Madonna and the Breakfast Club

(Madonna mimicking bomb exploding)

Ooh, ooh.

We'll breathe deep.

Yeah.

- 'Cause you have to breathe deep

before you do anything.

On August 16, 1958,

Silvio Ciccone drove his wife Madonna

to Mercy Hospital in Bay City, Michigan

to give birth to their first daughter,

a child who would be named after her mother,

and who would become one of the biggest stars

in entertainment that the world has ever known.

Madonna was raised in this ranch home in Pontiac, Michigan.

The Ciccones already had two children

before Madonna arrived, and they would have

two more children after her.

Madonna's mother became seriously ill,

and spending time with her children became more

and more of a struggle

until she eventually passed away.

Madonna was just five years old.

Raising five children on his own wasn't easy for Silvio.

While he was at work, Madonna and her siblings spent a lot

of time at this Bay City home of their grandmother

and at this very park directly across the street.

When Madonna was an adolescent, the family moved

to a more affluent neighborhood in Rochester, Michigan.

It was here in this building on Main Street that Madonna,

as an early teen, entered ballet school.

The teacher, Christopher Flynn, took a liking to Madonna

and they developed a friendship.

He mentored her and taught her about art and culture

outside of suburban Michigan.

He also convinced her that she was special

and that she was beautiful, words she wasn't used to,

and words that she needed to hear.

Christopher became a dance teacher

at the University of Michigan and convinced Madonna

to apply for a scholarship.

It was here that Madonna met a graduate dance student

named Peter Kentes.

- The dance program at the University of Michigan

at the time was a conservatory approach.

There were only about 50 dance majors total

between undergraduates and graduates.

The first time I actually saw her was in the dance lounge

where the dancers would hang out between classes.

What stood out to me was the fact that there she was.

Everyone else was sort of sitting around relaxing

and she was workin' hard.

- For his graduating thesis project,

Peter included his new friend Madonna in the choreography.

- Madonna's character was very specific.

Her character was based on the customers

that came into this liquor store late at night.

So, she was able to take that as a theme and develop that.

Sorta spicy, sort of very similar to her own personality.

I think it was easier for her to get in character,

and she added spice to the dance.

The pictures I took a few weeks

before the show one afternoon,

and I did all the dancers at different times,

but the one photo that Madonna maybe wasn't happiest about

was where she's bending over looking between her legs,

but I think the reason is because during her solo

I accidentally let that one stay up

on the wall a little bit too long.

- Peter was very into astrology

and predictions based upon birth dates

and how the moon, sun, and stars are aligned.

These two.

- Yeah, I was a self taught astrologer.

I have maybe 30 or 40 books that I purchased

and read and studied.

One of the things I enjoyed doing

was doing charts for people, birth charts.

I was never a person that sort of like read my horoscope

and not go out that day, but when I did Madonna's chart,

- And you can see the full-- - and I had done maybe

over a hundred readings for friends up to this time,

but this was the first one where the reading,

everything sort of came out

she was gonna be rich and famous.

- It's gonna be such a crazy ride for you.

- Here I was looking at a skinny 18 year-old

with bruised up legs and red plastic shoes,

and there couldn't have been a more unlikely candidate

to be rich and famous than Madonna when she was 18.

Except in her mind, I think that was her plan all along

because she didn't seem surprised when I told her.

- I've never seen it do that.

- I hadn't heard from Madonna for a few months.

School had started, and she had not enrolled.

I got a call saying she needed a ride to the airport

and I said, yeah, sure.

And I went, picked her up.

She had her little doll under her arm,

a little backpack, and a suitcase,

and Christopher, her ballet teacher, was there as well.

We piled in the car, and we took her to the Metro Airport,

Detroit Metro Airport and dropped her off.

She was ready to leave.

She was ready to move on.

She wanted to go.

She wanted to go to New York.

She was excited to be going.

It was a little trepidatious

because it's such a scary thing.

- Immediately upon arrival,

Madonna began taking dance classes with Pearl Lang

and other notable teachers.

She was prepared to do whatever it took

to become a professional dancer.

I met Madonna.

I had a lot of friends over the years who were dancers.

Yeah, dancers, actors, musicians.

I had a really good friend named Michael who was a dancer,

and he was studying with someone named Pearl Lang,

who was an avant garde dancer.

So, I was invited to a party, and people were dancing

on the living room floor, and I noticed this woman

who was dancing, spinning in the middle of the floor,

and it looked as though she was dancing in a ring of fire,

and everyone was moving around her.

I had a sense that she was somebody

who was gonna do something in the world.

She kinda came up to me and said, "Oh, nice arms.

"You kinda look like Brando a little bit."

That was kind of her lead in.

So, I got the sense that that might go somewhere.

She called me up the next day.

She was over at Michael's house.

They had-- - Hello?

- It seemed like they had a thing going,

but she called me up from his house

and said, "Get your gorgeous Brando body over here,"

which was a nice, definitely a nice come on.

Well, good morning.

- Yeah, so are you coming or not?

- I said, why don't you guys come over here?

I don't know why I suggested they come to my place.

All right, so I'll see you--

Bye.

- But it didn't really go any further than that.

She had to go to dance class.

I got the feeling that she was very committed to dancing.

Seemed like she was always off going somewhere,

had something to do with dancing or performance.

Working really, really hard, almost like obsessively hard,

and I know she was doing the modeling.

I know she was waitressing a little bit,

but I got the feeling that she didn't have a lot of money.

Oh God, I don't wanna be this.

- Yeah, but then you say - Why would you want this?

- to yourself, man, look at what I can do,

that other people, they wouldn't think of doin'.

- I mean, I guess, but-- - I know, I know part of it

has to do with your head, right?

I know that it's true, but other people

wouldn't think of doing the stuff that I do or you.

- Well, of course not, but people always look at,

they always look at you before they look at what you do.

- To make ends meet, Madonna began working

as a model for nude photography classes

at The New School and other locations in New York City.

- My first session with Madonna was in 1979 in February,

and I think, if I recall, I had spoken

to the model registrar, and I said look,

can you send me a girl who really has a really nice body?

And that's how I got Madonna to come to class,

and I was very pleased, obviously.

To me, she was very beautiful and pretty

and had a fantastic body, and that's the first time.

I always said, look, for the guys,

get your dick out of your brain or something.

This is not about sex, it's about sculpture.

It's about a body.

It's about what you can show with it.

And then I put the model in different positions

to accentuate form.

My photographs were very sculptural,

there was nothing about sex in them.

That's how I see it.

I didn't get the impression she enjoyed it, necessarily.

It was something to do to make some money.

It's just here I am.

I'm naked, I'm nude.

Take your pictures of me, and let me outta here

and get me paid, you know?

- We liked to hang out on the Upper West Side,

like up near Grant's Tomb, areas like that.

There were Corinthian columns,

buildings that had classical Greco-Roman architecture.

We liked each other a lot, and we were attracted

to each other, but I don't know if there was

any potential for a long term deeper thing.

So, we basically drifted apart

over the period of about three months we were together.