The Biograph Theatre in Richmond's Fan District opened in February of 1972. Soon afterward it began setting the pace for midnight shows in central Virginia.
Note: In 1972 the bars closed at midnight in Richmond. Which meant midnight shows were sort of like after-parties. (Cutoff time was extended to 2 a.m. in 1976.)
In those days the line to get into a popular midnight show at the Biograph sometimes might start forming on Grace Street's brick sidewalk a good 30-to-45 minutes before show time. Occasionally, waiting in line turned into a party scene. Such impromptu happenings naturally generated colorful stories about the experience of attending the Biograph's late fare; it was all part of the process of minting the cult film genre. Although, in that time, "underground" might have been the preferred category name for some of the movies we played at midnight.
As far as I know, it happened in a similar fashion at other art house cinemas in big cities and college towns. Ever since then, part of the charm of movies seen as cult films has been that a good deal of them have been low-budget, off-the-wall productions. Before the '70s, my guess is, when the term cult film was used, it just didn't matter all that much. By the end of the decade, it was becoming marketing lingo.
*
Perhaps there's no 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, 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 1977 the phenomenon jumped to Austin and Los Angeles and a few other cities.
Since then I doubt any other flick has been screened at midnight in American theaters as often as "Rocky Horror." Yet, because of the legendary audience participation angle, most of the publicity about it over the years has focused more on its devoted following than on what happens 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 picture 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 flicks that could wear the cult label. Thus, today it seems we have catalogues full of them and at this point I'm not so sure what the label means anymore.
*
During my stint as manager of the Biograph, at times, successful midnight show engagements played an important role in paying our light 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.
Please note that although the Rocky Horror phenomenon helped to subsidize some of our risky bookings of repertory classics and first-run foreign flicks was 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)
*
For the record, the first midnight show at the Biograph was a double feature of two short so-called underground films, "Chafed Elbows" (1966) and "Scorpio Rising" (1963), that ran in April of 1972. Then, by trial and error, as the 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. 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. 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. But then, approaching the late-'70s, the dominant FM rockers' better signals won the battle for the local 18-to-35 demographic and WGOE's influence fizzled.
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.
Dave DeWitt, now the widely read guru of hot food, produced the radio commercials in his Dogtown 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).
*
Here are a dozen more titles of significant movies (in alphabetical order) that played for multiple midnight show runs at the Biograph. It can be said that they, along with the 11 other titles mentioned in this piece, 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)
*
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.
Note: The story of how we managed to secure the exclusive rights to exhibit Rocky Horror in the Richmond market for five years can be seen here.
The midnight show fad that was launched 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 the 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 were booked to play at regular show times or they went straight to video.
*
In 20 years, it will be interesting to see whether the list of movies considered by critics to be cult films will have expanded or contracted. And, of course, maybe some new way to watch movies will come along and change the game again. However it does work out, the deciding factor -- cult film, or pretender -- still ought to depend on its devoted following ... or the lack thereof.
So, to sum it up, in spite of what marketers might say, to me, just being a weird movie has never been enough. Cult films have dedicated followers who want to see them again and again, whether the cultists are organized or not.
As the reader has surely deduced by now, rather than a scholarly research paper, this has merely been a collection of sepia-toned 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."
* * *
No comments:
Post a Comment