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Tonight, millions of teen-age TV viewers will watch the Halloween episode of "Glee," in which the singing kids perform songs from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" — a movie probably unfamiliar to many of them.

Many of them will turn to their parents and ask, "Have you ever seen 'The Rocky Horror Picture Show'?"

At this moment, parents across America will be confronted with a choice: Either come clean and tell their kids about their liberated days seeing — and dancing along with — the world's most durable cult movie, or lie and hope the kids never find those photos of Dad in fishnets.

For teens, here's a quick primer: "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" was released in 1975. It's a rock 'n' roll musical that tells the story of an innocent couple, Brad and Janet (played by Barry Bostwick and Susan Sarandon), who get lost one night and end up at a castle where a cross-dressing mad scientist, Dr. Frank N. Furter (Tim Curry), is building his dream creation: A blond stud-muffin (Peter Hinwood) in a gold-lame posing pouch.

Directed by Jim Sharman, who co-wrote the screenplay with Richard O'Brien (who co-wrote the songs and played the doctor's hunchback assistant, Riff Raff), the movie bombed on its initial release.

Then a funny thing happened: It got traction on the midnight-movie circuit, and fans soon started shouting their own dialogue back to the screen. This audience-participation — really, the first interactive movie experience — extended to costumes, props and throwing things around the theater (rice during the opening wedding scene, toast when someone proposes a toast, etc.).

For people in their late 30s to mid-50s (like me), seeing "Rocky Horror" was a teen rite of passage. It was a magnet for misfits. No matter how weird you felt in your day-to-day life, you knew that the people at "Rocky Horror" were just as strange as you, and they were completely OK with that.

Those seeing "Rocky Horror" for the first time are called "virgins." In those early days, it was the first time we did many things:

• For many, it was the first time we had seen a movie in our town's art-house theater, rather than in the suburban multiplex. (In Salt Lake City, it first played at the old Cinema In Your Face, then the Blue Mouse, and ultimately at the Tower — where it returns every Halloween weekend.)

• It was the first time we could talk during a movie without getting glared at by our neighbors.

• It was the first time we saw people attending the movie dressed up as the characters.

• It was the first time where those same people encouraged us to dance in the aisles, notably when "The Time Warp" fired up.

• And for many of us, coming to the heartland in the late '70s and early '80s, it was probably the first time we saw a movie that featured a transvestite, a flamboyantly out gay person or a bisexual — and that was all the same character.

That aspect of "Rocky Horror" is still unsettling in some quarters, 35 years after the movie's release. In tonight's "Glee" episode, Frank N. Furter's reference to his home planet, Transsexual in the galaxy of Transylvania, has been softened. When Mercedes (Amber Riley) sings Frank's signature song, "Sweet Transvestite," the lyric now says "Sensational, Transylvania." This from a show whose cast members (most of whom are well over 18) recently stripped down to their undies for a spread in GQ.

Here's hoping tonight's "Glee" tribute to "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" will inspire a new generation to check out the real thing, and follow the movie's mantra: "Don't dream it, be it."

The crew at the Tower will welcome many virgins this weekend. They're sure to have the time of their lives.

Sean P. Means writes the Culture Vulture in daily blog form, at blogs.sltrib.com/vulture —

'Rocky Horror' for Halloween

The cult classic returns at two Utah locations this weekend:

Salt Lake City • The Tower Theatre, 876 E. 900 South. Shows are: Thursday, Oct. 28, at 10 p.m.; Friday, Oct. 29, and Saturday, Oct. 30., at 8 p.m. and midnight; and Sunday, Oct. 31, at 10 p.m. Includes live performance by the Latter Day Transvestites. Tickets are $5, available at the Tower box office. No outside props are allowed, but a prop kit is available for $3 on the day of the show.

Ogden • Peery's Egyptian Theatre, 2415 Washington Blvd. Shows are: Thursday, Oct. 28, and Friday, Oct. 29, at 8 p.m. A costume contest and Time Warp dance contest, with prizes, happens onstage before the screenings. Tickets are $12, and include a goody bag of props (rice, toast, party hat, rubber gloves, noise maker, playing cards, bell, newspaper, flashlight, water pistol, toilet paper and confetti). Buy tickets at the Peery's box office, online at http://www.peerysegyptiantheater.com or by phone at 801-689-8700.