The drama and dance schools had to be 50% gay.

I think some of you are putting modern sensibilities on the gay character. Not everyone in high school had the mental toolbox to cope with being gay or even to come out. It was a different process for everyone. In 1980, no guidance counselors would have pointed Montgomery to the Gay and Lesbian Center. Gay teenagers struggled with the question, "Am I normal?" There were no gay heroes that a gay teenager could look to. And if you were a gay introvert, you wouldn't just automatically be friends with the boy who is singing Judy Garland songs and assume he was gay.

Additionally, even though it's not mentioned in the movie, AIDS had started to be known as the gay cancer. I graduated high school in 1982 and already people were very skittish about AIDS. There was more to this young high school boy than many of you are taking into consideration.

The problem with Fame is that it takes a bunch of high school kids and makes it seem like they all got along and that they were all unified for their craft. In fact, the opposite is often true. Teenagers in a school like that would be more jealous of the kid who can sing a better range or dance a bit better. I had a friend who worked for a bit in the high school of performing arts and she said that these kids were entitled little shits. There were no Leroys or Dorises. These kids had, from birth, been told that they were the greatest stars and they walked around like they owned the fucking planet.

NOBODY knew ANYTHING about AIDS until mid-late 1981, when it became known as GRID.

I was there, trust me.

Thank you R163 - Coco’s breasts were very odd looking - not just small. And since Irene Cara / Coco was so pretty it was a really disconcerting reveal.

No. They were just tiny. She’s flat chested.

Here’s some history of the school to consider, Liza, Eartha, and Jennifer Aniston were all former students. Of course Timmy and Ansel are the most recent breakouts from the school in what it evolved into when it moved uptown to Lincoln Center.

Why is no one talking about the fact that my wife made a no-dialogue appearance in this movie?

No R178, those tits ARE hideous.

Always remember stealing the issue of Playgirl that Billy Hufsey appeared in from a local store. Wish I still had it. Would have him sign it at the Chiller show.

The scene when Leroy starts vandalizing the school in a rage would have gotten him kicked out immediately.

The only musical numbers I enjoyed in the film are "Out Here On MY Own" and the finale. "Hot Lunch Jam" is way too cheesy.

The school also looks like an overcrowded, steamy mess.

[quote]Always remember stealing the issue of Playgirl that Billy Hufsey appeared in from a local store. Wish I still had it. Would have him sign it at the Chiller show.

Ebay has it Buy It Now $6.99 PLAYGIRL July 1985 JAMIE LEE CURTIS John Travolta Star of FAME BILLY HUFSEY

Hufsey was certainly hot. Great body

I went to Emerson in 1988. A college teeming with gays, myself included. There was only one I remember who was out. That 's how it was then.

R187 exactly. These Queens like to rewrite history.

THIS was like musical degrassi

I thought the "Hot Lunch Jam" was ridiculous. Of course it was pure fantasy; I'm pretty sure nothing like that ever happened in the cafeteria of that school. The kids went there to EAT, for Christ's sake.

"I went to Emerson in 1988. A college teeming with gays, myself included."

Maybe not many were out but I assume that the gay kids in the school interacted with each other and hung out with each other and had sex with each other. Whereas poor Montgomery had nobody.

They took a shot back at A Chorus Line since ACL did Nothing, which was a shot at them.

" I'm pretty sure nothing like that ever happened in the cafeteria of that school. The kids went there to EAT, for Christ's sake. "

Except for the dance students, of course.

I was so disappointed when I got to arts school and the kids didn't break out into song at lunch. Thanks, Fame.

[quote]The only musical numbers I enjoyed in the film are "Out Here On MY Own" and the finale. "Hot Lunch Jam" is way too cheesy.

There were several from the series that I loved but most if not all have been taken down off the Internet in the years since the show was on.

[quote]On the TV series Billy Hufsey invited male dancers into his trailer for a bit of bj action.

So is this meant to imply that Hufsey is gay or just a straight guy who liked to get head from men?

Which answer makes you horny?

R191 I don't want to be contrarian, or argumentative, but I was closeted gay in high school in NJ in 1987. There wasn't a single out student.

I didn't expect Emerson would be any different and it wasn't. There was one out gay person in my class that I knew of. This guy named E. Paul. No one else was out. No one talked about it. It didn't exist.

The way Montgomery was played was very similar to how I remember it. Except he himself wouldn't even have been out at all.

I understand this is very hard to imagine for people who didn't live through that time, but that's how it was.

