Episode 14
Flashdance, Fashion, and Feminism - The 1980s
🎙️
Flashdance had a profound impact through fashion, dance, and as an example of woman's rights and independence. As a Steeltown girl myself, this was one of my favorite movies growing up and I hope that you enjoy seeing the modern-day locations of this iconic 80s movie.
🚕 Google Map to Duquesne Incline that Alex rides
🎥 Filming Locations of Flashdance
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additional sound effects from https://www.zapsplat.com
Transcript
[Music]
Speaker:to give ourselves cute
Speaker:greetings and welcome to the talk with
Speaker:History Podcast I am your host Scott
Speaker:here with my wife and historian Jen
Speaker:hello on this podcast we talk about
Speaker:history's continuing impact on us and
Speaker:our personal journey through YouTube as
Speaker:we continue to explore record and share
Speaker:our history walks with you
Speaker:before we get into our main topic I want
Speaker:to briefly ask for for a review from our
Speaker:listeners Apple podcast reviews can get
Speaker:you on a future episode with a far five
Speaker:star shout out
Speaker:and if you do not have an Apple device
Speaker:you can reach out to us and ask us
Speaker:questions over on Twitter we'll talk
Speaker:with history or through our website talk
Speaker:with history.com
Speaker:also don't forget to check out our other
Speaker:podcast the history Buzz it's a little
Speaker:more relaxed when it's where we sit down
Speaker:and interview folks while chatting about
Speaker:history over a couple of drinks and we
Speaker:just let the conversation wander where
Speaker:it may it's a lot of fun
Speaker:[Music]
Speaker:if you love 80s movies music and the
Speaker:fashion that came with it all I think
Speaker:you're going to love today's topic
Speaker:Jen she's a Pittsburgh native and loves
Speaker:all those things I just mentioned
Speaker:so it's a natural fit that we're going
Speaker:to talk about one of the biggest movies
Speaker:of
Speaker:1983.10 what is the movie we're talking
Speaker:about today the last dance flash dance
Speaker:and why are we talking about Flash Dance
Speaker:well Flashdance had a huge impact on me
Speaker:as a young girl especially growing up
Speaker:in the 80s so much so that when I had an
Speaker:answering machine when people still had
Speaker:those and you could make your own
Speaker:recording part of it was that song just
Speaker:a steel town girl on a Saturday night
Speaker:looking for the time of her life that
Speaker:was on my answering machine yeah because
Speaker:it was so fitting for Pittsburgh girl
Speaker:and having fun because the movie
Speaker:Flashdance it takes place in Pittsburgh
Speaker:it takes place in Pittsburgh and it's
Speaker:really great in the 80s with the steel
Speaker:industry I mean she's a welder It just
Speaker:fits in with everything that's it is
Speaker:it's like the classic 80s movie it hits
Speaker:It's got good music it's it's it's so
Speaker:great and blue collar yeah right so we
Speaker:go in the video
Speaker:we go to a lot of those filming
Speaker:locations and for me that was a dream
Speaker:come true yeah that was that was super
Speaker:we try to recreate some of those we
Speaker:tried to recreate some of the shots like
Speaker:her biking to work you know across the
Speaker:bridge you know into the city like down
Speaker:the street around the corners and none
Speaker:of it had continuity because they're
Speaker:really looking for really great
Speaker:locations and scene settings in
Speaker:Pittsburgh and I talk about how she's
Speaker:not biking she's not living over here I
Speaker:think you said like she had the reason
Speaker:she has such great legs is because she's
Speaker:biking all over the entire city I love
Speaker:the city and like the Steep Pittsburgh
Speaker:Hills right and at one point one of the
Speaker:great scenes that they're going down the
Speaker:hill and it's right beside the hospital
Speaker:Allegheny hospital so you see a nurse
Speaker:walking up in the scene yeah and I tell
Speaker:you that's because she's right beside
Speaker:the hospital yeah and if you're if you
Speaker:haven't seen that episode go to our
Speaker:YouTube channel and look up and just
Speaker:search for Flashdance
Speaker:um but but we actually so we show the
Speaker:movie clip and then we show us doing
Speaker:that it's either is it that we should
Speaker:movie clip first and then we show you
