Time won’t warp this paper: National Library digitises original film script for The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Jim Sharman’s visual diaries
Era-defining musicals, operas, cult movies, stage productions and show business brought to life through digitisation.
Film buffs, theatre historians and budding creatives will rejoice at the opportunity to go behind the scenes with iconic Australian director and writer, Jim Sharman, with a selection of his papers held by the National Library of Australia now available online via Trove.
Left-hand image: Jim Sharman and Richard O’Brien, Cover page of the original script of The Rocky Horror Picture Show movie, 1973-1975, nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn4579845. Right-hand image: Jim Sharman, Page from Visual diary 3, nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn4579845.
Left-hand image: Jim Sharman and Richard O’Brien, Cover page of the original script of The Rocky Horror Picture Show movie, 1973-1975, nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn4579845. Right-hand image: Jim Sharman, Page from Visual diary 3, nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn4579845.
Celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, The Rocky Horror Picture Show film script carries annotations by Sharman, offering fascinating insights into the creative process and how the script evolved, including a notation of where the iconic ‘tap dance’ should appear. The shooting schedule and treatment for the now cult-classic film is also included.
Sharman’s visual diaries offer personal insight into his career, interests, friends and productions. They are curated pieces and contain material ranging from behind-the-scenes photographs, newspaper clippings and theatre programs to family photographs, horoscopes, personal travel photographs and the famed director’s NIDA diploma. Other ephemeral material relating to breaking news and events of the day are also captured.
Sharman hopes the digitisation of the material will inspire younger generations of creatives.
The Visual Diaries span half a century and offer an invitation into a theatrical and cinematic treasure trove. It’s all there, the family background, the influences, the global musicals, the controversial plays and cult movies, the personal, professional, provisional, political – and the showbiz.
I’m thrilled the diaries have been digitised by the National Library and can now be shared with a wider world. A digital footprint from the past that can engage, shape and influence artists and scholars of the future. My thanks and congratulations to the National Library for making this possible!
Jim Sharman has made a significant contribution to the performing arts in Australia and abroad, and we’re excited to share highlights from his papers online for inspiration and education. The Library’s digitisation program supports the majority of our users – those who visit us online – while also ensuring our collections are preserved for future generations.
Each year, hundreds of thousands of pages of content are added to the Library’s digital collections and made available online through Trove. This material has been digitised thanks to a generous bequest from the Estate of Frank van Straten AM, a historian of Australian performing arts and patron of the National Library.
Jim Sharman will be appearing at the Library in conversation with National Film and Sound Archive curator Hannah De Feyter, tonight (Friday 21 November) at 6pm. Following the conversation, there will be a screening of the documentary Strange Journey: The story of Rocky Horror. Tickets to this event are free and available via the Library’s website. The discussion part of the event will also be available to stream online via the Library’s YouTube channel.
About Jim Sharman AO
The stage and screen work of Australian director and writer, Jim Sharman, spans decades and eighty productions including early international and era-defining musicals Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar and The Rocky Horror Show. Jim co-wrote the screen adaptation and directed the international cult movie hit The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Jim has directed countless premieres by writers as diverse as Louis Nowra, Stephen Sewell, Dorothy Hewett and Sam Shepard, and staged radical interpretations of classics by Shakespeare, Strindberg, Lorca and Brecht. Notably, Jim revived and premiered the stage work of Patrick White, including Season at Sarsparilla, A Cheery Soul, Big Toys, Netherwood and the movie The Night the Prowler. He also directed Richard Meale's opera of Voss from David Malouf's libretto based on Patrick White's novel.
A NIDA graduate and Churchill Scholar, Jim was Artistic Director of the influential Lighthouse Theatre Company and the 1982 Adelaide Festival of Arts. Jim’s memoir Blood & Tinsel, charting our cultural progression from sideshows to opera houses, was published by MUP in 2008.
Jim is the recipient of a Helpmann Award winner for Best Director and also received the JC Williamson Centenary Lifetime Achievement award. He was recently appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to the performing arts.
Media information
Leah Wilson, National Library Curator for Digitisation Projects, is available for interview to discuss this release.
Images for media use available for download via Dropbox
View the material online via the Guide to the Papers of Jim Sharman on Trove
Media enquiries
Georgia McDonald, Media Liaison, National Library of Australia
Phone: 0401 226 697
Email: media@nla.gov.au
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