I hated the scene btwn Coco and Hilary getting catty over Leroy in the dance class. They let Hilary cut her down to size(no pun intended) when hilary was only a dancer and Coco who was a triple threat obviously could of wiped the floor with that eurotrash and should of had the last word!

I don't believe Ralph Garcia was totally straight, I think it was implied that him and Montgomery slept together on the dl and Doris kept the secret.

I remember pretty vividly the kiss between Ralph and Montgomery at the end, implying that some sort of relationship had developed.

Ralph and Montgomery were pretty chummy in some scenes, body language wise. I don't remember a kiss but I haven't seen it in a while.

Lee Curreri song.

Montgomery sings!

The song to write out Michael Thoma who was dying.

Montgomery was a character on the show in the first season. His sexuality was never mentioned and then he was gone after one season.

The latter, TheatreGeek. Dude had good taste.

Didn't Cocoa have the last word with the ballet girl by alluding to the fact that her vagina tasted better?

Was it after the first season that they retooled the tv show? Season 1 the music was more Broadway showtune influenced. Then there was a shift and they started doing rap songs and more music that seemed designed to pull in teenagers.

[quote]I hated the scene btwn Coco and Hilary getting catty over Leroy in the dance class.

Especially because even Helen Keller could see that Leroy was gay, gay, gay. The idea that he was sleeping with either one of them was ludicrous.

Fame is interesting because they really didn't have a sexy male character. Leroy had a great body, but his face wasn't all that.

Oh, I can believe that Leroy fucked those girls, and others... even if he was gay, gay, gay. At that age a guy can get it up for a hole in the ground, and he was NOT someone who'd have an easy time coming out, even to himself. And he'd be so out of touch with gay issues and human psychology that he'd have absolutely no idea that you can't make yourself straight just by dating girls.

Leroy is a sad character overall, he'd never have the brains to build or showbiz career or sustain one if he got lucky enough to appear in a few videos, and well. The Plague Years were just around the corner.

I agree with PattiFan R198 - I was in high school 77 -81. Being gay was such a cultural taboo that I was thoroughly convinced I was NOT gay - even though the other kid had been calling me a faggot since 4th grade. ESPECIALLY because of constantly being called a fag. And back then “fag” was just as much about bring small, un-athletic and studious - what later became “nerd” - people thought actual homos were pretty rare, and unspeakably disgusting

Billy Hufsey didn’t even do any nudity in that Playgirl. Not even ass. I don’t why you queens are salivating.

It’s a shame because Billy has a hot body

R211 I remember realizing I was into guys. I was about 12 years old. I remember looking into the mirror and saying "Oh my God, they were right" they being all the guys at school who called me faggot all the time.

I didn't speak of it for 10 years. There wasn't one out gay in my high school. Only one that I was aware of at Emerson College. We were invisible. I'm very glad it isn't that way now.

The unusual thing is that Montgomery in the movie is out at all. It's actually more realistic in the TV show that it's never spoken of.

R209, I always thought Ralph was cute, but he wasn't a particularly likable character and his whole story was dark (even for Fame). But

WHY WAs everyone fighting over Leroy? He wasn’t all that

The TV show was a bit much where they had a play or performance every week. The movie got it right with their big senior show though I wouldn't think many of the people who sang solos in that finale would really go on to success.

ALso love how in the film, none of the students seem to age over the course of four years- though they already look 30, as in the TV series.

I worked as an extra on that show for 3 years Billy was a macho fag and WOULD invite extras back to his trailer. I remember it was a thing. I was too scared to go the 2 times he invited me..

"The way Montgomery was played was very similar to how I remember it."

So you were "Montgomery?" You knew no other gays? You had no gay friends? I'm not talking about "out" gays; I'm talking about gays who existed in a school (and God knows there must have plenty of them) but did not make an issue of their sexuality. If you were totally alone like Montgomery is sounds like you chose to be.

R220 Yeah, I was pretty lonely. Trust me, not unusual for a closeted gay kid in the '80s.

[quote]Billy Hufsey didn’t even do any nudity in that Playgirl. Not even ass. I don’t why you queens are salivating.

Guess you have no appreciation for an ecdysiast.

Harsh r219! I graduated from H.S. in1983. I had, for lack of a better word, a “boyfriend” who was a year older than me who I was friends with, but had sex with for about four years from Junior High into High School. He lived down the street from me and his parents worked late. It was very much a secret relationship and we never exchanged words like “I love you” or called ourselves boyfriends or acted as such when hanging out with mutual friends.

