Sweaters


Ok dumb questions I know, but it has bothered me for years! When Penny is being interviewed by the council they ask her how many sweaters she has. She states she has 5. They all exclaim "Five!" Is that too many or not enough? What do you all think?

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I don't know but I thought the questions they were asking were pretty stupid, and had absolutely nothing to do with wanting to dance on the Corny Collins show.

Justice for the 96
-15th April 1989


YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE

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The way I understood it, they felt she simply wasn't well dressed enough and that five sweaters were way too few. I didn't think much about it though, so I am willing to stand corrected.

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This reminds me of another movie, so I'll refer you to it, the 1966 dark comedy "Lord Love a Duck". In it, the high school genius/weirdo (Roddy McDowell) helps the new girl (Tuesday Weld) get everything she wants - she wants to get into an exclusive clique that requires owning twelve cashmere sweaters. The way she gets her divorced father to buy them is a scene of spectacular creepy humor.

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I never thought of that before now but it's marvelous to think that John Waters was making a sly reference to that outrageous film. So demented!







"The most important thing is being sincere, even if you have to fake it." - Cesar Romero

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[deleted]


This is a really late reply to the OP but, FYI, I read in a book somewhere that during the time frame this movie took place, it was considered a mark of prestige to own a certain number of cashmere sweaters. When Penny said she had five and they snickered it was because that was considered an inferior number for the clique on the C.C. Dance Show.


"You met me at a very strange time in my life"

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