Forty years after The Rocky Horror Picture Show first bewildered and delighted cinemagoers the world over, Books and Arts sits down with its creator, Richard O'Brien, to talk about the production's unique legacy.

'Don't put that on me. How dare you!'

Richard O'Brien baulks at the suggestion he is responsible for putting thousands of men in fishnet stockings.

The transsexual nature of it is driven from my own transsexual nature, but I didn’t see it as a vehicle for that or a cathartic piece of work for myself. Richard O'Brien

But just for a moment, think about extraordinary legacy of The Rocky Horror Show.

How many times, in how many countries, must the show have been performed onstage?

On how many occasions have the devoted dressed up and sung along to late night screenings of the 1975 film adaptation?

Just how many times has 'Time Warp' come on at the end of a wedding or party and prompted a full-blown dance-off?

More than anyone else, O'Brien is the one to thank (or blame) for prompting such mind bogglingly incalculable statistics.

With 40 years under the bridge since he penned the words, music and lyrics for The Rocky Horror Show, O'Brien isn't as weighed-down by his defining creation as you might think.

In fact, as the 73-year-old best known as Riff Raff slinks about the corridors of the ABC, he carries an air of wonderment about him.

'It was a very strange journey, and rather wonderful,' says O'Brien.

'When we made the movie, it was an odd business, because we were still a fringe theatre event and we were allowed to make a movie.

'Not only that, but we were able to keep all the original players and our theatre director was allowed to direct the movie as well.'

With a blend of cabaret and sci-fi, both the stage show and the movie now represent something of a cultural game changer, particularly with regard to the representations of transsexuality.

'The transsexual nature of it is driven from my own transsexual nature, but I didn't see it as a vehicle for that or a cathartic piece of work for myself,' says O'Brien.

'The driving force behind it was me watching those old movies late at night on the television when everyone else had gone to bed, and getting such pleasure from the creaky plots and the pretentious dialogue, the unintended comedy.

'My first love was always populist themes. I loved the sci-fi movies, I loved the late night double features. All my interests were low-brow, populist interests: rock n' roll, comics and that kind of stuff.

'Much frowned upon by the older generation at the time, but now turned into high art.'

What's in a name?

Rocky Horror might be identified with the world over, but the title itself almost never existed. O'Brien chuckles about the original working title for the stage show: They Came From Denton High.

'I rather liked the teenage appeal of that, and the not-so-subtle subtext of the word 'high.' It appealed to my juvenile mentality.'

As it happened, Australian producer and director Jim Sharman referred to the production as Rocky Horror at a dinner during its early conception, and the 'oooh' it elicited from those present meant the name stuck.

Meatloaf goes off

When singer Meatloaf joined production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, his profile was just a fraction what it would become.

O'Brien says he was 'recognised as having a voice,' but had signed on without any familiarity with the production.

'He came into the show from Texas and was slightly... conservative in his views at that stage of his life.

'He looked at the idea of working on stage with someone in fishnet stockings, and then having to put them on when he played Dr Scott.

'He really was having a problem with it and walked out. He had to be coaxed back and whatnot.

'Of course, once he got his first laugh, you couldn't stop him from that point. He just loves comedy, he just can't stop trying to get a laugh in fact.'

'Something joyous was happening in the building'

O'Brien says even during rehearsals at London's prestigious Royal Court Theatre there was a sense that they had landed on something special in The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

'Even before we opened and were rehearsing, the music was tinkling down the stairway and the smiles on the people who worked at the Royal Court were from ear to ear.

'Something joyous was happening in the building.'

The Rocky Horror legacy

'There was a time when I got fed-up with it,' sighs O'Brien.

'Then I saw Cab Calloway singing 'Minnie the Moocher' at age 80 and thought, "Well if Cab can sing it at 80 and I want to watch it, who am I to deny this?"

'When the English Stage Company were celebrating 50 years at the Royal Court Theatre, and they asked everyone from directors, producers and actors which of the past productions would they like to see, Rocky came in streaks ahead of all the others,' he beams.

'The administration at the time thought that we had manipulated the findings, which wasn't at all true.

'They were rather... I won't say ashamed, but there was a resentment. They didn't like Rocky getting this accolade when what they thought was more serious theatre that deserved it.'

As O'Brien steps outside into the Melbourne cold, he continues to talk with wide-eyed wonder, though now about the ability of modern cameras to capture film.

When it's time to have his photo taken, he immediately contorts into a pose he has no doubt used countless times over the past four decades: both playful and somewhat sinister.

He quickly grows tired of the attention, issues a 10-second countdown, slinks back into warmth and is gone

Richard O'Brien Revisits 40 year-old Rocky Horror Tuesday 7 July 2015 Listen to the full interview with Richard O'Brien on Books and Arts, as he reflects on the enduring legacy of the Rocky Horror Show, one of the most popular musicals of all time. More This [series episode segment] has image,

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