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Hi There I am Magenta Im a Gypsy girl currently in Maine USA and a huge fan of rocky horror picture show
magenta2977
  1. rocky horror rumors
    28th Nov 2015 06:06
    9 years & 28 days ago
  2. Shock Treatment: Cast & Crew List
    28th Nov 2015 05:55
    9 years & 28 days ago
  3. Shock Treatment: Production Notes
    28th Nov 2015 05:43
    9 years & 28 days ago
  4. Shock Treatment Introduction by Sal Piro
    28th Nov 2015 05:33
    9 years & 28 days ago
  5. Production Notes
    28th Nov 2015 05:22
    9 years & 28 days ago
  6. Cast & Crew List
    28th Nov 2015 05:08
    9 years & 28 days ago
  7. Mistakes?! From the Film
    28th Nov 2015 04:57
    9 years & 28 days ago
  8. How it Began
    28th Nov 2015 04:45
    9 years & 28 days ago
  9. Rocky Horror Timeline
    28th Nov 2015 04:32
    9 years & 28 days ago
  10. How to do the Time Warp
    28th Nov 2015 04:21
    9 years & 28 days ago
Cast & Crew List
9 years & 28 days ago
28th Nov 2015 05:08

Cast
Dr. Frank-N-Furter (a scientist)
Tim Curry
Janet Weiss (a heroine)
Susan Sarandon
Brad Majors (a hero)
Barry Bostwick
Riff Raff (a handyman)
Richard O'Brien
Magenta (a domestic)
Patricia Quinn
Columbia (a groupie)
Little Nell
Dr. Everett V. Scott (a rival scientist)
Jonathan Adams
Rocky Horror (a creation)
Peter Hinwood
Eddie (ex delivery boy)
Meat Loaf
The Criminologist (an expert)
Charles Gray
Ralph Hapschatt Jeremy Newson
Betty Munroe Hilary Labow
The Transylvanians Perry Bedden
Christopher Biggins
Gaye Brown
Ishaq Bux
Stephen Calcutt
Hugh Cecil
Imogen Claire
Rufus Collins
Sadie Corre
Tony Cowan
Fran Fullenwider
Lindsay Ingram
Peggy Ledger
Annabelle Leventon
Anthony Milner
Pamela Obermeyer
Tony Then
Kimi Wong
Henry Woolf
Crew
Original Musical Play, Music and Lyrics by Richard O'Brien
Screenplay by Jim Sharman and Richard O'Brien
Musical Direction and Arrangements by Richard Hartley
Associate Producer John Goldstone
Executive Producer Lou Adler
Produced by Michael White
Directed by Jim Sharman

Mistakes?! From the Film
9 years & 28 days ago
28th Nov 2015 04:57

by J. Alan Pfaff
There really aren't too many more errors in editing than there are in most other films, it's just that since RHPS has been viewed so many times, they're more obvious. Just to give a couple of examples, Die Hard II is supposed to take place in Washington, D.C., yet the telephones say Pacific Bell on them; also, Ash does not have his shotgun with him during the pit scene in Army of Darkness, yet he starts shooting people with it when he comes out (of course, this could have been intentional)* There are plenty more. Ask around on alt.cult-movies or some such newsgroup if you're truly interested.

Here's a list of a few from RHPS, in chronological order. If you have any more, please send feedback.

??? Ralph's mother (a brunette woman) and father (a bald man with a white tuxedo) run up to be in the wedding picture twice.

??? The chalk heart that Brad draws on the church changes shape in different shots.

??? Janet's purse in 'Dammit, Janet', moves places when she puts it on the ground.

??? The Transylvanian with the Hors D'oeuvres during Time Warp puts it down in one shot, and in another shot suddenly has it again.

??? Columbia's hat is on the ground immediately before her tap-dance, but when she starts dancing, it's on her head.

??? The red carpet mysteriously disappears for Columbia's tap-dance.

??? When Janet faints at the beginning of Sweet Transvestite, a different hand is raised to her head in different shots. Also, she continues to scream even after she has supposedly fainted.

??? Brad's shirt is unbuttoned in one shot, and then buttoned again when Magenta is undressing him.

??? The position of Rocky's arms and the types of moves he's doing change in different shots during Charles Atlas Song.

??? Eddie's bracers disappear at one point while he is rolling around on the floor with Columbia.

??? There is blood in the freezer before Frank attacks Eddie with the pick.

??? While he's activating the magnet, Frank starts to raise his left leg, but when the camera shot changes, his right leg is lifted.

??? The first shot of Dr. Scott going up the stairs shows a piece of carpet turned over by the wire pulling the wheelchair.

??? While Rocky is proposing a toast to Janet, Riff's hand can be seen pulling the napkin out of Dr. Scott's glass, yet he pulls it out again a few moments later.

??? Riff serves Brad a slice of Eddie in a close-up of Brad, and then again in a wide shot - yet Brad only ends up with one slice on his plate.

??? In 'Planet Schmanet, Janet', Frank pulls down Janet's bra strap, but it's back in place in the next shot.

??? The tattoo on Frank's arm is washed off in the pool during the floor show, reappears for the last bit of the floor show, is washed off again at the end of the floor show, and is on again at the end of I'm Going Home.

??? Brad and Janet are helping Dr. Scott out of the castle without a wheelchair, but Dr. Scott is laying on a broken wheelchair (or is it a bicycle?) during Superheroes.

Since RHPS is a send-up of the old B-movies, it could be argued these were intentional, as the old movies rarely paid too much attention to such trivialities as plot continuity. Regardless of the reason, many things seem to happen that are seemingly impossible (or at least improbable). Here are some of them, and various explanations to go with them.

