#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]

.

[boho-days]

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

[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.

[livvyofthelake]

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

[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?

[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

[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. 

[small-sinclair]

Could you write Bo x insecure S/O (but like super duper extra fluffy). Idk why but Soft Bo is legit the best and not enough ppl write him like that.

Headcanons or dabbles - anything would be great, I trust that you know best. Anyways, thank you xoxo

Hewos! Hope you like vampires🩵

Bo x plus size fem!y/n

Contains: blood, biting, killing, she/her pronouns used, body shaming (not from Bo), not sure if I like the ending

Welcomed readers: @fluffy-little-demon, @sketchy-rosewitch, @lovely-cryptid

Bo POV:

Bo watched carefully as the new group in town moved through the streets. They were calling out for someone, but wax doesn’t talk back… it never has talked back unless you listen carefully. Still, Bo watched from the shadows in his black suit and tie, his fingers fidgeting with his father’s sun ring. He was busy thinking who was dead, who was art, and who was food.

Then Bo saw her in knee-high jean shorts, bright yellow t-shirt with cute butterflies on it, and a ball cap over her hair. The breeze carried her scent, and it sent shivers down his spine; he found her.

He found his wife.

Reader POV:

As soon as you and your friends entered the House of Wax, a smile crossed formed. Not was the air conditioner running at high to beat the heat, but there was a stair case made out of wax. The art was beautiful and bright, and it was paused in the 70s style.

“Y/n, wait!” You turned your head at Liza. “Look! It’s you!” She and her boyfriend started snickering as she pointed at a pig’s head on the table. “They knew you were coming!”

You hugged yourself as you shifted uncomfortably. “Yeah, funny, Liza.” You move farther into the museum and looked at the waxed bookcase. “All of this is made with wax,” you whispered to yourself.

“Bet you wished it was made outta chocolate!” Marty, Liza’s boyfriend, laughed, his friends joining you.

You bit back your tongue and kept looking at the art and pieces. Under you, the floor creaked and cracked.

“Hear that?” One of his friends whispered, making you pause. “Oh, it’s not an earthquake— it’s just y/n walking around!”

Guess we know what broke the camel’s back.

You spun on your heels and hurried towards the door to find that mechanic—

When you opened the door, you bumped into a strong chest and stumbled back. You looked up to see a man dressed all in black with smoothed back from grease, and you could smell smoke and oil over his clothing, but it had a old country boy feeling to it.

He was startled that you were running out as soon as he was about to lay out his words for you in sugar, that was until Liza shouted, “Look out for Rhino!” Then they laughed you out, pushing past him and took off to the car shop.

He looks between your run and at the group. As much as he wanted to rip out all of their throats with his teeth, he decided against it. Instead, he put his fingers in his mouth. His whistle echoed throughout the building, and it silenced the laughter. Their eyes looked at him as he loosened his tie and pulled down his cuffs. His ocean blue eyes shimmered as they faded to a burning fire red, eyes twitching in anger. How dare they say that about you…

His boots echoed as he walked into the room. He turns, closes the door, and locks it. “Vincent!” Bo snapped, jolting the group’s shoulders. He takes off his jacket and throws his tie. His red eyes burned brighter, a snarl leaving him as he watched the group coward away.

As soon as he saw Vincent, he felt his fangs showing. “Now, we don’ take kindly t’folks like yourself.” As he talked, his boots echoed as he walked towards the group. They looked like cowardly sheep by the way the moved closer together. Bo could’ve laughed at the way the bigger one was trying to protect Liza. “Be a shame, though. To waste good food lik’ yer-selfs.”

“You’re-you’re a—“

“Aw, sweetheart,” Bo hummed, his drawl heavy as he and his brother corner the group. “Vampires lik’ us are rare. So… consider you lucky to see us.”

Vincent placed a hand over the mouth of one three men and lifted his mask. Long, pearly fangs showed before his bit down hard on his neck. Bo smiled as their screams echoed.

Let the games begin.

***************

You were crying in the church next to the waxed statues in the pews. You found out that they were bodies real fast, but you didn’t seem to care much as your cries echoed around the church. You didn’t know how long were you crying in a ball behind the casket. You heard the whispers and murmurs on the tape reply twice already.

Then you hear the door open and boots clicking towards the casket. “Darlin’?” The man called. “Darlin’? Ya in here?” He didn’t wait for you to answer as he rounds the coffin and finds you curled into your lap crying. He frowns and sits next to you. “Now, why is a beautiful creature like you cryin’?”

“I’m-I’m not beautiful,” you cried. “I’m fat and ugly and-and—“

“An’ t’right size to show some lovin’,” he interrupted, saying those words like it’s a fact.

“You’re just saying that to-to be nice,” you sniffled. “You don’t mean it.”

He chuckles and leans back on his mother’s coffin. “Nah, honey. Can’t lie in front of my mama.” You glanced at him, and your eyes grow wide as you saw his hands and neck covered in dried blood. “Mama didn’t raise a liar,” he drawls. “I swear to ya, honeybee,” he glanced at you and flashed you a smile. His white canine s longer than normal… but you weren’t afraid. “I think ya t’prettiest thin’ I’ve ever seen. Shit, ya put ol’ Ms. Ambrose to shame.”

You laughed at his comment and shook your head. “Bet you charm all the ladies.”

“Yeah, I do,” he answers, “but I reckon I found myself an angel righ’ here.”

You look at him up and down. “Are you… flirting?”

“Am I doin’ good?” He leans forward and looks up at the altar. “I hope ‘m doin’ good.” He looks around and sighs softly. “I bet you saw the people…”

“The waxed graves?” You wiped your eyes. “Yeah. But it doesn’t scare me. I just… just needed to cry. Besides,” you lowered your eyes, “I’m a rhino.” Then you rolled your eyes. “And a southern vampire is going to kill me.”

Bo shook his head and moved to be kneeling in front of you. He took both your hands and said, “Darlin’, what do you want?”

“What—?”

“What do I need to give ya?” Bo asked again. “The stars? Moon? Shit, ‘ll give ya my dead-beating heart! Anythin’ just to see ya smile.”

“How about your name?” You asked, feeling how sticky his hands were from blood.

“Bo,” he said, bringing up your hand and kissed it. “Bo Sinclair.”

“Y/n,” you said, smiling. “I’m y/n.” Then your smile fell. “You going to kill me now?”

He shakes his head. “Be a shame if I did.” He stands and offered you help. “Wanna take you home, sugar. Wanna show you off to every person an’ my brothers. You’re just so damn cute an’ beautiful.”

You looked at him and the blood on his chin. “Promise?”

“Cross my heart,” he whispered. You didn’t hesitate as you took his hand. “I’ll treat you so right everyday.”

“Everyday?”

Your hopeful eyes, your voice… Bo is falling apart for you so fast. “I swear to ya, y/n. Now, come on— Vince’s wanna t’meet ya.”