Grease also benefited from the increasingly symbiotic relationship
between the music industry and the movie industry—and the marketing
strategies that evolved from that change—as Hollywood studios increas-
ingly became units within conglomerates that often included recording
companies. The sound track for Grease was released before the film, partly
for marketing reasons. It sold 24 million copies, giving the film considerable
pre-release publicity, and the movie earned $96 million at the box office
(Cook, Lost 55–57).
Furthermore, Grease was “pre-sold” in at least three ways. It was based
on a smash-hit Broadway play that opened in 1972 and ran for more than
3,300 performances. Second, producer Robert Stigwood guaranteed star
appeal by casting John Travolta in the lead male role, then adding pop
music star Olivia Newton-John for the female lead. (Stigwood himself
became a star of sorts when Newsweek did a cover story on him, “Rock
Tycoon,” after Grease became a big hit.) Finally, it drew on the country’s
nostalgia for the late 1950s and early 1960s, before the turmoil of Vietnam
and Watergate (recall the popularity of “Happy Days” and “Laverne and
Shirley” on television). With all these factors in its favor, it was no surprise
that Grease sold tickets.
The narrative draws on classical Hollywood conventions: even more than
the play, the film focuses on the love story between Danny Zuko (Travolta),
a California “greaser,” and Australian Sandy Olssen (Newton-John), who
have a summer romance that they think will end when she leaves in the
fall. However, Sandy’s family decides to stay in the country, and she enrolls
for her senior year at Rydell High School, which Danny attends. When they
encounter one another on the first day of school, Danny falls back into his
greaser role, and Sandy, appalled by his behavior, starts a relationship with
a jock. Ashamed at the aloof way he treated Sandy, Danny decides to earn
a letter in track to move toward her clean-cut world; Sandy, still in love
with Danny, dumps the jock and shows up the last day of school dressed
(and coiffed) like a greaser’s girl, moving toward his world. Of course, as
with the conventional musical, the couple bridges differences, ending up
singing, dancing, together, and happy at the end. A subplot depicts an off-
again, on-again relationship between the head “pink lady” Rizzo (Stockard
Channing), who at one point thinks she’s pregnant, and Kenickie (Jeff Con-
way). They are reunited at the end, too. Finally, comic relief abounds, pro-
vided by the other “pink ladies” (Didi Conn, Jamie Donnelly, and Dinah
Manoff); Danny’s three friends (Barry Pearl, Michael Tucci, and Kelly Ward);
and Principal McGee (Eve Arden), her secretary Vi (Joan Blondell), and the
football coach (Sid Caesar), among others.
1978 — MOVIES AND CHANGING TIMES 225