Celebrate Poe

Rocky Horror, Usher, and Dreamland

May 24, 2021 George Bartley Season 1 Episode 58
Celebrate Poe
Rocky Horror, Usher, and Dreamland
Show Notes Transcript

This episode examines The Rocky Horror Show, and compares it with three of Poe’s works - The Fall of the House of Usher, Enchanted Palace, and Dreamland.

00:00 Introduction
01:30 Beginnings of Rocky Horror
 04:02 Movie Adaptation
06:01 Rocky (Horror) as longest-running movie
 06:40 Importance of movie
09:40 Personal reaction to movie
11:58 Ghost of Poe enters
13:40 Comparison with Usher
16:20 The Haunted Palace
20:34 Dreamland
25:55 Out of space, out of time (time warp?)
27:13 Sources 
28:12 Future episodes for Pride Month
29:48 Outro

  • Learn about concepts that are in BOTH Rocky Horror and Fall of the House of Usher
  • What do Rocky Horror and Dreamland BOTH say about a “time warp” (out of space, out of time)
  • Learn about the role of “innocents” in Rocky Horror and House of Usher
  • What does “don’t dream it, be it” mean?
  • Learn what’s on the schedule for  LGBTQ  Pride Month.



"Come Rest in This Bosom" theme

00:00 Introduction 

Welcome to Celebrate Poe, Episode Fifty Eight - Rocky Horror, Dreamland, and Usher. Just to let you know - plans are to release this podcast every Monday night at 12:00 Midnight.  I may be an hour or two late getting this one out because I just got off the phone talking to my eighty-five year old cousin - a retired college professor and the smartest person I have ever known.  I told her about this podcast, and how next week I plan to do a podcast finishing up the Romantic writers, with Mary Shelley’s novel of Perkin Warbeck - a pretender to the throne of England.  I said that I thought the episode would be a great deal more interesting if I included some of the other fascinating imposters throughout history, such as Anna Alexander who claimed she was Anastasia of the royal family of Russia. Anna Alexander married a history professor at the University of Virginia, and my cousin told me about the time she actually met her.  So I will be very exciting to bring that to you, along with several other fascinating imposters during the next episode.

But today, Celebrate Poe will contrast and compare several pieces that at first may not seem related - first The Rocky Horror Show, and then three dark works by Poe - The Fall of the House of Usher, The Haunted Palace, and Dreamland - Actually The Haunted Palace was first published as a separate piece, and then later as a portion of The Fall of the House of Usher.  The Rocky Horror Show is arguably a work of art - a narrative that has many similar elements as Usher.  At the same time, The Fall of the House of Usher displays characteristics that make it the opposite of Rocky Horror  in tone and content.

The Rocky Horror Show began as a play in England, and of course, the famous movie adaptation is known as The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but I will refer to both versions as simply the Rocky Horror Show.

For the past several weeks, Celebrate Poe has been dealing with some of the literary outgrowths of that 1816 weekend at the Villa Diodatti - especially Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein - and then Mary Shelley’s literary stepchildren from stage and movie versions of Frankenstein to The Bride of Frankenstein to Young Frankenstein - it is estimated that there are over 500 movies with a Frankenstein theme - but today this podcast will look at the last of Mary Shelley’s literary stepchildren - at least for this podcast - The Rocky Horror Show.

Now, the Rocky Horror Show was originally written by a young actor, Richard O’Brien.  He had no previous writing experience and later said he just wanted something fun to occupy his time. O’Brien felt this process lent the show a quality of childlike naïveté, which contributed to its eventual popularity. In an interview, O'Brien said the show's innocence is "very endearing and not threatening."  He also said that every character in the show may appear to be intelligent or "sophisticated, but they're really not.”

04:02 Movie Adaptation

2 years later - after a highly successful run in London - the Rocky Horror Show was released as a movie.   The movie adaptation stars most of the actors from the stage version - including Tim Curry as Frank-n-Furter.  But since Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick has some box office appeal, they played Janet and Brad in the movie version.

