Could the teeming millions please explain the title “Too Wong Fu, Thanks for Everything Julie Newmar”? (May not be correct) No, I haven’t seen the movie but know it’s about drag queens out of their element. Does it refer to the same Julie Newmar that played Catwoman on the old Batman T.V. series? What’s the scoop?
The title refers to an autographed picture of Julie Newmar hanging on the wall of a Chinese restaurant.
One of the characters (Patrick Swayze’s if I remember correctly) idolizes her. The scene (filmed at a restaurant in my hometown of Jersey City, NJ) takes place early in the movie, before the “out of their element” trek begins. Oh, and it’s “To Wong Foo . . .”
It’s:
"To Wong Fu,
Thanks for everything.
Julie Newmar
and it appears on a photograph found by one of the three protagonists. According to the story Julie Newmar is the quintessential lady, from the point of view of a drag queen.
Tris
“Swat my hind with a melon rind, That’s my penguin state of mind.” ~ Opus ~
Thanks- The Teeming Millions can always be relied upon.
An absolutely dreadful movie, by the way.
Now nineiron, why you gotta try to turn a GQ into a GD?
The screenwriter for TWF saw a photo of Julie Newmar with that inscription several years prior to writing the script. He always liked the phrase and decided to write a movie around it.
Whoops. Didn’t mean to do that. I will just say that I was answering the question, “Was that a dreadful movie?”
Uh, or something like that.
There can only be one Catwoman– The incomparable Eartha Kitt.
Julie Newmar played Catwoman 13 times; Eartha Kitt only 3 times. I think that makes Newmar the penultimate Catwoman.
Only if she played her the second to the last time. 
I saw it a few years back and it wasn’t that bad. Better acting than writing, IMO. Incidentally, Julie Newmar appears (as herself) at the end of the movie.
One thing the movie didn’t clear up, though: who’s Wong Foo?
–sublight.
As I noted, IRL Wong Foo was the recipient of the original photo thus inscribed. Presumably in the context of the movie Wong Foo was the owner/operator of the China Bowl, the restaurant in which the Julie Newmar picture is discovered.
Actually, I thought that I was “quoting” Adam West from his cameo on the Simpsons, where he creeped the kids out so well, but it turns out he actually said “Michelle Pfeiffer? Ha! The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.”
I agree though, Julie Newmar is the penultimate-- Second only to the incomparible Eartha Kitt.
Well, it appears that Eartha Kitt was the last person to play Catwoman on the Batman TV show, so, if you count Michelle Pfeiffer, then Kitt was the penultimate Catwoman. 
–Cliffy
But if you count the Batman animated series which post-date Batman Returns, then Michelle Pfeiffer becomes the penultimate Catwoman.
At least until Ashley Judd suits up.
Okay, it’s not Citizen Kane, but it’s good fun.
The performances by the three male stars are amazing, especially John Leg…whatever. He’s basically an action movie star, but you’d never know it - his latina diva-wannabe is so convincing.
A nice touch is checking out Patrick Swayze (most unconvincing as a woman I’m afraid - those massive shoulders!) as he wears costumes that pay sly tributes to famous costumes in drag movies of the past. I’m sure there’s a Some Like It Hot costume and a Tootsie costume.
Rent it, enjoy, have fun…
Redboss
Our local film critic wrote that John Leguizamo was the only one of the three who got in touch with his “inner slut.” But Leguizamo isn’t primarily an action star. He’s been in a wide variety of projects from pretty much every genre, including a Tony-nominated one-man Broadway show.
Yeah, Leguizamo played so many prominent gay/effeminate roles that when he “went badass” in The Rock, my friends and I laughed for days before we could take him seriously.
Not that he did a bad job or anything, but still…
The whole movie was basically Hollywood trying to jump on a bandwagon (how original)
Hollywood Producer:“You want me to produce a movie about drag queens out of their element. No, I don’t think so. It’ll tank.”
Idea Pitcher:“Oh, come on! This’ll work. trust me.”
Secretary:“Uh, HP? Take a look at this. An Australian movie called ‘Pricilla: Queen of the Desert’ is a huge hit all over the place. It’s relatively low budget, but making SERIOUS cash.”
Hollywood Producer:“What’s it about?”
Secretary:“Drag queens out of their element.”
…
Hollywood Producer:“Huh. Okay we’ll one-up them. We’ll make ours bigger budget…”
Idea Pitcher:“How?”
Hollywood Producer:“Get me the biggest action stars to do it. Yeah, that’ll be funny. Is Stallone available?”
Sec:“Working on Judge Dredd and something about assassins…”
HP:“Willis?”
Sec:"‘Die Hard 3’ and some Terry Gilliam project."
HP:“sigh. What about that spanish guy… whatzisname. Is he done on that ‘Desperado’ flick?”
Sec:“Antonio Banderas? Yeah, he’s done on ‘Desperado’ and now he’s in Seattle with Stallone for that Assassin project.”
HP:“Okay. Who else have we got? Wesley Snipes?”
Sec:“My list says he’s not doing anything…”
IP:“OOh! Patrick Swayze.”
HP:“Perfect, he’s pretty hunky. Get him, too.”
Sec:"‘Pricilla’ had three queens."
HP:“Who’ve we got?”
IP:“How about John Leguizamo?”
…
Secretary & HP:“Who?”
IP:“Uhm… ‘Super Mario Brothers’.”
HP & Sec look at each other in confusion
IP:"‘Carlito’s Way’?"
HP:“sigh. Alright.”
and history was made :rolleyes:
It’s still fun. And it was a play long before Priscilla appeared - I honestly think it was just a coincidence, like those two Robin Hood movies a few years back.
I especially like the scene where the police come for them and demand that the drag queens come out and the little old lady says “I am Spartacus!” and then someone else says “No, I am Spartacus!” and then every-
No that’s not right…
Hmmmm
Well, anyway, some people are SO hard to please…!
Pinkboss