LATE NOVEMBER EVENING?
The Criminologist says that this all occurs on a "late November evening, "yet Richard Nixon's resignation speech is on the radio in the car. Nixon resigned in August. So what's the deal? Was the radio doing a re-broadcast? Did Brad and Janet go through a Time Warp? If it was Nixon's original speech, why were Brad and Janet talking, rather than listening to it like good clean-cut American citizens? And what's with the copy of The Plain Dealer? Its date doesn't seem to match anything. Many explanations could be theorized about, and any number of arguments could be made, but my personal opinion is that nobody really cared. For you Americans, do you know what was the last year that Margaret Thatcher served? These were Brits making a film set in the United States, and I doubt too much research or attention was placed on what the Criminologist said compared to what was on the radio. Most likely, the speech was on there to give a sense of the period, and the paper to give a sense of the location - i.e. 'Apple-Pie Midwest America". Possibly, the speech was also included to give a "feeling of foreboding."

WHAT TIME OF THE NIGHT?
This is often-times a much debated topic, yet the explanation seems simple. The concern is mainly that according to the clock during The Time Warp, it was midnight when Brad and Janet arrived, yet they had dinner a few hours later, and when they left, it was Still dark out. This is compounded by the fact that the clock chimes more than twelve times. Many various explanations have been given. Some claim that they arrived earlier than midnight, others say that time had no meaning in the castle. Nobody seems to be able to accept the idea that perhaps Transylvanians don't keep the same dinner schedules as Earthlings. Well, here's the chronology for you, so Shut up about it already.

The wedding was in the late afternoon. By the time Brad and Janet stopped dancing and Singing, and got around to changing clothes, getting a bite to eat (White Castle perhaps?), and heading off to see Dr. Scott, it was well into the evening, perhaps around 10:00 or so. When the car broke down around 11:00, they had to walk back several miles in the dark and the rain, so it took a good hour for them to arrive at the castle. Everything between their arrival to the end of the Creation Scene is in "real-time and so Rocky ends up being born between midnight and 12.30. After a bit of sleep (perhaps an hour), Frank seduces both Brad and Janet. Since Frank is the wonderful lover that he is, this takes up a bit of time, putting Janet's seduction of Rocky well past 3:30. Dinner happens around 4:00, after which the Cast is Medusaed, and Frank prepares for the floor show. The floor show begins at around 7:30, making Rocky seven hours old, and by the time the castle blasts off, it's just around dusk (it *is* November in midwest America; it takes a while for daylight to happen).

So there you have it. It all fits, and it all makes sense, so don't try to tell me anything different. Unless, of course, it's a good theory.

WHAT, EXACTLY, IS THE FLOORPLAN OF THE CASTLE?
There isn't one. The castle, as it's portrayed in the movie doesn't exist. It is absolutely impossible for the elevator to be where it is in the lab, and for the hole in the wall to be where it is. You'll also note that there are no doors into the lab. So how do the Transylvanians get there before Brad and Janet? Perhaps they all made a quick trip in the elevator, perhaps they all teleported up there, or perhaps they used Riff and Magenta's secret entrance that was originally supposed to be there. This also was supposed to be the way in which Dr. Scott entered the lab, but nobody really noticed that they forgot to remedy this until it was being filmed. Richard O'Brien asked production designer Brian Thomson how Dr. Scott was going to enter, and Brian answered, as a joke, "We'll just push him through the wall."

How it Began
9 years & 28 days ago
28th Nov 2015 04:45

"It Was Great When It All Began"
Reprinted from "Creatures of the Night" by Sal Piro

The first time I saw the ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW was at the Waverly Theater in Greenwich Village, late in January, 1977. ROCKY had already been playing there for nine months, but I did not know much about it. Some girls I met at a party who'd seen the show on Broadway told me of it, and so did my friend, Michael Kester. He had seen the film nineteen times and could not stop raving about it. It didn't seem unusual to me that Michael had seen a movie so often. After all, I had seen many of my favorites more than twenty times. But that Michael, with whom I shared a passion for music and film, had seen the RHPS so very many times impressed me, and I began to be curious about it. I still never dreamed that I would go to this film - any film - more than 1300 times.

The American premiere of the ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW was at the Westwood Theater in Los Angeles, in late September of 1975. Even though it played in a few test market cities, the film was considered a failure and did not get a wide release and was shelved.

Then, on April Fools' Day, 1976, Tim Deegan, a young advertising executive at 20th Century Fox, persuaded Bill Quigley of the Walter Reade Organization to replace the midnight show at the Waverly Theater with the ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW. The Waverly had already been a mecca for midnight movies and had had two very successful runs, of El Topo and Night of The Living Dead. The manager of the Waverly, Denise Borden, was fascinated with the film and she began her own personal hype campaign, with photos in the box office window and a theater telephone recording that stated, "This is a film not to be missed."

Denise would play the record album of the RHPS sound track before the showing of the film to warm up the audience, and a party atmosphere was generated as a result. The audiences naturally began to respond, by booing the villain and cheering the heroes, and as Jim Sharman, the director of ROCKY HORROR, has said, "With typical Saturday morning serial stuff." This spawned a whole group of regulars who weekly reserved the same seats in the first row of the balcony. These pioneers of audience participation from the balcony included two young ladies named Amy and Theresa; Bill O'Brien, the first person to dress as Dr. Frank-N-Furter; Lori Davis, who wrote the Ten Commandments of ROCKY HORROR; and Louis Farese, a kindergarten teacher from Staten Island.

On Labor Day weekend of 1976, Louis felt compelled to speak to the screen. He is credited as the first person to yell lines at the movie. His earliest lines were: "Buy an umbrella, you cheap bitch!" - to Janet walking in the rain, and "How strange was it?" - to the criminologist's initial speech. (Louis called this "counterpoint dialogue.") Then, in late September, as they sought a preview of Halloween, a few people came dressed as characters from the movie. Later, on Halloween, there was a costume party with many people dressing as the characters.

Bill O'Brien and a few of the regulars began to lip-sync the record that is played before the movie in front of the audience. This was spontaneous and it developed into a mini-floor show before the movie. Audience response was tremendous.

Around the first of the year, in unexplained circumstances, the floor show moved to the New Yorker Theater, on Manhattan's Upper West Side. The ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW had been playing there since June, but was not doing very well. The theater was larger, with a stage, which may have partly motivated the move. The audience there, however, displayed no real interest in the floor show, so it was eliminated and the regulars returned to the Waverly.

