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| David Lynch's Eraserhead" (1977). |
In the early-1970s, adventurous seekers of a good time -- in particular, college-aged baby boomers -- lined up on Friday and Saturday nights to see midnight motion picture presentations at cinemas. By the end of the decade critics had slapped the label, "cult films," onto some of the movies that had garnered loyal followings, stemming largely from their repeated midnight screenings. The midnight show experience helped shape the culture of the era.
The brand new Biograph Theatre opened in February of 1972 in Richmond's Fan District. Located adjacent to Virginia Commonwealth University's academic campus, soon the Biograph began setting the pace for the midnight show phenomenon in central Virginia.
Note: In 1972, Richmond's bars closed at midnight. Which meant, atmosphere-wise, the midnight shows then at the Biograph were somewhat like after-parties. (Cutoff time in bars was extended to 2 a.m. in 1976.)
In the first couple of years of operation the line to get into a popular midnight show at the Biograph might have started forming on Grace Street's brick sidewalk 30-to-45 minutes before show time. Occasionally, waiting for the box office to open turned into a party scene on the sidewalk.
Such impromptu happenings naturally generated colorful stories about the experience of attending the Biograph's late fare and added to its edgy allure. It all went into the process of minting what eventually became seen as the cult film genre. Although, in that time, "underground flicks" might have been the preferred label for some of the motion pictures known for their appeal to a midnight audience. As far as I know, it happened in a similar fashion at lots of other art house cinemas in big cities and college towns.
Ever since then, part of the charm of many of the movies seen as cult films has been that typically they were tongue-in-cheek low-budget productions. Before the '70s, if and when the term "cult film" was used, I doubt it mattered all that much. However, by the end of the decade, it had become handy marketing lingo.
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There's probably no midnight show/cult film from any era better known than "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Although it was released in 1975, then promptly shelved by 20th Century Fox for being unmarketable, its story as the USA's all-time favorite midnight show began a year later at the old Waverly Theater in Greenwich Village. Spontaneously, members of the audience started cracking jokes in response to what was playing on the screen.
Then came the costumes, dancing in the aisles, etc. In spite of what it might seem, from what I know the audience participation gimmick just happened and caught on. It was not invented by some adman/promoter.
In 1977 the phenomenon jumped to Austin and Los Angeles and a few other cities. Yet, because of the legendary audience activity angle, most of the publicity about it over the years has focused more on its devoted following than on what happens on the screen in the movie.
During the 1980s, cable TV and video rental stores came along. Those developments impacted the so-called cult film scene, as the coolness of midnight shows steadily evaporated. Then, of course, as the 1990s faded into the 2000s, the Internet changed the cult film milieu again, but even more so.
Nonetheless, today I won't try to pretend to know a lot about the cult films of the last 35-to-40 years. Therefore, this piece is mostly about an aspect of film history that came and went before those two home entertainment factors shuffled the cards.
Still, as the '80s unfolded, the uncanny staying power of Rocky Horror as a midnight attraction eventually suggested to promoters there might be a growing niche market out there, hungry for more quirky flicks that could wear the cult label. Thus, today it seems we have catalogues full of them and at this point, well, I'm not so sure what the label means anymore.
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During my stint as manager of the Biograph, at times, successful midnight show engagements played an important role in paying our rent and electric bill. It was especially true in the initial two-and-a-half years of operation, 1972-74, and during the last couple of years of the '70s, when Rocky Horror was packing the house each Friday and Saturday night.
Although the Rocky Horror grosses that helped to subsidize some of our risky bookings of repertory classics and first-run foreign flicks were appreciated, those of us who worked there gradually got over its charm as the years of screenings wore on. Completely.
Consequently, unlike some devotees who saw it over a hundred times, Rocky Horror is not one of my favorite midnight shows to have filled the Biograph's screen while I managed the place (1972-'83).
