The Rocky Horror Picture Show began life as The Rocky Horror Show. This campy send-up of 1950s B-movies featured great music, fun song and dance and a really cheesy storyline. However, in the anything-goes glam rock atmosphere of the 1970s, The Rocky Horror Show found cult success. Not surprisingly, a film version soon followed.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show was released as a regular first-run film in theaters across America. It was quickly discovered that middle America was not quite ready for a movie about an alien transvestite and his sexual misadventures. The movie flopped and seemed destined for a quiet death.

Something happened, however, that would change the course of film history. The Waverly Theater in New York had developed a tradition of midnight movies on Fridays and Saturdays. The Waverly got hold of the film and decided to experiment with it in the midnight slot. This proved to be just the shot in the arm that Rocky Horror needed.

A loyal fan base soon developed, returning week after week to see the movie again. Eventually they started creating costumes, showing up at the theater dressed as their favorite characters. Talking back to the movie screen also became common and soon a regular audience dialogue developed. The next stage of development was full-on audience participation, in which the audience members went on stage in front of the screen to act out scenes in tandem with the film. A new form of interactive entertainment was born. The phenomenon quickly spread across the country and eventually around the world. By the early 1980s, Rocky Horror had become a rite of passage for teens and young adults everywhere.

That was the 1970s and 1980s. Entertainment has come a long way since then. We now have internet, virtual reality and many other forms of interactive entertainment competing for our attention. Surely the Rocky Horror cult was just a product of its time, right?

In a word, no. Check out the Rocky Horror Picture Show Fan Club site at www.rockyhorror.com to learn more about the phenomenon for yourself. You will find links not only to theaters that currently play the film and pages on the history of the cult, but many unusual items as well. Take a look at "A Virgin’s Guide" or "Rocky Horror Etiquette" to find out what to do and not do at a live show. Download an Audience Participation script or simply check the price guide to find out the going rate for rare memorabilia.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show has passed its 30th birthday and the trend shows no sign of abating. While it is no longer the all-encompassing fad of the 1980s, Rocky Horror continues to draw new legions of young fans every year. This has led to an interesting mentor-apprentice relationship in many casts, with long-time participants guiding and teaching new members, grooming them carefully to someday take over responsibility for the cult that is so well-loved.

Although Rocky Horror casts have picked up other films to add to their repertoire (Rocky’s sequel Shock Treatment and the Tim Curry film Clue are especially popular), the Rocky Horror phenomenon is truly one of a kind. See it for yourself, or simply enjoy cruising through the websites. Either way, Rocky Horror loyalty must be seen to be believed.

Posted by Lisa.

Lisa is the editor of Quality Dating Resources.