Divine

Divine....

Born: 10-19-1945 Died: 3-7-1988
at the age of 42.
Harris Glenn Milstead
Died - Combination of his weight and sleep apnea.

    Born in October 1945 to an upper middle class family, Harris Glenn Milstead was a happy child. He participated in many church activities with his family and had a pretty normal childhood. Things began to change as he went into his early teenage years. He was teased constantly by the boys at school for being effeminate. He was called names and harrassed repeatedly until one day he had to be escorted to school by a police officer. Mr. and Mrs. Milstead thought it would be in their best interested to relocated and moved just outside of Baltimore, MD. This move would prove to change Glenn's life forever.
   As Glenn went into his late teen years, he became involved with the underground gay culture of the city and snuck out at night to meet up with friends. He met many drag queens at the club he frequented and for the first time in his life began feeling like he belonged. When he was younger, he would sneak into his mother's closet after school and get dressed up in her clothes and wigs and just have a great time. This was the first time he had met a group of people who understood him and liked him for who he really was. Glenn really discovered a part of himself he kept buried deep inside all his life when he decided to attend a high school Halloween dance dressed as Elizabeth Taylor. He never guessed it would turn into a career, but he had the time of his life nonetheless, without a care in the world.
     The Milsteads moved just down the street from the Waters and their son John, an odd kid who loved the offbeat and bizzare. John was an aspiring film director and saw something in Glenn that nobody else did and asked him to play a small role in his second film, "Roman Candles" (1966). Glenn had a small part, but those who saw the film enjoyed him in it. John decided for his next film, "Eat Your Makeup" (1967), to have Glenn star in a re-enactment of the Kennedy assissination as Jackie Bouvier Kennedy. It was then that Glenn's alterego, Divine, was born.It also marked the first of Dreamland Studios, a mock production company which operated out of Waters' basement. Waters and his clan of cast and crew became known as the Dreamlanders.
     Over the next couple years, Divine and Waters continued making more underground films. Only a few days after the suicide of Art Linkletter's daughter, John filmed the "Diane Linkletter Story" (1969), an improvised reaccountment of what might have happened that night in the Linkletter household. Divine stars as a teenage Diane who has a fight with her parents (David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce) after coming in after curfew and baked out on LSD. This was Waters' first film with actual dialogue.
   Shortly after, Divine and Waters teamed up again to film their first full-length feature film, "Mondo Trasho" (1969). Divine stars as a blonde bombshell who is distracted by a hitchhiker (Mark Isherwood) who she imagines nude, and runs over a young fashion fanatic (Mary Vivian Pearce). From that day on, there is nothing but mishap and tragedy for the two.
    After briefly moving to Provincetown, Mass. and opening a failed thrift store called Divine Trash, Glenn returned to Baltimore to film their next picture, "Multiple Maniacs" (1970). In this film, Divine was originally planned to take the credit for the 1969 murder of Sharon Tate. Prior to completing filming, the actual murderers were found and Waters quickly rewrote the ending. Waters and Divine then set off for San Fransisco to promote the film, where Divine met and joined the "Cockettes," a group of bearded drag queens who performed such shows as "Divine and her Stimulating Studs," "Divine Saves the World," and "Vice Palace. "
   It was again time to return to Baltimore to begin production of their next film together, the cult film to end all cult films, "Pink Flamingos" (1972). In the most notorious role of his career, Divine plays Babs Johnson, the filthiest person alive. Battle begins when two jealous perverts (David Lochary, Mink Stole) set out to steal her title by operating a baby ring and fronting money to heroin pushers in the innner-city elementary schools. Waters and Divine made film history in the final scene of the film by performing an action that has never been done, nor repeated in a feature film, when Divine picked up dog feces and ate it on camera. Throughout the rest of their careers Waters could never live up to the shit eating scene, while Divine could never live it down.
