A stunning image of David Bowie as Pierrot with makeup by Australian artist Richard Sharah.
 
There are few images in rock and roll as recognizable as David Bowie’s Aladdin Sane look. With his hair quaffed in a red mullet and a lightning bolt slashed across his face, it is hard to conceive how anyone would not be at least somewhat aware of Bowie in this context. Bowie’s constantly changing personae are, of course, some of his crowning achievements but as we all know, even the greatest artists didn’t become great without a little help from their friends. David Bowie had many incredible collaborators. Here are two which had the great honor of using his face as a canvas.

Bowie’s secret weapons in the makeup department during the 70s were Algerian-born Pierre La Roche, and legendary Australian makeup artist Richard Sharah. La Roche is the man responsible for creating Bowie’s iconic lightning bolt, and the far-out gold sphere Bowie sported on his forehead as Ziggy. Sharah gets the credit for bringing the Pierrot look used for the cover of Scary Monsters and the “Ashes to Ashes” video to life. However, both men have made other impactful contributions to the world of makeup. Let’s start with the late Richard Sharah.

Richard Sharah’s unique makeup style helped inspire the looks of the New Romantic movement. Sharah’s working relationship with designer Zandra Rhodes (who dressed Freddie Mercury and Queen during the 1970s) lasted for decades. Sharah was slightly color blind—something his fans and students believed only enhanced his artistic ability. Taking things a step further, Sharah also made his own products, therefore, creating truly singular work for his clients which in addition to Bowie included Visage’s Steve Strange and a makeup icon in his own right, Divine (pictured below).
 

Divine (Harris Glenn Milstead) in makeup done by Richard Sharah.
 
Pierre La Roche left his native Algiers and made his way to France while still in his teens, though he wouldn’t stay long. His next move was to England, where he worked for cosmetics giant Elizabeth Arden. While with EA, David Bowie would hire La Roche to do his makeup for his 1972 album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars, keeping him around to take care of business for the 1973 live concert film where Bowie retired Ziggy. Here’s more from LaRoche on Bowie’s “perfect” face:

He had the perfect face for makeup, even features, high cheekbones, and a very good mouth.

And boy, the man should know, as he spent the better part of the 1970s working on Bowie’s beloved mug. In 1971, he painted Bowie’s eyelids blue to compliment the famous turquoise suit worn in the “Life on Mars” video. In 1973 for the album Pin Ups, La Roche made both Bowie and supermodel Twiggy look gorgeously futuristic. In 1975 La Roche would work on the influential cult film, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, where he was given the opportunity to create Dr. Frank N. Furter’s diabolical, sweet transvestite face, famous tattoos, as well as other characters for the film. As history has proven, this and the other images he concocted for RHPS are indelible, as are his other contributions, which strongly influenced the look of glam rock.
 
Much more make-up, after the jump…

 
A childhood passion for horror movies and Frankenstein and all things strange brought me to The Rocky Horror Show.

It all started in junior school during a family holiday to London in 1974. The usual tourist sights were fine, but I’d seen most of them before on a trip with my grandparents when I was seven. Now I was more thrilled by the buzz and noise and giant hoardings for theatrical productions and movies like Chinatown with its serpentine coils of smoke. It was such glorious advertising that first alerted me to The Rocky Horror Show.

On the side of one of those big red Routemaster buses going to Peckham or Camden or wherever, I first saw the ad for The Rocky Horror Show, featuring an androgynous woman (or was it a man?) with short hair and big hooped earrings, looked slightly askance at something just out of vision. Returning home to Scotland, I studied the weekend reviews for any more information. I soon learned this show was an award-winning musical by Richard O’Brien. It told the story of a transvestite Dr. Frank N. Furter played by Tim Curry and his plans to make a man. There was also some plot line about aliens from the transsexual planet Transylvania. It certainly sounded my kinda thing. I clipped and kept any article I chanced upon relating to Mr. Curry, or Mr. O’Brien, or The Rocky Horror Show.