Speaker:yeah so I so I so not only are you kind
Speaker:of standing in the spot where they
Speaker:filmed it but I'm trying to recreate as
Speaker:best I can with my amateur you know
Speaker:equipment and and technique to really
Speaker:recreate those shots it was just a dream
Speaker:come true for me it was super fun for a
Speaker:girl who always loved that movie yeah
Speaker:and we go to the Carnegie Museum where
Speaker:she it's supposed to be the ballet
Speaker:school in the movie and she gets
Speaker:intimidated filling out the application
Speaker:for ballet school she runs away she runs
Speaker:out yeah and so I kind of like recreate
Speaker:her running out and she's running out of
Speaker:the gallery basically of the museum yeah
Speaker:and again we try to recreate the shot so
Speaker:the move the shot in the movie is her
Speaker:running kind of that's the second floor
Speaker:and then it's like she must have to
Speaker:backtrack and then she's running the
Speaker:same
Speaker:way in the same distance on the bottom
Speaker:floor yeah yeah basically just to get a
Speaker:really good shot of that whole Gallery
Speaker:yeah but we recreate all that stuff
Speaker:right you're walking down down the thing
Speaker:I'm trying to do it where it's yeah the
Speaker:pillars are going by I'm doing the shot
Speaker:there yeah so it was and even like uh
Speaker:when she rides her bike up to the
Speaker:Carnegie Museum yes right in front so we
Speaker:talk about that's where she sees the
Speaker:ballet and she's leaving with Hannah and
Speaker:she sees uh Mick or she sees Nick with
Speaker:his ex-wife oh yeah you know so she's in
Speaker:front of the museum there so we talk
Speaker:about the front of the museum and the
Speaker:statues that are out there they use the
Speaker:Carnegie Museum for everything that's
Speaker:where she does her the side of the
Speaker:museum is where she does her dance
Speaker:practice Yeah right so they use that
Speaker:whole museum for a bunch of different
Speaker:things uh but it was really fun we go to
Speaker:like Hannah's house yeah which is still
Speaker:there I mean it's still like the house
Speaker:it's I mean it's it's awesome we've
Speaker:barely changed yeah there there's no
Speaker:Portico anymore and there's no Ivy yep
Speaker:on the side of the building we ride the
Speaker:Duquesne Incline that was neat that was
Speaker:neat and we talked about her riding the
Speaker:incline with her bicycle and if you're
Speaker:not familiar with Pittsburgh again let
Speaker:me let me step back and paint the
Speaker:picture so the decane incline and
Speaker:correct me if I'm wrong Jen but let me
Speaker:see if I I've actually learned something
Speaker:while we were out there filming they
Speaker:used to use it for the coal miners and
Speaker:they would transport all these materials
Speaker:up this super Steep Hill so if again if
Speaker:you're not if you've never been to
Speaker:Pittsburgh or certain parts of
Speaker:Pennsylvania
Speaker:very common for super steep hills there
Speaker:which is Nightmare driving in the
Speaker:wintertime
Speaker:um super steep hills super sharp turns
Speaker:so they're The Duquesne Incline it was
Speaker:actually originally to help transport
Speaker:materials and equipment and this that
Speaker:and the other up this super steep hill
Speaker:and then it basically turned into a
Speaker:tourist attraction yeah and then people
Speaker:would take it home after work and things
Speaker:like that so it was used for that as
Speaker:well and so most people
Speaker:Pittsburgh is on Three Rivers it's
Speaker:connected there's
Speaker:there's Bridges they call it the city of
Speaker:bridges because there's so many bridges
Speaker:that go across the rivers that kind of
Speaker:connect the whole city together yeah so
Speaker:you have the Monongahela
Speaker:the Allegheny in the Ohio
Speaker:and those are the three rivers that make
Speaker:up the and we used to have Three Rivers
Speaker:Stadium there and so all of that area is
Speaker:Pittsburgh all around those rivers and
Speaker:all around those bridges and it's very
Speaker:Steep and it's very hilly and The
Speaker:Duquesne Incline it has a beautiful view
Speaker:it's where we shoot the very last um
Speaker:scene yeah at the top of it if you ever
Speaker:go to visit Pittsburgh I mean you should
Speaker:go do it it's it's pretty neat it's not
Speaker:like some fast ride it's very slow you
Speaker:know in the movie she actually uses it
