Officially Licensed Merchandise for ''The Rocky Horror Picture Show''
The Rocky Horror Picture Show was released at a time where merchandising was rare for feature films. There were some licensed products, but usually the trend was associated with trading cards, toys and lunch boxes for kid's television shows like The Monkees and The Partridge Family as well as the occasional popular music acts like The Beatles and Elvis Presley. For the most part, feature films only had tie-in posters and lobby card made exclusively for use in theaters. There was the occasional promotional badge or T-shirt for theaters to pass out to employees and less commonly shared with the audience. Upon occasion there was a tie-in paperback novel or soundtrack album, though it was rare in 1975 for anything else to be developed to purchase.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show was no different when it was first issued. There was an official promotional T-shirt featuring The Lips of Lorelei Shark and A Different Set of Jaws tag-line given out as an incentive to get people into the theater to see the film in various areas, but the distribution was limited, and the original, official 20th Century Fox produced shirt was a rarity, even at the time of the film's release. As the popularity of the film grew, so did the interest in merchandise. As the midnight screenings became more popular, the lack of official merchandise gave birth to many creative unlicensed items being sold by do-it-yourself fans/merchandisers in the way of bootleg T-shirts, badges and Audience Participation items like matches and bags of rice. The first known ''Rocky Horror'' Fan Made Merchandise was a hand drawn Dr. Frank-N-Furter silk-screened sweat shirt in late 1975 made by two teens who saw the film at the UA Westwood opening weekend; Holly Field and Hilary Laddin.
It was almost four years until the first officially licensed items were released: a set of 6 badges, created by A&B Creations in 1979. These were manufactured and released by Alba Cordasco and Betty Rice, two fans of the film who traveled across the country seeing Rocky Horror in various venues, funded by selling self-made pins in 1978. Not long after, a series of products began to become available starting with The Rocky Horror Picture Show Book followed by official trading cards, a 1980 Calendar, and The Official Rocky Horror Picture Show Movie Novel. In 1981, the subject of "official Rocky Horror merchandise" was parodied by Tim Curry and Meat Loaf in Tim And Meat's One-Stop Rocky Horror Shop. Since then, a seemingly endless stream of products and variations of The Rocky Horror Picture Show Original Soundtrack Album have been produced, with no signs of ending.
LIST OF OFFICIAL MERCHANDISE
1979: 6 Large Badges - A&B Creations
1979: Trading Cards - Fantasy Trading Card Company
1979: Rocky Horror Baseball Cap
1979: T-Shirt Iron-On (The Lips + Dripping Letters Logo)
1980: Calendar - Crabwalk Productions
1980: Posters - Dargis
1995: Lips Shaped Purse - Hot Topic
1995: Lips & Logo Lunch Box - Hot Topic
1995: 6 Bobble Heads - Headliners
2000: Action Figures (various) -Vital Toys
2000: Frank N Furter 12" Doll -VItal Toys
2014: MACX Rocky Horror Collection -MAC Cosmetics
2015: Pop Figures (6) - Funko
2016: Re-Action Figures (6) - Funko
(More forthcoming...)
OTHER OFFICIAL PRODUCTS
List of Publications
Rocky Horror Show Cast Albums
OFFICIAL PROMOTIONAL ITEMS
1975: The Lips T-shirt with 20th Century Fox Copyright Line
1975: One Sheet A - "A Different Set of Jaws" (various sizes)
1975: One Sheet B - "He's The Hero" design (various sizes)
1975: PressBook (Clip Art/line art for advertising with The Lips rounded)
1975: Lobby Card Set
1975: Rocky Horror Radio Commercials 7" EP
1978-79: I Saw The Rocky Horror Picture Show At (various theaters) Bumper Stickers
1979: Rocky Horror Picture Show Book Canvas Tote Bag
1979: Updated PressBook (Clip Art/line art for advertising with The Lips in full)
More at Bruce Cutter's Comprehensive List: [2]