Anyway, although I'm probably forgetting a good picture or two, here are my five favorites at this writing (in alphabetical order):
"Eraserhead" (1977)
"The Harder They Come" (1972)
"Phantom of the Paradise" (1974)
"Putney Swope" (1969)
"The T.A.M.I. Show" (1964)
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For the record, the first midnight show at the Biograph was a double feature of two short so-called underground 1960s films, "Chafed Elbows" (1966) and "Scorpio Rising" (1963), that ran in April of 1972. Then, by trial and error, as that first year continued, we learned from experience what it took to be a hit at midnight. In short, it needed to be an offbeat movie that lent itself to promotion. It had an easy hook. Early successes were: “Night of the Living Dead” (1968), “Yellow Submarine” (1968) and “Mad Dogs and Englishmen” (1971).
With significant input from the theater’s promotion-savvy assistant manager, Chuck Wrenn, I designed lighthearted original ad campaigns to set the tone. Fortunately, my bosses at the Biograph in D.C. encouraged me to follow my own instincts in these matters.
At this point they hadn't had much experience with midnight shows in Georgetown. Anyway, in Richmond there were two essential elements to our in-house-created promotional campaigns for midnight shows:
1. Wacky radio spots had to be created and placed on WGOE, an AM station that crafted its format to capture the city's hippie listening audience. And, in the early-to-mid-'70s, it thoroughly succeeded in its goal.
Dave DeWitt, now the widely read guru of hot food, produced the radio commercials in his Southside studio. While polishing off appropriate measures of Pabst Blue Ribbon and whatnot, Dave and I frequently collaborated on the writing and recording of those spots. Some of the resulting commercials were considered to be rather humorous in their day (if I do say so myself).
2. Distinctive handbills that tended to look more like underground comix than standard movie ads were posted on utility poles, on bulletin boards, and in shop windows in high-traffic sites throughout the Fan District, especially in the immediate VCU area.
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Here are a dozen more titles of significant movies (in alphabetical order) that played for multiple midnight show runs at the Biograph in Richmond. It can be said that, along with the 11 other titles mentioned in this piece, they do a pretty good job of showing the range of the genre during the time it was forming.
"200 Motels" (1971)
"Animal Crackers" (1930)
"A Clockwork Orange" (1971)
"Deep Throat" (1972)
"Easy Rider" (1969)
"El Topo" (1970)
"The Groove Tube" (1974)
"Performance" (1970)
"Pink Flamingos" (1972)
"Reefer Madness" (1936)
"Rock 'n' Roll High School" (1979)
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By the time we opened “Rocky Horror” at the Biograph, in June of 1978, going to a midnight show was no longer seen as an exotic thing to do in Richmond. Multiplexes in the suburbs frequently presented midnight shows. Which made the timing perfect for a kitschy spoof of -- or maybe tribute to? -- trashy rock ‘n’ roll exploitations and monster movies, to become the all-time greatest midnight show attraction.
It's worthwhile to note that the midnight show fad that began in the late-'60/early-'70s could only have happened then, when baby boomers born in the late-'40s and '50s were in high school or college. In the '80s those same boomers were moving out of the Fan and the kids born 10 years later, who filled their shoes, were less interested in alternative cinema. Plus, in the '80s, the sort of movies that would have run at midnight a decade earlier were likely booked to play at regular show times, or they just went straight to video.
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In 20 years, it will be interesting to see whether the list of movies considered by most critics to be cult films will have expanded, or contracted. And, of course, maybe some new way to watch movies will come along and abruptly change the game again.
However it does work out, the deciding factor -- cult film, or pretender -- still rightfully ought to depend on its devoted following ... or the lack thereof. So, to sum it up, in spite of what marketers might say, just being a weird movie has never been enough. Genuine cult films have always had dedicated followers who wanted to watch them, again and again.
As the reader has probably deduced by now, rather than a scholarly research paper, this piece has merely been a collection of dust covered impressions, conjured up and presented by a geezer who used to see a lot of movies. Credential-wise, all I can say is, "Well, I was there."
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| John Waters' "Polyester" (1981). |
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