Part II

There’s always that wonderful thing when it first came to our notice that America was talking to our film, a little group of people at the Waverly on 8th street.  We were brought over for the first time.  John Mandracchia brought us over and we all thought he was a businessman.  He said to Richard “Richard could you bring your hump?”  And Richard said “No I don’t think so.  It wouldn’t be suitable.” (laughs)  And we got off the plane, I’ll never forget it.  These kids from Brooklyn with their slightly broken down cars and all very excited, and they’re 16.  Richard is in shock and says “Who are they?” I thought they were great!  John Mandracchia was a child prodigy, a genius as far as I’m concerned.  He dreamt up the conventions, he did it, nobody else.  He took us out and we did a concert in Long Island.  I forget which convention; we did a few with him.  It was the first one that Susan Sarandon came to.  She turned up with Luis Malle who she was doing Pretty Baby with.  Luis Malle was the director and she brings Luis Malle to our show!  He’s one of the most famous directors ever.  Anyway we went round cinemas with Mandracchia and we went to one out a bit, in Long Island again I think.  We had to sit in a café or a bar or something beside the theatre and wait for the film to finish and go in to do question and answer.  And we’re sitting there waiting Nell, me and Richard and I forget who else and this woman says to me “It’s so wonderful you’re here!  This is my boy, he plays Frank.  I made his costume.  He gets arrested every weekend but we get him out.”  I thought it was wonderful!  I was shocked; I’d never seen anything like it. Then we went in to do question and answer and the question to me was “Mrs. Quinn did you make the movie so slow so we could talk to it?”  And I said “Of course we did!” (Laughs) Cause there are gaps in the movie where they can talk, I’d never noticed.

 

 

I’m thinking you know about writing a book but books don’t really sell.  I don’t know what to do about that actually, cause I’ve got so many stories that just lead on to other things not just Rocky but they lead on to all sorts of things.  I started to write it myself and it was ok.  I’ve never written but I can write what I have to say, but when other people try to write it for me it doesn’t work.  It’s not the way I talk. Have you seen Perry Bedden’s book?  Isn’t it brilliant?  You know this is the point I didn’t hang out with those people. They hung out, Brian Thompson and Perry Bedden were together.  They were partners at the time and they had a lot of parties and things at their place.  But I was a wife and mother and I came home, I didn’t go party.  So that’s why I’m not really in any pictures, I wasn’t there.  I hardly knew Perry Bedden.  Perry Bedden I didn’t know actually.  Perry Bedden was a Transylvanian that’s when I knew him.  Knew him vaguely through Brian Thompson, designer, but I didn’t really know him.  Nell and all that lot did cause they all went to Brian’s parties.  That was also in the day, why they have all these pictures I think, that’s when the Polaroid had come out.  Nell was Australian, Brian was Australian.  Australians really did take photographs, I don’t know why.  I always thought “Why are you always taking pictures?”  I know everyone does that today.  No one looks at anything anymore they’re always photographing all the time.  So they were into that.  That was lucky that they were.  So we got the book which I think is lovely.  I must get it.  They said the packaging cost as much as the book.  Tony Pazuzu had brought it around the other night and said it cost something like 25 Australian dollars and it was 25 for the posting!

 

PIAR:  You’ve worked on so many things; movies, theatre, music.  What is your true love and why?

 

PQ:  Everything!  If it’s any good.  I have no preferences at all. You know I’ve played Lady MacBeth, I’ve played Christabel Pankhurst getting the vote for women.  It’s called acting and I just love to act and I’ll act anything.  I’ve played men, I’ve played women, comedy, tragedy, Elisabeth Siddal and the pre Raphaelites.  She’s quite a tragic figure.  Anything really.  I was just thinking this morning cause I have a friend who said “I’ve always loved you in comedy.”  We were talking about comedy and I’m reading John Gielgud’s diaries.  You know the actor John Gielgud I don’t know if you know him.  He’s terribly famous, brilliant actor since dead.  He was talking about an actress, the letters are so wonderful, if you want to be in theatre or be in plays you read this book.  There’s no play he hasn’t done.  He says of this actress there was “no comedy in her.”  Some people cannot be comedic.  They’re good actresses but not in comedy.  I know about that, and I’m very good in comedy.  I mean to say before my husband died he was interested in putting on the stage oh I’ve forgotten the name of the film, Judy Holliday, you know a real Lucille Ball character.  That’s what I’d like to play.  You know the kind I haven’t done, but I can do.  I mean, I have played daffy people.  That’s what I’d enjoy to do now, something like that.