Speaker:and she takes her bicycle she uses it to
Speaker:take her bicycle she's going to see
Speaker:Hannah she's ridden all she's written
Speaker:all over the city all over the city up
Speaker:these Hills and around the corners and
Speaker:she doesn't want to ride a little bit
Speaker:further you know up the hill but I get
Speaker:it
Speaker:so for a young girl to see this movie
Speaker:right Alex is supposed to be 18. she's a
Speaker:welder her dream is to be in the ballet
Speaker:but she's uh she's a welder by day and
Speaker:then she dances at night and she she
Speaker:dances in a place where it's not
Speaker:nudity yeah so it's not quite a strip
Speaker:club that's quite a gentleman's club
Speaker:yeah she dances and but that's kind of
Speaker:her way to kind of keep her dream alive
Speaker:yeah to practice her love dancing on
Speaker:stage with like the super uber famous
Speaker:you know scene with the water scene you
Speaker:know she drops of water on herself yes
Speaker:like the bucket of water on herself and
Speaker:dances around like and that scene I mean
Speaker:the weight of that water must have been
Speaker:intense it has a lot of water it's a lot
Speaker:of water that's a lot of weight
Speaker:um but so here we have like this
Speaker:conflict yeah right where oh not only is
Speaker:she doing a job that is a predominantly
Speaker:male job in a huge industry in
Speaker:Pittsburgh Pennsylvania especially then
Speaker:especially then you can imagine the
Speaker:money she would be making now at that
Speaker:at that age she wouldn't be a full
Speaker:welder she'd be an apprentice welder but
Speaker:you would still be making a ton of money
Speaker:based on her age yeah you can talk about
Speaker:it yeah based on her age because you
Speaker:have to have so many years experience
Speaker:welding to to be a master welder and so
Speaker:Apprentice welder but you're still
Speaker:making a ton of money Pittsburgh is a
Speaker:city of Steel yeah it's this welding
Speaker:everywhere and so we go to the location
Speaker:where she's working and she gets the
Speaker:sandwich yeah her lunch her lunch break
Speaker:yeah and you see all this the steel yeah
Speaker:and it was very interesting again kind
Speaker:of from a behind the scenes perspective
Speaker:so that's definitely that's absolutely
Speaker:the spot but the building has actually
Speaker:been kind of added on to a little bit
Speaker:and so we really had to kind of do some
Speaker:double takes because I was trying to
Speaker:recreate this shot and I couldn't quite
Speaker:get it to match because there's like a
Speaker:different building in the background now
Speaker:where there wasn't back then and they've
Speaker:built on they've kind of added this uh
Speaker:kind of truck dock station
Speaker:um actually on to the onto the building
Speaker:where she was next to so we do like the
Speaker:best job we can but like there's just I
Speaker:mean think about it was filmed you know
Speaker:in the early 80s it was released in
Speaker:1983. sure and uh here we are 40 years
Speaker:later which is crazy
Speaker:um and uh
Speaker:you know and so so the the cities change
Speaker:so the city's changed yeah so
Speaker:and here She Wants to Be a Dance she
Speaker:wants to be a ballet dancer so she wants
Speaker:to be a classically trained ballet
Speaker:dancer and the whole premise is she
Speaker:hasn't had any schooling right right and
Speaker:so she meets a guy and this is you know
Speaker:this movie I think does a lot for
Speaker:feminism but it also does a lot from
Speaker:misogyny it absolutely does it's super
Speaker:80s in that we're in that way because
Speaker:here's this guy who comes sees her dance
Speaker:yeah he's like oh she's hot and he and
Speaker:his friend tells him her social security
Speaker:number oh does he really and he goes
Speaker:what is that her phone number he goes to
Speaker:her social security number she works for
Speaker:you and it's like dude how do you have
Speaker:her social security number memorized
Speaker:like are you stalking her I forgot about
Speaker:that like you you know her you have her
Speaker:social security number just you can just
Speaker:rattle it off so there's some issues
Speaker:there right so then he sees her the next
Speaker:day and he's like I saw you dancing and
Speaker:she's like what like okay so that's kind
Speaker:of how they start talking and yeah
Speaker:there's some issues right and then they
Speaker:start dating they start dating and she