One Sunday in 1975, the Observer Magazine featured a four-page color spread on the forthcoming movie version The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Under the headline “Something to Offend Everyone,” I read about Tim Curry’s upbringing as the son of a naval chaplain, his time as an actor at the Citizen’s theater in Glasgow, performing in drag for Lindsay Kemp‘s production of Jean Genet’s The Maids. Of Richard O’Brien’s time as a stuntman on Carry on Cowboy, and how he had written the musical one cold winter in an attic between acting jobs. The production started out Upstairs at the Royal Court Theater—famed for John Osborne’s Look Back in Anger and kitchen sink drama—before moving to the King’s Road, where it remained until 1979. The article described the film as making comic reference to Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein, 1950s American sci-fi movies, even Esther Williams’ movies, and that it was bound to upset quite a lot of people.

When The Rocky Horror Picture Show was released, the critics hated it. The public hated it, too. My high school buddies didn’t even know that it existed. Men in drag was not really the kinda thing to interest most boys my age who were mainly into soccer, Slade, and Monty Python. Anyway, we were still all too young to gain admittance to see the film as it had been given an “AA” certificate—which meant it was for those lucky kids over fourteen.

I eventually saw the film a few years later and was not disappointed. By then, I’d bought the album and worn out its cherished grooves. Still, no one I knew was even the slightest bit interested in this quirky, strange movie. Punk had arrived and Star Wars was out, and that was all that mattered.

But good art will always win out—eventually. And so it was with The Rocky Horror Picture Show when the devotion of a small group of New Yorkers made it the biggest cult musical of all time.

Over the years, I’ve picked up the occasional Rocky merchandise. Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Show Scrapbook, the original cast album, the original movie poster, et cetera, et cetera, and of lastly but not necessarily least, an infuriatingly incomplete set of trading cards which you can drool over below.
 

#1. Tim Curry as Frank N. Furter.
 

#2. Richard O’Brien as Riff Raff.
 

#3. Susan Sarandon as Janet Weiss.
 
More ‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ trading cards after the jump….

 
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, “Well someone had to do it, right?”

And this someone is painter and sculptor Jessine Hein. We’ve blogged about Hein’s work here before when she created dentures of David Bowie’s old teeth before he had them “fixed” with porcelain veneers.

This time around it’s The Rocky Horror Picture Show‘s own Dr. Frank-N-Furter’s pearly whites. They’re made of denture acrylics, plaster and acrylic paint.

When I think of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, I think of Tim Curry’s big crooked smile. Dr. Frank-N-Furter was a character on the forefront of expressing oneself honestly and unapologetically. And his wonky teeth were not standing in the way of his outrageous glamor. Instead they were highlighting his shimmering personality and were part of his charm. It’s a beautiful example of a complimentary imperfection.

Some time ago Curry got his teeth “fixed.” That inspired me to revive the original oral pearls of the one and only “sweet transvestite” in celebration of things that don’t need a remake.

Not only is Jessine Hein skilled at making exact replicas of pop icons’ teeth, she’s one hell of an oil painter, too. Do yourself a favor and check out her work here.

 

 
More after the jump…

 
Imagine traveling home one night and finding a set of behind-the-scenes photos from one of your favorite shows. Well, something like that did happen to Brady Marter, who later uploaded his prized find onto the Collector’s Weekly site:

Founds these on the platform of the C train in TriBeCa in 2011. They are photos of Tim Curry and the cast of Rocky Horror during the making of the film. Some have writing on the back and Frankenfurter kissed the back of one.

Obviously, these beauties from The Rocky Horror Show weren’t just deliberately discarded or tossed out with the garbage, but were accidentally dropped by collector Larry Viezel who posted on the site:

These were part of a collection I bought from someone in New Mexico. These were used in making The Rocky Horror Scrapbook. I had it shipped to my office (I worked on the corner of Hudson and Canal) and was taking them home. A bunch fell out of my bag and I picked them up. When I got home I realized I missed one. Looks like I missed more than one! If it’s any proof, I’d be happy to show you the rest of the collection.

Thankfully, the story does have a happy ending. Larry had his lost photos returned shortly after they appeared on Collector’s Weekly, as he exclusively tells Dangerous Minds:

The guy that found them was working just a few blocks away from where I was working in Manhattan at the time on Hudson Street when I lost them. But he had since moved to the south. He was very gracious and returned them. I was incredibly grateful. He asked if he could keep one of them - the photo of the model of the church. I was happy to oblige. The photos are now back with the rest of my collection. I am very happy to have them back!

