This is topic Rocky Horror Picture Show in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.
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Posted by Jon Bartow (Member # 241) on 02-08-2000, 11:05 PM:
*sigh* The owners of my company decided to have midnight showings of said film on Friday and Saturday nights. Now, because the theater where this is taking place does not have adequate staff I am operating the booth on Fridays and Saturdays. This last weekend was the first. Fortunately the crowd didn't do any damage. But it took the two janitors two hours to clean the theater. I'm so worried that I'll go in the theater after the film and find a wet (or torn) screen busted speakers. Or, ever worse, that all of those burning newspapers and lighters will set off the sprinklers.
Someone please tell me why I agreed to this insanity?
Oh yeah, due to Christie being the worst people for actually filling orders on time one of the decks on the AW3-R is waiting for a density disk. Unfortunatley, Green Mile is running during the day. Thank God that it is possible to run 35mm with one film stacked on top of the other.
Posted by Ken Layton (Member # 133) on 02-08-2000, 11:25 PM:
The Olympia (Wash.) fire dept. would never let us have anyone strike a match or flick a lighter for Rocky Horror without closing us down. One lady sued us for allowing someone in with a water pistol filled with ink which got squirted onto her clothes. She took us to small claims court (and won) and we had to pay for replacing her coat.
Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 02-09-2000, 12:12 AM:
If you are having real problems and real damage from your RHPS crowds, you might have to become the "big asshole" and ban any items outside of rice and confetti. Its perfectly OK to search bags (once again this is a requirement by some fire marshalls) and tell em that they just cant have the contraband items in the show... Most dont get too upset... Good way to keep the alcohol and bottles out too...Aaron
Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 02-09-2000, 03:58 PM:
It only takes them TWO hours to clean up after Rocky Horror?!??!! In the seventies when I used to run this, we'd come in the next day to open for the matinee, and the janitors would just be leaving! :OYour theatre running a film you wish it wouldn't? My brother, while working a porno house, objected to the cladestine midnight showings of hardcore gay films, so he called the police on himself! They raided the theatre and shut down the midnight shows. It returned to standard smut in record time!
Posted by Jim Bedford (Member # 4) on 02-09-2000, 04:13 PM:
Ditto to all the above. I'm still finding rice and the occasional piece of toast. It's not worth it for the damage and cleanup aspects alone.But the real thing we all want to know is how was the print?
Posted by Chris Erwin (Member # 176) on 02-09-2000, 05:45 PM:
There was talk of running it where I work. A group wanted to show it as a fund raiser.Damage deposit scared them off.
You gotta do what you gotta do.
--Chris
Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 02-09-2000, 06:14 PM:
Am I the only one who enjoyed running RHPS? Our manager gave a quick pre-show speech to the effect of "don't throw stuff at the screen and don't throw stuff at the [glass] light fixtures on the side walls" and we didn't have any problems with damage. It did take about ten of us at least a few hours to do the cleanup and we continued to find grains of rice for several months afterward.
If anyone is interested, I have a killer 10-minute trailer/short/cartoon reel that's great for showing with RHPS or similar films...I'd be happy to loan this to anyone who wants it and will be reasonably accommodating (don't run it on platters, don't blame me if you get sued for copyright violations, etc.). Anyone who's interested should email me privately.
Posted by Jon Bartow (Member # 241) on 02-09-2000, 09:28 PM:
To answer your question about the print. It is in remarkably good shape. Aside from a few small scratches no damage. No missing footage, no sprocket hole damage. It would be a prime canidate for FilmGuard (If I could convince the owner to go for it)
Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 02-10-2000, 08:11 AM:
Does it have the new SR track or is it mono? We had one once that was only about a year old and was in mint condition (never plattered and run only at one theatre), complete with SR track and on ESTAR-base stock.
Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 02-10-2000, 09:56 AM:
Hey Tim,
Whats the difference between "standard smut" and gay "standard smut?" If your town has laws allowing the police to raid a theater then they should not be allowed to run any smut, gay or straight.
Our local laws have anti-porn rules, too. The local police only come down on films in the "art" house that are "gay themed"
I wonder how many peoples lives were ruined when the big bust happened in the theater? In this town, they print names in the paper.
I say that everyone should be treated equally.
There should be no double standard.
Smut is smut.
So what were the patrons in the gay flicks doing that the straight folks were not doing?
This is not a subject that I talk about very often. Everyone is different and no single "group" should be singled out...
Posted by Colin Wiseley (Member # 247) on 02-10-2000, 12:08 PM:
We show Rocky Horror every year on Halloween weekend, and usually one weekend in the spring too. It always sells out. There's a student group at VA Tech that sponsors it and they do a live stage show while the movie is running. They also stay to clean up afterwards which usually takes about an hour with 10 people or so.The damage to the theater is minimal since everyone is padded down before they are allowed in. They are limited to small water guns, rice and toast.
We are showing Rocky again on Mar 31 and Apr 1 at midnight so if you're in the area drop by.
www.thelyric.com
Colin Wiseley
Lyric Theatre
Blacksburg VA
Posted by Andy Davis (Member # 262) on 02-10-2000, 03:16 PM:
The police in my hometown of Sarasota, FL had the honor of busting Pee-Wee Herman and destroying his carreer.
Posted by Joe Grace (Member # 341) on 02-10-2000, 05:33 PM:
Were they really burning newspapers? Why is the theater that bad? Is it just the crowd that it is atracting or does it have something to do with the movie? I havent seen the movie, and now I dont know if I want to if people are burning stuff in the theater.
