Jim "Cosmo" Hetzer

"...And you are..."

• Name: Jim "Cosmo" Hetzer
• Home: Cincinnati, Ohio
• Age: 24
• Occupation: Manufacturing Research Developer
• WWW: www.cosmosfactory.org
• E-mail: cosmo@cosmosfactory.org

"...It was great when it all began..." May 1994, I was playing guitar in a rock band called Cellophane, the guitarist and singer told me of a thing called Rocky Horror. They said, "you will probably hate it. But it's something you have got to see!" So that Saturday night (May 21st, 1994) I agreed to go. And they were right! I hated it. However, I saw two very important things that night. The first was Meatloaf, my favorite musician, acting! and I saw some guy named Scott Mallon retire from The Denton Affair - Cincinnati's RHPS Cast. Scott had been doing this for something like 15 years. It was very inspirational to see him leave. After seeing the love, dedication, and respect between the cast members I became interested in what made it all tick.

That October, the cast had a costume contest. I went as Cosmo Mckinley from Shock Treatment. I didn't win the contest but the Master of Ceremonies for the evening did nickname me "Cosmo" which has stuck to this day. Later that evening, the cast was sitting around making up cast sheets for "Switch Night." I was asked if I would like to play Eddie. I accepted. I broke Eddie's part down into 116 easy steps. And I learned every one of them...

The cast seemed to like what I did and soon I became the regular Eddie, then I started handling the fan club information, then I worked my way to become the cast's media coordinator. I was hearing about this thing called the Internet and Web Pages, so in December of 1994 I began writing Cosmo's Factory.

The name Cosmo's Factory was derived from my nickname being "Cosmo" and my coincidental favorite Credence Clearwater Revival album, Cosmo's Factory. Just in case you are curious I get asked that a lot.

The beginning of 1995 came nicely; I contacted Sal Piro and became Cincinnati's Fan Club Representative. My web page was thriving. I beat J. Alan Pfaff (The FAQ author) in a Rocky Horror Trivia game. Sorry! Jason, I just had to bring that up :) And I began construction on "The Wall" my pride and joy... a six foot, 300lb replica of wall used in Rocky Horror. It has working lights, levers, smoke etc. A must see, if you ever get a chance to see the Cincinnati Cast. By the time this is read, I should be done paying it off. Thanks Bank One Visa!

However, later that year, tension in the cast was building... differences in opinion on how the cast should be run were arising and ironically "The Wall" fell during one of our shows injuring one of my cast mates and nearly destroying itself. With all of the problems mounting, on December 4th of 1995, after much consideration I found it to be most beneficial to the cast if I had retired from acting and I had resigned as their media coordinator.

With plenty of time on my hands I began working on my web page full time. I added the trivia quizzes, the fan database, and I began repair on "The Wall." I also had time to open a recording studio here in Cincinnati called Studio 329 and start a band called Jonestown.

Currently, I still continue to see Rocky Horror in Cincinnati on a regular basis and sometimes travel in my Honda Prelude with Ohio "RHPS" license plates to Columbus, Dayton and Louisville to see their shows. I am in the process of writing a book on marketing ideas for Rocky Horror casts.

Outside of Rocky Horror, my hobbies include; writing, collecting guitars, yelling at people who use there hands when they say the word quote, collecting candlesticks, and writing Windows-based multimedia viewing applications.

I am very honored that I was chosen to be the August Fan Profile. Thank you all very much, and a big thanks to everyone who has checked out my World Wide Web Page... it will be coming up on 960 web pages and 50,000 hits soon!

Jim "Cosmo" Hetzer