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Polyester
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	John Waters
Produced by	John Waters Robert Shaye Dreamland
Written by	John Waters
Starring	Divine Tab Hunter David Samson Edith Massey Mink Stole
Music by	Michael Kamen
Cinematography	David Insley
Editing by	Charles Roggero
Distributed by	New Line Cinema
Release date(s)	May 29, 1981
Running time	86 min.
Country
Language	English
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

Polyester is a 1981 John Waters film starring Divine, Tab Hunter, Edith Massey, and Mink Stole. It was filmed in Waters' native Baltimore, Maryland, and features a gimmick called "Odorama", whereby viewers could smell what they saw on screen through "scratch and sniff" cards.

The film is a satire of suburban life, involving alcoholism, the religious right, adultery, foot fetishism, abortion, and divorce.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 2.1 Dreamlander cameos 3 Dreamlanders 4 "Women’s Pictures" 5 Odorama 6 Response 7 Songs used in film 8 External links

Polyester tells the story of housewife, Francine Fishpaw (Divine), whose life is crumbling around her in her upper middle class suburban Baltimore home. Her husband, Elmer (David Samson) is an unappreciative lout who is the owner of the Charles Art Theater, an X-rated movie house. Lulu (Mary Garlington), the slutty spoiled daughter, and Dexter (Ken King), the revealed Baltimore foot fetishist are Francine and Elmer's terroristic children. Also adding to Francine's troubles is her snobby, cocaine-snorting mother, La Rue (Joni Ruth White), who robs Francine blind and only cares about her "valuable shopping time".

Francine can only find solace in her best friend, Cuddles (Edith Massey), an independently wealthy, care-free woman with a simple, caring outlook on life. It is mentioned early in the movie that Cuddles was, at one time, the Fishpaw's housekeeper, but inherited "a great deal of money from a family she used to work for."

Francine discovers that her husband is having an affair with his secretary, Sandra Sullivan (Mink Stole), and later confronts them at a hotel, where Francine asks Elmer for a divorce. Promptly after, Francine falls face first into a bout of alcoholism. Lulu becomes pregnant with her delinquent boyfriend Bobo's (Stiv Bators) child and the mother-to-be plans on an abortion; she proudly tells her mother: "I'm having an abortion, and I can't wait!". Dexter is finally arrested at a supermarket after stomping on a female customer's foot.

Lulu goes to an abortion clinic for a termination, but is harassed and slapped by anti-abortion picketers. She flees, goes home, and tries to induce a miscarriage, causing Francine to call an unwed mothers home. Two nuns arrive, cart Lulu out of the house, and lock her in the trunk, where they whisk her off to the Home of the Shepherd's Flock.

Meanwhile, on Halloween evening, La Rue is shot by Bobo and his friend, who come to trash the Fishpaw house. La Rue manages to retrieve the gun and shoots Bobo dead. Lulu comes home from the unwed mothers home and, upon discovering her boyfriend dead, tries to commit suicide by sticking her head in the oven. Francine comes home, sees her daughter's suicide attempt, and faints.

After this, Francine's life begins to change: Dexter is released from jail, completely rehabilitated. Lulu suffers a miscarriage from her suicide attempt and sees the error of her ways, turning from a high school harlot to an artistic flower child. Francine also finally gets the strength to tell La Rue off. A beacon of light in the form of lounge-suit wearing Todd Tomorrow (Tab Hunter) arrives, lifting her spirits. Soon, Todd proposes marriage to an elated Francine who agrees. However, the plot begins to twist as it conspires that Todd is acquainted with Francine's mother, La Rue, in more than friendly terms.

Francine soon finds out that La Rue and Todd are plotting to get her divorce settlement ($2,000 a month for alimony and the house completely paid off.). Meanwhile, Elmer and Sandra break into the house in order to kill Francine, but are felled by Dexter and Lulu (Dexter steps on Sandra's foot, causing her to accidentally shoot the gun; the subsequent bullet kills Elmer; Lulu uses her macramé to strangle Sandra.) Cuddles and her German chauffeur/fiancée Heintz (Hans Kramm) show up at the right moment, running over La Rue and Todd with their limousine. As the film ends, all seems well for Francine and her children, and Cuddles and Heintz.

