#Marty Grease

[behold-the-brave-battalion-17]

Rizzo: I'm trying to get over my anger problems.

Marty: You just punched Kenickie.

Rizzo: I said I'm TRYING.

[gene-forrester]

Hey, do your folks know I come into your room every night? Over KZAZ, that is.

Grease (1978) dir. Randal Kleiser

[moth-lace]

Imagine if Chibi-Usa and the Amazoness Quartet were BIPOC

Thank you so much! It was a lot of fun to draw. :D

You're so welcome! Diversity is beautiful <3 <3

[onelegmissing]

"Grease" Backstories

Sandy Olsson/Yung/Dumbrowski

In “Grease Live!” Sandy’s family is from Utah, and her parents are extremely controlling, to the point of not allowing her to attend school dances. It’s believed that in this version, her family are strict Mormons.

This background works for most any time period. But if we want to tie her story closer to the ‘50s, and/or just want her to be from Australia or someplace else, here’s another idea:

Sandy’s father has a prestigious position in….some business or another. The “change of plans” that caused the family to abruptly move to another state/country/side of the globe happened when his longtime business associate was Blacklisted as a Communist. Mr. Olsen/Young/Whoever ended that partnership on the spot and moved his family as far away from that associate as possible.  He is obsessed with his family’s good, upstanding, “family values” reputation.

And Sandy of course just wants to be a teenager.

Danny Zuko:

“You’re lucky to have parents who care so much; mine don’t care about anything.”

~ Danny Zuko, “Grease Live!” (2016)

This single line goes worlds to explaining Danny’s dependence on the T-Birds, and why he’s drawn to a sensitive girl like Sandy.

So why don’t his parents care about anything?

Danny is the result of a shotgun wedding. Dad the veteran unknowingly knocked up Danny’s mom just before shipping out to Japan. Mr. Zuko returned from the War with untreated PTSD, and a son he didn’t plan on. Because of the time period, Danny’s parents were pressured to get married. They don’t exactly fight, they just exist in a loveless marriage, begrudgingly raising their kids in a house full of untreated PTSD and substance abuse.

Kenickie:

Note: I have absolutely no clue where the Grease Wiki gets the “Kenickie Murdock” from. The name “Murdock” is not given to Kenickie in either the movie or the TV version, and I can find no evidence of it being in the stage version either. The only “Murdock” in the play/movie is Mrs. Murdock the shop teacher, and there’s no indication of any relationship to Kenickie, bar maybe the car connection. In any case, Kenickie itself is a last name.

Kenickie’s “Mom” tattoo is pretty damn corny, but if you can get past that, it’s a detail that drops a bombshell of backstory hints.

For all his edgelord behavior, Kenickie is stunningly chivalrous when he learns Rizzo may be pregnant. Even nowadays, a true asshole would run out on her. Here it’s the ‘50s, he wants to be there for her and his hypothetical unplanned kid.  Rizzo knows what a hardass Kenickie is, yet thinks crying in front of him is “the worst thing I could do”--worse than dating his enemy and telling him “it’s someone else’s kid.”

Here’s my spin: Kenickie’s mom died from some disease like Cancer or radium poisoning. It was slow and emotionally scarring, and Rizzo knows about it. She knows seeing a woman he cares about in emotional distress again would break him.

His father is alive, but absent, if not literally then at least emotionally. Kenickie was apparently gone the entire summer, none of the other T-Birds knew where he was for three months. The Bargain City he was lugging boxes at was apparently out of town. Who was he living with for the summer? His grandparents? A friend of the family? Who knows.

Betty Rizzo:

She’s “the school tramp” (“Grease Live!”) and the neighborhood thinks she’s trashy. Yet she doesn’t seem to live in a ghetto or anything, if the opening cartoon is anything to go by. She’s from a working-class family that just has a bad reputation, probably for incredibly stupid reasons given that it’s the ‘50s.

Betty’s mom had her out of wedlock and didn’t bother to hide it. She did eventually get married—to the neighborhood gambling addict. The last person to find out that this guy wasn’t Betty’s rea father was Betty. Since having that bomb dropped on her, Betty’s one scruple is that she doesn’t lie.

Frenchie:

Has a relatively normal family. She’s Jewish (because Didi Cohn). No one in her nuclear family has any numbers tattooed on their arms though; they’ve been in the States since the Twenties. Why does she have her own TV in her room in the ‘50s? She doesn’t; the Pink Ladies just commandeered the family set for the night.

