Blitzed!

Last week I watched a documentary Blitzed: The 80s Blitz Kids Story from 2020 which tells the story of The Blitz Club in London. 

The Blitz was a legendary club night which ran on Tuesday nights from 1979 to 1981 and sparked the New Romantic movement which was to influence fashion and music for throughout the decade. I've had an interest in it for a few years now even more so since I discovered the former site of it while out walking during my lunch break one day. A plaque on the wall commemorates that the pop group Spandau Ballet first played there at the Blitz Club on 5th December 1979. While all this was going on while I was a toddler does give me a little thrill that I was alive in such a time. 

The genesis of the club was a night dedicated to David Bowie run by Steve Strange and Rusty Egan for their friends. Bowie was well known for his gender bending fashions and this struck a chord with many in 1970s Britain suddenly noticing a different way you could dress. Indeed Glam Rock and Disco brought out all kinds of new fashions and attitudes. Fashion was a key thing to the Blitz aesthetic and the documentary tells how you needed the right look to get in or at least something outlandish and unique and, presumably, that cost very little. Many of the patrons were all skint young kids in their early 20s or just under with more creativity than money would allow and so they spent time in charity shops or raiding granny's closet for things they could make new outfits from. This was a place where Boy George of Culture Club worked in the cloakroom and men started to wear make-up and ever more extravagant fashions. 

So why am I interested in this? The creative freedom and expression of the time amazes me. Just anything that makes you think "wait, I can do that? This is allowed?" is enough to fire up my senses especially in my own quest for expression and acceptance. As the documentary notes though, there was still a lot of risk in walking down the street dressed up though as violent thugs could be waiting round the corner to beat you up for looking different. I sometimes wonder whether, if I was of the age to get in, if I would have attempted to go the The Blitz. I doubt I would have had the fashion sense or creativity to create an outfit and had I had the confidence to go outside my front door and actually get to the club unscathed  then I may not have even got in. I would probably have been going there alone too although if I had a group of friends it may have been a different story. Although it would have been worth it to say I did. Sometimes just getting outside your front door is enough and at least I could have said I tried. I was there (or not, obviously).  

I did do some clubbing in my youth although I never really enjoyed it. The music and the late nights weren't to my taste and I was never any good talking to women especially in that kind of situation and of course that's the main reason we went to those sorts of places. I remember when I was in college I saw an advert for a clothes swapping night at a club in London and I had a few fantasies about that and maybe ending up with a skirt or dress or something to go home in. Never did though. again, I think I was just too nervous. 

David Bowie ended up using patrons of The Blitz in his video for Ashes to Ashes as did Spandau Ballet in some of their early work. Interestingly the club shows up briefly in the second episode of the first series of time-travel police drama Ashes to Ashes which was set in 1981. Following the documentary I also rewatched that for the first time in years. 

I was also inspired to write a caption featuring the club so I'll leave you with that. This was created for Jay Seaver over at Rachel's Haven using a photo I found online. 

If you're at all interested in what I've said then please check out the documentary which is still available through Now TV or Sky Arts here in the UK at the time of writing but I'm sure it can be found elsewhere as can further information on the club and the New Romantic scene it created. 

New New Romantic (2013)

To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything! Julie Newmar

To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar is a prime contender for one of the weirdest titles in the history of cinema. 

At least, unlike some movies though, the title has a relevance to the actual movie as it refers to the text of an autographed picture of the former Catwoman actress one of the main characters steals from a restaurant wall. I remember this movie coming out and all the trailers for it although it's not one I've ever watched before now so I can't say it had any influence on me as a youth however just seeing men in drag would have been enough to get me thinking. Back in those days as well you could be familiar with sections of movies just from overplayed trailers and clips on movie review shows. 

Released in 1995, To Wong Foo... tells the story of three drag queens, Vida Boheme (Patrick Swayze), Noxeema Jackson (Wesley Snipes) and Chi-Chi Rodriguez (John Leguizamo) driving across the USA from New York to Hollywood to participate in the Miss Drag Queen USA pageant. Their car breaks down in the small town of Snydersville (I want you all to know I'm resisting a Snyder cut gag about now) where they stay for a few days while it's fixed. Faced with living amongst some potentially hostile locals they set about charming them. 

I watched this yesterday and to be honest I didn't know much about the plot of this movie going in - just that it was a road movie but once it was clear that the queens were going to stick around in Snydersville I was pleased to find a very 90s movie about acceptance and makeovers. The makeover movie was quite a thing for a while especially in the teen film genre. The queens teach the women of the town how to stand up for and believe in themselves and of course dress like absolute divas. Also we have a villain of the piece, a homophobic police officer, Dollard, played by Chris Penn, who is thwarted at the end by the townspeople standing together in support of their new friends. 

For such a light comedy it also features attempted sexual assault and domestic violence. Early on Dollard, pulls the girls' car over and attempts to rape Vida. When she fends him off there's a suspicion that she may have killed him and indeed she spends most of the movie thinking she did although it has little effect. I did wonder if he was really was going to be killed off as that would cast a shadow over the light comedy to follow despite what a loathsome character he was. Penn does put in a great performance though and I had to love the odd list he draws up of places he believes the queens may frequent. As the queens travel throughout the country you can see some of the prejudice that they face. In one scene Chi-Chi barrels into a hotel while Vida and Noxeema try to restrain her, fearful of the reaction inside. I know I've had a few moments like that. 

There are some fabulous outfits of course and way too many for the queens to be keeping in their battered Cadillac but that's the magic of the movies. One of my favourites was the combination of a striped top and purple skirt worn by Chi-Chi.   

I did find it a little odd that all three of the queens were in drag the whole time, indeed the only time we see them out of drag and getting ready is in the opening credits and the ending at the pageant was a little odd unless it was meant to be a dream sequence or a flash forward (I won't spoil it here) but at least it gives Julie Newmar a guest appearance in a film baring her name. Swayze, Snipes and Leguizamo were excellent in this and completely inhabited their personas. All in all, a sweet fun movie that made me nostalgic for the 1990s despite never seeing it the first time round. 

To Wong Foo... is presently on Amazon Prime in the UK. 

Theatrical poster for To Wong Foo,
Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar (1995)

Credit: Wikipedia