Audience Participation
Audience Participation at The Rocky Horror Picture Show had its roots at The Rocky Horror Show, which was considered an interactive experience going back to the original run at The Theater Upstairs in London. Audience members returned for multiple performances, and began singing along to the soundtrack within days of the show's opening. Angie Bowie (then-wife of Rock star David Bowie) has been quoted as saying she may have been the first to talk-back at the live performance when she screamed don't do it to Riff Raff, before he blasted Frank to oblivian at the plays conclusion. the same phenomenon was observed when the show moved to The Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles, where the show quickly developed a devoted following with many audience members coming for repeat viewings and sing-alongs over the 9-month run. Additionally, the first official Rocky Horror themed costume contest was held on Halloween, 1974, at the Roxy, which may have been the official start of sanctioned Audience Participation.
Although the play was revered in London, the filmed version, The Rocky Horror Picture Show was not successful in its initial opening in London in August of 1975, closing after a few short weeks while the play continued. The story was different in Los Angeles, where it debuted at the UA Westwood in late September to an enthusiastic group of fans of the play, who had bought their tickets in advance, via mail order. From the earliest screenings of the movie, fans of the Roxy Cast production were returning to sing along with the film, and calling out asides from the play's soundtrack, including "2-4-6-8-10-12-14....Eat Your Heart Out, Ann Miller" during "The Time Warp." Although the film opened at 10 theaters across the US a week later, it disappeared rapidly, though it remained playing in Los Angeles, with a growing audience. The Rocky Horror Picture Show soon started showing at local revival houses, as well as having a continuing run at the UA Cinema Center and the Holly Theater. Fans began traveling from theater to theater, bringing their enthusiasm and repeating call-backs as they went. The first documented costume from an audience member was that of Michael Wolfson, who began creating his first Frank N Furter outfit after seeing the film at the UA Westwood in 1975. Within a year, he would begin to cast the first organized performance group, The Rocky Horror Revue.
The film was tested in several markets around the U.S. in limited release and special screenings beginning in late 1975, though the first major development of the cult outside of Los Angeles emerged when The Rocky Horror Picture Show was added as a Midnight Movie on weekends on a regular basis at the Waverly Theater in New York City in April of 1976. The film took hold with a group of enthusiasts who began returning weekly, and call backs were first documented there on Labor Day weekend, (on September 4 or 5). Halloween of 1976 was a major date in Rocky Horror history, as fans at the Waverly began showing up in screen-inspired costume on that day, while Los Angeles was in the midst of a city-wide re-release of the movie. Call backs and costumes were also popping up spontaneously in various locations, including Texas, Arizona and South Africa. As Rocky Horror spread to new theaters, so did the call backs, no matter where it screened.
As the film picked up more screenings, and grew in popularity, so did Audience Participation. Early on, many theaters were torn between those enjoying the call-backs, and newbies who would scream "shut up" to them in response. Over time, the rowdies won out, and theaters that embraced the participation flourished while those that didn't, faded away. Nevertheless, in the early years, there were theaters that were more quiet than others and did not necessarily have casts that were still successful. As word of audience participation spread, the Rocky Horror experience became legendary, and the rowdier the theater, the longer the lines were outside to get in.
Various venues developed their own culture around the growing cult. Many theaters, including the Waverly, started with performances before the film. At the Fox Venice, in Los Angeles, where the film had multiple screenings on the same night, the show was in-between screenings. Other theaters, though boisterous and enthusiastic, had the audience (costumed or not) generally remaining in their seats, though it is suspected that in most places, many got up to dance The Time Warp in the aisles. The cast at Waverly, later transplanted to the 8th Street Playhouse, became well known via The Rocky Horror Picture Show Official Fan Club and began performing during the film itself, alongside with the movie. When the feature film Fame included a scene filmed with their cast and their pre-show, casts across the U.S. were given a new template to follow, which created somewhat of a script for performances that remains to this day.