 

PIAR:  If Rocky Horror were ever re-made who could you see filling your shoes as Magenta?

 

PQ:  No one.  I’m not really familiar with young actresses.  If they were to remake it they need to take a close look at the show at Universal. They do a Halloween show…  It’s amazing cause there were these lips, massive, and sets and costumes.  People queuing the queues everywhere in there.  We got the gold treatment with the gold card and skipping the queues everywhere.  I thought, “if I see another haunted house again I’ll die.”  After the fifth haunted house you say “Christ!”  And the whole place is full of zombies cause it’s Halloween.  All these zombies are running around the park hundreds of them “ahhhh!”  By the end I would “BAHHHH!” back at them.   You know they’re not allowed to talk back to you and they’re not allowed to touch you.  They make noises but they’re not allowed to touch you I’ve been told even the haunted houses.  So there are all these zombies around the place. If I saw another zombie I’d just say “PISS OFF! Leave me alone.” (Laughs) Anyway we had a great time and the cast! It was a fantastic production.  I think Richard O’Brien and his team should really take a look at that production cause it was so well done and you know sometimes Rocky isn’t so well done.  Because it’s sold out anyway, I don’t mean that, but I don’t know it’s a hard act to follow.

 

It’s young people’s dream to be in it. It’s on their “to-do” list, young actors.  Can you imagine that?  “I’d love to be in Rocky Horror.”  It’s wonderful actually.  It’s really amazing.  This cast at Universal was brilliant but they mixed it with film and acting and show and singing.  The way it was put together was brilliant because it was Universal, they know what they’re doing.  And they can throw money at it with a great set and everything.  And the cast were wonderful. Casts are very appreciative of one coming around, it’s very exciting for them.  But it is for me!  Cause I’ve never tired of Rocky Horror, I think it’s great.  I’ll be forever for Rocky Horror.  What it’s done is extraordinary.

 

I have four generations and five generations of people at my table when I’m signing.  Octogenarians, and people like myself, I’ve got grandmas down to four year olds doing the Time Warp in front of me.  It’s generational.  When I was in Australia I had this grandmother in front of me she says In Melbourne, Australia “I’m just gonna ring Granny Fraggle in Sydney and ask her if she wants a picture.  We’ve got Pat Quinn we’re standing here in front of her.  Do you want a picture Granny Fraggle?”  (laughs) Can you believe it?  It’s so joyous, it’s a joyous thing.  Makes people happy.  Oh yes about someone playing me let’s see I’m not aware of young actresses, I can’t say cause what’s she meant to be like?  It’s an amazing thing to create a role if it’s successful cause then you put your stamp on it.  Like Tim Curry. Nobody could out-Curry Curry.  And what was amazing about him was we came from the stage and created it with the creators.  It was a joint effort in that with the bits of script and songs it was a process of something evolving.  I’ve never really thought about it till now.

 

It’s taken me around the globe, Rocky Horror.  It began at the conventions.  The 15th convention was extraordinary.  And Pazuzo was telling me the other night he got the fare as a kid to go to that.  I couldn’t believe it, I was amazed.  From Melbourne he came to the 15th anniversary which was the best ever.  That was at 20th Century Fox Studios cause they were bringing out the VHS.   See, they wanted to keep that in cinemas forever cause it was making money so they were slow to bring out the VHS.  When they did it was bang news for Fox and money for Fox.  And when Fox are making money they will spend money to make it, Lou Adler and that lot.  So we arrived at the Marquee we went to 20th Century Fox Studios and Tim Curry and I were walking up the red carpet.  It was the soundstage that Marilyn Monroe made her last movie on cause they had to build a swimming pool for that film, it’s the biggest soundstage at Fox.  And Lou Adler was there manning the sound cause that’s what he does, on this massive board.  If anyone can make you sound like an angel, like anything, it’s him.  When he’s doing your sound you don’t need to be able to sing at all.  He’s a genius, you think “Good God, is that me?”

