Late night double feature picture show
Sep. 28th, 2003 10:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwynI went to see the Rocky Horror Show last night at the 5th Avenue theatre, Seattle's big old movie palace that's now home to theatrical productions and Broadway show touring musicals. I realized when H and I were making plans that this would be the fifth time I'd have seen it on stage, and I think he said was the third time for him. And I was telling him about my history with it, and realized... whoa, this was really my first fandom. I've always said The Professionals was my first real-scale, true fandom, where I did serious fannish things, but as I described all this to H, there it was - Rocky Horror Picture Show was my ur-fandom, and I never even really knew it.
The first time I saw the movie was very shortly after it had begun its midnight showings in New York. I remembered the movie, remembered how fast it tanked even in culty-movie Seattle, but a friend who worked for a small local record store chain (remember those, you fellow oldsters?) and thus had connections with all the local radio stations told me about the showings that had been going on in NY for a few weeks and how attendance was growing so fast, a number of stations in other cities were going to try their own in different cities. So we went, to this theatre in the 'burbs, and despite its location, there were quite a lot of us. I remember mostly just being in a haze -- until not long before that, my parents wouldn't even let me stay up past 9:30; suddenly there I was at a midnight movie. And a lot of folks were more clued in to the film; even though the talking back and throwing things and props hadn't really started just yet, there was still more buzz around it than anything I'd ever seen before. I was going to be a junior in high school that coming fall, and so I was still pretty young. The friends I went with included my pal M and her boyfriend, B, who she'd met through me because he was my best buddy, and he was three years older than we were, so the R rating was not a problem.
Within a few weeks the revolving theatre scheduling stopped, and it began its years-long run at the Neptune theatre in the U District, not far from UW campus. By then, props were starting to appear, and people were shouting back at the screen, etc. I never did much of any of the participation, I just mostly sang along because I loved the songs. M and B were like that too; and he would frequently whisper obscene comments in my ear, trying to get me to laugh at the wrong times. My fellow students heard about this "Rocky Horror thing" I was involved with, and started pestering me to go with. As if they couldn't somehow gain entree into a secret society without my knowing the signal. The dweebiest dweebs in dweebdom pestered me; the coolest kids who'd never normally talk to me asked. Even though I was totally scorned in every other way through school, I got the reputation as the hep film cat, especially when, the day after Star Wars premiered, I showed up at school the next day sporting a May the Force Be With You button and no one knew what it meant. I was desperate to have anything I could use to show that I wasn't a loser, so I was happy to trade on my RH or SW or anything else knowledge if it meant kids didn't torment me.
Also, I didn't have a driver's license, so I was dependent on my friends. After B and M broke up, I had to find someone else to go with, anyway, and it wasn't hard. It was cool to go to the U District for those of us in high school (think Cordelia and her dating of college boys), and so there was a certain cachet about it. Most of the people in line were in college, not high school. The media had long since picked up on the trend and lots of ink was spent in talking about the RH phenomenon. There was a local theatre company that put on the play; I went to that, then up to Vancouver to see it. A number of years ago, they staged it again here and I went twice. From the first time I saw it, I'd become mildly obsessed with Tim Curry, and dug up articles about him, which were hard to get, from British magazines, but it was rare to see him in anything on this side of the pond. When The Professionals began airing on Canadian television in '78, the year I graduated high school, I'd already been slowing my attendance at RH down somewhat, and Pros took over my life by my first year of college; but I still remember how thrilled I was when Magenta's actor showed up in a Pros ep. I watched tons of Masterpiece Theatre things from Britain, and would get very excited when I'd see background actors from RH show up in them.
