Honoring Elvis, sisterhood, and the thrill of the road
Kathie Bleeker would be proud. You know Kathie Bleeker, right? She dreamed of open roads and wild, twisting rides by motorcycle – but unfortunately, even though Kathie is in one of the most influential films of the 1950s, most viewers overlook her.
They remember Johnny though – played by Marlon Brando in The Wild One – one of the bad boys who excited an entire generation, female and male, along with James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause. (And, let’s not forget, Elvis – but we’ll come back to him in a second.)
Johnny got thousands of movie viewers hankering for motorcycles and road trips. And Kathie’s desire for Johnny – well, plenty of girls in the audience shared that. Only, we tend to forget that Kathie wanted Johnny’s freedom and adventurous life, just as badly as she wanted Johnny.
In fact, when we think of motorcyclists on the open road, chances are, we’re still thinking of Brando… or Peter Fonda… or maybe those creepy guys from the first Billy Jack film. Maybe – just maybe – we think of Diane McBain as the psychopathic, well-coiffed stalker in the she-does-everything-but-boil-a-bunny exploiflick The Mini Skirt Mob.
We don’t think about sensible girls like Kathie, with brains and a work ethic, taking to the road and burning rubber. That may change once a documentary is finished about the “Girlz of Graceland,” a group of women from the Sol Sisters motorcycle club, planning a ride cross country:
On June 21st, 10 women from San Diego will be firing up their motorcycles to make a 15-day trip through 12 states. Our main destination is Graceland and we plan to arrive on 6/25/08 for a 2-day stay. We will have a documentary filmmaker along for the ride, as this trip is about so much more than just getting to Graceland. It’s about our journey as women, a celebration of why we ride, and an homage to the rebels of yesteryear who saw the open road as an escape, a challenge, and a friend. The documentary will be submitted to the Sundance Film Festival in October 2008 for their 2009 season.
When we reach Memphis, we’ll be stopping at Presley Place, a homeless shelter which is supported by Lisa Marie Presley and the Elvis Presley Foundation. While the dozens of parents at the shelter attend a Life Skills class, we’ll be babysitting their children – taking photos on the motorcycles, providing them with biker toys and leading a cooking class on “How to Make a Biker Meal.”
Now that – is cool. Man… I want to know how to make a biker meal! Eat your heart out, Anthony Bourdain!
And read through the biographies here – from Jett, whose passions include her work supervising a school bus fleet, and oh yeah – Elvis – to Anita, an environmental scientist who also tools around as a “garage artist”, and Biby, the “chaser”, a medical translator who hopes to educate people about Huntington’s Disease. Forget the old “motorcycle mama” stuff, it’s tired – some of these ladies, including Lilia, an old friend who awes me with her riding prowess, are in fact, mothers.
I’m sure there are a lot of real-life Kathies out there, whether they grew up in the fifties, or a little more recently – who are going to want to follow this wild ride, and maybe start one of their own.