Speaker:kind of lets him in on her dream right
Speaker:like I want to study ballet it's always
Speaker:been my dream and then he
Speaker:being her boss of a welding industry you
Speaker:can imagine he has money heck yeah so he
Speaker:has connections and this is the art and
Speaker:culture of Pittsburgh so he has
Speaker:connections to that ballet industry and
Speaker:so he tries to help her get an audition
Speaker:and she loses her mind because she
Speaker:doesn't want help right she wants to do
Speaker:everything on her own feels like our
Speaker:daughter
Speaker:I she doesn't want help she can do it by
Speaker:herself she doesn't need anybody's help
Speaker:she's she's gone she's come this far on
Speaker:her own like you don't really get into
Speaker:family background but she's you can
Speaker:pretty much she's independent and
Speaker:isolated yeah right she's in Pittsburgh
Speaker:she's living in a where I mean I don't
Speaker:know how they can
Speaker:like I don't know how they can
Speaker:symbolize any more than that yeah that
Speaker:you're more alone and on your own than
Speaker:that
Speaker:so she gets upset that he helped her and
Speaker:because of that she doesn't want to do
Speaker:the audition right and so he really is
Speaker:passionate he is in the end of a good
Speaker:guy and he's really passionate that
Speaker:if you don't follow your dream you die
Speaker:and all I did was get you the audition
Speaker:you've got to get into this point and
Speaker:there's and there's there's part of the
Speaker:conflict is too is like she sees him
Speaker:with his ex-wife right because they have
Speaker:some business dealing or something like
Speaker:or some prior commitment ballet
Speaker:committee together because she sees him
Speaker:at the ballet right and he wasn't doing
Speaker:anything bad he was just literally there
Speaker:she's of course jealous and you know she
Speaker:doesn't want to be taken for a fool
Speaker:right and then she has a best friend who
Speaker:is also following her dream of being in
Speaker:the ice capades that's right and she
Speaker:falls and doesn't get into the ice
Speaker:capades and she basically throws
Speaker:everything away and starts working at
Speaker:the strip club and then doesn't she kind
Speaker:of encourage then from there she
Speaker:encourages her like hey you need to
Speaker:follow your dream do your thing well
Speaker:she's she just she gets her friend out
Speaker:of the strip club and she realizes how
Speaker:far her friend has lost her Focus yeah
Speaker:because she's lost her chance and so I
Speaker:think she sees all of that and
Speaker:goes for the audition and what I love
Speaker:about the audition
Speaker:is first of all the auditions filmed in
Speaker:La not even filmed in Pittsburgh so yeah
Speaker:there's there's big chunks if you look
Speaker:it up so actually
Speaker:this one wasn't as difficult to research
Speaker:for locations because there's a there's
Speaker:a website that that does a lot of this
Speaker:stuff yes and we were able to find a
Speaker:good portion of them some of them we
Speaker:kind of had to do some hunting yes
Speaker:because Nick's house is in La yeah yeah
Speaker:the where she dances is in La it's
Speaker:actually like a Bob Hope Center because
Speaker:if you look on the wall there's all
Speaker:these pictures of service members and
Speaker:it's actually a Uso Bob Hope Center that
Speaker:she dances at and
Speaker:I I think her Warehouse place is
Speaker:actually in La like so a couple of these
Speaker:places they actually filmed in the bar
Speaker:I'm pretty sure is is oh yeah not in
Speaker:Pittsburgh either so a couple of these
Speaker:places are not yeah local
Speaker:but one of the cool things and of course
Speaker:is the dance yeah right so at the very
Speaker:end of the song and I think the song was
Speaker:nominated for the Oscar I think it wins
Speaker:the Oscar What a Feeling yeah I think
Speaker:that song in Maniac we're both nominated
Speaker:yes and What a Feeling wins right but um
Speaker:so she dances at the end and of course
Speaker:you're watching this girl who has had no
Speaker:training whatsoever Rock This Dance and
Speaker:then would you come to find out is
Speaker:actually three people actually four
Speaker:people yeah do this dance before
Speaker:including her including her yeah do this
Speaker:dance so here's a person who's
Speaker:pretending to not have any dance and