   Enjoying their new-found local celebrity status for a while, the Dreamlanders again teamed up to film "Female Trouble" (1975), Divine's favorite of his own films. He stars as Dawn Davenport, a teenage brat who runs away from home on Christmas Day only to be raped by a slob (Divine in a male role) on the side of the road. Dawn ends up pregnant and gives birth to Taffy (Mink Stole). She becomes involved with two fascist beauticians (David Lochary, Mary Vivian Pearce) who brainwashes her into thinking crime is beauty. She then goes insane, kidnapping her ex-husband's Aunt Ida (Edith Massey), covering her in feathers and putting her in a birdcage, just before chopping her arm off with an axe. She soon after strangles her own daughter to death and dies in the electric chair.
    Having been noticed by other underground directors, Divine is asked to star in an off-broadway play called "Women Behind Bars" (1976-77). The play was a great success and even resulted in a sequel called the "Neon Woman" (1978). Waters contacted Divine with the script to his next film, "Desperate Living" (1977) in which he asked Divine to play the part of Mole, a butch lesbian. Much to both of their disappointment, Divine was unable to take part in the film as he had a signed contract and was touring with "Women Behind Bars." Waters recast Susan Lowe in the part of Mole and finished filming while Divine was on tour.
   After having gone through a bit of a dry spell, Divine is asked to make a public appearance at a nightclub in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida in October 1979. The owners of the club wrongly advertised the event and Divine arrived to find a mass of people expecting to see Divine perform a disco act. Completely unprepared and humiliated, Divine leaves the bar owners to deal with the angry mob. This gives Divine's manager, Bernard Jay, an idea. Divine goes into the recording studio to record his very first single, "Born To Be Cheap" (1979) for Wax Trax Records. The record is issued in a very limited release and Divine begins performing the song along with the b-side, "The Name Game," at various appearances. Not being signed for very many appearances and having spent all his money, Divine is ecstatic to hear Waters is filming another film and wants to sign him on as the star. Divine immediately heads back to Maryland.
   In "Polyester" (1981), Divine is a toned-down housewife named Francine Fishpaw. She has to deal with her daily heartbreaks of a cheating husband (David Samson), a slutty daughter (Mary Garlington), and a criminally insane son (Ken King). This is Waters' first attempt at a mainstream film, and garners critical praise. Divine gains credability by starring in the film with 1950's heartthrob, actor Tab Hunter. "Polyester" opens in 50 United Artists theatres across America and Divine is asked to be a guest host at the "Alternative Miss World Pageant," which was later released on video under the title of "I Wanna Be A Beauty Queen" (1985).
   Divine is approached by recording executive Bobby Orlando and is signed to "O" Records with a contract guaranteeing the commercial release of no less than 2 records. Divine immediately heads into the studio to record "Native Love" (1981). The record is released and is an instant hit in dance clubs. Only a few months later, Divine returns to the studio to record his follow-up single, "Shoot Your Shot" (1982) and its b-side "Jungle Jezebel." A year later, Divine is awarded a gold record for the sale of 100,000 copies of "Shoot Your Shot" in Holland.
   Wondering why there are no royalty checks coming his way, Divine files a lawsuit against Bobby Orlando and "O" Records. They in turn countersue for not returning to the studio when requesting and breach of contract. Over the next year and a half, Divine fights in court and finally wins the case. The judge dismisses "O" Records' countersuit and Divine is free to sign with another recording company. He decides to sign to InTune Music in England.
   Eager to get his music career going again, he quickly gets into the studio to record the biggest hit of his career, "You Think You're A Man" (1984). It immediately begins climbing the pop charts and Divine is invited to perform his hit on the popular music program on the BBC, "Top Of The Pops." After receiving many disturbing phonecalls, the station bans him from any future appearances, although they will continue playing his record. Divine returns to the recording studio to record his cocky response to the complaining viewers of the BCC program, "I'm So Beautiful" (1984).
   John Waters gets in contact with Divine with a script for the sequel of "Pink Flamingos," entitled "Flamingos Forever." Although not overly excited about the scripts, Divine is eager to make another film and agrees to star in the sequel. John calls off plans to film the sequel when he receives the shocking news on the afternoon of October 19th, 1984 that Edith Massey, the lovable egg lady and mother to Babs Johnson (Divine) in Pink Flamingos, has passed away. The script, although never filmed, was years later released in a book by Waters entitled "Trash Trio."
