The Rocky Horror crowd had an amazing amount of regulars. The same people came again and again week after week. Their friends were all going to be there, the pre-show sidewalk party was cheap, and they got to hang out in a theater and throw rice and cards. If you were out of weed somebody would usually share, and if you were underage you could find someone to make a beer run there. I'm sure we had dealers working the crowd as well - a full service semi-spontaneous block party every Friday and Saturday night from roughly 11 to 12.
Rocky Horror on the Werewolf circuit brought out the odd behavior in the crowd. The regulars smuggled rice in, so that during the opening wedding scene when the wedding guests throw rice on the bride and groom it starts flying all over the auditorium of the Neptune. It catches the projector light so you can see it pretty clearly in the darkened theater. You'll usually end up with a bit in your hair and in your clothes.
A quick side note: I enjoyed working the Rocky Horror midnight movies, but I sure didn't enjoy cleaning up after them. Movie theaters always get spilled soft drinks on the floor, and the rice and cards end up in it, then it gets semi-dry and sticky and it is really difficult to remove. I learned that not all honest labor was for me when I worked at the Neptune. I did some janitor work, but I passed it on to someone else as soon as I could.
Next up are the lines - speaking lines, that is. By some organic non-verbal collective process the crowd has worked out a script for itself. At an assortment of opportune moments in the film the audience interjects it's own dialog. When done right it sounds like an integral part of the show.
When Brad and Janet enter the castle the first time Janet says "Brad, what kind of place is this?" and Brad replies "It's probably some kind of hunting lodge for rich weirdos." That's the cue for the audience to shout "Rich weirdos are the best weirdos!" This interjection is amusing, but I like the ones that feel integral to the script.
When Janet and Rocky are discovered together they do an odd repeated take to show the shock:
Brad with anguish or anger or maybe surprise in has tone: "Janet!"
Janet in shame and embarrassment: "Brad!"
Dr. Scott in surprise: "Janet"
Janet: "Dr. Scott!"
Frank: "Rocky!"
...and then Rocky is shown looking back at Frank; Rocky never speaks dialog, he only sings on occasion. He does grunt at the dinner table, though. Then the whole sequence is repeated before it continues with Frank threatening Rocky.
The audience has decided that we need to verbalize Rocky's silent response, so at the Neptune you get:
"Janet!"
Brad!"
"Janet!"
"Dr. Scott!"
"Rocky!"
Crowd grunts as Rocky looks at Frank.
"Janet!"
Brad!"
"Janet!"
"Dr. Scott!"
"Rocky!"
Crowd grunts as Rocky looks at Frank.
Somehow I found the rhythm there much more compelling, like it was scripted for that bit of crowd participation. It flows better, I suppose. If I was in the auditorium when that scene rolled I always had to grunt along with the audience, helping provide poor Rocky's soundtrack for him.
At it's peak the vast majority of the audience knew every scripted bit and participated enthusiastically. Somehow that wasn't enough participation.
The audience took to dressing up as characters in the film. With the bustiers and skimpy outfits it gave me something interesting to look at from the booth on occasion, but the costume crowd didn't focus on the pre-show as much, and when they did with the Seattle weather they mostly had to cover up outside anyway. Their focus was the stage.
The Neptune had a stage in front of the screen back in those days. It was fairly wide and moderately deep, maybe 25' or 30' by 10'. The best Frank, Rocky, Brad, Janet, Magenta, Columbia, Riff Raff, Eddie and Dr. Scott in the crowd would get up on the stage and act the film out in real time. Different actors and actresses would sometimes play the character for different costume changes.
Further props were pulled out by the audience too. When Frank sings his last lament and gets to the "cards for sorrow, cards for pain" line and makes a throwing motion with his hands the cards go flying. People smuggle decks of cards in and hand them out, so as Frank gestures the cards go flying through the projector lights, flickering and flashing and adding a surreal depth to the show.
The movie plays out on the screen, the more or less meticulously costumed players up on the stage just below the screen act it out, rice and cards and who knows what all fly, lines are joyously shouted out by the crowd, drugs and drinks smuggled past officer Bob are shared, couple make out, strangers make out, crowds hang out in the upstairs Women's lounge and the couches under the balcony and the halls and socialize and flirt. Employees in their RHPS tee shirts and later in bowling shirts scurry about restocking, cleaning and counting up, patrolling and keeping things under control.
For some reason the Neptune always showed an additional chunk - after the ending of the movie as the credits roll to the Time Warp we queue up Brad and Janet's entry into the castle on the other reel and switch right back into it, running through the intro of Riff Raff and Magenta and the whole Transylvanian convention doing the Time Warp and into Frank's big entrance number, "Sweet Transvestite."
The movie ends with Frankie - "so I'll remove the cause, but not the symptom!" blasting up in the elevator and the crowd surges for the exits talking and enjoying the buzz of another fun Midnight Rocky Horror experience.
The last 4 or 5 employees hover in the concessions stand, waiting for the crowd to leave so that they could go check the rest rooms and back stage and get all of the doors locked. We learned to do a quick scan of the seating area once the lights were up, people sometimes left the most surprising things, but that's another story.
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