{"id":254981,"date":"2025-09-26T01:38:13","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T01:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/254981\/"},"modified":"2025-09-26T01:38:13","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T01:38:13","slug":"rocky-horror-fans-did-the-time-warp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/254981\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Rocky Horror’ fans did the ‘Time Warp’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIs Chicago ready for \u2018The Rocky Horror Picture Show?’\u201d<\/p>\n

Moviegoers in Los Angeles and New York \u2014 shivering with antici \u2026 pation \u2014 already scooped up gobs of tickets for the theatrical release in September 1975. The Chicago International Film Festival<\/a> hosted a private screening for its members at the Esquire Theater. But Tribune columnist Maggie Daly<\/a> wondered how the campy combination of science fiction and B-horror flaunted in fishnet stockings by Dr. Frank-N-Furter (Tim Curry) would play here.<\/p>\n

It bombed. The Tribune didn\u2019t initially review the film. If it played locally, then the movie didn\u2019t make the newspaper\u2019s listings.<\/p>\n

Yet successful stage versions \u2014 including the original at London\u2019s Royal Court Theatre<\/a> (from which many of the movie\u2019s actors came) and another one by Lou Adler (the film\u2019s producer) in New York City<\/a> \u2014 wowed audiences with their punky, rock \u2018n\u2019 roll-themed songs (\u201cTime Warp\u201d) and interactions with audience members. Something was special about \u201cRocky Horror.\u201d<\/p>\n

For those who haven\u2019t seen it, \u201cRocky Horror\u201d follows engaged milk toast couple Brad Majors (Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (Susan Sarandon) who suffer a flat tire on a dark and stormy evening and stumble upon a castle where they are welcomed to spend the night. The inhabitants are friends of Dr. Frank, a native of Transsexual in the galaxy of Transylvania, who have gathered for their annual convention. That\u2019s when the mad scientist reveals his latest creation \u2014 a muscular mate named Rocky Horror (Peter Hinwood). It\u2019s a wild and crazy night that forever changes Brad and Janet\u2019s lives before the castle blasts off back toward the heavens.<\/p>\n

\"Frank-N-FurterFrank-N-Furter and his gruesome sidekicks pose at a photo call for the cult musical “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” directed by Jim Sharman for 20th Century Fox. Cast members include Tim Curry, Patricia Quinn, Richard O’Brien and Little Nell Campbell. (Evening Standard\/Getty)<\/p>\n

Local theaters reintroduced the film to a late-night crowd the next year. Midnight showings were soon accompanied by shadow casts<\/a> who screamed key phrases, led crowds in singalongs and tossed key props (toast, rice, water, etc.) at the screen. The result: Cult status. By 1985, the movie grossed more than $60 million<\/a> and at that time was the longest continually running movie in America. Maybe part of its allure was that the only place to watch the movie was at a theater. \u201cRocky Horror\u201d wasn\u2019t released on video until Nov. 8, 1990. Even then, it was expensive \u2014 $89.98 on VHS<\/a>. Local TV finally aired it in 1993<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fifty years later, cast members from the original movie will be at the Chicago Theatre on Oct. 19<\/a> for a screening. Halloween showings \u2014 with costume contests \u2014 are also planned around the area.<\/p>\n

For now, give yourself over to absolute pleasure and revisit some of the venues that have hosted the hysterics of \u201cRocky Horror.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three Penny Cinema (now Lincoln Hall)
\n\"AlmostAlmost one year after its 1975 theatrical release, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” reappeared on a local screen. Three Penny Cinema, 2424 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago, began showing the movie on Aug. 3, 1976, according to the Tribune’s movie listings. (Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

2424 N. Lincoln Ave.<\/p>\n

The Lincoln Park theater \u2014 where \u201cDeep Throat\u201d<\/a> premiered in 1968 \u2014 was the first in the city<\/a> to bring \u201cRocky Horror\u201d back to the silver screen on Friday, Aug. 13, 1976.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when Tribune critic Lynn Van Matre gave it a 2\u00bd-star review<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s not exactly a great movie, but more often than not it\u2019s great fun, provided your heart belongs to drag parodies with overtones of dementia,\u201d she wrote. \u201cIf it all sounds terribly ridiculous, that, of course, is the idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

Biograph Theater
\n\"FansFans of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” line up outside the Biograph Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago, on Sept. 15, 1980, for a midnight screening of the 1975 film. (John Austad\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

