Harris Glenn Milstead, better known by the stage name Divine, was an American actor, singer, and drag queen. Closely associated with independent filmmaker John Waters, Divine was a character actor, usually performing female roles in cinematic and theatrical productions, and adopted a female drag persona for his music career.
Pink Flamingos is a 1972 American black comedy film by John Waters. It is part of what Waters has labelled the "Trash Trilogy", which also includes Female Trouble (1974) and Desperate Living (1977). The film stars the countercultural drag queen Divine as a criminal living under the name of Babs Johnson, who is proud to be "the filthiest person alive". While living in a trailer with her mother Edie, son Crackers, and companion Cotton, Divine is confronted by the Marbles, a pair of criminals envious of her reputation who try to outdo her in filth. The characters engage in several grotesque, bizarre, and explicitly crude situations, and upon the film's re-release in 1997 it was rated NC-17 by the MPAA "for a wide range of perversions in explicit detail". It was filmed in the vicinity of Baltimore, Maryland, where Waters and most of the cast and crew grew up.
John Samuel Waters Jr. is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including Multiple Maniacs (1970), Pink Flamingos (1972) and Female Trouble (1974). Waters wrote and directed the comedy film Hairspray (1988), which was later adapted into a hit Broadway musical and a 2007 musical film. Other films he has written and directed include Desperate Living (1977), Polyester (1981), Cry-Baby (1990), Serial Mom (1994), Pecker (1998), and Cecil B. Demented (2000). His films contain elements of post-modern comedy and surrealism.
Edith Massey was an American actress and singer. Massey was best known for her appearances in a series of movies by director John Waters. She was one of the Dreamlanders, Waters's stable of regular cast and crew members.
Polyester is a 1981 American comedy film directed, produced, and written by John Waters, and starring Divine, Tab Hunter, Edith Massey, and Mink Stole. It satirizes the melodramatic genre of women's pictures, particularly those directed by Douglas Sirk, whose work directly influenced this film. The film is also a satire of suburban life in the early 1980s, involving topics like divorce, abortion, adultery, alcoholism, racial stereotypes, foot fetishism, and the religious right.
Female Trouble is a 1974 American independent dark comedy film written, produced and directed by John Waters. It stars Divine, David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce, Mink Stole, and Edith Massey, and follows delinquent high school student Dawn Davenport, who runs away from home, gets pregnant while hitchhiking, and embarks upon a life of crime.
Multiple Maniacs is a 1970 independent American black comedy horror film composed, shot, edited, written, produced, and directed by John Waters, as his second feature film and first "talkie". It features several actors who were part of the Dreamland acting troupe for Waters' films, including Divine, Mary Vivian Pearce, David Lochary, Mink Stole, Edith Massey, George Figgs, and Cookie Mueller. The plot follows a traveling troupe of sideshow freaks who rob their unsuspecting audience members.
Mary Vivian Pearce is an American actress. She has worked primarily in the films of John Waters.
Mondo Trasho is a 1969 American 16mm mondo black comedy film by John Waters. The film stars Divine, Mary Vivian Pearce, David Lochary and Mink Stole. It contains very little dialogue, the story being told mostly through musical cues.
Dreamlanders are the cast and crew of regulars whom John Waters has used in his films. The term comes from the name of Waters' production company, Dreamland Productions.
Pearl Elizabeth Dobbins, known professionally as Liz Renay, was an American stripper, author, and actress who appeared in John Waters' film Desperate Living (1977).
April Fool's Day is a 1986 American black comedy mystery slasher film directed by Fred Walton, produced by Frank Mancuso Jr., and starring Thomas F. Wilson, Deborah Foreman, Griffin O'Neal, Amy Steel, Ken Olandt, Deborah Goodrich, and Leah Pinsent. The plot follows a group of college students vacationing during April Fool's Day weekend on an island estate, which is infiltrated by an unknown assailant.
Sodom and Gomorrah is a 1962 epic film directed by Robert Aldrich from a screenplay by Hugo Butler and Giorgio Prosperi, loosely based on the Biblical reading of Sodom and Gomorrah. An international co-production between France, Italy and the United States, the film stars Stewart Granger, Pier Angeli, Stanley Baker, Rossana Podestà, Rik Battaglia, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart and Anouk Aimée.
Blackenstein is a 1973 American blaxploitation horror film directed by William A. Levey, and starring John Hart, Ivory Stone, Andrea King, Roosevelt Jackson, Joe De Sue, Nick Bolin and Liz Renay. It is loosely based on Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. Released on August 3, 1973, it was made in an attempt to cash in on the success of Blacula; released the previous year by American International Pictures. However, Blackenstein fared poorly in comparison to its predecessor, with most reviews agreeing that the film was "a totally inept mixture of the worst horror and blaxploitation films".
Love Letter to Edie is a 1975 American short documentary by Robert Maier. The film is about actress Edith Massey who starred in many John Waters films such as Desperate Living, Pink Flamingos, Multiple Maniacs, and Female Trouble. The film follows Edith Massey around her Baltimore thrift store, and includes fantasy sequences and stories about her past.
Susan Lowe is an American actress, educator and painter. She has appeared exclusively in the works of John Waters for most of her career, starring in ten of his films.
Elizabeth Lamont Coffey Williams, simply known by her maiden name Elizabeth Coffey, is an American actress and transgender activist. Coffey, a trans woman, had small but notable roles in four of the early films of John Waters, becoming a member of the Dreamlanders, his regular cast. Her work has been show at multiple national venues, including the Baltimore Museum of Art and the Chicago Art Institute.
Peter Koper was an American journalist, professor, screenwriter, and producer. He numbers among the original Dreamlanders, the group of actors and artists who worked with independent filmmaker John Waters on his early films. He wrote for the United Feature Syndicate, Associated Press, Baltimore Sun, American Film, Rolling Stone, People and the website Splice Today. He worked as a staff writer and producer for America's Most Wanted, and has written television for Discovery Channel, Learning Channel, Paramount Television and Lorimar Television. Koper wrote and co-produced the cult movie Headless Body in Topless Bar, and wrote the screenplay for Island of the Dead. He has taught at the University of the District of Columbia, and Hofstra University.
Jean Elizabeth Hill was an American model and actress most notable for the role of Grizelda Brown in the 1977 film Desperate Living. Hill is considered a Dreamlander.
LGBT culture in Baltimore, Maryland is an important part of the culture of Baltimore, as well as being a focal point for the wider LGBT community in the Baltimore metropolitan area. Mount Vernon, known as Baltimore's gay village, is the central hub of the city's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender communities.