Here are those lost and found Polaroids from Larry’s collection featuring Tim Curry trying on his costume for Dr. Frankenfurter, some sets and other cast members (Richard O’Brien) from the production of The Rocky Horror Show.
 

 

 

 
More, plus a behind-the scenes documentary on ‘Rocky Horror’ from 1975, after the jump….

 
Appearing in a Hollywood musical was a dream come true for Tim Curry, as he explains in this extended vintage interview. Curry grew up on film musicals and at the time of the interview, he had just starred alongside Albert Finney, Carol Burnett and Bernadette Peters in Annie as Daniel “Rooster” Hannigan, a character he describes as “a cartoon villain… a failed gangster,” who thinks he is George Raft.

Tim Curry: He has a truly mean streak which finally develops in the end when he tries to kill Annie. [Pause] He does want to kill her, I think.

Interviewer: Does that bother you?

Tim Curry: No, not a bit. [Laughs] I find that quite easy.

Curry rarely talks about the The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but here he admits it probably damaged his film career.

“For when it worked, it worked so strongly that it left an image it was hard for producers to see through.”

But it wasn’t all bad, as the iconic role of Frank N. Furter was “practically a pension” for Tim and without it he believes he would never have made an impact on America.

This charming interview from 1981 is yet another reason to love Tim Curry.
 

 
Part deux avec Monsieur Curry, après le saut…

 
Fearing typecasting, Tim Curry notoriously shied away from discussing the role he’s most famous for—“Dr. Frank N. Furter” in The Rocky Horror Picture Show. He never did the fan conventions. Even at the late date of 2010, when fellow cast members Barry Bostwick and Meatloaf guest-starred on “The Rocky Horror Glee Show” episode of Glee, Curry still wanted no part of it, which is what makes this B&W interview shot in 1975, the week the film was released in Britain, so fascinating

This is probably the sole extended interview on video that Curry has ever given on the subject of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. He tells interviewer Mark Caldwell of the role’s physical demands, of reprising Rocky onstage in Los Angeles at The Roxy and how he tried to make the character more “evil” for the film version. When asked near the end if there would be a Rocky Horror sequel, Curry firmly deadpans “Not with me in it.”

In recent years, Curry, who had a major stroke in 2012, has been more open to talking about Rocky Horror.
 

 
This year we celebrate Halloween with a delirious clip from the 1986 TV movie The Worst Witch, starring Diana Rigg, Charlotte Rae, and most memorably, the indelible Tim Curry.

Tim Curry is always inescapably Tim Curry, and in this context that’s a positive boon—he may be the only element in this brief clip that’s even halfway up to snuff. Never have I seen so many superfluous and chintzy video effects deployed in such a short span of time—innumerable green-screen effects, several completely crazy swirl transitions, who knows what the hell else. It’s truly a phantasmagoria of 80s cheese.

In the most “meta” moment, the song inadvertently calls attention to director Robert Young’s excessive video trickery with a brief verse about …  of all things, VHS tapes! For no discernable reason, Curry is tasked with warbling, “Gremlins gonna mess up every cassette from London to Idaho….”

It’s all just too, too good. Happy Halloween, everyone!

“Anything Can Happen on Halloween”:

 
If that intrigued you for some reason, watch The Worst Witch in full after the jump…

 
You can learn much from Tim Curry.

For example, the advantages to be found by investing in a good tambourine.

Like the one seen here, in this short clip of Mr. Curry from The Worst Witch, of which one happy-viewer wrote:

God the minute he gets out that Tambourine I lose it.

While another noted:

When he busted out the tambourine, my head exploded!

Who else but Mr. Curry knew and could share the power of the tambourine - other than, perhaps, some Salvation Army zealot?

But it’s not just the joys of his zil jangling that can have such a delirious affect:

Whenever I hear his voice, my panties fly off

And:

Well, my boner just ripped through my pants.

