Terry O'Reilly

They threw confetti in the wedding scene and squirted water pistols during the rain scenes.

All of this and more happened in theaters across the U.S.

and at the Roxy in Toronto.

People weren't just at a movie, they felt they were part of the movie.

And because of that, they kept coming back.

Then, something else started to happen.

audience members started acting out the scenes in front of the screen.

Known as a shadow cast, people began dressing up as the movie's characters, delivering lines verbatim, and acting out the entire movie as it unfolded behind them.

By switching the screenings to midnight, it turned the Rocky Horror Picture Show from a flop into a cultural phenomenon.

Fan clubs began, there was a Rocky Horror newsletter, and LGBTQS plus folks rallied around the movie.

Last year was the 50th anniversary of the film.

There is a new documentary out about the making of the movie titled Strange Journey, The Story of Rocky Horror, directed by Linus O'Brien, who interviews the cast and, of course, his father Richard.

It's a terrific doc.

Highly, highly recommended.

The rocky horror picture show that began in 1975 still runs in hundreds of theaters at midnight and happens to boast the longest theatrical release in cinema history.

For that and more, it is a brand I truly envy.

Before Richard O'Brien was an out-of-work actor, he was a barber in New Zealand.

And where that barbershop once stood, there is now a statue of him as riffraff.

The rise and fall and rise of the Rocky Horror Picture Show is a testament to the staying power of a great idea.

Like Mr. Bean, who has made the world laugh out loud for 40 years without needing a single word of dialogue.