‘Grease’ Soundtrack: The Dirty Secrets Behind The Songs

4. “Beauty School Dropout”

Didi Conn describes filming the “Beauty School Dropout” scene with Frankie Avalon, who was 40 years old at the time the movie premiered. It was no acting, Frenchy really was salivating over Frankie Avalon. She reveals that the T-Birds had some issues with filming the angel scene towards the end of the song, and you’ll laugh when you find out why!

“The boys said they weren’t afraid to go up high but they didn’t know the harnesses would be so tight around their privates. They were in such pain!” Didi says. Jeff Conaway, who played Kenickie in the movie, injured his back during the sequence, leading to an addiction to painkillers that would follow him for the rest of his life. Didi Conn, said: “They had to keep the windows closed because next door was a pork plant. “It was so smelly, noisy and so very, very hot but everybody was just having fun, dancing and trying new things — you had to or you’d faint from the heat.”

This song is also guilty of having a suggestive lyric as well. Do you remember which line it was? Oh yeah, that ‘hooker’ line! Another fun fact from Didi? She admits that the wrap-up party when the movie was finished was a bit of a blur.  “I don’t even remember the wrap party because somebody made some brownies. There was something in it! I won’t mention names… I just remember laughing a lot!” Sounds like the whole cast had a lot of fun that day!

5. “Look At Me, I’m Sandra Dee”

This is a turning point for the audience as we get to witness Rizzo in all her shameless glory – making fun of Sandy being a goodie two shoes. There’s a lot of lyrics in this that point to making fun of Sandy being a virgin, afraid of sex, and not being able to smoke a cigarette without coughing.

We also can’t forget that infamous ending line… “Hey, fongool… I’m Sandra Dee,” which actually means saying “f*ck you” to someone. This line is typically removed from television versions of the movie. Rizzo is one of the most interesting characters in that we get to see not only her exterior edginess but her interior softness. 

6. “You’re The One That I Want/We Go Together”

This scene is a ground-breaking moment in the film where goodie two shoes Sandy Olsson transforms into what is now known as “Bad Sandy.” Could this be a nod at Sandy’s transition into womanhood? Olivia Newton-John has said herself that when she finally put on the black leather costume for the end of the movie, she was treated differently by her male co-stars, giving her much more attention. Newton-John also reveals that she actually had to be sewn into the outfit because it was so tight-fitting! She was super nervous to be putting on that costume, too, unsure if she was doing the right thing.

Director Randal Kleiser admits that when he first saw Newton-John in her black leather outfit, he didn’t even know it was her at first. “When we were shooting at the drive-in, that’s when they first put together her makeup and her outfit and showed me how she was going to look for the ending. There was all this noise and this girl coming toward me with this wild hair, and I said, ‘Who’s that?’ I couldn’t tell it was Olivia.” He continues, “I thought it was just some extra they had brought up. I said, ‘What? Olivia! Wow, this is gonna work,’” he says.

Can you believe all the interesting and surprising secrets you may or may not have known about Grease? It’s hard to believe so many of these secrets have been kept under the radar for so long. Comment your favorite secrets you learned from this video about the 1978 film!