As obviously gay boys who were both harassed we did not dare speak or hangout with each other in school, that would have put a huge target on our backs. Also being different grades and not sharing a mutual interest like band or sports we rarely saw each other. By 12th grade, harassment pretty much fell away, no older students and those in my grade just didn’t care anymore. I did hangout a bit with two gay boys from younger grades who were involved in what passed for drama club in my school. The old joke used to be “My school had a Gay and Lesbian support group, it was called the drama club” back in the days before such things existed. I didn’t get harassed because of my socialization with them, but they may not have had the same experience.

There were other obvious gay boys I knew of, but again it was a big target to hang out and be friends as it made you more vulnerable to attacks. That’s what is was so insidious about that time, you couldn’t even ban together because of the guilt by association stigmatization. I never imagined going out on a date during high school, but I did have high hopes for college. And that’s when I blossomed, where there were a large group of about 50-70 gays who were very out and well known and running the campus. We even would rent the town community center and throwing huge parties with imported drag queens for over a hundred plus people. The reality was at that time that you just had to wait until college to become the person you wanted to be.

I graduated in 1982. You didn't come out as gay in my school because it definitely would have opened you up for harassment. There were a couple of guys that I suspected of being gay, but I wasn't really close enough to them to bond and reach out to ask them how to navigate the gay world. One guy patterned his whole personality after Rhoda Morgenstern. He had her vocal inflections down to the syllable. He would walk around saying things like, "If I eat that piece of fudge, it will go right to my thighs." So he was not someone I felt comfortable walking up to and saying, "Are you gay? Want to be friends?"

The thing about school movies and tv shows is that they rarely show the reality. Kids can be hateful and immature. If you don't have the right clothes or you say you like something that's not popular, it targets you for harassment. I sometimes wonder if Glee didn't do a disservice to young gay boys. The fact that Kurt was openly gay and was treated with respect. In my school, Kurt would have been tripped and pushed in the hallway, his lunch would have "accidentally" been spilled, his homework would have ripped up and any number of other cruel things done to him.

I am one of those that barely escaped high school mentally, but went on to have the most amazing college experience surrounded by wonderful friends and enjoying my college life.

Respectfully and out of curiosity R219 what years were you in HS / college? I’m R211 - I didn’t grow up in an inordinately conservative part of the country; but as the last few posters have related being gay was so unacceptable many of us were quite deep in denial at the time,

I’m pretty sure at least two of my HS friends were also gay (we lost touch decades ago) but none of us talked about the possibility among ourselves and we all dated girls. If you didn’t live through that era it may be hard to understand that many of us didn’t want to be gay at that age - thus the denial. Even in college in the early 80s there were very few guys confident enough to be out. I have 2 other friends from college who didn’t come out till after school - again we all never discussed the possibility of being gay either. Obviously not everyone was that hung-up; but we weren’t atypical for the era.

[quote]The TV show was a bit much where they had a play or performance every week.

My sister used to joke that, in a school full of hundreds of students, someone MUST have filed a complaint at least once about how week after week no one other than Leroy and his friends ever got cast in the leading roles of those shows.

Thanks for the gossip, R218. Any other behind-the-scenes info you can share from those 3 seasons?

R147 The show was never the same after Erica Gimpel left , you could tell when she returned as a triumphant guest star in season 4, Nia was pissed Erica was getting all the attention. Hell they even brought on Milton Berle for her story ark.

R207. Coco:the darker the berry the sweater the juice honey! Hilary: Yes but who wants diabetes!

Erica was a fantastic replacement as Coco for the series. Yes, she had some similarities to Irene, but there were enough qualities to distinguish herself from her.

Erica had such a strange run, though, even when she was a regular. She was often missing from several episodes. Anyone know why? Was it because she was still under 18 when she started filming?

I agree the show was never the same once she left. She really did bring that star quality to Coco.

[quote]Erica had such a strange run, though, even when she was a regular. She was often missing from several episodes. Anyone know why?

As I recall, "Fame" never utilized all cast members in every episode. There would always be two or three principals missing each week -- perhaps because it was such a large ensemble cast, it was just easier to "spread the wealth" that way between the actors. There was also the issue of certain performers needing time off for outside gigs -- IIRC, by the third season, Erica was doing a Broadway show and needed time off for that (as did Debbie at one point for the same reason). And by the last season, Debbie, Gene and some of the longer-running vets of the show had begun to appear only sporadically, so the entire cast appearing in a single episode was always kind of a rarity (especially after the show was canceled off of NBC and went into first-run syndication).