I was a former seminarian who spent three years teaching theology and directing school plays in Catholic high schools in New Jersey. I was laid off from my teaching job in June of 1976 and spent that summer being a drama director in an all-girls camp in the Berkshire Mountains. When I returned, I decided I would move into New York City and try my hand as a "starving actor." I took a job waiting tables and got some roles in off-Broadway shows. Then I went to see ROCKY HORROR.

It was a cold snowy night when four friends and I found ourselves outside the Waverly waiting for over an hour before we were allowed in to see the show. One of these friends was Marc Shaiman who went on to become musical director for Bette Midler, Billy Crystal and other stars. He sat next to me for the next seventy-five times I saw the RHPS. Both of us contributed ad-lib lines that became part of the whole spectacular "happening."

1. VIRGIN / v noun/ (n) - anybody who has never seen the ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW, (virgin viewing - seeing RHPS for the first time).

The Waverly movie floor show. Anticipating what was to come, I became more and more excited. I found the energy and enthusiasm generated in the theater catching. The film started. The lips... the Time Warp... Frank's fabulous entrance... image followed image, and the impact on me was tremendous. I began living the movie as it unreeled.

The first time I heard Louis Farese's voice speaking back to the screen, it was funny and I was delighted. Suddenly I was ten years old again, going with my mother to see Snow White and the Three Stooges. I remember that just as Snow White was about to bite into the poisonous apple, a voice from somewhere in the movie theater warned audibly, "You'll be sooorry!" The whole theater rocked with laughter. As the film continued, I wanted to shout out something clever too, but I didn't have the nerve.

I remembered Zacherly, the ghoulish host of TV's Creature Features, who interrupted scenes from old "B" horror films with zany remarks and wisecracks. It always broke me up. (Oh, what he did to The Attack of The Giant Crab Monsters!) Eventually, I began ad-libbing a remark or two during other movies myself. Sometimes people laughed, but more often I heard, "Quiet!" from annoyed members of the audience or my embarrassed friends.

But now, thanks to Louis and friends, it was all right to talk back to the screen. By the time I had watched RHPS twice, I knew by heart the places to yell lines and how to time them. By my third viewing, I was ready to try my hand at an original line. When Frank asked, "Whatever happened to Fay Wray?" I answered, "She went apeshit!" - exactly what the audience did when they heard me. This was the first of dozens of lines that I created. Some of them were forgotten, but plenty of them are still shouted out in theaters across the country today.

Pleased with this quick success, Marc and I developed a regular litany connecting the audience to what was happening on the screen. Marc's favorite line was his answer to Magenta's, "Master! Dinner is prepared." "And we helped," was Marc's contribution. My own favorite, and one of the most popular in the New York area, occurs before, "Toucha Toucha Touch Me." When Rocky touches Janet's hand, the audience asks: "Hey Janet, you wanna fuck?" (Janet turns her head.) "Think about it," they shout, as she smiles from the screen.

I not only invented lines; if I heard someone else's line and liked it, I kept it alive by integrating it with the rest of the litany. This is how the show "went public," people inventing lines and using the lines of others. An individual would yell a line; others would pick it up; then a whole group and eventually the entire audience would shout out the line together. Today, "old-timers" say that sometimes they miss the spontaneity of a single person creating a new line; they feel that the impact is lost when over a hundred people yell out lines, usually out of sync, at that. I don't agree. I feel everyone reacting together to the film is part of the charm - ROCKY fans as a community chanting and reacting to their film with love and affection.

Alan Riis was another who excelled at originating lines. Alan was a college student from Brooklyn, active in local and civic organizations. He was first exposed to RHPS in May of 1977, brought to the theater by his friend, Laura Stein. Alan was crazy about Dr. Demento, a disc jockey specializing in bizarre humor. Once Alan sent him a 700-signature petition, asking that he play "Time Warp." Since then, Dr. Demento has featured ROCKY HORROR music on his syndicated show a lot. The RHPS was clearly a great outlet for Alan's talents and imagination. His most famous line is the one that starts off the audience participation with: "And God said, 'Let there be lips!"' just as the movie begins with an image of a huge pair of lips.

Alan and Ed Bordenka were responsible for bringing many of the Waverly innovations to other theaters in the New York area. While Ed didn't invent many lines himself, his devotion to the film was, and is, incredible. He has seen it over 500 times in many different theaters and he says each time is as good as the first. He and Alan also traveled outside city limits to many of the other ROCKY HORROR theater showings that sprang up in mid-1977. At each of them, Ed's extremely loud voice spread the lines that had originated at the Waverly. This caused problems sometimes, because regulars at those other theaters, when they heard Ed and Alan, believed the lines were being created right then and there. And you can imagine the arguments that we Waverly regulars have had in other theaters when we've tried to convince other devotees that most of their lines had originated with us!

Meanwhile, back in the first-row balcony, creativity had not yet been exhausted. The logical step after talking in unison with, and then at, the screen was actual physical participation in the film - through the use of props. The first ones used were rice and cards. Amy Lazarus says it was sometime in April of 1977, about a year after RHPS opened at the Waverly, that she and her friend Theresa ripped paper up and threw it, like confetti, during the wedding scene. The following night, Bill and Lori handed out rice for people along their row to throw. I was not there that particular weekend, but I was the next, when regulars picked up the cue and threw rice during the wedding scene. It caused pandemonium in the theater. At the moment when I, a neophyte of only twenty viewings, was pelted with rice, I realized the possibilities ahead. Something really new, really exciting was happening and I felt part of it.

Lori Davis was the first to throw playing cards during the song, "I'm Going Home," while Frank is singing "cards for sorrow, cards for pain." She explained why she did it: "The Master said cards - I bring the cards." Lori made a confession, too. For a while she had kept her weight down to 98 pounds because of a line in the "Charles Atlas" song, but had to give it up when it made her ill. Now people throw playing cards, greeting cards, computer cards and pieces of cardboard marked "sorrow" and "pain."

