HELLO LADIES AND GENTS, it is time to chat about another one of my favorite goddesses from the eighties …. Shelley Long. You may know her from Cheers, Outrageous Fortune (starring my other idol Bette Midler) or even the little known masterpiece, Hello Again!, but for me her most memorable role was as the gold-hearted glamourpuss Phyllis Nefler in Troop Beverly Hills!
Not only did this movie speak to lil’ Rie Rie back in the Girl Scout (dropout) days, but it featured some of the most famous network TV child actors back then like Harriet from Small Wonder, Margot from Punky Brewster, Kellie Martin from Life Goes On and even Jenny Lewis when Rilo Kiley was just a twinkle in her eye.
When we first meet Phyllis, she is a spoiled Beverly Hills housewife going through a divorce from her sugar daddy played by Craig T. Nelson aka COACH. In an effort to start anew, she decides to become the leader of her daughter’s Wilderness Girls Troop…but can Phyllis, who only cares about jewelry, chisme, shopping and getting her nailsdid, be a good role model for the girls?
LOOK AT ALL THESE OUTRAGEOUS GETUPS! The costume designer was none other than Theodora Van Runkle who was the designer for Bonnie and Clyde.
Now Phyllis doesn’t conform easily. Like every badass babe, she respects the traditions of her new responsibility, but does things HER WAY. She tweaks things to retain her uniqueness starting with the uniforms. I LOVE THEM!! I wish I had every single one and I hate beige! KHAKI-LISHIS.
GIMME THE GOLD NEF!
You know I love a woman who dresses in theme.
The sad truth is this is how I look like when I am about to leave on a weekend trip.
I loved their craft presentation which was a backpack that held dresses in wrinkle-free condition. I need that in my life for when I go hiking in the mountains.
In no time, ol’ Phyll finds her place as a Wilderness Girl leader but not before dealing with a mob of haters (including preteen Tori Spelling) who try to sabotage her and the troop!
Luckily she has the support of her girls including bff Vickie, played by Stephanie Beacham of Dynasty fame. She is a sultry romance novelist who is always wearing leopard print…. HOLD THE PHONE. WAS THAT AN ODE TO OUR VERY OWN JACKIE COLLINS!!? I didn’t realize that until now! There was some line about “his manhood rising to a pulsating frenzy” that has stuck in my head all these years…NATURALLY!
Phyllis is able to carry herself with grace under pressure and wears a fabulous hat while doing so.
She ends up becoming an amazing troop leader and an inspiration to the girls and EVEN resurrects COACH’s boner for her.
And now… a CONTEST!
On November 13, Troop Beverly Hills: THE EXPERIENCE, a “sing-a-long, dance-a-long, quote-a-long!” of our fave movie, will be playing at the Downtown Independent Theater in LA! Aaand it’s a double feature with Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitters Dead (another fave of mine.) I am giving away two tickets to the show to one lucky Wilderness Girl or Boy! All you have to do is let me know if you were in the troop… what patch would you have earned? Most clever answer wins! I would definitely have earned the Bangs Tutorial Patch. The winner will be announced on Monday morning. YOU CAN STILL ENTER! COME ON LOS ANGELES!
LUV EWE
24 comments
Failed to mention how I love how they featured a FILIPINA CHARACTER. Granted it’s to work the Imelda Marcos jokes but still!
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OMG I LOVE THIS FILM! (I still have it on VHS ~ old school!)
I definitely would have won the Confident Anti-Match Patch ~ I was the kid who got made fun of for being unable to match her clothes – but I didn’t care! I proudly wore my yellow sock, pink sock – purple top, blue pant ensembles and knew that true friends were the ones who didn’t give a monkey’s tail about it.
Who cares if a couple of haters didn’t let me into their “American Girl’s Doll Club” ? I rocked those neon slap bracelets, velcro tennies and blue-purple-pink-black speckled glasses!
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Marie Madeline, Rachael. Rachael said: RT @agentlover: new post: Shelley Long in TROOP BEVERLY HILLS! ALSO A GIVEAWAY! http://tinyurl.com/troopbevhills [...]
OMG. It’s all rushing back. I’d forgotten about that film.
FYI: Outrageous Fortune is better in the NZ version. I’m just saying.
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You are seriously my west coast soul sister. Excellent post and a great read to end my day.
