GIVING PROPS TO HAIRSPRAY

Last Summer I gleefully mentioned that one of my illustrations, as well as a package design I did for the S.S. Adams Prank and Magic Co. was supposed to appear in the 2007 version of the movie Hairspray. Thankfully, both did indeed make the cut (albeit briefly) and now that the DVD is in my collection I can share some screenshots of the outcome (so that you may know when to cheer aloud while viewing the film with your loved ones).

The first glimpse can be seen in this exterior shot of the Hardy Har Hut. S.S. Adams products bearing my designer's touch line the windows...

(as per usual, pics enlarge when clicked)

The faces that the set designers painted on the upper windows were based on this S.S. Adams rack header...


Viewers get a nice clear view of the Sword Thru Finger magic trick as it hovers above Amanda Bynes in this shot...

If you care to know more about the packaging, here's the story behind it.

On to the illustration. I've described the fellow above as "what I thought it might look like if Jim Flora had illustrated a cover for '60s-era Esquire magazine if it had done a feature on S.S. Adams." The image and its color scheme were incorporated into the Hefty Hideaway marquee. It is seen in exactly three shots, amounting to probably less than four seconds of screen time...

#1
#2
#3

So, did my illustration also influence the "real" Mr. Pinky's plaid suit?...

There's no way to know. But this fact won't stop me from telling everyone "Yes, I pretty much tailored Jerry Stiller's wardrobe."

Later on, an entire rack of product has the honor of sharing the screen with Michelle Pfeiffer and the always laudable Christopher Walken...


Walken demonstrates a genuine S.S. Adams Joy Buzzer...


Ms. John Travolta throws a rubber chicken right next to the tower of classic gags...


A few more items (Coin Con and Mystic Smoke) are stashed in the stock room...

One of the movies few anachronisms was the use of self-inflating Whoopee Cushions which were not developed until decades later...


Though I can't complain because my Adams packaging obviously didn't exist back then either.

And lastly, my name actually shows up way, way at the tail end of the credits. We're talking after the music ends and even after the Dolby and MPAA logos and all that...

It's a bit screwed up because the Adams logo is not courtesy of me. It was supposed to mention the illustration, but at this point I'm just thankful they didn't misspell my name.

So there you have it. I'm quite thankful to have this minuscule involvement in Hairspray of all films because I really enjoy watching it (even more than the original) and it's just oozing with fun and joy which are two things that I strongly endorse. They really did a tremendous job putting it together and they captured the era in a way that few movies have. (I say this as if I were alive in 1960.)

So after obsessing about it for a lifetime, I have finally become a piece of obscure minutiae in our popular culture.

Feel free to patronize my film (as I like to refer to it.)...