The Girl in Grease outshines Travolta - Gaceta Illustrada

Olivia Newton-John, the girl from Grease ECLIPSES TRAVOLTA Olivia Newton-John, blonde, blue eyes and dazzling smile, has become in recent months one of the most popular figures of the moment and all thanks to a film: Grease

Olivia was born in Cambridge, England. When she was fourteen, she moved to Australia with her family. She lived there for years; that's why many people consider her Australian.

In Canberra, she formed a group called Sol Four, but as beginners, their opportunities seemed slim, and the group disbanded. Back in her homeland, she decided to devote herself entirely to singing, and in 1971, she recorded If Not For You. Within a few weeks, it had reached the top ten in the English charts and the top twenty in the American charts.

In 1973, she hit the mark again with Let Me Be There. This song cemented her fame in the United States, so much so that by 1974, she had already won three Grammy Awards (the equivalent of an Oscar for film) for songs like If You Love Me and I Honestly Love You.

But all this had not been easy for her. Behind her were the efforts and sacrifices of her time participating in the Eurovision Song Contest with Long Live Love.

It was John Farrar who saw in her the talent necessary for a major launch. Farrar, as a former member of the group The Shadows, knew well what he was doing and how to act.

The first results of this artistic union began to be seen a few months later, when Farrar, along with Bruce Welch, Hank Marvin and John Rostill, also former members of The Shadows, took charge of the recordings and launch of Olivia, making her one of the most listened to voices in England and the United States.

However, the beautiful Olivia also enjoyed the stage; her love of musical comedy runs parallel to her vocation for song. At that time, I filmed several television specials that the critics liked, Olivia comments. That was five years ago; I remember it perfectly, because I saw Grease in the theater back then. What I couldn't imagine at the time was that I would be the lead in the film version, although it's true that there was a certain resemblance between the character of Sandy and me; she's as shy as I am.

But how did you come to be chosen for this role?

It all started four months before the filming of the movie. I was at a big party hosted by Helen Reddy and Jeff Wald. There, I was introduced to Allan Carr, with whom I chatted for a long time. He jokingly told me that I would be good in films. Naturally, I didn't take him seriously; I had appeared in a film six years earlier and was chastened. But he insisted, telling me that I had a special sophistication that made me endearing. I took all this as a compliment rather than anything serious.

And they called you...

Yes, a few days later, Carr called me for some tests with John Travolta, which turned out to be satisfactory for both him and Robert Stigwood.

Without Olivia, there's no Travoltitis.

At the time, Olivia had a tour of the United States planned, which was scheduled to end at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York. She also had six weeks of performances in Europe scheduled.

But Carr and Stigwood had found their leading man, and the contracts were canceled.

Are you satisfied with the results?

Quite a bit. On the day of the premiere, people were saying that we looked like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. As for how I see myself. The truth is that when you're filming, you hope everything goes well. But I would have liked to repeat some scenes.

Choreographer Pat Birch was so amazed by Olivia's naturalness in the dance numbers that she shot the longest scene in the film in one go and without repeating it.

This is, in a nutshell, Olivia Newton-John, with her four platinum albums for Let Me Be There, If You Love Me, Have You Ever Been Mellow, and The Greatest Hits, plus just as many gold ones.

Olivia Newton-John is now more than just the Travolta. The Travoltitis produced by Saturday Night Fever that filled the world with zealous fans has given way, with Grease, to an unexpected situation: from now on, the outlying neighborhoods of every Western city will feel the unease of the million Travolta imitators. Imitating Travolta was obligatory and not so difficult.

The difficulty has just arrived: you can no longer be Travolta if you don't have Olivia in front of you. The Travoltas of the planet have just suffered a serious attack: without Olivias, they are meaningless; with Olivia in front of you, the genuine, the authentic Travolta began to fade.

By JOSE EDUARDO A.

Photo caption: On the day of the premiere, they were saying that John and I looked like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, says Olivia. A multi-platinum seller, the blonde from Grease has revolutionized global travoltism: the many people who suffer from fever every Saturday need an Olivia.