Photo: Everett
It’s midnight somewhere in the world, and that seems like justification enough to watchThe Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Given how the gleefully schlocky sci-fi musical attained a cult following as a midnight movie, it’s odd to think of it getting a general release in theaters, but it did:Rocky Horrorpremiered in Los Angeles on Sept. 26, 1975. It didn’t exactly set the box office on fire, but in true B-movie style,The Rocky Horror Picture Showrose from the grave and returned to theaters on April Fool’s Day in 1976. Fans told their friends, those friends told their friends, people started dressing up in costumes. Decades later, you can still catch late-night screenings across the county.
In celebration ofRocky Horror’s everlasting popularity, here are 20 tidbits of trivia that fans might not know. Please, shiver with anticipation.
1. Those iconic lips belong to Patricia Quinn, but that’s not her voice
2. There’s a “lost” song
3. One iconic song was a late addition to the original stage play
Richard Hartley, who composed the songs alongside O’Brien, toldThe Guardianthat the original script only made for a 40-minute long performance. “Time Warp” was initially added to stretch the play out longer, but it would go on to become one ofRocky Horror’s most beloved songs.
4. Susan Sarandon was performing in a musical for the first time — with pneumonia
Sarandon had a few acting credits under her belt when she took the role of prim, innocent Janet, butRocky Horrorwas her first gig in a musical. To complicate matters, filming in the rain gave her pneumonia. As O’Brien explained toThe Guardian, “When [Sarandon] sings ‘Wild and Untamed Thing’ in the pool, she should have been under medical supervision. She’d had a shocking cold and was shaking with fever, but still, she went on.”
5. Sarandon, however, doesn’t regret the experience
“I’ll do these conventions occasionally and keep up with them and you know in that world, I’m Uncle Barry. When I do these conventions, all of a sudden, I’m meeting a third generation of kids who have just seen it, you know, 10-year-olds, 12-year-olds, and then their parents or their grandparents,” hetold the A.V. Clubin 2015. “It’s just one of those moments in life that people sort of measure their life against.”
7. Tim Curry unsuccessfully tried to attend a midnight screening ofRocky Horror
8. Curry also credits David Bowie’s wife with being one of the first to talk back to the film
In that same NPR interview, he recalled David and Angie Bowie attending a screening at the height of the film’s popularity. “I remember whenBowiecame and he brought this huge entourage, and she was with him, and when Richard O’Brien was about to kill me, she shouted ‘No! No! Don’t do it!’ So I guess she was one of the first people to do that.”
10. The movie features literal Easter eggs
11. One cast member allegedly appeared posthumously
12. There was a genuine reaction of horror in one key scene
As O’Brien recalled toThe Guardian: “Jim [Sharman], directing, played pranks on us throughout filming. When Eddie’s corpse was revealed under the dining table, it came as a real shock: None of us had been aware that it was there apart from Tim Curry because he was the one who had to whip the tablecloth off. Jim wanted a natural reaction.”
13. There’s another David Bowie connection
14. There’s also aPhineas and Ferbconnection
Among the non-Rocky Horrorprojects that O’Brien has been involved with is the Disney cartoonPhineas and Ferb, on which he voiced the title characters' father. The show even offereda shout-out toRocky Horrorin one episode.
15. Little Nell’s singing career didn’t end withRocky Horror
Fans of Little Nell might be interested to know that she released a few songs beyond her turn as Columbia in the film. Among them are the ’60s-style pop track “Do the Swim,” as well as"Stilettos and Lipstick"and adisco cover of “Fever.”
16. Post-Rocky Horror, Rocky himself quit acting
Speaking to PEOPLE in 2000 for the 25th anniversary of the film, Peter Hinwood, the British model who played Dr. Frank-N-Furter’s less-than-monstrous creation, stopped acting. He explained his reasoning: “One, I can’t act. Two, I cringe with embarrassment every time I see myself on film. Three, I relish a quiet, peaceful life.” He later dealt antiques in London, and in 1994 he auctioned off the sparkly, gold hot pants he wore in the role. They were bought for nearly $1,000.
17. Patricia Quinn became a Lady
18. You can visit the Frankenstein Place
In real life, Dr. Frank-N-Furter’s spooky abode is Oakley Court, a Victorian Gothic mansion built in 1895 and currently operatedas a luxury hotel.
19. There’s a sequel—kind of
In 2015, O’Brien produced a stage version ofShock Treatmentin London.
20. There are two unrealized sequels
In the late ’80s, O’Brien wrote a script titledRevenge of the Old Queen, about Frank-N-Furter’s mother. The film would have taken place on the planet Transexual, in the galaxy Transylvania, and would detail, among other things, Janet’s life after Brad becomes a bottomless go-go dancer and dies after falling from a trapeze. You can read the script onlinehere. In 2001, O’Brien said he was working on a script for a sequel to the stage musical, which fans have dubbedRocky Horror: The Second Coming, but the production has so far failed to materialize.
And there’s no other way to end this piece aside from “Let’s do the Time Warp again!”
source: people.com