By the time I got into college, I think I'd started the long slide into fannnishness that culminated in getting involved in sci-fi cons. After that it was a short step into media fandom. And by then, I'd forgotten about RH. At the theatre last night, it was unusual -- when I've seen it on stage in the past, no audience participation was encouraged. It was a play --a fun play, a wild play, but a play and they didn't expect the audience to dance or sing or whatever. They actively encouraged it last night, in this toff-nosed theatre, and outside of food or open flame, wanted people to engage, etc. I can't imagine what it was like for the actors to do their lines in the face of all the shouting. They were all great, too -- the guy who played Frank was a big tall guy, gorgeously muscled and with a long line in his dancing, and with a shaved head, and for some reason the actor playing Brad reminded me a lot of Alexis Denisoff. The man playing Rocky was just... holy shit. The outfit they put him for the final dance number was... well, with his breathtakingly gorgeous body and the pseudo-S&M barely existent getup he was in, he would not have been out of place in a gay porn film of beautiful boys. He was just... guh, plus he could sing and dance. What more can you ask? One of the things I've always liked about seeing it on stage is the difference between Susan Sarandon's Janet, because she can't sing strongly, and other actresses who are more accomplished singers; songs like her number with Rocky come across so differently when the actress can really belt out those lines about wanting to feel dirty.
I got the impression many in the audience had never seen it on stage, and weren't too certain about the staging differences. And it was so interesting how different the audience responses are now from when I was there -- they've evolved so far in other directions that I often didn't know what was being said or done. Many of the same things are there, especially the responses to the narrator and the lights and the rubber gloves and other things, but some of the lines I'd never heard before. I'm sure if I went to a midnight showing I'd feel completely out of place now and as old as I really am -- hey, you kids, get off of my movie! Why, you young whippersnappers! So I put it in my queue next on Netflix, because that's what old people do. Not only was it a shocking realization that it really was my first fandom and that I'd been around to witness its birth as a fandom, but it was also kind of surprising to realize how out of touch with it I was, how far away it's all become.
The first time I saw the movie was very shortly after it had begun its midnight showings in New York. I remembered the movie, remembered how fast it tanked even in culty-movie Seattle, but a friend who worked for a small local record store chain (remember those, you fellow oldsters?) and thus had connections with all the local radio stations told me about the showings that had been going on in NY for a few weeks and how attendance was growing so fast, a number of stations in other cities were going to try their own in different cities. So we went, to this theatre in the 'burbs, and despite its location, there were quite a lot of us. I remember mostly just being in a haze -- until not long before that, my parents wouldn't even let me stay up past 9:30; suddenly there I was at a midnight movie. And a lot of folks were more clued in to the film; even though the talking back and throwing things and props hadn't really started just yet, there was still more buzz around it than anything I'd ever seen before. I was going to be a junior in high school that coming fall, and so I was still pretty young. The friends I went with included my pal M and her boyfriend, B, who she'd met through me because he was my best buddy, and he was three years older than we were, so the R rating was not a problem.
Within a few weeks the revolving theatre scheduling stopped, and it began its years-long run at the Neptune theatre in the U District, not far from UW campus. By then, props were starting to appear, and people were shouting back at the screen, etc. I never did much of any of the participation, I just mostly sang along because I loved the songs. M and B were like that too; and he would frequently whisper obscene comments in my ear, trying to get me to laugh at the wrong times. My fellow students heard about this "Rocky Horror thing" I was involved with, and started pestering me to go with. As if they couldn't somehow gain entree into a secret society without my knowing the signal. The dweebiest dweebs in dweebdom pestered me; the coolest kids who'd never normally talk to me asked. Even though I was totally scorned in every other way through school, I got the reputation as the hep film cat, especially when, the day after Star Wars premiered, I showed up at school the next day sporting a May the Force Be With You button and no one knew what it meant. I was desperate to have anything I could use to show that I wasn't a loser, so I was happy to trade on my RH or SW or anything else knowledge if it meant kids didn't torment me.
Also, I didn't have a driver's license, so I was dependent on my friends. After B and M broke up, I had to find someone else to go with, anyway, and it wasn't hard. It was cool to go to the U District for those of us in high school (think Cordelia and her dating of college boys), and so there was a certain cachet about it. Most of the people in line were in college, not high school. The media had long since picked up on the trend and lots of ink was spent in talking about the RH phenomenon. There was a local theatre company that put on the play; I went to that, then up to Vancouver to see it. A number of years ago, they staged it again here and I went twice. From the first time I saw it, I'd become mildly obsessed with Tim Curry, and dug up articles about him, which were hard to get, from British magazines, but it was rare to see him in anything on this side of the pond. When The Professionals began airing on Canadian television in '78, the year I graduated high school, I'd already been slowing my attendance at RH down somewhat, and Pros took over my life by my first year of college; but I still remember how thrilled I was when Magenta's actor showed up in a Pros ep. I watched tons of Masterpiece Theatre things from Britain, and would get very excited when I'd see background actors from RH show up in them.
