For the summer, once a week I'll be sharing a story from my college days at CSU, 1984-1988. I will leave links at the end of each post for previous episodes.
(So Mom and Dad, remember how I've referred to antics in college that started me down a path that perhaps wasn't so good for me? This is one of those stories. So I'm thinking you might not want to read this one...just saying. Your choice.)
I don't know if college students still observe this cultish ritual, but according to Wikipedia, the tradition is alive and doing well. They just didn't mention what age group still goes to the movies at midnight, shouts at the screen, throws rice and toast and other things that I'm sure theater employees enjoy cleaning up. I used to be one of those college students.
I don't really remember how it all started, but one Saturday night my physics study group (remember those great guys who tutored me? link below if you don't) invited me to some movie called the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I asked them what it was about.
"Well it's like a horror musical, satire, comedy, farce, sci-fi but quite rated R sorta movie. It's hysterical and the audience dresses up and participates. There's nothing like it. You really have to see it to understand." I went.
Their's was a pretty good description. At first I was appalled at some of what I was seeing, but I was also laughing, and the songs were absolutely hysterical, and the movie didn't even try to take itself seriously, and it was a mighty good time. My stomach muscles were sore the next day from laughing.
We of course weren't REAL fans yet. We didn't bring anything to throw. We didn't dress up. We did make it a regular Saturday night event, though. It didn't take us long to catch on to what we needed. I don't remember it all, but there's a wedding scene with a toast to the bride and groom where we all throw toast. (Yes, you do get hit with the toast coming from behind you. Most are kind enough not to butter it.) You also throw rice at the departing couple.
I remember rolls of toilet paper are tossed at some point - takes practice to make the roll un-roll as you throw it, but I knew how to do that from tp-ing people's trees (um, yeah, Mom and Dad, if you're reading, I did that too...but he deserved it). You also throw hot dogs (my memory isn't good enough for where that one comes in) nor the squirt guns, but it does rain a lot, and there's an umbrella scene...
As we got better and better at this, we connected with the group of friends of one of the study buddies. They were practically professionals. One of them was one of the live actors who stood in front of the screen and acted out the movie along with the actors, at THE theater in downtown Denver.
We started making pilgrimages. We met some very interesting people and their interesting friends...and so on and so on.
Have you seen it? Did you become a fan? Have you thrown toast in a movie theater? (See even that part would offend my poor mother, waste of food AND littering AND bad manners...AND not cleaning it up...she really did raise me right...doesn't mean I always obeyed...)
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Episode 5: A Physics Prank
Episode 6: Marvelous Marble
Episode 7: I Don't Hate My Laptop Quite as Much
