Albert Hall Is Gone, Too

 

by Pa Rock

Entertainment Junkie

Two of my favorite entertainers have passed away this week, and it's only Thursday.  Dolly Parton died in Nashville on Tuesday, and stage and screen actor Tim Curry, expired yesterday in Los Angeles.  Both were 80-years-old.   

(I will be eighty in just over eighteen months, so their demise has captured my attention.   True story:  yesterday I took the dogs to the vet for their annual shots and a few minor repairs, and while the vet, a young man somewhere in his forties, was commenting on Rosie's increasing signs of decrepitude as she ages, he suddenly looked me in the eyes, bedpan serious, and said, "How are you doing?"  I had to admit that, like Rosie, I would like to sleep most of every day, too!)

But back to the celebrities . . . 

I wrote about Dolly yesterday, so today I want to make a few comments about Tim Curry.  The performer, who was born in northern England and harbored ambitions of becoming a rock star in his youth, instead turned to acting where he became famous for taking on quirky and out-sized roles, the most famous being the lead in the 1975 cult-classic movie "The Rocky Horror Picture Show."   Curry played Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a mad scientist and a "sweet transvestite from Transsexual Transylvania" who labored in the laboratory in his creepy mansion, in fishnet stockings, to create a man, a handsome creature whom he named "Rocky."  

The film, which had earlier been a London stage play also starring Tim Curry, ran for years in a few select theatres, often midnight showings, and the audiences were populated with people in costume who would stand in front of the screen as the film rolled and act out certain segments involving their characters - and at times, quoting dialogue in unison with the actors on the screen - essentially making themselves part of the evening performance.   Some audience members were reportedly so obsessive about their participation in the late-night events, that they would ridicule newbies who showed up trying to join in the fun. 

I never tried to see "Rocky Horror" in a theatre and would have surely been picked on by the show's possessive audience, but I have seen it staged by a couple of amateur theatre groups, and I also have the movie on DVD.  It's enormous fun with plenty of great music that still holds up well - including a scene and featuring "Meatloaf," who roars into the mansion on a motorcycle.

Another of my favorite Tim Curry roles was his portrayal of Miss Hannigan's younger brother, the cocky "Rooster," in the movie version of "Annie."

I have been sitting on a Tim Curry anecdote for fourteen years that I felt reluctant to share while he was alive so as not to invade his privacy - and now that his privacy is no longer an issue, I will share that curious tidbit here:

Tim Curry suffered a serious stroke in early August of 2012, one that ended his film and stage career.  He was living in Los Angeles and admitted to a medical facility there.  I had just arrived home from my two-year work stint on Okinawa a few weeks before and drove from Phoenix to Los Angeles to visit friends for the weekend.  One of my friends happened to have been in the hospital where Curry was admitted earlier in the day, and she mentioned it to me that evening.  The friend said he was signed in under the name "Albert Hall," (as in the famed London entertainment venue, the "Royal Albert Hall," which was named after Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert).  Pa Rock thought that was damned clever - and funny!

Tim Curry is gone now, so I feel safe in outing his alter-ego.  Tim Curry is no longer with us, and neither is Albert Hall.  Rest in peace, gentlemen.