Speaker:actually this so it's the the dancer who
Speaker:does all the dancing right the
Speaker:professional the professional who her
Speaker:face is kind of skewed in most things
Speaker:because Jennifer Beal is not a dancer so
Speaker:there's a woman who does all of her
Speaker:dancing and then there's a gymnast
Speaker:so they have a gymnast do the leap yeah
Speaker:yeah she has like this beautiful perfect
Speaker:Super Famous shot yeah just a gymnast
Speaker:for that one shot and then you have a
Speaker:break dancer right who's actually a guy
Speaker:yeah who's doing the break dance move
Speaker:and so and then you have some Jennifer
Speaker:Beal so you have four people creating
Speaker:this one dance
Speaker:of a person who's never took and dance
Speaker:in their life yeah that was great and
Speaker:and part of the and one of the things
Speaker:about this movie too as I was as I was
Speaker:editing it and things like that
Speaker:[Music]
Speaker:it was all the different kind of fashion
Speaker:that came out of this so the fashion was
Speaker:like so there's the there's the movie if
Speaker:you Google Flashdance if you've never
Speaker:seen it if you've never seen it
Speaker:after you're done listening to this
Speaker:podcast go go watch Google it because I
Speaker:can just the off the shoulder yeah the
Speaker:the holes that's that's from her that's
Speaker:all from Flash and didn't she kind of do
Speaker:some of that hers so she claims that she
Speaker:cut the hole so basically she said she
Speaker:couldn't fit her head in her sweatshirt
Speaker:it was too small so she cut the hole and
Speaker:they just kind of went with it hung off
Speaker:her shoulder yeah and they just kind of
Speaker:went with that and that's that's the
Speaker:move that's the cover of the movie yeah
Speaker:and she wears the rat of jeans yeah and
Speaker:this changes fashion for the 80s like
Speaker:yeah and then she did the leggings the
Speaker:wart like the warm-up leggings yes with
Speaker:like the leotards she wore those like on
Speaker:from the calf down yes like it's just so
Speaker:great so much fashion influence from
Speaker:this movie and you might think well no
Speaker:that was 80s no that was Flash Dance
Speaker:yeah like people think that the chicken
Speaker:came before the egg or no Flashdance
Speaker:came and then fashion caught up with it
Speaker:yeah it was like this whole kind of
Speaker:dance Jazzercise aerobic after
Speaker:Flashdance with the leg warmers and all
Speaker:that stuff but the cutting off of the
Speaker:sweatshirts hanging off your shoulder
Speaker:the holes in your jeans that's all
Speaker:Flashdance influence yeah it was it was
Speaker:it was really cool just kind of doing
Speaker:like finding pictures and and finding
Speaker:the shots and
Speaker:um and all this stuff and just there's
Speaker:so many classic scenes and classic shots
Speaker:in this movie and classic songs people
Speaker:still recreate the water on you still
Speaker:see that today recreate or Maniac people
Speaker:trying to like Yeah Yeah Chris Chris
Speaker:Farley you know for for my guy listeners
Speaker:out there you know Chris Farley and uh
Speaker:and what is it Tommy Boy yes right
Speaker:um you know so it's it's famous more
Speaker:than just outside of the 80s yes and
Speaker:it's so you get that it's the high it's
Speaker:the third highest grossing film of the
Speaker:80s so I was having this of 83 yeah so
Speaker:it's having this influence on people but
Speaker:the story of Alex is supposed to be
Speaker:based on a real character I think I
Speaker:talked about this that was very
Speaker:interesting so it's her name was Maureen
Speaker:martyr and she was a construction worker
Speaker:welder in Toronto yeah and she danced at
Speaker:night so just like Alex right and she's
Speaker:she sells her story
Speaker:for twenty three hundred dollars
Speaker:somebody in Hollywood Universal I don't
Speaker:remember wants to just kind of pitch it
Speaker:pitch the story so she sells it for
Speaker:twenty three hundred dollars so then
Speaker:when it's the third highest grossing
Speaker:movie of 83 she tries to come back yeah
Speaker:and get reimbursed like some back and
Speaker:money right and takes him to court and
Speaker:everything and the court finds no you're
Speaker:2300 by the way yeah you sign it away
Speaker:that's what you got to read that fine
Speaker:print yeah I mean it Crystal 200 million
Speaker:oh my gosh that's crazy 200 million