 

When Johnathan King decided to make a recording of our little Rocky Horror Show upstairs, cause Johnathan King the record producer had money in Rocky Horror at the Theatre Upstairs and he had a studio called SARM studios and he said “I’m going to record this.  And you’re all coming in.” That had to be in the first 3 months cause I left after 3 months and I went on to play Christabell Pankhurst.  I was the first to leave.  I was bored.  I was very bored.  I had done it.  I can’t say fed up but Magenta on stage is very little to do. I know she just hangs about in the film but she has screen time in the film.  So I say I’m the best silent movie actress in the world (laughs) you know Lillian Gish has nothing on me.  All Magenta does is looks.  She looks, comments and looks, and looks, and looks.  And they gave me a few more lines at the end you know “Ah sweet Transsexual land of night.”  Ah I’ve got something to say.  (laughs)  So after a while for a young girl who wanted to play Lady MacBeth it was enough for me. It was time to get out.

 

So at the time I thought, “We’re making a record, this is amazing.”  I’d never made a record before so I sang it and heard it back and said to Johnathan King “Oh no, that sounds so amateur.”  And he said “I know Pat, that’s what’s good about it. That’s what we like.”  I thought I was going to sound like a singer. (laughs)  Everyone thinks it’s Little Nell singing that.  Cause that was my character, the Usherette that was her voice.  Have you heard it?  Someone recently has done and posted on Facebook, he’s taken my lips and synced my voice with it.  It’s fucking amazing how he did it!  I noticed people were asking how he, people in the technical business of sound were asking him how he did it and did he do this and did he do that.  And I thought oh I see, it wasn’t just that it fit.

 

 

So that was the voice and people who hear that all think it’s Nell singing.  Cause it’s like Nell’s voice at the time.  But it wasn’t meant to be like Nell.  It was my character the Usherette who was naïve about B-movies her story was to tell people what she was in love with.  That was my direction from Jim Sharman you know?  And so that’s who she was, she sold ice-creams.  And in fact before I did Rocky Horror when I first came to London I did sell ice-creams.  I sold ice-creams as an Usherette at the Notting Hill Gate Classic Cinema.  And that was amazing because I had an ice-cream tray and went down front and it was a torch, it lit up.  People came down to the front and bought their ice-creams.  I actually did that.  And when Jim Sharman was directing he took us all to see a film cause he wanted us to think about the style that Rocky Horror should be done.  So he took us to the Nottingham Gate Classic where I used to be the usherette and I thought “I’ve been here before.”  And he took us to see Valley Of The Dolls or Beyond The Valley of the Dolls, one of them.  And after watching it he took us all for pizza and his whole point was that it’s so trashy but it’s played seriously.  So that’s Rocky Horror.  You know we’re not camp in it, it’s become camp.

 

 

Richard said to me when we did the chit-chat on the commentary he said “Can you get any more camp than that?”  But as far as I was concerned it was Stanislavski.  It was a matter of life or death you know, to get back to Transylvania.  (laughs)  When she says “Sweet Transexual, land of night” I wasn’t sending it up, I believed that. (laughs) And Tim Curry, by God, that’s what’s amazing about him and his performance.  I had my tray and he had the shoes and that night is when Tim Curry took off.  He put the shoes on and wow!  It was a rehearsal, they were building the set at the Royal Court, our little set and we were rehearsing at the White House on Royal Court.  They set up 60 seats so we could practice walking up and down ramps and walking into the audience, cause she walked into the audience to give out lollies and things.  She comes off the stage, well not off the stage cause we were in a room, but she serves people while she’s singing.  It’s nice you know?  Anyway now with 2200 you can’t come off the stage.  And the thing was he went on forever then.  He went on to London, then L.A. then New York where it bombed.  That was a horrendous shock for them you know.  I was carrying on with a career very nicely and I had forgotten about Rocky Horror.

