Waverly Theater
The Waverly Theater was a Walter Reade Group theater in New York City that was the first location in the country to play The Rocky Horror Picture Show as an exclusive, on-going Midnight-only movie on a weekly basis. It played there from Midnight on Saturday, April 3, 1976 (doors opened Friday, April 2) closing on January 28, 1978. It is commonly mis-reported that it opened on April Fools' Day of that year, which was a Thursday. The Rocky Horror Picture Show Official Fan Club was started by members of the Waverly's regular audience in 1977, prior to their relocation to the 8th Street Playhouse in July, 1978.
Because of the early success of Rocky Horror at the Waverly, The New Yorker at 88th and Broadway in Manhattan (also owned by the Walter Reade chain) added Midnight screenings on Friday and Saturday nights in June of 1976 and were added soon after at Reade's Festival Theater (at 57th at 5th ave) as well, where it remained until early 1980.
Audience call backs at the Waverly began on Labor Day weekend of 1976, when repeat-attendee Louis Farese yelled out "buy an umbrella, you cheap bitch" during "There's a Light." The first Screen-devoted, costumed audience members at the Waverly appeared a little over a month later, on Halloween of 1976. Audience members began appearing in costume regularly after that, performing to the soundtrack LP before the show. The audience reaction was positive, but they were discouraged by the management, causing the team to move to the New Yorker for a brief time in early 1977. Lack of enthusiasm from the audience had the crew returning quickly to the Waverly, where things began changing as the cult took hold. By Spring of 1977, the focus at the Waverly began to shift towards the performers with a pre-show cast (including audience member Bill O'Brien as Frank N Furter), though things changed dramatically after the debut of Dori Hartley as Frank. Not coincidentally, the theater began getting press coverage, and the Waverly became the most talked-about venue of the era, with help from the Fan Club Newsletters.
Unfortunately for the Waverly's devoted regulars, the theater management was unhappy with some negative reaction from outsiders and non-regulars, and decided to drop The Rocky Horror Picture Show from their roster in January of 1978 and began began showing other cult films in its place, leaving the cast and Fan Club without a home for several months.
In 1982, the Waverly became a twin theater, with 2 screens (the Waverly 1 & Waverly 2). In February of 1992, Shock Treatment was shown at the Waverly 2 on Friday and Saturday nights, eventually switching to the Waverly 1 through the end of July, 1982.
The historic building, originally built as a church in the early 19th century, is currently operated as the IFC Center with 3 screens.
