It was in 1978 & I was in Form 3 @ Anglo Chinese School, Ipoh. Things went according to its routine as it should be. Going to school, "lepak" at the Ipoh Central Bus Station and observing people and so on.
However, things changed towards the middle of 1978 when Ipoh was suddenly being "invaded" by teens - boys & girls - who dressed either in tight pants (black) with a tight brownish T Shirts for the boys and the girls were wearing tight pants with pink T Shirts. Even during our co curriculum activities after school, I noticed the same trend among some of the ACS boys - and obviously Latif (Latip) & Yusof (Usop) were not spared from the contagious trend of the day. The fashion craze was almost everywhere - in Ipoh town, at the Ipoh Central Bus Station & even at the shopping complexes.
Yup ... year 1978 was known for the "Grease" fever - the movie which was a hit worldwide. Starred by John Travolta as Danny Zuko (the grease boys) of the T-Birds and the beautiful Olivia Newton John as Sandy Ollson (the innocent/naive girl next door).
Back to Latip & Usop.... Latip is slightly taller than me I guess (5' 3'' or so) but Usop was at about 5' 7''. They were like Siamese Twin - inseparable. For that whole 1month or so both of them dressed as a "greaser" and walked like a "greaser". Somehow or rather they had their own charm as on Saturdays, my group of friends & I could saw both of them strolling "greasily" in Ipoh town together with the "Pink Ladies"!!!!
I could still remember when our school organised "Drama Week" - we normally had this programme once in about 2 months - Latip & Usop together with their class mates came up with a remake of a segment from "Grease" i.e. the "Grease Ligthning" segment.
There they were up on the stage with Latip at the one end of the stage & Usop at the other end waiting ..... Once the "Grease Lightning" song started both of them did the slide towards each other and there were 2 "Danny Zukos" dancing frantically on stage with a goup of T-Birds boys while combing their greasy hair on stage .... Complete with the mock "grease Lightning" car on stage and the costumes were superb.... It was really hilarious!!!!
The after effect of that show? Well, the next Saturday, we saw Latip & Usop strolling at Ipoh Town with even more "Pink Ladies" accompanying them!!!! I supposed their "shares" had gone up...
I am just wondering if years back, the producer in Hollywood approached both John Travolta & Olivia Newton John to do a remake of "Grease", why not my Alma Matter ACS do the same and ask Latip & Usop to do the same?
My hats off to both of them for their creativity & for creating havoc in Ipoh for that 1 month in the middle of year 1978....
You might be wondering did my friends & I become "Danny Zuko"/T-Birds Boys during that period? The answer is a BIG "NO NO" as we were still loyal to our black T Shirt/Pagoda T Shirt and our faded jeans - "lepaking" & observing people including Latip & Usop ....
Those were the days ......
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment