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You Pink Ladies have been a real thorn in my side this year, but despite our conflicts, I have to admit... you've inspired me. Because of you I've-I've learned to stand up for myself, to work around unfair policies and prac- - no!
— McGee to the Pink Ladies before they stole her car keys


Greta McGee is a main character in Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies. She is the fair-minded yet firm assistant principal of Rydell High School, who takes on the budding Pink Ladies. Through the emerging gang, McGee learns to take on the powers that be and finds her voice. She is portrayed by Jackie Hoffman.

Principal McGee was a supporting character in Grease and Grease 2, as the principal of Rydell High School. She is portrayed by Eve Arden.

Biography[]

Film Series[]

Grease[]

Principal McGee saw Sonny "dawdling" in the hallway and shouted at him.

Grease 2[]

Principal McGee Dyed her hair blonde and had a go at Paulette.

Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies[]

In "We're Gonna Rule the School", on the first day back at school, Jane signed up for student council and Vice Principal Miss. McGee brought her a ladder to hang the pep rally banner. She explained she was doing two jobs since the new secretary retired and Principal Nicholson won't hire anyone new, since McGee was qualified for both jobs. She ran off after a student who was misbehaving. She later gave the morning announcements in the style of a nursery rhyme. That afternoon, Nancy, Cynthia, Jane, and Olivia were sent to the principal's office.

Principal Nicholson exited his office as Miss. McGee rushed out the reports she had finished in triplicate. He saw the girls and left for a lunch meeting. Miss. McGee talked to Olivia first and gave her a sweater. She then threatened to call her mother, but Olivia appealed to Miss. McGee not too. McGee believed in second chances and cited the Mr. Daniels incident, but warned that she didn't believe in thirds. When Olivia left, the VP scolded the girls and let them off with a warning, but told Cynthia she would never be part of the boys. She warned Jane to be careful with whom she associated, as a girl's reputation is all that she had.

McGee watched the pep rally that night and saw the shenanigans that took place, from the humiliation of Jane to Cynthia leading a group of mascots to moon the attendees as revenge against the Rangers. McGee chased her around the event to discipline her. The next day at Rydell, the student body gathered for the student council '54-'55 candidacy election. Buddy gave a speech that was directed to Jane more than the class, then switched to his candidacy stance that they could have fun “like we did before”. Miss. McGee called Jane to the stage for her candidacy, but Jane told McGee her desire to withdraw. Someone called her a slut from the crowd and Jane started to go back to her seat when she turned to the podium to give a speech about Rydell. It wasn't fun for everyone before. They didn't have to just survive high school, they could have fun. McGee began to talk Jane off the stage as she reminded her that she withdrew moments before.

Olivia shouted her endorsement from the side of the auditorium. Susan corrected that Olivia couldn't endorse her if she wasn't running. Cynthia seconded the endorsement as she thought Jane should run for something. Nancy thirded the movement and the four girls stood on stage together. The crowd booed and called them tramps. McGee threatened to give them all detention if they didn't stop. Jane decided to run for president. Most of the crowd booed, though for the theater kids, outcasts, nerds, and Dot, until Susan corrected her, clapped for Jane. Cynthia shouted “Vote for Jane!” and then mooned the audience. Nancy, Olivia, and Jane, followed Cynthia's gesture. Susan shouted it was indecent, a gay student said it was fantastic, Potato developed a sudden interest in politics, and Gil wanted to register. The girls gave parting words as they fled the stage with everyone in pursuit.

In "Too Pure to Be Pink", the mothers of Rydell called McGee and complained about the new girl gang at Rydell. She tried to call Jane, Olivia, Nancy, and Cynthia's parents to discuss punishment. Jane pretended to be on the phone with a classmate while Olivia disconnected and hid the receiver, and Nancy answered at the Frosty Palace at her busy parents' request and then hung up. Cynthia merely unplugged the phone. Unfortunately, Jane didn't answer the phone in time, and her mother answered.

Olivia, Cynthia, Jane, and Nancy went to Miss. McGee's office to receive their punishments. Cynthia tried to bargain but McGee was unamused. Children were traumatized, parents called for their heads, and they created a public crisis. The school believed in rehabilitation, so detention every day that semester should make them act like ladies. The incident would also be on their permanent records that colleges examined.