• Divine as Francine Fishpaw, an odor-aware housewife with a keen sense of smell
• Tab Hunter as Todd Tomorrow, the perfect guy...or is he?
• David Samson as Elmer Fishpaw, Francine's unappreciative lout of a husband who owns the The Charles Art, an X-rated movie theater
• Edith Massey as Cuddles Kovinsky, Francine's retarded best friend, originally her house cleaner, but inherited a large amount of money from a family she worked for
• Ken King as Dexter Fishpaw, Francine's foot-fetishing glue-sniffing teenage son who is the alleged Baltimore Foot Stomper.
• Mary Garlington as Lulu Fishpaw, Francine's slutty spoiled teenage daughter
• Mink Stole as Sandra Sullivan, Elmer's bitchy secretary to whom he is having an affair
• Joni Ruth White as La Rue, Francine's arrogant mother who steals from her daughter
• Stiv Bators as Bo-Bo Belsinger, Lulu's delinquent boyfriend
• Hans Kramm as Heintz, Cuddles' German chauffeur and fiancée

• Susan Lowe as Mall Victim, the latest victim of the Baltimore Foot Stomper.
• Cookie Mueller as Betty Lalinski
• George Hulse as Mr. Kirk, the junior high school principal
• Mary Vivian Pearce as Nun #1, one of the nuns who comes to get Lulu.
• Sharon Niesp as Nun #2, one of the nuns who comes to get Lulu.
• Jean Hill as Gospel Bus Hijacker, a black woman who chases after Bo-Bo, Lulu, and their friends in a bus after they hit her on the butt with a broom.

Waters' usual troupe of actors, the Dreamlanders, tend to play a minor role in this film when compared to Waters' previous film, Desperate Living which starred a majority of the Dreamlanders in major roles. Only two, Divine and Edith Massey get top billing in Polyester.

Dreamlander perennials Mink Stole, Mary Vivian Pearce, Cookie Mueller, Sharon Niesp, Marina Melin, Susan Lowe, Jean Hill, along with others were each given small roles. The parts are still imperative to the plot, but do not hold as much standing as their earlier roles.

Polyester was also the first of Waters' movies to become somewhat mainstream, even garnering an R rating as his previous films were all unrated or rated X. The role of Francine was Divine's first "straight" role when compared to the other characters in the film; Francine was the one with whom the audience could most closely relate. Additionally, the setting of the film was in the middle class suburbs of Baltimore instead of in the slums and bohemian neighborhoods of Baltimore and people at the fringes of society (as was the case with Waters' earlier films).

Polyester was meant as a send-up of “women’s pictures,” an exploitative genre of film that was popular from the 1950s-60s and typically featured bored, unfulfilled, or otherwise troubled women, usually middle-aged suburban housewives, finding release or escape through the arrival of a handsome man. “Women’s pictures” were typically hackneyed B-movies, but Waters specifically styled Polyester after the work of genuinely talented director Douglas Sirk, making use of similar lighting and editing techniques, even using authentic equipment from Sirk's movie-making era.

Smells, especially Francine's particularly keen sense of smell, play an important role in the film. To highlight this as a gimmick, Waters designed Odorama, a "scratch and sniff" technique inspired by the work of William Castle and the 1960 film Scent of Mystery that featured a device called smell-o-vision. Special cards with spots, numbered 1 through 10, were distributed to audience members before the show, in the manner of 3D glasses. When a number flashed on the screen, the viewers were supposed to smell the appropriate spot. The smells included the scent of flowers, pizza, glue, grass, and feces.

Some video versions of the film edit out when the numbers came on screen, the version used was one created by Lorimar Telepictures, which was shown on cable TV in America.

In 1999, the Independent Film Channel released reproduction Odorama cards for John Waters film festivals. IFC, since then, has thrown away 100,000 reproduction odorama cards.

In the commentary track on the film's 2004 DVD release, Waters cynically explained his delight at having the film's audiences actually "pay to smell shit".

Polyester received some good reviews from the mainstream press. Said Janet Maslin of the New York Times:

“

Ordinarily, Mr. Waters is not everyone's cup of tea - but Polyester, which opens today at 4he National and other theaters, is not Mr. Waters's ordinary movie. It's a very funny one, with a hip, stylized humor that extends beyond the usual limitations of his outlook. This time, the comic vision is so controlled and steady that Mr. Waters need not rely so heavily on the grotesque touches that make his other films such perennial favorites on the weekend Midnight Movie circuit. Here's one that can just as well be shown in the daytime.

”

[1]

1. Polyester - Tab Hunter - Words and music by Chris Stein and Debbie Harry
2. Be My Daddy's Baby (Lu-Lu's theme) - Michael Kamen - Words and music by Debbie Harry and Michael Kamen
3. The Best Thing - Bill Murray - Words and music by Debbie Harry and Michael Kamen

• Polyester at the Internet Movie Database
• Polyester at All Movie Guide

v • d • e Films directed by John Waters
Hag in a Black Leather Jacket • Roman Candles • Eat Your Makeup • Mondo Trasho • The Diane Linkletter Story • Multiple Maniacs • Pink Flamingos • Female Trouble • Desperate Living • Polyester • Hairspray • Cry-Baby • Serial Mom • Pecker • Cecil B. Demented • A Dirty Shame