# John Travolta As Edna Turnblad? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 5, 2005, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-travolta-as-edna-turnblad/315759 "2005-08-05T19:01:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-travolta-as-edna-turnblad/315759/21 "2005-08-06T03:38:29Z")
_Little Shop of Horrors_ is another relatively recent example of a movie to musical to movie musicial. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-travolta-as-edna-turnblad/315759/22 "2005-08-06T07:54:25Z")
The movie _Mame_ (1974) was adapted from the stage musical _Mame_ (1966), which was in turn adapted from the stage play _Auntie Mame_ (1956), which was adapted from the novel _Auntie Mame_ (1955). No version was adapted from the 1958 movie _Auntie Mame_. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-travolta-as-edna-turnblad/315759/23 "2005-08-06T07:59:47Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Henna? Try spray paint. _snerk_ It’s my understanding that Ms. Ball floated the economy of Egypt throughout the middle portion of the 20th Century… ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-travolta-as-edna-turnblad/315759/24 "2005-08-06T08:06:41Z")
Lucille Ball’s hair was clearly _not_ henna color. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-travolta-as-edna-turnblad/315759/25 "2005-08-06T15:38:55Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Lucille Ball’s hair was clearly _not_ henna color. I fondly recall a moment from an old Letterman episode, possibly when he was visiting Hollywood? He sent a camera around the studio building he was in, pointing out various things. The camera stopped at a spot where the floor was splotched with red paint and Letterman said it was the spot where Lucille Ball got her hair colored. The audience was appalled at the shot on Lucy but I laughed my ass off. I hate Lucille Ball. ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-travolta-as-edna-turnblad/315759/26 "2005-08-06T15:43:08Z")
Oh, and as long as we’re semi-playing the source material game, _Hairspray_ was inspired by “The Buddy Dean Show,” a local Baltimore TV dance show along the lines of (although IIRC it pre-dated) “American Bandstand.” Waters wrote an essay about the show that was published in 1985 and collected in his book “Crackpot.” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-travolta-as-edna-turnblad/315759/27 "2005-08-06T16:55:46Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Oh, they finally got around to playing Somerset, Vermont (pop. 5)? Yeah. Claude was sick for a while, and then he went away to Arizona on vacation, but in the end he worked something out with Cher’s people and she did the show for all 5 people in Somerset. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-travolta-as-edna-turnblad/315759/28 "2005-08-06T18:02:17Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Oh, and as long as we’re semi-playing the source material game, _Hairspray_ was inspired by “The Buddy Dean Show,” a local Baltimore TV dance show along the lines of (although IIRC it pre-dated) “American Bandstand.” Waters wrote an essay about the show that was published in 1985 and collected in his book “Crackpot.” Did you know Buddy Dean died just last year? ---
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-travolta-as-edna-turnblad/315759/29 "2005-08-06T19:48:29Z")
I had no idea. Every double bubble in Baltimore must’ve been at half staff. And I misspelled the name; it’s Deane. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-travolta-as-edna-turnblad/315759/30 "2005-08-06T20:22:13Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > Since AFAIK there aren’t any plus-size ingenues blowing up Hollywood right now, it seems likely that Tracy would be played by an unknown or largely unknown, which means that other roles would need to be filled with enough drawing power to get butts in seats. You know what would be fun but totally evil? Tell Callista Flockhart she could have the role if she could put on enough weight. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-travolta-as-edna-turnblad/315759/31 "2005-08-06T21:07:19Z")
> [@Evil Captor](#): > > You know what would be fun but totally evil? Tell Callista Flockhart she could have the role if she could put on enough weight. That’d be sorta evil. I think _really_ evil would be saying the same thing to Kirstie Alley. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2005, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-travolta-as-edna-turnblad/315759/32 "2005-08-06T23:21:59Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > That’d be sorta evil. I think _really_ evil would be saying the same thing to Kirstie Alley. Then when she gains it, give the job to her former co-star Travolta anyway. If it has to be a man, I’d go with Goodman (I _love_ his Linda Tripp drag). Of course part of me hopes it bombs because it could cause an explosion of “men in a dress are automatically funny” films and give encouragement to Tyler Perry that he simply doesn’t need (his plays would actually be funny if it weren’t for him as Madea). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-travolta-as-edna-turnblad/315759.md?page=1)