The one thing John Waters couldn’t get Divine to do: “You can’t say I didn’t try”
When you watch Divine on screen, sauntering about in a tight dress, her hair looking fit for animals to hibernate in, you wonder how it’s possible that one person could possess such a unique and captivating look.
No one in the world has ever possessed the aura that Divine harnessed, and I don’t think anyone ever will. A frightening vision of an America in complete breakdown, at least that’s what conservatives seemed to think, Divine broke every rule imposed on the good American, both on and off screen.
Born Harris Glenn Milstead, the aspiring actor took on the drag persona when it came to performing, treating his outrageous skin-tight, sometimes see-through, dresses as a form of work uniform. He identified as a man, but when it came to acting, Milstead only wanted to play female parts (apart from when he assumed the role of the shitty-underpants-wearing Earl who gets Divine’s Dawn Davenport pregnant on a dirty outdoor mattress in Female Trouble). But would Milstead have become Divine without John Waters?
When Waters first met Divine, Milstead was every bit the flamboyant performer, dressing up as Hollywood starlets and hosting extravagant parties. With Waters deciding that he should give this drag alter ego a name, taking ‘Divine’ from a Jean Genet book, and with the help of David Lochary, who immersed Milstead in the world of makeup and drag (and introduced him to Waters), a new icon was born.
Waters soon cast Divine as the lead in several of his films, which began as incredibly low-budget underground works of provocation. Making his first appearance in the short Roman Candles, Divine would eventually land a starring role in Mondo Trasho, in which he plays a woman who hits someone while driving after getting distracted by daydreaming about a naked man.
Divine was down for anything that Waters suggested, with Pink Flamingos of course being the most obvious example. At the end of the film, with Divine’s Babs Johnson successfully crowned the filthiest person alive, she picks up a freshly laid dog shit and puts it in her mouth. You’d expect some clever editing to make this happen, but there was no cutting and no trickery at work here – Milstead really picks up a piece of poo that we see exiting the dog’s backside, only to put it right in his gob.
A call to the hospital was made later that day to double-check if this could get you sick. It certainly can, but Divine “survived without a single day of bad health,” wrote Waters in Shock Value. So, it seemed like Divine would do whatever his friend asked of him, but that didn’t mean that these crazy ideas always worked out. One thing you’d assume would be easy for Divine actually turned out to be impossible, leading Waters to work some movie magic.
In the same book, Waters detailed how he wanted Divine to throw up for a certain scene they were filming, but it just wouldn’t happen. “A nurse was on set and fed Divine a half bottle of ipecac, a medicine used in hospitals to induce vomiting. As the entire film crew stood by silently, waiting to get the shot, Divine turned greener and greener, but could never quite ‘get it up’.”
Surely they weren’t going to give up that easily? Of course not. Waters asked Divine to do it the old-fashioned way and stick his fingers down his throat, “which he did with glee.” Yet, nothing was being delivered.
“I came to the shocking realisation that Divine was somehow ‘puke shy’. I went back to the old standby, creamed corn. I apologise to my audience for never giving them an unsimulated puke shot, but you can’t say I didn’t try.” Who would’ve guessed that out of everything, it was being sick that just didn’t work for Divine, who would, however, willingly put shit in his mouth.