After school, during detention, Miss. McGee entered and reprimanded the girls for their behavior but didn't bother with the boys. Cynthia faked severe stomach pain so the others could get out. In the nursing office, McGee tried to diagnose Cynthia's pain but couldn't figure it out. The bell rang and Cynthia suddenly felt much better, thanked her, and promised to see her in detention. McGee noticed her open file drawer and then saw Nancy leave the boy's locker room.

In the morning, McGee found Buddy's poster had been defaced with “Vote Pink” paint. She pulled them into her office once again. She had too much to do without the need to keep an eye on them after school, so she relinquished them from detention. However, she would still punish them. Cynthia, because of her flair for theatrics yesterday, would join the thespians to learn to act like a lady. Olivia enjoyed filing so she was McGee's new office assistant and pointed to a mountain of files. Jane roamed the halls yesterday so McGee made her a hall monitor. McGee ran out of jobs for Nancy, so she would be on-call for whatever job McGee needed to be done.

In "So This Is Rydell?", McGee scolded the Pink Ladies for being in the halls. She sent Olivia to her office to file papers with help from Nancy and grabbed Cynthia for her thespian debut.

In the morning, Olivia told McGee that a coyote was in the parking lot again to get her to leave the office. She picked up a baseball bat and sulked out of the school as she muttered about animals in the school and animals outside the school. She reentered the school in time to catch the end of Jane's intercom speech about the upcoming fall ball.

McGee attended the student debate and stopped Susan who bothered the lighting man.

In "If You Can't Be an Athlete, Be an Athletic Supporter", the Pink Ladies were in the halls when they bumped into McGee. Dot mocked “Calamity Jane” on her way passed. McGee relayed Principal Nicholson's decree that they were no longer permitted to wear gang-affiliated attire at school, which meant they had to fork over their jackets. Nancy struggled to get rid of hers and McGee had a job for her that required discretion.

McGee led Nancy to the football locker room and to a closet where an old mascot costume resided. She wanted Nancy to be Rowdy at the game that night, hooves that McGee once filled. Nancy leveraged her role as Rowdy to get money for new costumes, and the VP agreed but reminded her that Rowdy's true identity must stay secret. The Thespians arrived at the gymnasium where McGee gave Mr. Vaughan pamphlets for a new play. He was no longer permitted to do his production of Bertolt Brecht's play, “Mother Courage”, because of The Pink Ladies' actions being too rebellious. They now had to preform "Romeo and Juliet".

By the afternoon, the entire class read Olivia's scathing response to the Pink Ladies being targeted. They loved the response and praised the Pink Ladies in their own ways. Jane thanked Olivia for saying everything she couldn't. Miss. McGee responded on the intercom that, in the interest of impartiality, they would institute a brand-new dress code for everyone. Boys will be required to wear long-sleeved button-up shirts, no sneakers, no T-shirts, no dungarees. Ladies will be required to wear skirts below the knee and shirts up to the neck. No tight clothing or loud colors. Most importantly, to end divisions, they banned jackets. The class quickly turned on Jane, with even Gil annoyed.

The girl's skirts were measured the next day and their legs pinched for tights by McGee. Olivia walked in on Miss. McGee's argument with Mr. Daniels. She eyed the student and made a point of opening the door even wider before she left.

During the football game, Miss. McGee took the students' jackets, flasks, bullhorns, and whistles. She collected the jackets in a bin. "Rowdy" tried to keep everyone's spirits high as the Rangers lost. McGee helped Nancy escape the pelt of food from the stands.

The Pink Ladies made a scene at the track but no one would listen. Nancy stole a megaphone from the cheerleaders while Cynthia corralled Susan. Olivia was tired of how the administration pitted them against each other, and took a megaphone to rile up the student body in “Pointing Fingers”. The T-Birds and band joined in first, slowly followed by the rest of the students. Gil stole the basket full of jackets and dispersed the jackets out to everyone. They ended their number with a march to Vice Principal McGee and Principal Nicholson and ended with a flip of their middle fingers.

In "You Can't Just Walk Out of a Drive-In", the staff prepared for the election that day. Miss. McGee set up the booths as she celebrated the end of the student council elections. Other faculty members joined her in her “Election Song”. That afternoon, the student body lined up to vote for the student council president. Miss. McGee gave them instructions and then let everyone into the booths.

