With "Pink Flamingos" (1972) and "Reefer Madness" (1936) making money in midnight showings nationwide, a Fox executive, Tim Deegan, was able to talk distributors into midnight screenings, starting in New York City on April Fools' Day of 1976. It was the "Secret" film, on May 20, in the first Seattle International Film Festival. The cult following started shortly after the film began its midnight run at the Waverly Theater in New York City, then spread to other counties in New York, and to Uniondale, Long Island. "Rocky Horror" was not only found in the larger cities but throughout the United States, where many attendees would get in free if they arrived in costume. The western division of the film's release included the U.A. Cinemas in Fresno and Merced, the Cinema J. in Sacramento, California, and the Covell in Modesto. In New Orleans, an early organised performance group was active with the release there, as well as in such cities as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Chicago (at the Biograph Theater). Before long, nearly every screening of the film was accompanied by a live fan cast.