50 years of 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show'

IT’S incredible that 50 years ago, I stepped into a Durban cinema, worrying that the police would come and arrest us for watching a movie because we were not yet 16 years old.

- TERRY VAN DER WALT

I'd been to music lessons in Durban the previous Saturday with Simon Kardachi where I bumped into my older cousin, Glenda, and she said excitedly: “T, do yourself a favour and go and see The Rocky Horror Picture Show. It’s fabulous, you'll absolutely love it!”, adding that in all likelihood the apartheid government would ban it.

So the next Saturday, a friend and I caught the train from Scottburgh to Durban and bought tickets for the movie.

But then the doorman refused to tear our tickets and let us in, saying, “No, no, you're going to have to come to the management office. I don’t believe that you're 16, and you have to sign an indemnity, in case the police raid.”

We both wrote down assumed names, me using my older brother Graham’s name. Just in case.