I loved the scene where Doris comes onto her own during The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Plus, that was my first exposure to The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

229 I remember Erica missing from the last couple episodes of season 1, like when the whole cast was honoring Crandall and they all sang starmaker and even performed hot lunch jam without her with no explanation where she was. I was worried she was fired, but thankfully she was back for the beginning of season 2 as a major player.

>

^^^Missing above^^^

"La derriere noir, ç'est formidable!"

I tried to make quotation marks á la Français and it messed up.

Also, didn't the tv cast go on road tours?

Yes r235. They did concerts.

Lori Singer seemed poised for a major film career. She had a bunch of roles (Footloose, Falcon and the Snowman...) and then it suddenly stopped. I was sort of shocked as a kid that she was the one that went into films since as kids we'd always make fun of what a bad actress she was. I guess her looks worked for films.

This thread inspired me to rewatch this movie, and reading the closing credits was a hoot! Among the "Players," they listed:

Violinist .... Gennady Filimonov

Oriental Violinist ... Sang Kim

Drama Student ... Ted Lambert

Oriental Student ... Nancy Lee

Notwithstanding the use of the term "oriental", which I suppose was acceptable back then, the fact that the white violinist and white drama student need no qualification while the oriental ones do is pretty offensive, LOL.

I think Gennady Filimonov is that hot violonist in the closing shot.

Paul McCrane is a good actor though. He played all those sensitive gay characters (also in The Hotel New Hampshire and onstage in Six Degrees of Separation) then was able to play tough guys like on ER and Robocop.

He just won an Emmy a few years ago for a guest spot on some Kathy Bates show. (He sang Is it Ok if I Called You Mine on an episode.)

R238 Jesus, step back a little honey

What happened to Paul McCrane's character on "ER" was right out of a really bad soap opera. His character was a "bad" guy, but I found him a lot more interesting than a lot of the so-called "good" characters on that show. First they cut his arm off in a helicopter accident (he's a surgeon, so that derails his career). Then they finally kill him off by having another helicopter squash him. It was SO stupid.

R165 seems to think that what Coco showed was something other than an embarrassing display.

But then R165 thinks that "alright" is English.

R163 You WERE a heterosexual female when you were 13?

What happened to change all that, darling?

[quote] the fact that the white violinist and white drama student need no qualification while the oriental ones do is pretty offensive,

How dare a film from forty years ago not be as progressive as we are today!

The weird thing about Irene Cara's breasts was not just that they were small, but that they were also droopy and yet they also had enormous and very pronounced nipples.

You guys are so mean about Irene Cara's breasts!

At least sleazy porn guy appreciated them.

I wonder if the Coco-has-no-coconuts scene repeated itself in real life, with Alan Parker trying to convince Irene Cara to bare her sad little breasts onscreen.

Wow OK

So my wife attended HSPF in the early seventies. She was in the same class as Freddy Prinze and a couple years older than Lori Singer. But she’s a violinist so knew Lori better. There’s a movie with Glynis John and Robbie Benson (sorry blanking on the name) where she’s an extra and you can see her isfro and bow arm, but whatever.

1) They didn’t go out in the street, but the lunchroom scenes with all the spontaneous singing and dancing are spot on. That really happened on the regular.

2) Back then (and it has changed since) it was alternating - one week performance, one week academics; not both in a single day.

3) When I asked her about Leroy being illiterate (last evening in response to this thread) she got all miffed and said “why would a dancer need to know how to read?” Also “it’s not like a dancer would go to college.” The academics might be vigorous now, but I don’t think they were then.

4) There were lots of out gay students. There were a couple of boys who would sit and knit dresses in the lunch room. My mother-in-law blamed HSPF for turning my wife gay. (Which is ridiculous because they’d know she was gay in elementary school.)

Ok carry on

"When I asked her about Leroy being illiterate (last evening in response to this thread) she got all miffed and said “why would a dancer need to know how to read?”

Your wife sounds like an illiterate herself. And yes, dancers would need to know how to read. EVERYBODY needs to know how to read.

Son derriere noir... c'est formidable!

"I want Giselles and Coppèlias coming out of my feet!"

That cast pic is one group of homely people!

"They didn’t go out in the street, but the lunchroom scenes with all the spontaneous singing and dancing are spot on. That really happened on the regular."

I seriously doubt that. They danced on tables in the lunchroom? And burst into song? That's movie hokum, not reality.