Speaker:dollars and so the court told her sorry
Speaker:I mean I don't even think they gave her
Speaker:even a kickback just to be nice probably
Speaker:not I mean legally they don't have to
Speaker:right that's kind of that's business
Speaker:right that's if you sign it away you
Speaker:know it could have been it could have
Speaker:never made it into a movie at all and
Speaker:she would have made twenty three hundred
Speaker:dollars but it did and it became an
Speaker:enormously influential and popular movie
Speaker:sure and so we talk about its influences
Speaker:on feminism yes so I talked a lot about
Speaker:the bicycle yeah right because Susan B
Speaker:Anthony was very
Speaker:adamant about women learning how to
Speaker:Bicycle she wanted the bicycle to be the
Speaker:symbol of the feminist movement and she
Speaker:wanted that because it showed women
Speaker:having real Independence in their
Speaker:transportation because at the time women
Speaker:were very much
Speaker:you just had to be
Speaker:whatever you're Reliant yeah you're
Speaker:reliant on your husband or your
Speaker:significant other or whatever yeah
Speaker:whatever they had for a carriage or
Speaker:maybe a trolley you know so it wasn't
Speaker:like you're reliant on mass
Speaker:transportation you don't have your own
Speaker:individual it was very symbolic right
Speaker:the bicycle kind of became the symbol I
Speaker:mean they were like when I was again
Speaker:when I was looking at pictures yeah of
Speaker:kind of the women's right rights
Speaker:movements and stuff like that
Speaker:um they were they're posing there with
Speaker:their bicycles yeah so you it's so
Speaker:evident in the movie another like
Speaker:another symbolism she's bicycling
Speaker:everywhere in this movie she doesn't
Speaker:have a car she could easily afford a car
Speaker:she's a welder she was making 1980s
Speaker:actually making really good money in
Speaker:Pittsburgh Pennsylvania she could buy a
Speaker:car but she's not she's using her 10
Speaker:speed from her dance studio at night in
Speaker:the rain right at one point Nick is
Speaker:following her in his Porsche and she's
Speaker:bicycling home in in the rain so they
Speaker:make a point to really show this symbol
Speaker:yeah that she's that she's independent
Speaker:they drive that that's if there's one
Speaker:theme that they're driving through this
Speaker:right it's being independent and for her
Speaker:following her dream yes following her
Speaker:dreams so that that's the whole momentum
Speaker:here is that you're there it's a huge
Speaker:influence in pop culture is following
Speaker:your dreams maybe sometimes you do need
Speaker:help from other people it's okay to take
Speaker:the help from other people yeah the
Speaker:story of struggle yes we all need help
Speaker:every now and then that's okay you can
Speaker:still make your dreams come true and you
Speaker:know that you need people to believe in
Speaker:you in the end but I think the biggest
Speaker:thing is like opportunity when it meets
Speaker:preparation yes equals success
Speaker:absolutely and I think that's kind of
Speaker:what it was trying to show there like
Speaker:she's still doing it on her own because
Speaker:she was prepared for that moment right
Speaker:she had the opportunity she got it the
Speaker:opportunity from help but her
Speaker:preparation led to her success so I
Speaker:think
Speaker:that was the huge message that they were
Speaker:trying to get across especially for
Speaker:women in the early 80s you can do it
Speaker:yeah you know make sure you're prepared
Speaker:for when opportunity presents itself to
Speaker:you yeah and there was there was one
Speaker:other thing before we finish up that I
Speaker:want to talk about that I thought was
Speaker:really neat
Speaker:and that was the crossing guard oh yeah
Speaker:so we we go there the crossing guard
Speaker:what was this do you remember his name
Speaker:that's right and so I actually was able
Speaker:to find like original old footage on
Speaker:YouTube of vixianka he did it for 30
Speaker:years he did it so and if if you again
Speaker:if you haven't seen the movie finish
Speaker:this podcast then go watch the movie if
Speaker:you have seen the movie if you remember
Speaker:when she's crossing the street with her
Speaker:friend and they're kind of being playful
Speaker:with their play being playful with this
Speaker:crossing guard who's making him he's got
Speaker:very big arm movements and he you could