Candles were the next important prop. Louis Farese tells how one night he was handed a candle by Bill and Lori, for the "candle ceremony." During "Light in the Frankenstein Place," everyone in the front row balcony stood up, a lit candle in their hand. No one intended this to be a regular part of the routine, but a group from the orchestra took up the practice and it continued.

During the rain scene one night, Alan Riis, who sat in the orchestra, put a newspaper on his head as Janet does to protect her head. In spite of the mockery this caused, Alan continued to do it for three weekends, determined the idea would catch on.

Eighteen months later, I sat in a theater where at least three-quarters of the audience wore newspaper hats on their heads. I smiled and was glad at the tribute to Alan's stubbornness. Today, newspapers are one of the most popular props because they are cheap and easy to find. Even during a newspaper strike, ROCKY HORROR fans always managed. To enhance this scene, people began to use water pistols to simulate rain. (Thank goodness we had newspapers on our head!)

The use of lines and props spread rapidly from theater to theater across the country. Hearsay, newspaper and magazine articles, and the fact that New York City ROCKY fans visited theaters playing the show in other parts of the U.S. are the reasons for this phenomenon. The fan club often receives letters from people who have moved from New York, which describe how they use Waverly lines and routines in their home theaters.

John Mandracchia, producer of the first two New York ROCKY HORROR conventions, tells that when visiting Florida on vacation, he brought props to the local theater where the film was playing. The management became quite upset at his throwing rice and cards during the show - they had seen nothing like it before. However, when John returned a year later, the same management thanked him for starting it all.

Costumes and Make-up

In spring of 1977, a young woman named Dori Hartley came to the Waverly to see the RHPS for the first time. No one could guess at the profound effect she was to have on the development of the cult. That night she came with her friend Robin Lipner, who had seen the film a few months before. Dori's reaction to the entire experience, the film itself and the audience antics, coupled with an intense fascination with and attraction to Frank-N-Furter (Frank), kept her awake most of that night. The next night, although she could not break a previous date in order to see the film, she did ride past the Waverly on her bicycle. It was at 2 a.m., when the crowds were leaving the theater after the show was over. Unable to forget the movie, she went home and sketched portraits of Frank from memory. The next Friday she saw the film again. After that, she did not miss a showing of ROCKY until the end of its run at the Waverly six months later.

At first, Dori was threatened by the crowd of regulars, because they were so much a part of the show that so fascinated her. She felt like an outsider. This did not last long. She met Lori Davis, who introduced her to the others in the first row balcony. Lori had seen the show many times and this impressed Dori. She was soon accepted into the "pew" and she and Robin became regulars. She still looked up to the others because they had been in at the beginning of it all, and she was especially impressed by Bill O'Brien, who had played Frank in the original floor show.

The more Dori saw the film, the more her obsession with Frank grew. First she dyed her blond hair black, then she had a permanent so she could have the exact hairdo that Frank has in the film. At her thirteenth viewing, she appeared wearing make-up identical to Frank's and a cape like his that she made herself. Outside, the crowd waiting in line applauded her. She was encouraged by the response, and worked constantly to improve her costume and make-up. It was Dori who re-introduced special clothing for the film and it was here to stay.

When Robin decided to dress up also, Dori suggested that she go as Magenta, and she helped with her make-up and with the choosing of a plain black dress. It was about this time that fourteen-year old Maria Medina started coming to the Waverly. She also dressed as Magenta, and her maid's costume was complete. In make-up, Maria's resemblance to Patricia Quinn's Magenta in the film was uncanny. Seeing this, Robin finished work on her own costume and wore it. This was the way that the first and most heated of the rivalries between fans wearing the same costume began.

As her act became more polished, Dori began receiving attention and she was approached by Bill O'Brien with the idea of reorganizing the pre-movie floor show. Dori was very excited at this, although disappointed when she realized Bill wanted her to play Columbia. Obediently, however, she went home and started to work on the new costume. After all, she still looked up to Bill as the original floor show cast Frank-N-Furter.

Bill never got anywhere with his plan, leaving Dori with a half-finished, sequinned Columbia outfit. But nothing could dampen her enthusiasm, and it was spreading to the others. When Laura Stein showed interest in dressing up, Dori gave her the Columbia outfit and helped her with make-up. She herself continued to dress as Frank-N-Furter, and suggested to Thom Riley, another regular, that he come as Riff Raff; she helped him with costume and make-up, too. In true Frank-N-Furter fashion, Dori had built around herself a court of characters.

Forming of Friendships

At first, I did not know anyone other than Marc, who was a habitue of the RHPS. So I started going to the Waverly early each week to meet other fans. Alan Riis became my first friend and he began saving me the fifth row aisle seat. It became my permanent spot. Through Alan, I met Laura Stein (Columbia) and Eric Kleiman - one of the first Transylvanians complete with lightning bolt make-up. (Later Eric became the fan club's Riff Raff.)

While waiting in line one night, I shouted out a remark to one of my new friends. A young girl came running up to me and said: "It's you... you're the one with the voice! I love your voice!" Liz Frank had recognized it from the many lines that I shouted each week. Liz introduced me to her brother Josh and his friend Jude Goldin, and through them I met another regular, Larry Forer, a 30-year old teacher from New Jersey. This began a chain reaction of friendships, which formed the core of the fan club. Now I sat in a block; Larry was behind me, Jude in front. Putting together our lines, bits and props, we formed the "orchestra" people, and began to challenge seriously the dominance of the first row balcony.

We all lived for Friday and Saturday nights. We met at 8 p.m. to make sure that we would be first in line and so get our regular seats. The atmosphere outside the theater was as electric as it was inside. We sang songs, we Time Warped (Once we stopped traffic on Sixth Avenue while we were dancing.), we traded questions, and we waited for the arrival of Dori. All of us shared this devotion to the film as we gathered outside in eager anticipation of midnight.