 

Richard was brought into New York they’d only taken Tim from here.  Lou Adler took Tim, none of us.  By the time Tim got to the film do you think there was anything he didn’t know to do?  As Richard said “The monster grew and grew.”  When I went to Atlanta, Georgia I went to see Lips Down on Dixie, that’s the name of their cast.  I think it’s great.  And there’s a guy there called Java, a black guy that plays Frank.  They told me I didn’t have to stay for the show I just had to introduce it.  But then 2000-3000 people came in, these rooms in Atlanta at Dragon Con are massive.  They have massive rooms for conventions and conferences and I may be exaggerating but I was told that.  They didn’t all stay to the end but Lips Down on Dixie with Java are brilliant!  There are so many different types of casts.  There are little ones that are sweet and this is serious.  And when I went there they asked of me, “The cast has asked if they could have dinner with you one night while you’re here.”  I said “Sure.”  So they invited me to a restaurant where I think some of them were working so we could go there with a lot of them, and I met everyone and we all were friends and it was lovely to do that actually it was great.  Then I went to see them and by now I vaguely knew them and then Java got up to play Frank and they said you can open it and then you can go home after that you don’t have to sit through it.  But I couldn’t go home cause they were amazing.  And I had to watch them.  Particularly him and I thought “Christ did Tim Curry do all that work?”  He was doing all these kicks in the air you know he was brilliant, perfect.  I suddenly saw the energy that went into that.  Of course in filming you stop and start, it’s just in little bits.  But when you see somebody imitate the whole thing as good as Curry as to the movement and everything you suddenly realize what Tim Curry put into that.  So that’s it the secret to the success is we came from the stage.  I know that, I do, because we became family and were totally intertwined.

 

 

It was great that Meat Loaf came in.  Susan and Barry came in they were so good Sarandon and him, and they just fit in.  And Meat Loaf had the voice of an angel.  I’m not sure he fit in, but he had the voice. (laughs)  “The best kisser in Texas,” so he says.  (laughs)  He was a kid.  He came into rehearsal, I’ll never forget it, he came in I’d never seen him before but he’d done the L.A. show. He came in and he walks into the rehearsal room and we’re just rehearsing the songs.  In walks this redneck person, I’d never seen him before.  I didn’t even know what a redneck was till I saw him.  He says “Hi Hon!”  I thought “Oh God, who are you?”  (laughs)  Giant, beaming, full of it you know.  I thought “This is England, buster!  This is London! We’re sophisticated here.”  I was actually dressed up because I was going that night to see Alan Parker before he was famous to see his short film that night so I was dressed to go to a thing, not just for rehearsal.  I was looking good.  I was going out and then to dinner, to Alan Parker’s little movie, the first thing he’d ever made.  When he came up to sing, we were in the White House Hotel room; we used that to rehearse in.  It was a big room with a piano and one chandelier.  That boy sang and that voice at that age was astounding.  So young and the voice, it took the roof off.  And I swear the chandelier shook. And I’d seen that movie with my mother, where there’s  that shot of the chandelier shaking.  Because of his voice, the power.  Meat Loaf was like that and I thought “Christ!  It’s amazing.” (laughs) No redneck Texan after that!  He was a gospel singer, that’s where he began.  I love him, he’s great.  

 

 

