It was great when it all began...

Rocky Horror began as a small musical play, written by a struggling actor named Richard O'Brien in 1973. Original titled "They Came From Denton High", it was written as a loving tribute to old Sci-Fi and Horror movies from the 1950's, with a sexual twist to add to it. When pitched to his friend Jim Sharman, he made it into a workshop project for The Theater Upstairs at The Royal Court Theater in London. The original cast included Tim Curry, Patricia Quinn, Nell Campbell, Jonathan Adams, Belinda Sinclair and Chris Malcom, and the creative team included, Richard Hartley, Brian Thompson and Sue Blane. On June 19, 1973, "The Rocky Horror Show" opened on a dark and stormy night in London, which contributed to the pakced house. Among the attendees was Vincent Price.

The play involved a recently engaged couple named Brad Majors and Janet Weiss that were on their way one night to see their mentor Dr. Everett Scott, when they suffer a flat tire and must take refuge in a remote castle. When they arrive, they stumble onto a grand party thrown by people hailing from Transylvania, and their host is a transvestite named Dr. Frank N. Furter. The event is to celebrate the birth of Frank's creation, a blonde muscle man named Rocky Horror. Unfortunately for Frank, the presence of Brad and Janet, as well as an uprising amongst his own servants and prisoners, make it for a night none of them shall ever forget.

The play was an instant smash in London, and while on visit, record producer Lou Adler saw the play and decided to bring it to the United States. In 1974, he brought it to the Roxy Theater in Los Angeles, where the play garnered more acclaim, particurly amongst the gay following. Additions to this version were a few more musical numbers, as well as a young Meat Loaf as Eddie. Noted celebrities such as Elvis and John Lennon came to see the show, and singer Carole King was the first to dress up as a character (She dressed as Magenta). Almost inevitably, a movie deal came about, and Adler got one with 20th Century-Fox, at a time where the studio was testing the rock musical waters.

The Picture Show

Now titled "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", filming of the movie commenced in October 1974 at Bray Studios and at the Oakley Court castle in England. Oakley Court was appropriate given it's signifcance as the setting of many Hammer Horror films of the 1950s. Headed up by director Sharman and his creative team, most of the cast from the stage production returned for the film, but at the insitence of FOX executives, Brad and Janet were to be played by American newcomers Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon. The budget was a meager $1.2 million dollars, and filming conditions were rough at times, since Oakley Court was a then-run down victorian castle with no heating or bathrooms. Some actors fell ill, the pool was ice cold, and FOX executives were reportedly appalled and displeased when they came to visit the shoot. Original concepts such as a black and white opening and the use of old movie clips were dumped due to cost. Still, many of the cast believed they were making a musical that would be well remembered. Just not in the way that it turned out to be. Shooting of the movie wrapped in December 1974.

Flop on All Levels

To help generate hype for the movie, Adler moved the stage version to the Belasco Theater on Broadway in early 1975, taking most of the Roxy cast with him. However, the reaction from the Broadway crowd was very different from the LA crowd. For a play that had a more intimate setting, the Belasco was cavernous. And the impression it left on many in the Broadway crowd was decidedly negative, and it closed after only 45 performances.

This only worried 20th Century-Fox all the more. After seeing it's marketing campaign with Brian DePalma's "Phantom of the Paradise" turn into a laughingstock, FOX all but tried to bury the movie. Its test screening was set in Santa Barbara, CA (a very conservative town), where it managed to lose most of it's audience. Other than the standard trailers and radio advertisements, not much of an effort was made to promote the movie. On September 26, 1975, the movie premiered in Los Angeles, CA at the United Artists Westwood. However, it was a hit in LA, but drew very little box office outside of it. One thing that was noticed was that even if it was just 50 people coming to see it, the same 50 people were coming back over and over.

The King of Midnight Movies

Since the movie wasn't drawing much of anything on a first-run basis, Adler and FOX executive Tim Deegan came up with the idea of re-releasing it as a midnight movie in both New York and Texas, and see if it could make anything back. On April 1, 1976, at the Waverly Theater in New York City, the movie was rereleased (This release took out Superheroes and the Science Fiction reprise at the end, considered too much of a downer). Over the next few years, the movie exploded into a cult phenomenon. People came dressed up, started yelling lines at the screen (The first was reportedly "Buy an umbrella you cheap bitch!"), threw around various props such as toast, rice, cards, etc. Inevitably, people began performing the movie itself, and casts were starting to be formed. In October 1979, the first Rocky Horror convention was held in New York and attended by several Rocky celebrities.

Over the next 30 years, Rocky Horror continued to grow as the top midnight movie of all time. Many conventions have been held, many TV specials and tributes have been given, and there have been the ups and downs. There have been many memories as casts have developed and grown, and long standing friendships have been formed all over the world. If you were to put it all in a sentence, it would validate the saying of "Don't Dream It...BE IT!"