A rocky horror counterculture

This past Saturday, Alex Fern attended his 60th showing of the “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” at the Nuart Theatre on Santa Monica Boulevard.

Clad in a black corset with matching thong and a powdered face, the devout “Rocky Horror” fan took pictures with rabid attendees in line, who were drawn in to his mix of lingerie and his cordial demeanor.

“What I love about “˜Rocky Horror’ is the enthusiasm, and everyone’s here pumped up about it, and there’s not a lot of rules. The more into it you get, the more people are excited to see you,” said Fern, a behavioral therapist from Long Beach.

It is the lack of rules that have legions of devout fans, such as Fern, continually attending the live showings of the 1975 film. Based on the 1973 British musical “The Rocky Horror Show” the film is about a newly engaged couple who gets stuck at the home of a transvestite scientist, Dr. Frank-N-Furter, and all sorts of strange antics ensue. The film, which was panned by critics in the ’70s, has become a cult classic with showings across the country and shadow casts who act out the movie along with the audiences.

At the Nuart, the show plays every Saturday at midnight with a live shadow cast from the Los Angeles “Rocky Horror” cast, Sins O’ The Flesh, which has been performing at the theater for the past 23 years. Co-cast leader and cast member Scott Schweinfurth said that “Rocky Horror” showings have drawn in crowds because of the inviting and socially free nature of the show.

“”˜Rocky Horror’ is a place where you’re always welcome even if you’re not welcome anywhere else,” Schweinfurth said. “It’s a really awesome and special thing.”

Likewise, the lack of limitations is what makes the costumes at “Rocky Horror” showings risque, just like the film itself. Many in the audience are dressed in fishnet stockings, lingerie, corsets and drag. Cast member Bernie Bregman, who has played every character in the show, including the female parts, said that there are no limitations when dressing for a “Rocky Horror Picture Show,” where it is Halloween every Saturday night.

“You can wear whatever or as little as you want that is within the legal restrictions. You can do whatever you want. If you want to wear some skimpy little Victoria’s Secret number or something you got off of the Hot Topic sale rack … I sometimes wear a zoot suit because there aren’t many occasions you can wear a zoot suit,” Bregman said.

A whole counterculture that bloomed from the movie has carried over to the live showings of the film, with traditions and mantras that have proven the weirdness of “Rocky Horror” that has reeled in fans over the decades. Throwing food at the screen, yelling lines back at the movie and throwing water at the audience are commonplace for live showings, where cast members interact with fans during the film. There is also always a rendition of the signature dance in the film, the “Time Warp,” in which the audience dances along with the cast members.

Cast member Sean Weller, who was introduced to “Rocky Horror” by his mother when he was 10 years old, said that it is the bizarre audience interactions that give the show its long-lasting luster.

“We have a very welcoming crowd every week, and everyone has a great time. It’s something they will have never experienced before and something that they wanted to go to before and will want to come back to again and again,” Weller said.

However, people who attend the show for the first time go through a ritual that is a singular experience. First-timers to the show are marked with “V”s on their faces, representing those who are a “virgin” to the show, and they are sometimes wrangled onto the front of the stage.

Dennis G. Miller, a handyman from Encino who used to be a cast member of the show, was marking the “virgins” in line with red lipstick for the showing last Saturday to ensure that they got their fair share of the fun.

“We give them some notation on their face with lipstick, but of course we have a rule here if they’re underage ““ we put nice things on their face. But otherwise, I put a lot of funny bizarre things,” Miller said. “It’s marking the virgins that is one aspect of this movie, and they accept and bust out laughing at. Once in a while, I get a girl that comes in a bikini and she wants a whole body job and we go after her with fun and crazy stuff, so it’s fun really.”

Third-year chemical engineering student Sergio Arce attended the show at the Nuart on Oct. 16. Arce said his interest in “Rocky Horror” peaked when he found out that “Glee” was dedicating an episode to the “Rocky Horror Picture Show,” and decided to watch the show at the Nuart before the episode aired. As a “virgin” to the show, Arce said the initiation to the show required some “de-virginizing.”

“There’s a group of “˜virgins’ that come on stage and the cast surrounds them humping them, and that’s the “˜de-virginizing’ aspect of the show. I went with like eight people and they were all “˜virgins,’ and it was a lot of fun,” Arce said.

On Sunday, the cast will be appearing at the annual West Hollywood Halloween Carnaval, where they will represent their “Rocky Horror” pride to the masses.

Tonight, there will be an all-star cast performing the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” at the Wiltern Theater for the show’s 35th anniversary, with actors such as Jack Nicholson, Lea Michele and Danny DeVito. Bregman, who will be performing alongside the celebrity cast, said he is glad that “Rocky Horror” was getting some buzz.

“I think that anything that raises awareness about the “˜Rocky’ phenomenon is good. It was once said that there is no such thing as bad publicity, and I think that is absolutely true when it comes to “˜Rocky.’ I think people will rediscover that “˜Rocky’ is still around,” Bregman said.

As for the future of the show, Miller said that he hopes young people will continue to attend and learn about the life lessons that the film presents.

“Even though it gets psycho-sexual sometimes, it gives adolescents a learning thing of that (sexual) nature,” Miller said, as he drew a “V” on a first timer to the show. “Costumes, yelling and screaming, fun in the audience, throwing toilet paper, waving light sticks, dancing around, that’s where we want it to be. Kind of a Disneyland of its own.”