An early predecessor of the TRANSYLVANIAN, or the fan club newsletter, was distributed by Laura Stein. The TRANSYLVANIAN biweekly or "Mell Tells" (since she played Columbia, she called herself "Mell" instead of "Nell") was a two-sided typed sheet that gave information of new audience lines that had been recently created or discontinued and other special events. There was an ongoing debate that the audience line, "she went apeshit," should be discontinued because it came at a special moment, a close-up of Frank-N-Furter's face. The balcony group thought it was offensive to yell such a word at that time.

About this time, a quiz began to circulate among those of us who waited in line. Dori, Robin and other regulars began trading ROCKY trivia among themselves and realized just how much information they had in their possession. They came up with the idea of a trivia quiz. Dori and Robin put it together and passed out copies with the heading: "Compliments of Dori and Robin." For the next year and one-half, that quiz was copied and recopied from one side of the country to the other. And through it, Dori and Robin became famous.

I had not actually met either of them. When they handed me a copy of the quiz, I introduced myself as the "voice" from the orchestra who had thrown hot dogs. Their reception was not warm, and they lectured me on the problems that my action had caused. Robin even threatened me, as she jokingly described and acted out a switchblade being snapped open and thrust into someone's belly. At that moment I could not know, and would not have believed, that a long and deep friendship was beginning with these two.

I continued to do my "thing" in the orchestra, although I did stop throwing hot dogs - because of rising meat costs, not Robin's threat. In the beginning I looked at them both as terrible snobs, but I soon saw that this was just their way of protecting the film that they thought was so special. When finally they accepted me as a creative force rather than a destructive one, we became friends. Out of this relationship sprang the famous "balcony-orchestra" wars - with the groups trading lines back and forth throughout the film. For example, when Rocky is eating the meat during the dinner scene, the usual line was "Give it to Mikey, he'll eat anything!" From my seat in the orchestra, I changed it to, "Give it to the balcony, they'll eat anything!" The balcony retorted, "You should know, Sal!"

The two groups tried for weeks to outdo each other, but when it got really out of hand, we called a truce. One night, an anonymous voice in the rear of the balcony yelled a line of derision to the orchestra. Immediately the first row balcony people yelled down in their own defense, "It wasn't us!"

It wasn't long before the theater management received warnings from the fire department about the use of open flames during the candle lighting ceremony. It was a fire hazard, obviously, and even more so since many of the candle bearers wore newspapers on their heads. How could the enthusiasm of the participants be subdued? For a few weeks, ushers and security guards marched up and down the aisles warning people to put out their candles. Mostly, the warnings were ignored.

Then the manager, Denise Borden, came to me, begging me to do something to convince the others that the matter was serious. The fire department had threatened to close the show if the practice of lighting candles did not stop. Denise told me she thought the audience would listen to me because I was one of them.

I thought about it, and that night, when everybody was sitting in their seats, I called for their attention, saying I wished to make an announcement. In as serious a voice as I could muster, I appealed to everyone's good sense, and to their concern that the show go on at the Waverly. I ended with the C-U-R-R-Y cheer, now part of the ritual. Not a candle was lit that night, and from that time on, candles were banned in many theaters everywhere. The practice of making general announcements before the film started then. I myself made many of them - about birthdays, celebrations, and transylversaries. I seemed to be the one who made the announcements, for the most part and I became known as spokesman for the ROCKY HORROR cult in New York. Once we started the fan club and I became President of it, this became a natural role for me.

The All-New Floor Show

Everyone wanted to be part of the creative action. Every week some new idea was tried out and developed, but we were yet to create the audience participation that was going to make our group famous.

The original pre-movie floor show had disbanded. But now, with the popularity of the film gaining constantly, rumors began to circulate that the floor show was going to be revived. Many regulars started to come dressed as characters from the film, following the example of Dori and her friends. We had a complete cast now, so why not organize a floor show ourselves? We spontaneously came up with what seemed like a logical extension to what had gone before: the holding of a live floor show during the movie.

Anyone who has seen the RHPS a few times knows how to do the "Time Warp". "It's just a jump to the left, then a step to the right... ". I'm sure that at every theater where ROCKY is showing, people have stood up at their seats or gone into the aisles to dance. At the Waverly, the number of Time Warpers kept increasing. One night a few of us really let loose. When Riff Raff and Magenta opened the doors to the ballroom, we ran up in front of the screen and performed the dance in full view of the audience. Of course, during the solo verses, we bent down out of sight. Once, though, on the spur of the moment, I stood up and mimicked Columbia's tap dance in sync with the film. The applause afterward was encouraging; clearly the audience was ready for a new variety of participation. The Time Warp made a good starting point, because everyone could join in with the dancing.

TIME WARP INSTRUCTIONS

Out of this came the individual members of the audience taking on specific characterizations and acting out scenes simultaneously with their screen counterparts. Dori's wardrobe continued growing, until everything Frank wore was included. One night, during "Sword of Damocles," when she was wearing the green surgical robe, she persuaded a blond, Rocky-type regular named John to strip to his underwear. Right on cue, as Frank chased Rocky on the screen, Dori began chasing John around the theater. Audience participation finally had reached the level of true theatrics.

As for myself, I became more and more fascinated with the Janet character. (Fascinated, not obsessed - for I was not about to dye my hair blond!) I marveled at Susan Sarandon's performance and I participated in many of her scenes. When Betty Munroe threw the bouquet, I jumped in my seat and pretended to catch it at the same time as Janet did. One night a girl named Ellen brought me a bouquet to catch - and so I had my first Janet prop. I also played another scene, the one when Janet shows off her ring saying, "It's nicer than Betty Munroe had." Betty Rice and Alba Cordasco, two schoolteacher friends of Larry, brought an oversized rhinestone ring for me to use. When it came time for each of these bits, flashlights shone from all over the theater, spotlighting me in a role that I was to play in our upcoming floor show.

As the weeks went on, members began to establish themselves in specific character roles. The first Janet and Brad were Donna Bruggerman and Alba Cordasco. Donna was an innocent-seeming blond from Staten Island who, once inside the theater, stripped to a bra and slip and played Janet's scenes inside the castle. Alba was dressed, like Brad, in a tuxedo, plaid tie and cummerbund. It became standard for Alba and me to get up in our seats and kiss at the end of the line, "Dammit Janet." I had now added a wedding hat to my wardrobe.