2433 N. Lincoln Ave.<\/p>\n

Copying the Waverly Theater in New York, Biograph owner Larry Edwards set midnight<\/a> as the time for weekly \u201cRocky Horror\u201d showings on Friday and Saturday nights. Its first screening<\/a> was March 3, 1978. Except for a brief break<\/a> in 1983-1984 when the theater changed management, \u201cRocky Horror\u201d stayed at the Biograph for 11 years.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere seems to be a distinct and very loyal audience that comes out to watch movies at midnight on weekends,\u201d 20th Century-Fox executive Tim Degan told the Tribune. \u201cThose are the people who are going to see \u2018Rocky Horror.\u2019 The commuter and the housewife don\u2019t even know what we\u2019re talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AA costumed-clad cast acts out scenes from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” on Sept. 15, 1980, as the audience joins in at the Biograph Theater, 2433 N. Lincoln Ave. (John Austad\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

About five months into its run, Tribune critic Gene Siskel<\/a> attended a showing at the Biograph where hundreds of people paid the $3 entry fee to sing, dance and party like a Transylvanian. According to Siskel, the movie grossed just $450,000 nationwide in the six months after its theatrical release. By then playing in more than 70 cities, it was grossing $100,000 nationwide each weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe audience repeatedly talks back to the screen during the picture. Talks back and yells back,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThe night I saw the film, it appeared as though at least half of the 700 people in the theater knew the film line for line.\u201d<\/p>\n

Siskel asked then-20th Century-Fox sales supervisor Cary Brokaw why the movie received such an extraordinary reaction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe movie is bizarre, but I think it allows people to indulge the dark side of their character<\/a> in a way that is still fun,\u201d Brokaw said. \u201cIt\u2019s a one-of-a-kind cult picture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Granada Theater
\n\"TheThe live stage version of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” which debuted in London in 1973, premiered on Dec. 18, 1980, at the Granada Theater, 6427 N. Sheridan Road. (Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

6427 N. Sheridan Road<\/p>\n

The first touring production<\/a> of the \u201cRocky Horror\u201d live stage version premiered in Chicago in December 1980 at the 3,342-seat theater in Rogers Park. It was the first stage show at the Granada in 25 years. There was, however, one warning to the crowd \u2014 the live actors appreciated it if the audience refrained from throwing anything at the stage<\/a> during the performance. Dancing in the aisles, however, was encouraged during the 90-minute show.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of the voices in the 10-person cast rises much above simple professional competence and the perpetual passing around of hand microphones is at times distracting, but the overall energy and enthusiasm is entertaining \u2014 not to mention the fact that the volume level drowns out the annoying and self-congratulatory audience commentary, at least for a while\u201d Van Matre wrote in her review.<\/p>\n

The Tribune didn\u2019t like a revival of the production<\/a> in November 1988, at the Organic Theater either.<\/p>\n

Music Box Theatre
\n\"TheThe Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave., in 1997. (Charles Cherney\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

3733 N. Southport Ave.<\/p>\n

A weekly Saturday night showing at the Lake View theater became part of the Music Box\u2019s schedule on March 8, 1986<\/a>. \u201cRocky Horror\u201d was, by then, also screening on a variety of suburban theater screens<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s still in the rotation<\/a> \u2014 and so is \u201cStrange Journey: The Story of Rocky Horror.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

400 Theater
\n\"AlmostAlmost two decades after the movie premiered, “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” was still attracting fans to the 400 Theater, 6746 N. Sheridan Road, Chicago. (Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n

6746 N. Sheridan Road<\/p>\n

Claiming to be the\u00a0longest continually operating movie house<\/a> in the city until it closed in 2023, the east Rogers Park venue hosted \u201cRocky Horror\u2019s\u201d midnight madness in the early 1990s. A cast of 21 people<\/a> \u2014 ranging in age from 17 to 43 \u2014 acted in front of the film. Some moviegoers, however, were thrown off when Dr. Frank was played by a woman.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I\u2019d never seen (that) before,\u201d one said.<\/p>\n

Want more vintage Chicago?<\/p>\n

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Have an idea for Vintage Chicago Tribune? Share it with Kori Rumore at\u00a0krumore@chicagotribune.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Originally Published: September 25, 2025 at 8:10 PM CDT<\/p>\n