Originally it was planned to film the opening section of the movie in black and white before Brad and Janet enter the exotic world - I can’t think of a better word to describe it than exotic - the world of the House of Frankenstein.  Then the film would have burst into color when Frank N. Furter made his entrance, giving the film sort of a Wizard of Oz vibe.  Unfortunately this idea had to be shelved.

At first glance, the plot of The Rocky Horror Show is relatively simple. Two just married sweethearts, Brad and Janet, are in a car that breaks down on a cold and rainy night, and end up staying with a pansexual transvestite/transexual from outer space.  Later Janet delivers a humorous line that would be perfect in The Fall of the House of Usher - “If only we were amongst friends . . . or sane persons!”

And Frank-n-Furter, who has a counterpart in Dr. Victor or Henry Frankenstein, is not driven by any scientific breakthrough or improving mankind, but by passion as he brings his creature to life.   The creature, called Rocky, is not an ugly misfit, but a muscular hunk built so that Frank-n-Furter could satisfy his sexual indulgences.

06:01 Rocky (Horror) as longest-running movie


The Rocky Horror Picture Show was budgeted at slightly more than 1 million dollars, but has earned back well over 100 million dollars.  Largely due to its reputation as the ultimate audience participation movie, in many areas it still has an audience for weekend midnight showings - and this for a movie released in 1975.  In fact, the Rocky Horror Picture Show is the longest-running theatrically screened movie of all time, and is still shown in theaters thirty-five years after its release.   

Rocky Horror Show fans can be incredibly dedicated. You see, screenings of the movie have provided a haven for misfits, theatre geeks, and the LGBT community all over the world.  As you probably know, audience developed a habit of talking back to the screen cast members in response to various lines, throwing such projectiles as toast and toilet paper, and even shooting water guns at the screen - all very ritualized - almost as though the lines were some kind of liturgy.

What you may not know was the effect of COVID on the Rocky Horror Show when all the theatres were shut down.  Now The Rocky Horror Show  had the title of the longest-running movie in history, and to maintain that record, a projectionist in Portland, Oregon came in every Saturday night to the Clinton Theatre, and screened the Rocky Horror Picture Show to a completely empty house - that is except for the projectionist.  When asked about his efforts to maintain the film’s screening record, Williams said, "I'm just a guy holding a torch for the city of Portland "for all the weirdos, for all the people who don't have a safe place to call home, we're home.”  And I think it is reassuring that last month, The Rocky Horror Picture Show was the first film to return to the Clinton Theatre.

In an article for the Oregonian by Samantha Swindler, Portland resident Loren Thompson speaks of the importance of The Rocky Horror Picture Show to her life. 

“‘Rocky’ has always been a place for the weird, quiet kid and the loud extrovert and the person who’s just looking for something fun to do and the theater kids and LGBTQ kids” It’s where all the misfits come to find family.” For me, “Rocky” was a support system during a journey into sobriety and recovery. One of the rules of the theater is that everyone must perform sober. “I had to kind of separate myself from my whole life and try to find new places to be, and I met this whole new family all at once. They took me in super quickly with so much love and support. So ‘Rocky’ has been really important to me, amongst other things, - for that reason. It may have literally saved my life. I’m not really a church-going person, but sometimes it feels like going to church,” It’s my community. I go to feel like I’m part of something that’s bigger than myself.”

After seeing how much The Rocky Horror Picture Show has meant to so many people over the years, I am almost embarrassed to relate my first viewing of the movie version - but I am because I am afraid my experiences reflect those of far too many young people of that period.  In summary, I was attracted to and simultaneously revolted by The Rocky Horror Picture Show.  This was while I was in college in a highly conservative area.  For some reason, I got up the courage to watch a mid-night showing of Rocky Horror in the big city.  This was a town in Tennessee of about 50,000 people.There really wasn’t that much audience participation, and the role of the muscleman Rocky was shadowed by a lady in a t-shirt.  I was still heavily closeted, and certainly understood how no “normal” guy was going to stand in front of other people only wearing gold shorts - unless he was swimming or engaged in some manly sport. But looking back, I can see such attitudes were about as daring as the times - and especially the place - would allow.  And to paraphrase a line from The Rocky Horror Show, I was in a “dream it, but dare not be it” stage.

