Nuart Theater
The Nuart Theater in West Los Angeles was one of the first theaters in the country to play The Rocky Horror Picture Show on a regular basis, beginning in 1976, and has become one of the longest running homes for the film. The theater first opened in the 1929 with 600 seats. In 2006, it was refurbished with 300 lager seats. The Nuart was purchased by Landmark Theaters in 1974, considered the flagship for the art-house chain, which also owns other pioneer Rocky Horror outlets including The Oriental Theater in Milwaukee, WI and the currently in-flux Rialto Theater in Pasadena, CA.
In Fall of 1976, new prints of Rocky Horror were struck. The film was beginning to play in more and more theaters, and there was also multi-location re-release in Southern California. Revival houses around town were also showing the film once a month as part of their rotation. The Nuart was one of the first of these revival houses to pick up the film. Audience members were part of a group of regulars that sought the film out at various venues, and would show up in costume early on, and dance the "Time Warp" in the aisles during the film. The film played mostly to a quiet audience, though there were also several call-backs in place, including the now standard "Meatloaf Again" at the dinner scene. In March of 1977, Lisa Kurtz Sutton brought noise makers for the creation scene and a Teddy Bear to hold up during 'Eddie's Teddy" for possibly the earliest documented use of props during the film, though Sutton says she brought the Teddy Bear after seeing someone carrying one to a screening in February of that year, indicating that may have begun the trend earlier on.
The film eventually began showing at midnight on Fridays, but was replaced in late 1977 by an ongoing Friday midnight screening of Eraserhead. Four years later, The Rocky Horror Picture Show returned to the Nuart as a midnight movie on Saturdays, and has remained in place ever since. A loyal cast grew over time, and in 1988 became Sins O' the Flesh, one of the most venerable performing groups in the country.
Nuart Theater[1]
