Coolidge Corner Theater Honors the “Pope of Trash” Filmmaker John Waters.
“Pope of Trash” filmmaker and queer revolutionary John Waters is the latest recipient of the Coolidge Award from Brookline’s historic Coolidge Corner Theater. Waters joins a list of prestigious honorees that includes Meryl Streep, Jane Fonda and Werner Herzog. The ceremony also marks the 20th anniversary of the Coolidge Award, a contemporary landmark in Boston cinema culture.
Waters, known for his boundary-pushing films including “Pink Flamingos,” the Smell-O-Vision romp “Polyester” and the political movie-musical “Hairspray,” regaled the Coolidge attendees with stories of his early career, the benefits of being an underground artist, and the future of filmmaking.
“My films were certainly never mainstream, but they always had an audience,” he said. “Even in church basements, we sold out. But they were never mainstream until ‘Hairspray.’” Divine, an actress and drag queen who was widely considered to be “shocking” and “grotesque,” was a frequent collaborator of Waters, having starred in eight of his films including “Hairspray.”
“[Lead actress] Divine was thought up to be this scary figure that horrified people, but when she played a mother, it was completely the opposite. It went against type, and people accepted it. When I wrote ‘Hairspray,’ I didn’t think it was going to be more commercial. It just happened to be one thing I was obsessed with that didn’t frighten people, but people want to be frightened when they go to my movies.”
Although Waters’ career extends back to his twenties with the release of “Pink Flamingos” in 1972, he detailed stories of his youth even before his time as a filmmaker. Some of his first creative ventures date back to his time in high school, including puppet-show productions of “Cinderella” and “Punch and Judy.” He also mentioned a childhood hero as a point of inspiration: the Wicked Witch of the West from “The Wizard of Oz.” The Cowardly Lion, he joked, was “a butch and a coward.” “He’s a power bottom!” he yelled. “He sang about being a sissy!”
Waters explained how his films grew from screenings in church basements to hitting theaters across the nation. Small towns in Massachusetts were pivotal to his success, he said.
“I showed [the films] first in Provincetown, in a church on Shank Painter Road. And then I showed them in little underground theaters at midnight,” said Waters. “The first big place they caught on was in San Francisco at the Palace Theater. They had an amazing midnight show where they brought out Divine.
“Divine got on an airplane with no money, in full drag, and the Cockettes met her in the airport. Imagine that today — that would never happen. But the movies really caught on there. New York was the last place they opened, but [“Pink Flamingos”] did play for 10 years, at least one night a week at one theater. That’s legs.”
Waters continued to detail Massachusetts’ impact on the broadening reach of his films; “Orson Welles booked a lot of the cinemas in Boston. And this is before Connie White, who also [booked theaters]. My films played very well in Boston. It was always a great city for me.”
Connie White, the former head programmer at the Coolidge, received acknowledgments from both Waters and Coolidge Deputy Director Beth Gilligan for her contributions to Boston cinema and her tenacious support of independent film for over five decades. In her introduction to the event, Gilligan echoed Waters’ appreciation: “John considers her one of the great champions of his work, but she’s really so much more than that. She has had such an impact on Boston film culture, and film culture in general.”
As the years have passed, more “champions” of Waters’ work have risen. Recently, Waters has received two more major recognitions. The National Library of Congress inducted “Pink Flamingos” into the National Film Registry, an achievement that only 875 films share. Moreover, “Pink Flamingos” is only one of 10 films on the National Film Registry to be by queer filmmakers and/or about queer subject matter. Waters expressed his surprise for the induction, saying: “Somehow the National Registry of the government thinks ‘Pink Flamingos’ is a great film,” said Waters. “What was that screening like? When [Danny Mills] said ‘Do my balls, Mama!’ They said, ‘This is it!’ I’m flattered.”
The other accolade came in the spring when the Academy Museum in Hollywood honored Waters’ body of work with a retrospective exhibition, entitled “John Waters: Pope of Trash.” The Academy Museum, an extension of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, featured artifacts from his works, including props, hand-written scripts, costumes and promotional gimmicks from his films. When speaking on the exhibit, Waters said “I’m so respectable, I could puke.”
Waters rounded out his acceptance interview with some advice for young filmmakers in the industry today: “Think of a way to make an NC-17 movie with no sex or violence. I’ve always said that. Children smoking in a Satanic Temple! There’s lots of things you could come up with, but that’s your duty to come up with it.”
The Coolidge continued its celebration of Waters’ irreverent body of work with an evening screening of his 2008 film “Pecker” last week. If you can’t get enough of Waters, read his newly released 2024 film rankings here.