I can’t participate in the contest since I’m in NYC and everyone is too cool for school to organize this sort of screening but I’d have to say I’d have earned the Cocktail patch. It’d have been presented along with a nicotine patch.
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Khaki Wishes and Cookie Dreams!
Junk in the Trunk patch.
Found your site looking for pics of Anna Sui’s closet, and couldn’t resist when I saw that there was a recent post on Shelley Long in Troop Beverly Hills. One of my favorite movies.
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So I can’t win because I’m LAME and don’t live in Shangri-L.A., but god did you resurrect my ladyboner for this movie. I absolutely loved it and loved Phyllis growing up. Favorite part? French Kissin’ in the USA when Phyllis and the CPR coach start MACKIN.
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Oh how I loved this movie as a kid! But it was only eclipsed by my love for “Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitters Dead.” I wanted to BE Sue Ellen so bad!
Anywhos, if I was in Troop BH I would have gotten the Hard Knocks patch because I semi-notoriously punched the two mini-bitches in my ballet class when I was a youngling. In my defense they totally deserved it! Though that defense didn’t save me from the wrath of my scary ballet teacher (why are ALL ballet instructors so scary?).
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Oh haha, I had forgotten all about this film! I love DTMTBD too, shame I’m in the wrong country for the double feature.
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too much outfit yummy-ness! must see!
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Why don’t I live in the states, WHYYY? Seriously, I and my BFF might be the only ones in my whole country that have seen, remember and LOVE “Troop Beverly Hills”, and now I see that there are other true believers out there. But across the ocean. Bummer! I may be a beginner at some things, but I’ve got a black belt in shopping.
Please tell me you love “Earth Girls are Easy” too and I shall know that you are a goddess of some sort, you and I have so many similar bizarre 80′s and queer-kitsch hangups, it’s a little uncanny.
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marie Reply:
November 9th, 2010 at 3:00 pm
Anna! http://www.agentlover.com/blog/2009/06/09/1980s-movie-heroines-earth-girls-are-easy/
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Anna Nio Reply:
November 26th, 2010 at 9:34 am
OMG! Massive love outbursts!
:D
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The “Portia Munson” hoarding pink junk badge
Hoarding kitch for mirrored bathroom badge
And “informal yet polite pharmacology” badge
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[...] Eggs in Purgatory — Hot sauce, fried eggs and a poetic name = the breakfast of champions. – 80s Glam Icons: Shelley Long in Troop Beverly Hills — I wanted to be a Wilderness Girl so badly when I first saw this movie. Also, reason [...]
I wish I lived in LA to see this double feature!!! I’d die to see Don’t Tell Me Mom on the big screen!!!
I love the screenshots you picked. I really need to re-watch this. I have a feeling I’d love it all over again. I actually really want that bird blazer she’s wearing! And that cape with the gold lining is AMAZING. Her high-waisted wildnerness girl pants are so trendy right now too.
I just went on a google hunt to find out who that quirky co-star is who’s always the quirky co-star… Mary Gross! http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0343444/
That actress rocks. I want to be the next her.
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ONE OF MY FAVORITE MOVIES OF ALL TIME!!!!!!!!
I’m going to have to go to this even though I’ll be jet lagged as fuck.
And I’d obviously get the Shoe Whoring patch. <3
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OMFuckingFabulousG once again, how do you always read my mind [in your magic bruja crystal ball no doubt] and know exactly the fabulousness that has shaped my life?? despite being an uber nerdlet and not discovering makeup til i was like 20, i adored this movie and watched it constantly. the clothes!! the gold lame and the sparkly bird thing on her shoulder have stuck with me. as usual i loved the smart girl with glasses the best, thats how i do.
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I love this movie way, way too much, probably because I have a fetish for animated intro titles. Bring them back Hollywood! I actually still own the copy that I taped off of HBO when I was like five.
Based on that I would probably get the “Mixed Gaydar Signals” patch.
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MAH GAH My childhood! I’d stay up late with my sister just to watch Troop Beverly Hills on teh Disney Channel.
If I was in duh troop I’d recieve “El Viejo Peludo” patch.
I’ve been getting all kinds of Sweeney Todd on muh face since I was a youngin’. Lets just say I was the only cute lil 11 yr old with man chops.
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I loved the bejusus out of this when I was a kid. I am going to netflicks that bitch and make the hubs watch it with me
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Oh my lord, I cannot believe I haven’t seen this. Will rectify immediately. Thank you for enlightening moi!
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