J
Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 02-10-2000, 06:17 PM:
Did anybody actually think that this movie would still be going and affecting people the way it has?I saw it in 1975 and was kind-of glad when it was over. There were about 20 people there.
No dancing, water, toilet paper rolls...
The tunes were the best part.
I am dumbfounded.
Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 02-11-2000, 06:42 AM:
The web has quite a few "Rocky" sites. Here is one of the many with a line-by-line audience script:
http://www2.ucsc.edu/~bigfish/rocky.html ------------------
John P. Pytlak, Senior Technical Specialist
Worldwide Technical Services, Professional Motion Imaging
Eastman Kodak Company
Research Labs, Building 69, Room 7419
Rochester, New York, 14650-1922 USA
Tel: 716-477-5325 Fax: 716-722-7243
E-Mail: john.pytlak@kodak.com
Posted by Christopher Duvall (Member # 284) on 02-11-2000, 01:49 PM:
I am probably one of the only General Managers in ANY change that is actually part of a cast fo RHPS. I have been doing it for 14 years and loved every bit of it. However due to my position with Regal, I don't have much time to that anymore. The theatre that runs it is a single screen, art/sub-run house in Norfolk, VA. The name if the theatre is The Naro Expanded Cinema. Great location. Reel to reel change-over, 70mm/35mm Century projectors with mag penthouse readers. As far as clean up is concerned...they allow everything to be thrown EXCEPT rice and wet foods. Rice when it gets wet WILL bleach carpets and seats. We suggest bird seed instead. They also have an old beat-up roll down screen that they drop in front of the main screen whent RHPS is run. The screen is in acedemy ratio and they run the movie with the acedemy aperature plate. Basically no matting whatsoever. The screen of course protects the main screen just in case some num-nuts decides to bring his egg-salad to throw at the stage which has happened before. We have a website but for the life of me, I cannot remember the address. The name of the cast is Fishnet Inc. If Regal would allow me to run this movie, I would...but alas...
If anybody out there in theatre-land is also in a cast, let me know. I lave telling RHPS war stories. To give you an idea how much this movie has been a part of my life...my wife wife and I are part of the same cast.
------------------
Chris Duvall
General Manager
Regal Cinemas
Rockville 13
Posted by John Pytlak (Member # 331) on 02-11-2000, 03:23 PM:
So Chris, what roles did you and your wife play in the cast of RHPS? How many times since your "virgin" screening? All at the same theatre?
Posted by Tom Ferreira (Member # 70) on 02-11-2000, 11:00 PM:
When I was in college, a weekend ritual was a trip to the old Cinerama Theatre in Providence for Saturday night showings of RHPS. 26 times in a theatre rings a bell, but it's been many, many years since I've seen it on the big screen. I'd love for my wife and kids to see it at a theatre with a good cast and active participation. Anyone know where in New England RHPS still screens? By the way, when new prints were struck, did they include the Super Heroes number at the end?
Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 02-12-2000, 02:47 AM:
I lost my RHPS 'virginity' in 1983 projecting the film to a raging crowd of three people. (I swear!)I was clueless as to why this film was such a cult hit... My second time was about nine months later as a projectionist again, different theatre, live cast and a SRO crowd! it was a completely different movie! Too bad I was running it on carbons and changeovers and didn't get too many chances to listen to all the lines until later in my career...Since then I have participated in several RHPS one-shot casts usually as Eddie, although I prefer to handle projection duties these days 
And to whomever asked about the prints with 'Super Heroes' in R6:
All of the 1990 (15th anniversary) reissue prints (the ones with the Dolby SR soundtrack) *do* have the 'Super Heroes' ending and the alternate end credit music.
I remember people asking me years ago if we had a print with 'super heroes' and i had no idea what they were talking about (very few if any of the 1975 US prints had the SH ending..)
I would like to see a 25th anniversary reissue of RHPS this year (hint hint, Fox?) with all the digital sound formats included...
Aaron
Frank says:
...Magenta...Columbia...Go assist Riff Raff.... (as Frank extends his hand toward the camera) ...I'll entertain... [THE PROJECTIONIST CAUSE HE NEVER GETS ANY F***ING RESPECT!!!]
Posted by Christopher Duvall (Member # 284) on 02-12-2000, 04:07 PM:
My wife usually play Chuckie (has no f***ing neck) and sometimes Magenta. I almost always play Brad (a$$hole!) but I have played ALL characters at one time or another. Viki started going and joined the cast Halloween of 1986 at the Naro dressed as Freddy Krueger. I started the very same day at the rival Virginia Beach cast also dressed Freddy. When my cast went belly up in 1990, I headed over to the Naro and joined there. Viki and I never knew about the Freddy thing until well after we were married...strange. Anyhoo, my original cast had shows every weekend on Friday and Saturday. I was working for AMC at that time (spit). The Naro cast has shows every other Friday. After some calculation, I figure somewhere over 600 times for myself. I have only missed only a few shows during my stint with both casts and most of the last 2 years. Viki from what I understand is very close to the same figure. We both stopped counting after 69 shows ;'>
Posted by Brad Miller (Member # 2) on 02-13-2000, 01:47 AM:
Tom,Yes, the new prints do include the song "Super Heroes" from the original European version. All have that horribly redone SR stereo track with the bad lip sync as well.
There's a thread already on this here at Film-Tech that you can read by clicking here.