Tim Curry was doing the Bottom Line in Greenwich Village, we were there for...what was it, some convention.  So he was there cause he’d been making records with Lou Adler and all that.  So we get to the Bottom Line and I’m with my son Quinn when he’s still a boy, I took him all the time with me.  I used to say to them, 20th Century, “I’m sorry but I’ve got a child on holiday,” cause it was always Halloween or whatever, “and I need to look after him.”  When he was 13 they said “What age is that kid now?”  (laughs) And when they invited me to Las Vegas and Lou Adler says to me “Pat, you ever been to Vegas?”  I said no and he says “It’s your town, you’ll love it.”  I said great and I said “How much?”  He says “I’m only the messenger Pat.” I said “I’m bringing the kid.  He’s 30 years of age now and he’s a criminal barrister.  So watch your fucking back!” (laughs)  Don’t you love it?  And when we got there he said “This is Quinn he’s a criminal barrister.”  He remembered that!  (laughs)  So I take the kid to the Bottom Line to see Tim Curry and he sings a set and we go to his dressing room and Meat Loaf is in his dressing room.  It was Bat Out of Hell time, he had an apartment on Central Park and he had boxes full of platinum records for the band.  He had boxes full of them.  It was amazing.  So I went with my son to Tim Curry and after Tim Curry says “Stay for the second show.”  I said “Great!”  And then my son was tired and I thought, “Well I better go back to the hotel with Quinn.”  I forget what age he was, but young.  And it was terrible cause Tim came out and said “Now I dedicate this next song to Patricia Quinn.”  And my dear friend said “Oh she’s gone.”  So I rang Tim Curry the next day cause he told me where he was staying.  I asked to be connected to Tim Curry and they said “Sorry ma’am we have no one by the name Tim Curry registered here.”  I said “Oh, I know, no. Could I speak to Albert Hall please?”  They said “Yes putting you through ma’am, who is calling?”  I said “Tell him it’s Primrose Hill.”  Cause that’s where I live.  That’s the name of my area.  Primrose Hill is outside my window here.  He called himself Albert Hall after the Albert Hall so that was just plain witty to call yourself Albert Hall.  I said “Tim I’m so sorry Quinn was tired and a bit jet lagged…”  And I was fortunate to have caught up with him and had a good time.

 

 

What was the question?  (laughs) I don’t answer questions.  I don’t mean that, but I go off on tangents.  I did a TV show; I’d just been in Knoxville, Tennessee.  I’d arrived there on my birthday and the plane was four hours late.  I was waiting to go to Knoxville and was waiting in Chicago for a bloody plane to Knoxville for four hours after flying from London.  I was fit to be tied.  I thought Dollywood, oh my God that’s where Dolly Parton’s from.  Just down the road from Nashville, they said “Yes she’s actually playing, she’s in concert tonight.”  I thought good God; I would have gone had I known.  It’s not that I’m a Dolly girl but I’m Dolly enough to go see her in her own home town.  Anyway I did a TV show the next day and I was so jet lagged.  I woke up and one eye wouldn’t open it was so swollen.  I thought “I can’t go on TV I can’t even see.”  So I rushed to the pharmacy and got that fixed and a bit jet lagged as well, a bit like this I never shut up. (laughs) They had all these questions and they just put down their list and listened.  They didn’t get to ask one question.  My husband taught me to do that you know.  Margaret Thatcher did that as a politician.  They couldn’t ask anything not that I’m trying to do that I just go off on the rest of the story. (laughs)

 

PIAR:  If you could sit down to supper with anyone involved in the Rocky phenomenon (living or dead) who would it be?

 

 

PQ:  Richard.  I love him. He’s my mate you know.  We’ve been forever.  Our children grew up together.  I’ve just taken a book off the shelf, I was looking for a cookbook.  I hadn’t looked for a cookbook in years and took this off the shelf and I thought “What’s that?”  It says “The Western Paintings of Frank C. McCarthy,” red Indians and buffaloes and has sort of a cow thing on it.  It says “Happy Birthday Quinn with love from Linus, Kimi and Richard.”  That was his present.  He was at all of Quinn’s birthdays we were family.  Through all of our divorces and different things.  Richard has always been part of my life.  I love him.  I love them all!

 

 

Like Jonathan Adams, who has since died, he was wonderful.  He was the narrator when we did the show and then Dr. Scott.  He was the best narrator ever.  Funny, funny man.  My best narrator ever, brilliant and subtle.  And now they bring in all sorts of comedians, guys who talk to the audience.   They needed someone who can talk back to the audience.  He was fantastic and wonderful person, lovely man.  A marvelous actor, underrated you know? He could do anything.  He was very, very clever.  Jim Sharman was a fucking genius in casting.  Absolute brilliant that was.  All of us.  Nell of course was extraordinary.  I used to see Nell, you know she was tapping in the streets.  She used to work with a mime called Julien and she was the first girl with pink hair on the King’s Road.  No one had seen that before, first one.  She was the girl who tapped on Saturdays for money.  With a mime, it was a peculiar combination.  That was her.