Marc Shaiman brought Mickey Mouse ears and a hair dryer, and for a while, during "Toucha-Toucha-Touch Me," he and I mimicked Columbia and Magenta from our seats. One night, we went up to the small stage below the level of the screen itself and did the number before the whole house. We were all getting bolder and bolder in what we wanted to do. The climax came when Dori, in her completed "Sweet Transvestite" outfit, performed the entire number in front of the screen and up and down the aisles.

After this, anything went. Thom Riley performed as Riff Raff during "There's a Light." At other times, he or Paul Gheradi (our other Riff) did the Rome Warp with Robin or Maria, our dueling Magentas. There were bannisters at the sides of the steps down to the orchestra at the Waverly. One night Robin slid down the bannister on the left, throwing her feather duster to Riff Raff, at the same time as Magenta made a similarly magnificent entrance on screen. Laura Stein (Columbia) and Mike Morra (Janet) danced in the aisles during "Hot Patootie." It became natural that Maria, in her Magenta negligee, and Laura, in her pajamas, replaced Marc and me during "Toucha." Donna, still in bra and slip, wanted to do the "Toucha" number, but she needed a Rocky. There was no one resembling Rocky around, so I volunteered, turning the number into a hilarious routine embellished by high camp. From that day on, we never performed that particular number seriously - or later either, when I was playing Janet.

I created one bit that I was particularly proud of because I was not mimicking something from the film. This was the use of the audience cue cards during "Eddie's Teddy." The audience had always echoed each line of the song when it was sung by Dr. Scott. Now I devised a giant songbook containing all the responses, with a few "sha-bop-sha-bop-bops" thrown in, and writing Dr. Scott's lines with a German accent.

Alan Riis had a marvelous sense of humor. He had a ventriloquist's dummy that he named "Larabee." Alan dressed this dummy as Rocky, and Larabee performed at a number of ROCKY theaters. I had the privilege to perform "Toucha" with Larabee a few times when the dummy wasn't performing with Joy, Alan's favorite Janet.

It had by now been established that Dori and I were the driving forces of the floor show, whose cult following was growing rapidly. Dori's glamorous and dramatic portrayal of Dr. Frank-N-Furter combined well with my comic interpretations. What might have been only a passing fad was turning into an important cultural statement.

As 1977 was ending, we were on top of the world and having the time of our lives. In our wildest imaginations, though, we never dreamed of the dramatic future lying ahead for the cult of RHPS audience participation. Already the media - newspapers, magazines, you name it - had begun to pick up on what was going on at the Waverly.

Rocky Horror Timeline
9 years & 28 days ago
28th Nov 2015 04:32

Below is a list of important dates in Rocky Horror history. This page is, and always will be, a "work in progress". If there are errors, or important missed additions, please drop us a line using our E-mail form.

1970s ??? 1980s ??? 1990s ??? 2000s ??? 2010s

1973
Jun 16, 1973:
The Rocky Horror Show, originally written by Richard O'Brien, has its first preview showings at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, Sloane Square, London, England. The show plays later that year at the Classic Cinema followed by the King's Road Theatre. 2,960 performances, and various other locations in England later, the show closes on Sep 13, 1980.

1974
Mar 19, 1974:
The Rocky Horror Show has its first US preview showings at the Roxy Theatre, Los Angeles, CA. The show ends up having a successful 9 month run.

Oct 23, 1974:
Filming begins on The Rocky Horror Picture Show, at Oakley Court / Bray Studios near Windsor, England.

Dec 21, 1974:
The Rocky Horror Picture Show wraps up principal photography.

1975
Mar 10, 1975:
The Rocky Horror Show starts its run on Broadway at the Belasco Theatre, New York, NY. The run ends on Apr 5, 1975, after only 3 previews and 45 showings.

Aug 1975:
The Rocky Horror Picture Show has its worldwide premiere in London, England.

Sep 26, 1975:
The Rocky Horror Picture Show has its US premiere at the UA Westwood Theater (now called Mann Festival Theater), Los Angeles, CA.

Sep 29, 1975:
The Rocky Horror Picture Show's general US release date.

1976
Apr 2, 1976:
RHPS has its first midnight showing around April Fool's Day at the Waverly Theater (now called IFC Center), New York, NY - the start of Rocky Horror's "audience participation" phenomenon.

Sep 1976:
RHPS audience members start to talk back and yell things at the screen.

1977
Apr 1977:
Audience members start throwing things at certain points with the film, the first "props".

Spring 1977:
The Rocky Horror Picture Show Fan Club is created by Sal Piro and other fans of the film.

1978
As RHPS grows in popularity, creator Richard O'Brien works on a script for a sequel, Rocky Horror Shows His Heels. This script was later re-worked into The Brad and Janet Show, which eventually became Shock Treatment.

1979
The RHPS soundtrack LP is released in the US for the first time.

1980 (5th Anniversary)
Nov 1980:
Filming begins on Shock Treatment, at Lee International Studios (now Fountain Television Studios) in Wembley, England.

Nov 10, 1980:
Recording of the Shock Treatment soundtrack begins at Regents Park Recording Studios, London, England.

1981
The Shock Treatment soundtrack is made available in LP and cassette.

The Rocky Horror Treatment, a documentary hosted by Sal Piro about the RHPS / Shock Treatment experience, airs on late-night cable.

Aug 1981:
Shock Treatment has its American premiere at UA Cinemas, Fresno, CA. Lou Adler, Michael White, Richard O'Brien and his son Linus are all in attendance. Fresno, CA RHPS cast Creatures of the Night hosts the event.

Dec 1981:
After many delays, Shock Treatment is released to theatres on a limited basis.

1983
Shock Treatment is released on VHS.

The 2-LP RHPS Audience Participation Album (Say It!), complete with audience callbacks, is released.