TRANSITION

Welcome back.  In the second portion of this episode, Celebrated Poe will compare and contrast three of Poe’s works - two poems and the great short story, The Fall of the House of Usher, with The Rocky Horror Show. - Not quite as weird as you might think.  Oh, and rest assured that this podcast will later examine The Fall of the House of Usher in far more detail - largely due to Usher’s greatness and complexity - but in this episode I just want to mention some of the basics so you will have some background to compare it with The Rocky Horror Show.

11:58 Ghost of Poe enters

GHOST ENTER SOUND

Could that be … Why it’s Mr. Poe …

Yes, Mr. Bartley - as you know, I did take a respite from your podcast during your earlier episodes regarding Frankenstein, but I felt that it might be appropriate to appear in my ghostly presence and make some direct comment during your words regarding The Fall of the House of Usher.

Well, Mr. Poe - I couldn’t be more pleased.  I was hoping that you might be here .  In fact, during a previous episode, I almost announced that you would be here, but was not totally sure that you would be available at such short notice.  So I refrained from saying Mr. Poe would be returning.  But now I am so glad that are here for The House of Usher.

The expression of those sentiments makes me feel far more comfortable.  As you know, at heart I am a Southern gentleman in character, and believe that one must always strive towards the virtue of politeness.  And Mr. Bartley, I feel you have made efforts to maintain similar graciousness.

And I have a suggestion for those of you listening to this podcast who might be unfamiliar with Mr. Poe. Why not listen to at least the first two full episodes of this podcast for an introduction to the ghost of Edgar Allan Poe, and how the ghost fits into Celebrate Poe.

13:40 Comparison with Usher

Now, Mr. Poe, I know it may seem strange to compare a popular work such as The Rocky Horror Show to a classic like The Fall of the House of Usher, but there are some surprising similarities.  I believe both Usher and Rocky Horror are basically told from the standpoint of innocents - in Usher from the perspective of an unnamed narrator who is a physical outsider to the house in which he is visiting.  And in the Rocky Horror Show -  Janet and Brad are the newlywed innocents initially oblivious to the House of Frankenstein - perhaps newcomers would be a better work because they don’t stay sexually innocent for long.  But one might say that Brad and Janet, as well as the unnamed narrator are rationalists - especially in comparison to the residents of the House of Usher and House of Frankenstein.

And Roderick in Usher can even be compared to Frank-n-Furter (read Frankenstein) - both appear to be in charge of the residences in which they live, but over the course of the movie or story deteriorate into helpless shells of their former selves.   I don’t see Rocky - the muscle man fashioned by Frank-n-Furter as a unique character - I see Rocky as more of a wish fulfillment of Frank-n-Furter.

Yes, Mr. Bartley - I began the story with an epigraph in French, which translated into English  basically means ““His/her heart is a suspended lute; as soon as one touches it, it resonates.”  

Yes, Mr. Poe. And since epigraphs usually gives the reader insight into how to read the story, one might logically conclude that we may see in the story a lonely heart that will resound if touched.  Loneliness pervades the story, and I get the idea that something is waiting to be touched - a sense of expectancy that is also present in the personal freedoms exhibited in the Rocky Horror Show.

Now Mr. Poe, I mentioned in the last episode that this episode will be dealing with the poem The Haunted Palace, as well.

Ah yes, my work The Haunted Palace was first published in an 1839 issue of American Museum magazine.  Then I later included the poem as a part of my story The Fall of the House of Usher as a song written by Roderick Usher.

I really like that poem, Mr. Poe. I interpret the poem as referring to impending doom -  ominous events that will befall the inhabitants of the residence in The Fall of the House of Usher,  This is similar in tone to the impending doom or ominous events that will befall the inhabitants of the House of Frankenstein. 