By the time I got into college, I think I'd started the long slide into fannnishness that culminated in getting involved in sci-fi cons. After that it was a short step into media fandom. And by then, I'd forgotten about RH. At the theatre last night, it was unusual -- when I've seen it on stage in the past, no audience participation was encouraged. It was a play --a fun play, a wild play, but a play and they didn't expect the audience to dance or sing or whatever. They actively encouraged it last night, in this toff-nosed theatre, and outside of food or open flame, wanted people to engage, etc. I can't imagine what it was like for the actors to do their lines in the face of all the shouting. They were all great, too -- the guy who played Frank was a big tall guy, gorgeously muscled and with a long line in his dancing, and with a shaved head, and for some reason the actor playing Brad reminded me a lot of Alexis Denisoff. The man playing Rocky was just... holy shit. The outfit they put him for the final dance number was... well, with his breathtakingly gorgeous body and the pseudo-S&M barely existent getup he was in, he would not have been out of place in a gay porn film of beautiful boys. He was just... guh, plus he could sing and dance. What more can you ask? One of the things I've always liked about seeing it on stage is the difference between Susan Sarandon's Janet, because she can't sing strongly, and other actresses who are more accomplished singers; songs like her number with Rocky come across so differently when the actress can really belt out those lines about wanting to feel dirty.
I got the impression many in the audience had never seen it on stage, and weren't too certain about the staging differences. And it was so interesting how different the audience responses are now from when I was there -- they've evolved so far in other directions that I often didn't know what was being said or done. Many of the same things are there, especially the responses to the narrator and the lights and the rubber gloves and other things, but some of the lines I'd never heard before. I'm sure if I went to a midnight showing I'd feel completely out of place now and as old as I really am -- hey, you kids, get off of my movie! Why, you young whippersnappers! So I put it in my queue next on Netflix, because that's what old people do. Not only was it a shocking realization that it really was my first fandom and that I'd been around to witness its birth as a fandom, but it was also kind of surprising to realize how out of touch with it I was, how far away it's all become.
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no subject
Date: 2003-09-28 11:45 am (UTC)I've been back in recent years, getting my baby brother hooked on it in the early 90s (and that's what older sisters do), and I plan to take my daughter and her boyfriend one of these weekends. Somehow, for me, it had been translated into a "coming of age" experience.
But yeah, I definitely had the "hey, you kids, get off of my movie!" response the last time I went. I've decided that I'm not going for my own sake in the future, but just to pass the torch on to the next generation of emerging fen. [g]
Thanks for making me feel all warm and fuzzy and nostalgic.
no subject
Date: 2003-09-28 12:24 pm (UTC)But i was all in love with RHPS too. I remember going the very first time and my friends let it loose that i was a "virgin". So, to lose my virginity, some guy straddled my waist and i had to fake an orgasm while he fed me a cherry. Heh.
I got over the embarassment rather quickly and then got so into the show, i went to the midnight show every week. And eventually, i joined the onstage cast while the movie played in the background to play Magenta. And now, when people catch it on TV or go see it like they've just discovered a treasure no one knew about, i feel the same, "Hey! That's MY movie!"
no subject
Date: 2003-09-28 12:26 pm (UTC)Sigh..me too. I've never seen the stage version, but I still see the movie occasionally. Once or twice they screen it at a theatre, and it is just amazing to meet people I haven't seen since the late 70's. I really resent the place being full of teenagers who first saw it on DVD. As far as I'm concerned the universe revolves around my generation, and I really resent the hints that this may not actually be true..:)
no subject
Date: 2003-09-28 12:32 pm (UTC)Thanks for reminding me of it :)
On the fandom side, I have always been a fan at heart, and a slash fan at that, without knowing it. From th efilms I liked, the TV series I followed and the characters I invented stories about...