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42
winter
|
spr ing
You starred in
Polyester
in 1981. How did your
collaboration with John Waters come about?
Well, I was one of the pioneers of dinner theater. I was
traveling around the country and was in Indianapolis just
closing a play and the phone rang. It was John Waters. It was
a cold call. He said, “My name is John Waters,” and I said,
“I know who you are. I’m a big fan.” I didn’t know him but I
knew his work. I knew he looked like Adolphe Menjou and
had a pencil mustache. He’s like your friendly undertaker. He’s
delightful. I loved
Pink Flamingos
and
Mondo Trasho.
He said,
“I have a screenplay and I’d love to send it to you and see if
you’re interested.” I said, “Well, I can’t tell you right now, but
send it to me. I’m very busy doing dinner theater, but I do
have a ten-day window.”
He sent me the script; I loved it and decided to do it.
Then, he said, “But, before we go there, how would you feel
about kissing a three-hundred-pound transvestite?”
I didn’t know how to answer that, but said, “Well, I’m sure I’ve kissed a hell of a
lot worse.” Later on, when we did our western,
Lust In The Dust,
we really wanted him
to be our director, but he only does his own projects.
So, you had this ten-day window and managed to make the film
(Polyester)
in those
ten days?
Yes. I had a kind of Mickey Mouse agent at the time (Dick Clayton was now no
longer an agent; he had become a personal manager), who told me, “You can’t do that
film,” and I said “Why not? What have I got to lose? It’s going to be a fun experience.”
And, it was one of the most fun experiences I’ve ever had.
You’ve been with Allan Glaser for a long time. How did you two first meet?
I met Allan in 1983. I’d been working on a comedy-western screenplay called
Lust In The Dust
and it wasn’t going the way I had hoped. Allan was an executive
over at 20
th
Century Fox Studios, and he single-handedly raised all the money for the
financing of that film, and we went out and shot it. Paul Bartel directed. Paul was an
interesting man but he didn’t have the balls to do the project the way I wanted it to be
Tab’s autobiography became a
New York Times
best seller
Tab’s two-year relationship with
Anthony Perkins became fodder
for
Confidential
magazine and
other rumor mills