The Haunted Palace

In the greenest of our valleys,
     
By good angels tenanted,
 
Once a fair and stately palace—
     
 Radiant palace—reared its head.
 
In the monarch Thought's dominion—
     
It stood there!
 
Never seraph spread a pinion
     
Over fabric half so fair

Banners yellow, glorious, golden,
     
On its roof did float and flow;
 
(This—all this—was in the olden
     Time long ago);
 
And every gentle air that dallied,
     
In that sweet day,

 Along the ramparts plumed and pallid,
     
 A winged odor went away.

 Wanderers in that happy valley
     
Through two luminous windows saw

Spirits moving musically
     
To a lute's well-tunèd law;
 
Round about a throne, where sitting

In state his glory well befitting,
     
The ruler of the realm was seen.

And all with pearl and ruby glowing
     
Was the fair palace door,
 
Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing
     
And sparkling evermore,
 
A troop of Echoes whose sweet duty
     
Was but to sing,

In voices of surpassing beauty,
     
The wit and wisdom of their king.

But evil things, in robes of sorrow,
     
Assailed the monarch's high estate;
 
(Ah, let us mourn, for never morrow
     
Shall dawn upon him, desolate!)
 
And, round about his home, the glory
     
That blushed and bloomed
 
Is but a dim-remembered story
     
Of the old time entombed.

And travellers now within that valley,
     
Through the red-litten windows see
 
Vast forms that move fantastically
     
To a discordant melody;
 
While, like a rapid ghastly river,
     
Through the pale door,
 
A hideous throng rush out forever,
     
And laugh—but smile no more.

And while the house of Usher is destroyed by a storm, the house in the Rocky Horror Show is beamed to the planet Transsexual.  So it could be said that the innocents - the narrator in the House of Usher, as well as Brad and Janet in the Rocky Horror Show - seem to escape from the destruction of the house in which they found refuge.  Madelaine and Roger, as well as Frank-n-Furter  have been destroyed from within.  And depending on your perspective, the remaining inhabitants of the house in the Rocky Horror Show may have temporarily found solace through personal experimentation, but their eventual futures are an unknown.

And do excuse me if it sounds like I am taking this too seriously - the Fall of the House of Usher is very dark and somber - and the Rocky Horror Show might seem a little bit silly and even nonsensical - but I think that silliness is part of the point.

Now Mr. Poe - would you favor us with Dreamland.  I believe some of the lines and images in the poem have a relevance to dimensions of The Rocky Horror Show. You see, one of the central themes of The Rocky Horror Show is “be it - don’t dream it.’ - to reach your potential or dare to become who you want to be. Both Rocky Horror and Dreamland blur the line between dreams and reality.

Ah yes, I believe that Dreamland was the only poem I published in 1844.  But before I begin, let me explain two terms I DOE lon and ultima thule - two terms which might not be commonly used today.

i DOE lon frequently refers to an apparition that takes on human form - in this case, NIGHT.
And ultima thule refers to a distant unknown region that is usually the extreme limit of travel and discovery

Dreamland

By a route obscure and lonely,   
Haunted by ill angels only,
Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT,   
On a black throne reigns upright,
I have reached these lands but newly   
From an ultimate dim Thule—
From a wild weird clime that lieth, sublime,
   
Out of SPACE-out of TIME

Bottomless vales and boundless floods,   
And chasms, and caves, and Titan woods,   
With forms that no man can discover   
For the tears that drip all over;   
Mountains toppling evermore   
Into seas without a shore;   
Seas that restlessly aspire,   
Surging, unto skies of fire;   
Lakes that endlessly outspread   
Their lone waters—lone and dead,—   
Their still waters—still and chilly   
With the snows of the lolling lily.

By the lakes that thus outspread
Their lone waters, lone and dead,—
Their sad waters, sad and chilly
With the snows of the lolling lily,—
By the mountains—near the river   
Murmuring lowly, murmuring ever,—   
By the grey woods,—by the swamp   
Where the toad and the newt encamp,—   
By the dismal tarns and pools
Where dwell the Ghouls,—   
By each spot the most unholy—   
In each nook most melancholy,—   
There the traveller meets, aghast,   
Sheeted Memories of the Past—   
Shrouded forms that start and sigh   
As they pass the wanderer by—   
White-robed forms of friends long given,   
In agony, to the Earth—and Heaven.