   He leaves for Hong Kong to open a new club as the star attraction and begins his tour of Finland in support of his singing career. He appears as the first guest on the Merv Griffin show and is invited back any time he is in town. He also makes an appearance on the David Letterman Show.
   Following his appearance on the show, he flys to New Mexico to begin filming his first starring role in a feature film not directed by John Waters, as Rosie Valez in "Lust In The Dust" (1985). Rosie meets up with a rugged cowboy named Able (Tab Hunter) and travels with him to the town of Chile Verde. There, they hear an old limerick about some buried gold. She has half the map to the gold tattooed on her rear end, and must find the person with the other half, all while trying to avoid being murdered by Hard Case Williams (Geoffrey Lewis) and his gang of thieves. The film ended up being a popular rental film, however flopped in the box office.
    Divine was getting depressed when he was offered a male role in a film starring Kris Kristopherson entitled "Trouble In Mind" (1986). He plays Hilly Blue, a rough gangster which was the exact opposite of all roles he had played previously. He received good reviews for his part in the film and Divine felt he was on his way to crossing over into male roles, however the offers he eagerly awaited never came. Desperate to make money in between less frequent club gigs, he returned to the studio to record his final single, "Hey You" (1987).
    Divine was very excited when he received a call from John Waters. John was casting for his first film in 7 years and sent a script to Divine. In "Hairspray" (1988), Divine plays Edna Turnblad, the mother of a chubby high school girl named Tracy (Ricki Lake) who gets a spot on a local dance show and becomes a local celebrity. Tracy makes an enemy in Amber Von Tussle (Colleen Fitzpatrick - aka singer Vitamin C), a spoiled brat who is jealous of Tracy's popularity and the sudden attention she is getting from her boyfriend (Michael St. Gerard). Divine also had the chance to play a male role as Arvin Hodgepile, the biggoted television station manager. Hairspray was critically acclaimed worldwide and was the breakthrough success in both John Waters and Divine's careers. Divine finally received credit for being a talented actor, and was put on the cover of the March 1988 issue of Interview Magazine as well as the Los Angeles Times naming him Celebrity of the Day. Divine suddenly had serious offers coming in for both his acting and music careers.
    The very popular and respected group Bronski Beat wrote a song for Divine to record entitled "Cha Cha Heels" (in tribute to his roles in Pink Flamingos & Female Trouble), which was to be on his very first full length album planned for release later than year called "Maid In England" (1988). Also, he was offered the recurring role of Uncle Otto on the extremely popular Fox sitcom, "Married... With Children." The offers continued to pour in. Unfortunately, he would not have the opportunity to enjoy his breakthrough success.
    Divine passed away in his Los Angeles hotel room on the morning of March 7, 1988; his first day due on the set of "Married... With Children" and just 2 weeks before he was to head into the studio to record his comeback single. The Coroner's Department announce the cause of death to be hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with cardiomegaly (an enlarged heart) and that he most likely died painlessly in his sleep. The episode which introduced Uncle Otto to the show (part recast) ended with a touching "In Memory of Divine 1945-1988" message over a large photo of Divine. A year later, Eartha Kitt teamed up with Bronski Beat to record "Cha Cha Heels," the song written for Divine to sing, as a tribute to the legend.
    It has now been 16 years since the passing of Divine, and he is still being discovered by a whole new generation of fans. There have been many covers of his songs, many television documentaries, and books written about him. Divine's very own mother, Frances Milstead, has written a book entitled "My Son, Divine" which was released in 2001. He has even had a figureine modeled after him. Divine had a very promising career ahead of him, and only had the chance to experience acceptance for a short time in an industry that shunned him for 20 years. I had the chance to personally work with Divine on February 19-1988 at his club appearance here in Chicago. He was a wonderful and very funny indivdual who had his audience captivated. Sadly this was one of his final personal appearances.
Divi....WE MISS YOU!