After school, Miss. McGee counted out the votes for student council in front of Principal Nicholson, Olivia, Tippy St. Clair, Dick Aldridge, and two members of the school board. Jane won with 213 votes, which pleased McGee as they lived through history. Dick asked if they were sure, but they counted the vote three times. Tippy exclaimed that it was ludicrous, while Nicholson told her not to rain on some people's parades. McGee and Olivia left to type up an announcement.

In "Sloppy Seconds Ain't My Style", the intercom chimed as Miss McGee announced the new class president was Buddy Aldridge.

Olivia and Mr. Daniels looked over the voting records, but when McGee went into her office, Daniels and Olivia broke apart. He whispered for her to bring the records into his office during the play so they could go over them together. McGee came over to Olivia once Daniels was gone to inquire what they spoke about. She was surprised to hear Olivia was still in the newspaper club. Olivia appealed to her as Jane won, but McGee checked it herself after the PTA's recount, which she wasn't there for. Oliva smelled a rat in the election but knew she was the only one who cared enough to do something about it. McGee sighed as Olivia left.

Nicholson golfed in his office when McGee entered to have a word. There were questions over the vote count for the election. She saw with her own eyes that Jane Facciano won, so he suggested she get new spectacles. Her prescription was up to date, but she thanked him for his concern. He sat on the desk and admitted that Jane did win, but he gave it to Buddy because he needed it more for college. McGee was shocked and reminded him that Jane wanted to go to college too. He waved her off as girls only went to college to get their MRS degree. Buddy could be somebody in the world. McGee went to college which surprised him as he didn't. Being principal was about tough decisions, and she'd find that out when he named her as his replacement. He wanted to run for superintendent and shushed her for the secret. If he won and she played her cards right, the office could be hers - except his portrait, he would take that with him.

Late in the day, McGee found Olivia still at work in the office and offered to finish up. She was just trying to kill time before the play, so McGee gave her a new stack. Barbara scampered over with wedding invitations as she couldn't wait to give them out. She handed one to McGee, who was sure it would be a beautiful affair. Barb planned to pop in on Leonard and Olivia watched her drape over him through the window. McGee noticed and knew she was disappointed. It must feel very unfair to see Jane place as the runner-up, but she hoped this served as a reminder to both of them that there are some situations where a woman doesn't have to settle for second place. Olivia eyed Daniel and Barb then thanked McGee. She got started on the paperwork and looked up at the clock.

In "Cruisin' for Bruisin'", the intercom chimed as Miss McGee announced the new class president was Buddy Aldridge. McGee later attended the Rydell High play.

In "Or at the High School Dance...", during a PTA meeting about the upcoming fall dance, Nicholson awkwardly laughed that McGee usually handled these kinds of situations, but was on vacation. A mother questioned that she thought McGee was at a family funeral, but Nicholson called it the same results.

Personality[]

During her later career as a vice principal, Greta works under the often absent Principal Nicholson, who puts many of his own responsibilities on Greta. He often makes her take the blame for things that otherwise his fault. She runs the school by taking on positions that she shouldn't, including secretary and janitor. She has a strong devotion to Rydell and wants to protect it, though the never-ending workload only increases while Nicholson plays the political game. She is overworked, underappreciated, and slowly starts to accept that she shouldn't allow neglect from her boss.

Greta butts heads with the budding Pink Ladies frequently, encouraging them to act like ladies and trying to prepare them for the world. She forgives infractions when she knows they're done for the right reason, but doesn't tolerate running in the halls or blatant ignorance of school policy. While her efforts are mostly ignored by the students, she decides to put the Pink Ladies to work to not help herself and the school, but also the girls. She grows to care for them, even telling Olivia, who is dealing with feelings for a romantically unavailable teacher that she used to date, that women don't have to come second in men's lives. Through a conversation with Jane, Greta gains the confidence to demand an assistant from Nicholson to else she'll quit.

Later in life, McGee is strict, but fair, and somewhat willing and able to take part at Rydell's parties, especially the 1959 National Bandstand Dance-off. She even announced Rule 3 of the dance contest: "Anyone doing tasteless or vulgar movements will be disqualified!" Although she has a stern disposition, she is willing and able to forgive minor infractions.

Physical Appearance[]

In 1959 and 1960, McGee dressed conservatively, her auburn hair usually done up in a tight bun or a large, wide bun.

Notes and Trivia[]

  • McGee calling Olivia, Jane, Cynthia, and Nancy "ladies" indirectly gave them their gang name the "Pink Ladies".

Gallery[]

References[]

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