For the heart whose woes are legion   
’T is a peaceful, soothing region—   
For the spirit that walks in shadow   
’T is—oh, ’t is an Eldorado!
But the traveller, travelling through it,   
May not—dare not openly view it;   
Never its mysteries are exposed   
To the weak human eye unclosed;   
So wills its King, who hath forbid   
The uplifting of the fring'd lid;   
And thus the sad Soul that here passes   
Beholds it but through darkened glasses.

By a route obscure and lonely,   
Haunted by ill angels only,
Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT,
On a black throne reigns upright,   
I have wandered home but newly   
From this ultimate dim Thule.

25:55 Out of space, out of time (time warp?)

In conclusion note how Mr, Poe ends the first stanza of Dreamland with  - Out of SPACE-out of TIME
Now Mr. Poe could you read that first short stanza of Dreamland again?

Certainly, Mr. Bartley

By a route obscure and lonely,   
Haunted by ill angels only,
Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT,   
On a black throne reigns upright,
I have reached these lands but newly   
From an ultimate dim Thule—
From a wild weird clime that lieth, sublime,
   
Out of SPACE-out of TIME

Thank you.  And The Rocky Horror Show similarly ends with the words

And crawling on the planet's face
 Some insects, called the human race...
 Lost in time, and lost in space,
 And meaning.

Are both works referring to some kind of time warp?

Mr. Bartley - that is most fascinating.  But, if we are nearing the end of this episode, I do have some brief comments that I would like to add,

Then, by all means, do continue, Mr. Poe,

I am definitely fascinated with the advances one might find in science and technology - even the imaginative possibility to - as you put it - be beamed to another planet.  But I have serious doubts that such actions would show any genuine progress on the part of mankind.  We must not sacrifice humanity’s progress and creative intuition on the altar of science. When a friend during my earthly life commented on man’s advancement towards what he called “perfection,” I simply responded with my belief that   "man is now only more active, not wiser, nor more happy than he was 6000 years ago."



TRANSITION music

27:13 Sources 

Sources for this episode include The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe by Edgar Allan Poe, the DVD Commentary to the 45th and 50th Anniversary Editions of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Monstrous Progeny: A History of the Frankenstein Narratives by Lester D. Friedman, and reporting by Samantha Swindler in The Oregonian. 

Why not visit my podcast web site at celebratepoe.buzzsprout.com - click on the episode you want to learn more about to see its show notes and a transcript. 

28:12 Future episodes for Pride Month

Join me for the next episode of Celebrate Poe for Anastasia and Other Imposters.  And to celebrate Pride month this June, each of the episodes during that month will deal with four people important to LGBT history who have an interesting connection to Edgar Allan Poe.  Some may be familiar to you, and some may be brand new.

The episode to be released June 7, at Midnight deals with Bayard Taylor, the author of Joseph and His Friend - a book written in 1870 that is generally agreed to be the first novel about a homosexual relationship by an American.  

On June 14, the episode will be about Fitz-Greene Halleck, an extremely popular author who was greatly admired by Poe, as well as the public in general.  He was sometimes called “the American Byron,” and his works have been studied a great deal recently for their homosexual themes.

The episode to be released on June 21 deals with the homoerotic works of Walt Whitman, one of America’s greatest poets, and a man Poe actually met and regarded highly.

And finally on June 28, this podcast will have an episode on an individual who was greatly influenced by Poe - Oscar Wilde.  This episode will deal with the friendship of Oscar Wilde and Walt Whitman, the years Wilde spent in jail, and a comparison of Wilde’s The Portrait of Dorian Grey with two stories by Poe - William Wilson and The Oval Portrait.

29:48 Outro

Thank you for listening to Celebrate Poe.

"Come Rest in This Bosom" theme