West Side Story (1961) is on TCM now.
I wonder if Kim Wilde cribbed Kids In America from America? 
I like to be in America/Okay by me in America vs. We’re the kids in America (Woah)/We’re the kids in America (Woah)
In Gee, Officer Krupke, what does ‘My Grandma pushes tea’ mean? Am I correct that Grandma deals marijuana?
Yes. …
That’s the allusion, but it’s more funny to think it’s actually tea while other relatives are engaged in similarly rather casual vices like communism , cross dressing, and failure to wax one’s upper lip.
And, “My Grandma pushes pot” doesn’t rhyme with “My Mommy clobbers me”.
On a related note, I’m surprised by how many cast members from the 1961 movie are still around: Richard Beymer (Tony), Russ Tamblyn (Riff), George Chakiris (Bernardo), Rita Moreno (Anita), John Astin (Glad Hand), Robert Banas (Joyboy), David Bean (Tiger), Eliot Feld (Baby John), Elaine Joyce (Hotsie), Bert Michaels (Snow Boy), Joanne Miya (Francisca), Tony Mordente (Action), Gus Trikonis (Indio)
That’s actually a bowdlerization of the original verse from the stage version, which was “My father is a bastard/My Ma’s an S.O.B./My grandpa’s always plastered/My grandma pushes tea.”
They couldn’t get away with even that much (which is just PG by today’s standards) on film in 1961, so instead it was “My daddy beats my mommy/My mommy clobbers me/My grandpa is a commie/My grandma pushes tea.”
I watched that movie when I was probably in high school in the 60s, and while it was entertaining, I wasn’t all that excited about it. Then I watched it again probably 20 years ago and was mesmerized by the choreography, which is simply brilliant, as is Bernstein’s/Robins music/lyrics. The story is timeless, of course.
Slight correction: Jerome Robbins was the director and choreographer of the show, the lyrics were written by then-25-year-old Stephen Sondheim, one of the greatest lyricists and composers in Broadway history in his own right.
Here’s a thought experiment: when Arthur Laurents, Leonard Bernstein and Jerome Robbins were considering a musical update of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, they planned to call it East Side Story and set it on the Lower East Side of Manhattan during the joint Easter/Passover celebrations. It was to have revolved around clashes between Catholic and Jewish youth. From what I’ve read, some of these drafts/outlines kept the Shakespearean names, while others named its Juliet “Dorrie” (a Jewish girl) and its Romeo “Tonio” (an Italian Catholic boy).
But the team shelved it when they just couldn’t get it to work right…among other things, they felt it was turning into a less comic version of Abie’s Irish Rose (a play about a similar Jewish/Catholic romance). Some years later, when another project they were working on fell through, they revisited the idea. By now, it was the mid-fifties, and clashes between Puerto Rican and Anglo youth gangs were making the news. The team liked the timeliness of it, and the idea of a Latin rhythm to some of their songs. They also made the acquaintance of a hotshot young lyricist named Stephen Sondheim…and the rest is musical theatre history.
So here’s the thought experiment…suppose East Side Story had played out as planned, in the late forties/early fifties or so. Do you think it would have been as good? Would it have been as fiery…the violence, the love, the passion? What do you think?
Brain fart.
Another reason that scenario was outdated by the Fifties is that Italian and Jewish gangs had moved on from being disaffected youths to being organized criminals. And a well established stereotype of the mobster was the Italian mafioso with a Jewish girlfriend/wife; hardly a novel pairing.
The choreography and the cinematography, by Daniel L. Fapp, which won the Oscar. That must have hit 1961 audiences like 2001 hit 1968 audiences.
The book doesn’t stand up as well, especially because all the really good music and dancing is before the intermission. But as a pure movie experience, you can forgive an awful lot of its flaws, at least if you’re not Puerto Rican.
What a classic film! Rita Moreno, that woman was unbelievably sexy and a great dancer. She’s still around too, was born in 1943.
And I can only hope that I’M as healthy and active at ninety-freaking-one as she is!
This thread reminds me that I was obsessed with the movie during my teens and twenties.
Our high school did West Side Story when I was a senior in high school. I was in the pit band, and by the end of all the rehearsals and performances I had entire thing memorized. A year later it was on TV and it all come back; I ended up buying the cast recording. Still one of my favorite movies.
Actually, 1931.
I suspect it may have been as good but it would be even more dated than what got.
But I would like to propose another thought experiment. Suppose the second time around, the show also got shelved. And they revisited the idea in the mid 60s. Would the rival gangs have been a white gang and a black gang? How would that have have been received?
It’s not that surprising. They’ve always been very youthful-looking, all of them. The old, original 1961 film version of West Side Story, btw, is my all time favorite movie, hands down. I never get tired of seeing it, whether it be on a great big, wide screen, in a real movie theatre and sharing the whole experience with a bunch of other people, whether I know them or not, or seeing it on TV, or seeing it solo in a real movie theatre.
Hmmmmm…that’s an interesting question. There’s really no telling how well it would’ve been received, however.
Rita Moreno was super as Anita in the old, original 1961 film version of West Side Story. Moreover, she had just the right personality for playing the role of Anita, as well. George Chakiris, who played Anita’s boyfriend, Bernardo, and the Shark gang leader, was equally fabulous!