1985 (10th Anniversary)
Oct 31, 1985:
RHPS celebrates its 10th Anniversary at the Beacon Theater, New York, NY. Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn, Little Nell, Susan Sarandon, Barry Bostwick, Meatloaf, and Jonathan Adams are in attendance. The RHPS Fan Club becomes the officially recognized international fan club by 20th Century Fox, with Sal Piro as Fan Club president.

1986
A CD version of the RHPS Soundtrack is released.

1989
May 12, 1989:
A CD of the RHPS Soundtrack is released with two new remixes of The Time Warp.

1990 (15th Anniversary)
The 4-album RHPS 15th Anniversary Box Set is released on CD and cassette.

Jul 1990:
Sal Piro's book about the RHPS experience, Creatures of the Night, is published.

Oct 18, 1990:
The City of Los Angeles declared it "Rocky Horror Picture Show Day".

Oct 20, 1990:
RHPS celebrates its 15th Anniversary on Soundstage 14 at 20th Century Fox Studios, Century City, CA. Tim Curry, Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn, Little Nell, Barry Bostwick and Meatloaf are in attendance. The event also marks the first apperance of a newly-mixed stereo track of the film, using masters from the soundtrack album.

Nov 8, 1990:
RHPS is released on VHS for the first time for a retail price of $89.95. The video includes the stereo track, documentary footage and a Time Warp video. A laserdisc is released later that year without the documentary.

1993
RHPS finds a new online home: alt.cult-movies.rocky-horror.

Oct 25, 1993:
RHPS has its US broadcast TV premiere on the Fox network, complete with (edited) audience participation.

1994
May 3, 1994:
A CD version of the Shock Treatment soundtrack is released.

Jul 5, 1994:
The Rocky Horror Show has its 21st Birthday party at the Duke of York's Theatre, London, England. Richard O'Brien and Patricia Quinn are in attendance.

Aug 16, 1994:
A CD version of the RHPS Audience Participation Album (Say It!) is released.

Dec 10, 1994:
Cosmo's Factory, which later becomes one of the largest Internet sites dedicated to RHPS, goes online.

1995 (20th Anniversary)
The RHPS Official Fan Club starts its own website at www.insv.com/rhps.

May 1, 1995:
Sal Piro's book Creatures of the Night II is published.

Sep 5, 1995:
A new RHPS CD is released: RHPS: Sing It!, the RHPS soundtrack without the main vocals.

Oct 20-21, 1995:
RHPS celebrates its 20th Anniversary at the Roxy Theatre and the Pantages Theatre, Los Angeles, CA. Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn and Barry Bostwick are in attendance.

Oct 1995:
RHPS airs on VH1, along with a special on the film hosted by Meatloaf, and becomes their top-rated programming to date.

Dec 20, 1995:
RHPS is released in a 20th Anniversary laserdisc box set for a retail price of $124.98. The video includes a THX-certified 1.85:1 letterbox transfer, the stereo track, an audience participation track, deleted scenes "Once in a While" and "Superheroes" as supplements, outtakes, a documentary, a 24K gold CD of the soundtrack, and the Sal Piro book Creatures of the Night II.

1996
Fox replaces some original prints of RHPS with new stereo prints that include the scene "Superheroes", not commonly included in prior US releases. This thrills some fans because of the added scene and upsets other fans who prefer the original mono sound mix.

Mar 22, 1996:
The RHPS Official Fan Club moves to a new address: www.rockyhorror.com.

Apr 12, 1996:
At an Albany, NY RHPS / Shock Treatment convention, both movies are performed, and RHPS Fan Club President Sal Piro announces the creation of the Shock Treatment Fan Club, with the new presidents "Mad Man" Mike and Bill Brennan.

Oct 1996:
An unsuccessful Halloween cross-promotion with Budweiser beer and RHPS is tried.

Dec 1996:
An unfinished script for a sequel to RHPS, Revenge of the Old Queen, surfaces on the Internet. The film is never made.

1997
Sep 16, 1997:
The Rocky Horror Collection CD box set is released.

1998
Sep 15, 1998:
RHPS is released in a Special Edition VHS, with the 1990 stereo track. There are also separate Spanish subtitled and 1.85:1 letterbox releases. These releases include deleted scenes "Once in a While" and "Superheroes" as supplements.

1999
Sep 1999:
RHPS creator Richard O'Brien is rumored to have written a script for a sequel to Rocky Horror. The finished product never surfaces.

Oct 1999:
VH1 airs RHPS along with new Pop-Up Video, Where Are They Now?, and Behind The Music specials.

2000 (25th Anniversary)
Mar 7, 2000:
RHPS Criminologist Charles Gray dies at the age of 71.

Oct 3, 2000:
RHPS is released on a 2-disc DVD in the US, carrying all the features over from the 20th Anniversary laserdisc release. It also features the option to have "Superheroes" in the film, a 1.66:1 anamorphic transfer and a newly-mixed 5.1 surround track, as well as (finally!) the original mono track. Richard O'Brien and Patricia Quinn even have a commentary track! A VHS is also released at the same time, featuring "Superheroes" in the film and a stereo mixdown of the new 5.1 track. A new CD soundtrack is also released on this day: RHPS: 25 Years of Absolute Pleasure.

Oct 13-14, 2000:
RHPS celebrates its 25th Anniversary at the Cashman Field Center and the Hard Rock Cafe, Las Vegas, NV. Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn, Sal Piro, and Dori Hartley are in attendance.

Oct 19, 2000:
The second Broadway run of The Rocky Horror Show starts its previews at Circle in the Square Theatre, New York, NY. The show goes on for 2 years, has 437 performances, and is nominated for 4 Tony awards.

Oct 29, 2000:
VH1 airs RHPS and their related specials. They also premiere Rocky Horror 25, a celebrity karaoke special hosted by Ashton Kutcher. Patricia Quinn, Richard O'Brien and Nell Campbell, as well as Jesse L. Martin, Bijou Phillips, Eric McCormack, Wallace Langdon, Amber Benson, Anthony Stewart Head (who played Frank-N-Furter in RHS 1990 UK production), and Elisa Donovan sing songs from the film.