R254, I attended Hamilton High's Academy of Music in LA and I can guarantee you that that sort of thing happened there as well.

[quote]I seriously doubt that. They danced on tables in the lunchroom? And burst into song? That's movie hokum, not reality.

They might not have jumped on the tables but it was a performing school and performers perform.

Apparently some of you old things are not aware that music can be improvised, as can dance, so it's entirely possible for teenagers to make loud nuisances of themselves in the cafeteria of a performing arts school.

Also known as "jamming".

R254 - Do you / did you know any Theater Kids? They burst into song all the fucking time.

And not to mention Theater Queens....

If "Theater Kids" spontaneously "burst into song" in public places then they sound like the most insufferable little assholes on earth.

Darling, just by the fact that they're theater kids should have told you that.

I'm glad there are people who cannot fathom how isolated gay boys were in high school in the '80s, but it's absolutely true.

There were no out gay boys (and I was the only out gay gal) at my high school in the 1980s so I get the disbelief from posters. But HSPA 1970-1980, post Stonewall, pre-AIDS, in Manhattan and full of queer students and teachers was a world unto itself according my wife.

And performing in the lunch room at a Performance school is the equivalent of doing homework and studying for tests in the lunch room at a regular school.

"And performing in the lunch room at a Performance school is the equivalent of doing homework and studying for tests in the lunch room at a regular school."

Performing in the lunch room? That doesn't sound like "studying" or "homework." It sounds more like exhibitionism and stupidity.

R265, old fart still telling the kids to stay out of his yard.

I saw kids who were theater majors when I was in college. Some of them tended to be always "on"; always acting, performing, putting on a show, making spectacles of themselves. They were obviously full of themselves and liked showing off. It was incredibly annoying. Also sad. They thought they were SO special. But they weren't.

I also knew music majors. But I never saw any of them carry their instruments around with them and spontaneously start playing them whenever and wherever. My guess is that the thought of that never even occurred to them. Probably because it would have been really stupid.

The music was a hit

A close colleague in nyc went to LaGuardia HS not long after this film premiered and I always tease her about it. (She played viola but mainly focused on screen printing-she ended up going to Amherst)

Gene Anthony Ray was my first crush. He's the first man about whom I said out loud to my family: "What a beautiful body."

Babies? Remember their names!

Baby, look at us And tell me what's all the fuss?

You ain't seen the best of us yet Give us time and we'll make forget that scene

You laugh at Coco's pain But we're full and round now Thanks to Irene's weight gain

Push-up bra hold us tight Only you can make us right

Remember our name!

Rosie Perez Felt Violated In “Do The Right Thing” & Her Bro Brought Knife To Set For Spike

"And when Spike Lee puts ice cubes on my nipples, the reason you don’t see my head is because I’m crying. I was like, I don’t want to do this. I felt like Irene Cara in 'Fame'. It was like, Wait a minute, I feel so wimpy, this is not who I am. So that was my first experience, and it was horrible."

Fuck Spike. He's a weird little asshole. who made some excellent movies.

R272, that scene weirded me out, I don’t blame her

R273 & R274 Guess Spike Lee didn't get his #MeToo moment.

I'm sorry - that shit with Perez sounds downright rapey (and then you think of the scene where the guys forces himself on the main female character in 'Girls Gotta Have It').

Looks like Spike found himself exempt from all of the shit he is definitely guilty of.

^you do realize it was a movie right? Not a documentary. By your logic any rape depiction in a movie is an actually rape.

R276

Not sure which statement you are referring to but Lee depicted a man sexually forcing himself on a woman he had been seeing as the man merely expressing his anger with his girlfriend. This was depicted as a reasonable response. Lee has since edited the scene out of the film after concerns were raised. Decades after concerns were raised.

As far as Rosie Perez; you do realize that it was sick of Lee to force Perez to go through with the topless scene and to keep right on fondling her breasts as she laid there crying, don't you?

Wait! Whaaat? Where was I when they did a 'Fame' remake???

Probably napping since it was gone in a blink.

R279 I may rent it. I'm curious as to how truly terrible it was.

The Fame remake is shit. It's terrible.

If it were made today Coco would be trans and played by Indya Moore.

R281 Nothing will replace the original.

Was the remake the same as the original, or did it have all new characters and new songs? Not that I intend to see it, I'm just curious. I heard it was awful.

It had longer caftans and fake earrings

It had new characters and story r283.

R294 - When one of the teachers tried to get them all to sing “Body Electric” the kids just groaned and muttered “not that old chestnut.”