Speaker:you can tell he's got white gloves and
Speaker:he's being very he's having fun with it
Speaker:right he's kind of a little bit of a
Speaker:character sure but I didn't realize like
Speaker:he was a Pittsburgh staple yes for 30
Speaker:years he did that because you can
Speaker:imagine the traffic at rush hour yeah
Speaker:and he's he directed traffic for 30
Speaker:years getting people in and out of the
Speaker:city now that location was actually
Speaker:difficult to find very difficult because
Speaker:things have changed we we we're pretty
Speaker:sure we found the right spot where we
Speaker:were filming someone I think came back
Speaker:to us later and said hey no he actually
Speaker:used to stand over here that's where the
Speaker:shot is we're at
Speaker:537th Avenue were raid by the the
Speaker:Benedum theater yeah
Speaker:um word wood and Liberty like we're
Speaker:right there but I think the person said
Speaker:maybe it was Atwood and Liberty yeah I
Speaker:think we're like once again things have
Speaker:changed Bridges have been updated and
Speaker:stuff like that right since the you know
Speaker:the early 80s
Speaker:um but that was just such kind of a neat
Speaker:little tribute to to Pittsburgh history
Speaker:yes and he was in maybe so we say good
Speaker:that's right that's right he was a Navy
Speaker:guy
Speaker:um and little things like that are for
Speaker:me always kind of like a real pleasant
Speaker:surprise because here's this neat
Speaker:piece of History this neat character he
Speaker:wasn't seeking fame right he was just
Speaker:serving his community he was a police
Speaker:officer he was directing traffic and
Speaker:here here he is and now he's featured in
Speaker:a movie and he had he was well known
Speaker:before that right and now here he is
Speaker:cemented and another classic That's a
Speaker:classic scene it's not a big scene it
Speaker:doesn't really contribute too much to
Speaker:the story other than she's just having
Speaker:fun around Pittsburgh and here's his
Speaker:crossing guard they're being playful and
Speaker:he's having a good he's being playful
Speaker:right back that was just to me that was
Speaker:just like something that I that I took a
Speaker:lot of joy out of yeah just like it
Speaker:shows you very Community oriented
Speaker:Pittsburgh is just that loves its people
Speaker:yeah and he's got like classic 80s
Speaker:mustache oh man he's got the Tom Selleck
Speaker:mustache all day and he's pulling it off
Speaker:like a champ it was that that was just a
Speaker:ton of fun for me like that little piece
Speaker:I just got a ton of enjoyment out I
Speaker:loved filming this one I just loved
Speaker:being in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania it was
Speaker:fun it was fun driving her on Pittsburgh
Speaker:and again it's just such a fun movie so
Speaker:again if you haven't ever seen the movie
Speaker:or you haven't seen our video
Speaker:stop listening to this podcast once
Speaker:you're done go watch our video then go
Speaker:watch the movie
Speaker:um but because it's just such a blast
Speaker:it's a classic 80s movie and and filming
Speaker:it and driving around Pittsburgh was a
Speaker:ton of fun
Speaker:so Flash Dance was not only a great
Speaker:movie that showed how women and their
Speaker:independence were on the rise
Speaker:shifting out of that era of the 50s 60s
Speaker:and 70s
Speaker:but some of the underlying messages of
Speaker:women's rights and feminism while not
Speaker:giving up what makes them unique as a
Speaker:woman is what Flashdance is truly about
Speaker:that
Speaker:and that a steel town girl can still
Speaker:love a guy that loves her enough to not
Speaker:let her dreams die
Speaker:so thank you again for listening to the
Speaker:talk with History Podcast and please
Speaker:reach out to us at our website talk with
Speaker:history.com but more importantly if you
Speaker:know someone else that might enjoy this
Speaker:podcast any of these fans out there
Speaker:please share this with them especially
Speaker:if you think today's topic would
Speaker:interest a friend shoot him a text and
Speaker:tell them to look up the talk with
Speaker:History Podcast because we rely on you
Speaker:our community to grow and we appreciate
Speaker:you all every day and thank you Scott
Speaker:for loving the skilletown girl enough to
Speaker:not let her dreams die we'll talk to you
Speaker:next time
Speaker:[Music]
