Pre- "Creatures of the Night"

By Emma

A brief summary of the creation of the Glasgow Rocky Horror group, prior to its becoming Creatures of the Night:

  • 1982 Nicky saw Rocky Horror screened at the Faircon convention (twice!)
  • 1983 Nicky started going to see shows at the Grosvenor presented by Nicholas. Nicholas was an American exchange student who was involved in RHPS in the US and had a catalogue of Audience Participation lines, many of which we still have to this day.
  • Late 1983 - Martin came on board (now loving the film, not hating it, as he had on his first viewing in 1977!) Martin can't remember the exact date - but he never actually met Nicholas, hence he must have joined the group after Nicholas left. However he did see the film at its one-week of screenings at the GFT, as did Nicky, which was December 1983
  • 1984 Nicholas returned to the States and Nicky took over Mcing at the Grosvenor Cinema, plus Martin met Nicky at the stage Show at the Pavilion - meaning we consider 1984 as the official year of birth of what is now Dr Scott's Extra Forks.
  • Other screenings in 1984 were at the Bearsden Rio (later demolished for the building of flats) where Nicky and Martin shouted the entire catalogue of call-back lines without a single laugh from the audience, until "Not the Zen Room!" got a solitary titter.
  • 1985 There was a Grosvenor screening in early 1985, which caused so much damage to the cinema from eggs, milk and flour (were they watching a film, or making pastry?) that the film was banned for a year. Screenings did still take place at the Kelburne cinema in Paisley (1985 was also when Emma first got into Rocky in March and saw it on Channel 4 on 31st May that year.)
  • 1986 Emma saw RHPS for the very first time at the Grosvenor on 7th March (see below) In May 1986 Nicky, Martin and Ellie met up with Alice and the others (Sandra, Angie, Jim) at the RHS at the Pavilion, and they got together to become Creatures of the Night. They did shows in Edinburgh over the summer, including during the Fringe in August, at the dirty cinema in Nicolson St.

Emma's Loss of Rocky Virginity, (age 14 and 1/4)

After a year of playing the soundtrack over and over, and having seen the film just the once on TV, I was by this point an obsessive would-be fan, and scanned every issue of the (then fairly new) whats-on magazine, The List, for screenings of the movie. I finally got what I wanted when I found a listing for Fri & Sat, 7th/8th of March, at the Grosvenor Cinema. Mum was very amenable in allowing me to go on the Friday night.

I was very strictly dropped off and picked up again after the show (did she think I would run off to the pub or something?!). On leaving the car and approaching the cinema I was accosted by a "slut" - a girl with strange curly hair (I later found out it was a wig!) in full, very scary, floorshow costume. She accosted me and demanded to know if I was ... a virgin. My base instincts told me to run away, and FAST! so I did so, muttering something about going into the cinema.

After a quick pat down at the door by a girl dressed as Magenta, I entered "The Ashton", the Grosvenor's 2nd (and slightly smaller) screen. There were only about 40 people there, and I wondered why it wasnt much busier than that. When the film started it was not Rocky, but Mel Brooks' "Young Frankenstein". I did know that Rocky was on a double bill, so knowing it was yet to come, I settled down and watched this timeless spoof classic (being only a little confused by being sure I could hear the faint sound of the Time Warp 20 minutes in...) Later on I found out that I was unlucky enough to be in the "overflow" hall - Rocky proper was on first in the main screen, the "Kelvin". Doh!

Being quite into the late night horror and SF movies that were frequently on TV at that point, I thoroughly enjoyed Young F (and it's still one of my faves!) Then there was a break, and the Rocky Horror People appeared and took us through what the film was all about. Sure enough, the Slut was there (and I was still quite scared of her). The film started and a few of them were shouting stuff, which I knew about as I had the AP album by this point. I think they all buggered off after the Time Warp (as was prone to happen in those days - the second house was always dead as dodos after Young F) and I remember shouting a few jokes I knew from the album, but feeling a bit silly.

Anyway, even though it was DEAD I had a great time, and although I pleaded and pleaded and BEGGED, Mumsy was not keen on 2 late nights in a row. So Saturday night was a miserable early night in, no doubt with a cup of cocoa, and my RH tape being played end to end for hours. My next taste of the "Late Night Double Feature Picture Show" was not to come until the life-changing date of 11th October 1986...

Updated: 16/01/04

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