Of course, the film also has its fans:

I remember watching this screaming and wetting my seat!

Though some will admit:

I only watched this movie for Tim Curry!

Or:

Surprisingly enough, this was easy to masturbate to

And:

Oh, I’m LITERALLY giving a blowjob now.

Though most will ultimately agree:

This is the greatest thing I’ve ever seen

Now we know.

So, this year, I’ll be taking my lead form Mr. Curry and investing in a day-glo cape, a bat bow-tie and a good tambourine - who knows where it may lead?

Read more comments here.
 

 
Richard O’Brien originally wrote The Rocky Horror Show to while away those long winter nights when he was out of work. There was, as he says in this interview from 1975, “no hardship with it really.” It all fell into place after he met director Jim Sharman at the Royal Court Theater, who encouraged him to “round it all off.” The musical was a hit and was produced successfully in LA and New York. As Tim Curry explains The Rocky Horror Show just grew just like Topsy.

Of course, it led to the classic 1975 film version, The Rocky Horror Picture Show from which this on location report comes, featuring Tim Curry, Richard O’Brien, Jim Sharman and co. from July of that year.
 

 
More from ‘The Rocky horror’, after the jump…
 

 
The London cast of Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical perform 2 songs (“Aquarius” and “The Flesh Failures (Let the Sunshine In)”) on BBC’s news show Nationwide, before taking over the studio and getting the presenters, including future coke-snorter, Frank Bough, up to dance.

The original 1968 London production of Hair opened at the Shaftesbury Theater, and provided a starting block for a diverse range of young talent including: Sonja Kristina, Paul Nicholas, Melba Moore, Elaine Paige, Paul Korda, Marsha Hunt, Floella Benjamin, Alex Harvey, Oliver Tobias, Richard O’Brien and Tim Curry. This was where Curry first met future Rocky Horror Picture Show writer O’Brien, and where Alex Harvey conjured up SAHB.  Hair ran in London from 1968-1973, for 1,997 performances, until it was forced to close after the theater roof collapsed. It then relocated to the Queen’s Theater, where it ran for a further 111 performances between June and September 1974, when it finally closed. This was the cast performing before the final show on September 28th, 1974.
 

 
With thanks to Nellym
 

 
The platform shoes to-die-for were Frank N. Furter’s in The Rocky Horror Picture Show - those bejeweled white heels made Tim Curry’s first appearance as the sweet transvestite the epitome of glam. And gorgeous he was too.

Elton John may arguably have had the best platform shoes, but his tended to veer into stage props, eventually leading to those sky-high Doctor Marten boots in Ken Russell’s Tommy. And of course, there was David Bowie, Twiggy, and a host of pop stars sashaying around London on pairs of ankle-breakers. Like Oxford bags, bell bottoms, high-waisters, and bomber jackets, the platform shoe epitomized the androgynous nature of seventies fashions. Originally devised as stage shoes in Greek theater, platforms have been in and out of style through the centuries, at various times used by prostitutes to signal their availability and profession (to literally stand out from the crowd), and were popular in the 18th century as shit-steppers, used to avoid effluent on the road. However, their greatest impact was in the 1970s, when they were the boot of choice for seemingly everyone under 30.

I had a pair of 5 inch heels, blue patent leather, divine to walk in, impossible to run in, and not the expected school uniform. This British Pathe featurette takes a look at the trend of platform shoes from 1977.
 

 
Via British Pathe
 

 
Dangerous Minds pal Paul Gallagher writes:

Well, we all like Tim Curry for his performance as Frank N Furter in Rocky Horror, and most times he has always managed to make us appreciate his talent (Annie, Clue, the superb TV series, Will Shakespeare, in which he gave one of his greatest ever performances, City Sugar and a host of others, even if he often chewed the scenery (Congo, anyone?), but here we see Mr Curry in a shockingly bad number from The Worst Witch.

I showed this to Tara and she said, “Oh yeah, The Worst Witch, haven’t you ever seen that? Seems right up your alley.”

Seeing that aside from Tim Curry, it also stars Diana Rigg, Charlotte Rae (aka “Mrs. Garrett”) and a young Fairuza Balk, she’s probably right.