 

 

And Tim of course is adorable.  Quite reserved, you find that strange maybe.  Richard is a gas.  Richard’s funny.  Tim is adorable but a very different character.  And Meat Loaf’s adorable.  And Raynour Burton you don’t know him, he was the original Rocky.   And sadly Chris Malcom died the other week.  Chris Malcom was the original Brad, that was tragic.  Who else was there?

 

 

I’m having a great time with Barry Bostwick!  I tell you I went to the first convention that he was invited to and that was a Lou Adler convention cause Lou Adler took over John Mandracchia’s idea and thought “This is a very good idea. Get rid of John Mandracchia,” elbowed him out, “We don’t need him, he can make trouble.  We don’t need him we’ll make that Sal Piro and I’ll be in control of the convention.”  I was very upset for John Mandracchia they treated him like shit, I’m sorry.  And then he went and made trouble at Fox cause he was annoying you see but what could you do?  Couldn’t do anything.  However, where was I?  Yes, so, Barry Bostwick was at the first Lou Adler convention in New York at the Beacon. That was great.  That’s where I had my orange dress, Lilias Piro and I got together.  She was wonderful as Magenta, I love Lilias Piro. She’s great.  All these people you never lose track, I’ve known them forever.  Anyway Barry says “Hi Pat.”  And I said hello and he says “You really thought I was Brad didn’t you?”  I said “Yes.”  Cause he was so boring and now I adore him!  He’s wonderful!  When I meet him at conventions and he and I do question and answers together I think we’re great.  We’re like a team.  Like Burns and Allen, Gracie Allen, George Burns they were a team.  He used to smoke a cigar and she used to ramble on and he’d say “Yes Gracie.”  And that’s me and Barry.  He’s George to my Gracie.  Barry to Pat.  He sits back and says “Uh huh.”  He did this great one, when we were oh I don’t remember, you’ve maybe seen it, it’s recorded.  About Richard O’Brien in New Zealand and he has a gate house.  He says “Oh his ranch in New Zealand.”  I said “It isn’t a ranch it’s just a long garage.”  A lovely white house all in wood along the sea and he told me he had a gate house, which is rather grand you know that’s what stately homes have.  It’s for the care taker, the gate keeper.  But he has this house for visitors to stay in.  I said I think I might go over there and stay in the gate house.  I pointed that way.  “Isn’t New Zealand that way?”  They said “No actually it’s the other way Pat.”  (laughs)  So Barry says “Did you go to the gate house?”  I said “No.  No I wasn’t invited.”  And Barry suddenly went “I NEVER LIKED HIM!”  (laughs)  In Richard’s voice, brilliantly.  So that’s what we’ve become.  We’ve become the couple who do that sort of thing.  And it’s lovely, he’s adorable.

 

 

When we were in the south, Charlotte, that’s the one where Little Nell, you can’t keep her off the bloody stage.  She gets so excited.  She’s quite newish to the conventions.  I saw it in Melbourne.  The moment they started the film she was suddenly looking at the film.   She went down in the audience and was walking out that way and people were stopping her talking for autographs and things.  Usually we go off stage the other way, but she went down that way so I went down with her and we’re going out the back.  Suddenly the film started cause they couldn’t wait any longer.  She turned around and was sort of caught by the film.  I watched her and it was like suddenly she caught her breath.  She hadn’t seen it forever on the big screen.  She watched it and she just ran down to the front and started to dance.  I thought well if you can’t beat them join them so I went down and danced with her.  So we’re in Charlotte with the shadow cast and she jumps up and starts tapping the other kid off the stage.  You couldn’t hold her back.  So I went up with Magenta and did the Time Warp with her and the next thing Barry gets up and does the Floorshow.  And this is the joke of my life.  I say when I’m 90 I’ll end up in Vegas shadowing myself.  And I thought “Oh my God Nell Campbell it’s started already.”