What do her parents think of her academic decisions? They’re a bit exasperated by her dropping out, pursuing that beauty-school pipe-dream, and having to stay in high school a bit longer to make up for it. But it’s not of the world. Frenchie has a relatively normal, if sit-commy family.

Jan:

The only thing really making her an outcast is that she eats a lot and she’s quirky. Mom frequently gives her grief for her unhealthy eating habits and sketchy friends, but on the whole Jan has a pretty normal life. Or maybe not-so-normal by ‘50s standards. Nothing gets Jan down. Not being called “fat,” not being compared to a cartoon beaver, nothing. Her family doesn’t adhere to the ridged rules of ‘50s society. Her parents are beanik-y artists.

Doody:

His skittish personality runs in the family.  His father is hyper-paranoid that the Russians will nuke us any day now, and upkeeps the family bomb shelter obsessively. Dad has so much unnecessary crap hoarded up for the supposed Armageddon that Doody has no trouble finding parts for Greased Lightning right at home.

Sonny Latierri:

…has been flukning school a lot. It’s implied in the TV version, and goes universes to explaining why he particularly looks so old in the movie even compared to the other “teenagers.”

Putzie:

Even with your slash-goggles off, his character screams “in the closet” pretty hard. He takes ogling girls to extremes, and “jokingly” feels up Kenickie during “Summer Nights” in the movie. The only indication that he might be into girls for real is his admittedly adorable flirtation with Jan, and even could just have been playground-romance. Or he could be bi.

Marty:

Having boy-toys all over the world means that Marty probably has some familiarity with the different subcultures overseas. She has a feu greasers here in the States and one in Canada; a Teddy Boy in England; a drag-racing Raggare in Sweden; a Bōsōzoku in Japan; and a wildly-dressed Halbstarke in Germany, who sends her the weirdest gifts.  

Crater-Face:

…is not the token racist, because that’s just lazy writing.  

Aside from that, I don’t know that I can give him a serious backstory, because his movie-counterpart is just so distractingly old for the part. I jokingly head-canon that he’s a conman in his 40s hiding from both the mafia and the law, trying unconvincingly to live the false identity of a high school student.  

Or maybe he’s a cop on assignment to infiltrate teenage drag-racing gangs.

Principal McGee:

The tight-laced principal doesn’t want any of her students to know that when she was in high school, in the Roaring Twenties, she was the wildest flapper in California.

Mrs. Murdock

As a young woman in the ‘30s, she was part of a small gang of robbers akin to Bonnie and Clyde or the Dillinger gang. This is what led to her prison time. She got a shortened sentence for her work as a wrench-wench during the War. She misses the old times, which is why she assists the T-Birds in their illicit vehicular activities.

[bloodystrwbrries]

[beautyarchive]

Marty wants to get on TV and she knows how to make it happen.

Dinah Manoff in Grease (1978).

[alejandromogollo]

The Pink Ladies! You ALL guessed it right. It’s getting harder to fool you guys 😂 Have you heard there’s a new show coming called Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies? It’s a musical series set four years before the events of the 1978 movie “Grease.” Will you watch? BTW today it’s also Dinah Manoff ’s birthday, so happy 67 “Marty”. #grease #pinkladies #rizzo #marty #frenchy #Jan #dinahmanoff #stockardchanning #didiconn #jamiedonnelly #musical #alejandromogolloart https://www.instagram.com/p/Cn11wAOIKrc/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[chantalstacys]

.

[behold-the-brave-battalion-17]

Marty: You know what girls talk about when they get together?

Sonny: Um, sugar and spice and everything nice?

Marty: That's what we're made of, you dumbass.

[boho-days]

Kathy Levin, Denise Nettleton, Marcia McClain, Susan McAneny, Ruth Nerkin, and Karen Dille in Grease, National Tour, 1973

[livvyofthelake]

julianne hough is soooo babygirl tbh… no one is talking about this….

[them-bo-dacious]

Me: You haven't finished your fics in progress and you haven't started the ones you've had in mind for months.