2001
Jun 21-24, 2001:
A fan-run RHPS convention, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, is held in Los Angeles. Patricia Quinn and scream queen Elvira make an appearance.

Oct 30, 2001:
A fan-made documentary about the RHPS experience, A Regular Frankie Fan, is released on DVD.

2002
Jul 2002:
A television remake, Rocky Horror: The Second Coming is announced to be in the works, but never sees the light of day.

Sep 3, 2002:
A 1-disc version of the RHPS DVD is released. The 2-disc version goes out of print.

2004
Jul 23-25, 2004:
An fun-filled RHPS convention is held in New York, NY.

2005 (30th Anniversary)
The Rocky Horror Trivia Game is released. The game includes 1,500 trivia questions written by Sal Piro.

Jun 13, 2005:
RHPS' Dr. Scott, Jonathan Adams, passes away at the age of 74.

Dec 16, 2005:
www.rockyhorror.com, the RHPS Official Fan Club's website, is re-designed for the first time since its introduction in 1994.

Dec 27, 2005:
The US Library of Congress' National Film Preservation Board adds RHPS to its National Film Registry.

2006
Mar 16, 2006:
The Rocky Horror Show starts its new tour in the UK.

May 3, 2006:
To celebrate the Royal Court Theatre's 50th birthday, the Rocky Horror Tribute Show is performed at the Royal Court. Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn, Little Nell, Anthony Stewart Head, Christopher Biggins, Perry Bedden, and Michael White, Sue Blane and Kimi Wong are there.

May 22, 2006:
An RHPS / Shock Treatment DVD box set is released in the UK.

May 29, 2006:
www.rockyhorror.com gets another re-design.

Sep 5, 2006:
A Shock Treatment DVD is released in the US with 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and 5.1, 2.0 and Spanish audio tracks. The disc features trailers, featurettes, and commentary by Shock Treatment Fan Club presidents "Mad Man" Mike and Bill Brennan. The disc is made available separately, as well as in a box set with the previously out of print 2-disc RHPS DVD.

Oct 2006:
More rumors about a Rocky Horror remake surface, this time with Marilyn Manson in the lead role of Frank.

Oct 13-14, 2006:
A fan-run RHPS / Shock Treatment convention, Queens of the Desert, is held at the Loft Cinema, Tucson, AZ. Sal Piro and RHPS Transylvanian Perry Bedden are in attendance.

2007
Jan 1, 2007:
Sue Blane, RHS, RHPS and Shock Treatment costume designer, receives an MBE (Members of the Order of the British Empire) Award for services to drama.

May 11-12, 2007:
The Downhome Decadence cast in Huntington, WV, holds the We Are... Rocky! convention, with performances of RHPS, Shock Treatment and Phantom of the Paradise.

Jul 26-29, 2007:
Midnight Insanity in Long Beach, CA, holds The Pirates of Transylvania convention, with performances of RHPS and Shock Treatment. Sal Piro is in attendance.

2008
Jul 23, 2008:
Variety posts an article that MTV is planning to remake The Rocky Horror Picture Show for television.

2009
May 15-16, 2009:
The Celluloid Jam convention is held in Fort Mitchell, KY, with showings of Phantom of the Paradise, Shock Treatment and RHPS. Kimi Wong O'Brien and Perry Bedden are in attendance.

Fall 2009:
Auditions are held in Los Angeles, New York, and London to assemble what would later be known as the North Denton Aristrocrats (NDA) shadowcast. The cast performs the entire film to be released as a special feature on the 2010 Blu-ray release.

2010 (35th Anniversary)
Sep 23-25, 2010:
The Los Angeles, CA RHPS cast, Sins O' The Flesh, hosts 7 Deadly Sins Con in downtown Los Angeles, with showings of Clue, Shock Treatment and RHPS. Cliff De Young, Jessica Harper, Lou Adler, John Goldstone, Barry Bostwick, and Sal Piro all make appearances.

Oct 18, 2010:
New rumors of a RHPS remake surface, this time with Glee creator Ryan Murphy as director.

Oct 19, 2010:
RHPS is released on high-definition Blu-ray in the US, with a 1.66:1 transfer from a 4K/2K scan of the original camera negative, newly-mixed 7.1 DTS-HD MA surround track, and a mono track. The 7-song soundtrack album for Fox's Glee episode The Rocky Horror Glee Show is also released the same day.

Oct 26, 2010:
The Rocky Horror Glee Show is aired on the Fox Network.

Oct 28, 2010:
A special RHPS event is held at the Wiltern Theatre in Los Angeles, CA, to benefit The Painted Turtle. The NDA Cast, along with Khasan Brailsford, Danny DeVito, Jorge Garcia, Lucas Grabeel, Melora Hardin, Ricki Lake, George Lopez, Julian McMahon, Lea Michele, Matthew Morrison, Jack Nicholson, Nicole Scherzinger, and Evan Rachel Wood perform the show. Tim Curry, Barry Bostwick, and Lou Adler are also in attendance, as well as Jami Gertz and Burt Bacharach.

Oct 31, 2010:
West Hollywood, CA holds its Annual Halloween Carnaval with a Rocky Horror Picture Show theme. 8,239 people are recorded as dancing The Time Warp, breaking all previous Guinness Book records. On the same day, Fox Movie Channel holds a 24-hour marathon of RHPS.

How to do the Time Warp
9 years & 28 days ago
28th Nov 2015 04:21

1. (It's just a) JUMP TO THE LEFT, with hands UP.

2. A STEP TO THE RIGHT (Time-Warper ANNETTE FUNICELLO suggests a very WIDE step.)

3.* (With your hands on your HIPS) YOU BRING YOUR KNEES IN TIGHT.

4. (Then) THE PELVIC THRUST (if repeated FIVE times, it nearly drives you insa-a-ane)

5. HIPSWIVEL (if not driven insa-a-ane by step four)

6. LET'S DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN!


* Those with LIMB DISABILITIES may find it necessary to ALTER or DELETE this action, but NO EXCUSES for alterations to steps four and five.

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