 

 

In London I went to a convention in Manchester here in England that was my Birthday as well.  It was in ‘95 and I was at that convention and Perry Bedden was there as well and he says “Could you walk down the aisle for the ray gun scene, just walk down the aisle with me?”  I said “No sorry, I’m not getting up and bloody being me in my film.”  Cause that was my joke.  When I’m ancient and need a buck, like we all do. (laughs) I’ve never been to Vegas with the Vegas cast that would be too much fun, I’d love to do that.  I know the cast, it’s quite prominent.  So is the French cast.  They asked me to go to Nice and do a thing but I couldn’t it interfered with something.  And I did the Rob Zombie film as well all because he is a Rocky Horror fan.  I had met him fifteen years earlier in London but I didn’t know, cause I didn’t know who he was.  I still didn’t know who he was when he asked me to do it.  I got a letter and it said “Mrs. Quinn would you care to play Megan in the Witches of Salem with Rob Zombie directing?”  I thought “What?  Who is this?”  Letter from Sunset Strip from a casting director, straight offer.  I thought “What’s that?”  And my friend Marcus who is a goth, not now, was back then sort of un-gothing at the moment said “Oh my God!  It’s Rob Zombie.  From White Zombie and then came House of 1000 Corpses and then came Living Dead Girl and I said “Turn that bloody noise off!”  (laughs) He said “It’s Rob Zombie.”  I said “Keep him on, it’s wonderful!”  And I thought, “This is it.  (sings) Hollywood!” And I arrived at the set and it’s this falling down, falling to bits old television studio roofs and floors missing.  Big building where they used to record TV shows and things.  They were using lots of different rooms, the whole building was set for his studio.  And I thought “Oh my God is this it?”  It’s not Paramount.  And there was a bus there outside the door.  And it said “Jesus Bus.”  You know, like a hippie bus?  I said “What’s that?”  That was the office.  The whole production team was in there with their computers…in the Jesus Bus.  And I threw my hands up there outside the door and said “Hollywood at last!  I’ve made it!”  And this guy with a big long beard says “Mrs. Quinn can I show you around the building?”  I said “I don’t really want to see this building.”  We walked straight into Sheri Zombie’s bedroom set cause it had begun.  And they were like “Oh my God it’s Pat Quinn!” And Sheri was like “HI!”  It was all very exciting.  Funny thing is there was a young girl who made a documentary of that film.  Non-stop she was in your face until one of the actors said “Could you please stop your camera cause I don’t know what I’m to focus on?”  She filmed everything, interviews with me.  She was the camera man’s girlfriend.  She was carte blanche to everything which I’d love to see because it should be brilliant, well not brilliant but interesting and fun.  She had filmed my arrival, she had filmed that moment.  And Rob Zombie said “Hi it’s great you’re here.”  And it had filtered through the Internet that I’d had dinner with Rob Zombie 10 or 15 years ago in London.  I said “What are you talking about?”  So I went up to Rob and said “It’s been rumored that you and I had dinner together in London.”  He said “Well we did Pat.”  I said “OH.  Could you give me a clue?”  He said “Well I was with a friend.  There were two of us.  And we were going…”  I said “OH!  Are you the Crow man?  He said “Yeah.”  I said “What happened to you?”  He was going to do a remake of The Crow and asked the casting director if Richard O’Brien, Pat Quinn and Christopher Lee could be interviewed cause he wanted to meet us specifically for his film.  Then we went to dinner at the Groucho.  And it was amazing the next day Rob Zombie comes in with a photo of me from that night and I outside the Groucho with my white fake fur coat looking at Rob Zombie as if I’m in love with him.  He brought in that picture and the next day he came in wearing a t-shirt from the original Rocky Horror Show stage show.  And then we took of picture of him and me then and we put them together, then and now.  He’s exceptional.  He’s your constant.  15 years later he employed me!

 

Pat was wonderful to talk to.  She has an infectious laugh and her stories were so incredibly interesting.  She and Barry (and occasionally Nell) do the autograph show circuit quite a bit these days so keep an eye out and do go and see her if you get the chance.  You definitely won’t be disappointed!