Also me, after re-watching Grease: NEED. WRITE. FEMSLASH

[reflection-s-of-stars]

NO I HAVE NO RECOLLECTION OF THIS!!! Frenchy/Sandy/Rizzo is a god tier ship though, screw Danny they’re gay now

Dio are you watching Grease fanfiction. Cause if you are I might have to unfollow you (KIDDING KIDDING my personal vendetta against Grease will not interfere with our mutualship)

SOPH DO YOU NOT REMEMBER THE TIME I WENT UNHINGED ON HERE ABOUT WRITING GREASE FAN FIC? I WAS GOING CRAZY OVER FRENCHIE/SANDY/RIZZO! Of course I’m watching Grease fan fic with non-binary lesbians. Who do you think I am?

[onelegmissing]

Grease Live! (2016)

In terms of the music, there’s no contest. The songs in this TV stage adaptation range from okay to atrocious, and the opening theme is unfortunately the worst by far. But “Grease Live!” makes up for that by doing so much more with the characters and story than the film version does. 

The entire cast is great, giving their own spins on the characters. My only complaint is that the T-Birds are hard to tell apart at times, due to all having such similar hair and coats in this version. 

In this version, Sandy has ultra-controlling parents. Thus, her bad-girl makeover at the end comes off more like her own choice, rather than giving into peer pressure. Danny is also considerably more likable, bar his big lie at the beach, which gives Sandy more of a reason to be upset when they reunite at Rydell. 

THAT FRIGGIN DINER ! 

Cameo! 

Marty is arguably the biggest improvement in this version. In the 1978 version I found her to be the least interesting or memorable character. Keke Palmer gives Marty her own swag. Though she also has the unfair advantage of getting to sing Marty’s one solo “Freddie My Love,” deleted from the movie version.

Vanessa Hudgens’ father died the night before “Grease Live” premiered--live--on TV. But she performed phenomenally as Rizzo.  

Eugene plays a more significant role in this version, not the least of which contributes to making Danny more likable than in the movie. 

If you’re a Rizzo/Kenickie fan, this version is definitely worth checking out. She comes to Thunder Road, this time. 

“Beauty School Dropout,” sadly, is another point against this version. Not the least because you can barely hear the singers!

Just a funny pause. Caption at your leisure. 

I love how this version ties Kenickie’s head-injury into his plotline with Rizzo. And I also love the face of that one guy on the right (Sonny I think?) 

Danny’s reaction to Sandy’s makeover. 

If you love “Grease,” give this version a shot...even if you have to skip through some of the music numbers. 

[callalillywrites]

Cool Rider Barber Shop & Hair Salon Masterlist

A series of stories based around a Grease-themed barber shop and hair salon. All employees of the shop/salon use the names of characters from both Grease and Grease 2. The whole shop is done up in a Grease theme with T-Bird chairs for the barber shop side and Pink Ladies chairs on the salon side.

A Dream on a Mean Machine (Bucky Barnes x Reader)

Summary: Bucky's going on his first date since being freed from Hydra's control. What better way to start off on the right foot than getting his hair cut and a shave? He'll even meet the owner of the shop/salon named Stephanie Zinone.

Part One

Tag List: @buckys-metal-arm

You're the One That I Want (Steve Rogers x Reader)

Summary: Steve's been coming to the shop ever since he met the famous Stephanie on that fateful day during the Attack on New York. She's been promising him he'll eventually find the right one for him. One day, he comes into the shop/salon and meets her newest hire: Sandy Olsson.

Story coming soon.

Tag List:

Was It Love at First Sight? (Dennis Baker x Reader)

Dennis Baker has shed his past life with his wretched ex. Now, he's starting anew as a new employee at Stark Industries. However, when Tony gets a look at his sad attire, Dennis is dragged to the Cool Rider Barber Shop for a makeover. There, he meets cutest colorist who loves his shirt: Frenchy Facciano.

Story coming soon.

Tag List:

Met a Boy as Cute as Can Be (Jake Jensen x Reader)

Jake's been a pen pal with a woman calling herself Marty Maraschino for a few years now. When he's visiting New York with his niece on a school field trip, he stumbles across the Cool Rider Barber Shop and Hair Salon during some downtime. He's more than a little surprised to find himself face to face with the cute receptionist, the very same woman he's been exchanging letters and emails. He can only hope he can live up to what she's envisioned of him.

Story coming soon.

Tag List:

Bonus Content

Cool Rider's Employee List

*****

Main Masterlist

Series Tag List: @hisredheadedgoddess28