A-Z GUIDE TO MOVIES AND TV SHOWS PARODIED BY MAD, CRACKED, CRAZY, ETC. UP TO 1996. THEY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS. SPOILERS AND OTHER NON-SEQUITURS, TOO. SOMETIMES THESE THINGS HAVE WORDS OR SITUATIONS WE DON'T USE ANYMORE. YOU KNOW, 'CAUSE THEY'RE OLD.
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DIZZYLAND
MAD #30, December 1956
w: Al Feldstein
a: Wallace Wood
The first of several incarnations of a weekly anthology series, initially hosted by Walt Disney himself, showcasing past and present works of Walt Disney Productions, and sometimes behind the scenes work. Some pieces were spun off into their own series. The first series was often used to advertise his theme park.
Two of the parts were Adventureland, Disney's series of nature films, and Tomorrowland, their look at the future.
There was Frontierland, from where Davy Crockett, the first national craze, came from. Fantasyland, animation past and present from Disney, from where the studio started.
HANSEL AND GRETEL
Trump # 1, January 1957
w: Ed Fisher
a: Wallace Wood
Trump, the magazine, not to be confused with the person, was Hugh Hefner's attempt to give Harvey Kurtzman what he wanted MAD to be, and only lasted two issues before Hefner was told he was expanding his Playboy empire too fast. You've probably heard the story several times about the Kurtzman/Gaines split so I won't go into it here. I've featured a few pages from Trump before and will again. There were some parodies of real items and items that would exist. Here is an example of the latter, the story of Hansel and Gretel as if it were adapted by Disney.
Years later after Disney died, Paul Krassner, one-time MAD writer, was publishing a magazine of satire and politics called The Realist, the complete run of which can be found here. He commissioned comic artist Wally Wood, known for his Disney mimicking prowess (examples herewith), to do a piece called The Disneyland Memorial Orgy, which was bootlegged on T-shirts and black-light posters many times in the 60s. Considered pornographic then, but by today's standards it's something that could be printed in MAD now.
Michael Caine and Steve Martin play con men, one a sophisticated Englishmen and the other an American pretending to be a simpleton, who have a contest to see who can swindle an heiress out of her fortune.
From Video Reviews in MAD #289, September 1989 by Stan Hart and Sam Viviano
In a moment of logrolling, the movie contains a scene at the beginning of Steve Martin reading a MAD magazine and bookmarking it.
MAD # 153, September 1972
w: Arnie Kogen
a: Mort Drucker
The city of San Francisco is under attack by a murderer who's attacking citizens at random and threatens to strtike again until he's paid ransom. The mayor (John Vernon, caricatured by Drucker more accurately in the Animal House parody as you can see clicking on the sidebar link.) has assigned Detective Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) to the case.
There is a bank robbery while Harry is eating lunch and the shootout is established. It also introduces the magnum speech he's best known for and is used in other films in the Dirty Harry series.
Harry is partnered with Gonzales (Reni Santoni), who sees Callahan's unconventional ways.
Callahan is given directions by the killer, Scorpio (Andy Robinson), about where to place the ransom as he runs throughout the city.
Scorpio has kidnapped a teenage girl and won't tell anyone where she is. They find through hospital records that he squats at a football stadium, and Callahan tracks him down there and beats him.
Later, Callahan is called into the district attorney's office and told Scorpio can't be prosecuted and none of the evidence is admissible in court if he wasn't read his Miranda rights and was searched without a warrant. Callahan then decides to pursue the case on his own. Scorpio pays someone to beat him so he can say the police did it.
Scorpio has hijacked a schoolbus to get to where the airport where he's demanded a private plane from the city and is holding the children on it hostage to make sure the city doesn't have agents waiting at the airport or anything like that. Callahan jumps on the bus and chases him out to a lake and kills him. Having finished the job and knowing he's violated a bunch of rules, he throws his badge in the river.
From Combining Movies for Fun and Profit by Mark Steven and Bob Smith, from Crazy #17, May 1976. Shampoo was a movie where Warren Beatty played a promiscuous hairdresser.
THE BEAST FROM FIFTY MILLION, SKILLION, TRILLION FATHOMS (1953)
Crazy #2, January 1954
w: Stan Lee
a: Joe Maneely
First in the American "radioactive monster" genre.
A dinosaur has been awakened during a radioactive test at the North Pole, with scientist Thomas Nesbitt (Paul Christian) being the only surviving witness and the military not believing him.
The general in this is a caricature of General MacArthur, leader of the Korean War.
Nesbitt forms an alliance with another scientist who believes him (Cecil Kellaway) and with the aid of the military they attack the monster as it works its way through Canada and down to New York City. His assistant (Paula Raymond) is a brunette but here she's portrayed as a blonde.
A reference here is made to Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts
DIRTIER BY THE DOZEN
MAD #116, January 1968
w: Lou Silverstone
a: Mort Drucker
Major Reisman (Lee Marvin) is at a military prison seeing a prisoner being executed. He has been brought there by General Worden (Ernest Borgnine) to begin his next mission, which involves using death row prisoners as his troops. Among them are Joseph Wladislaw (Charles Bronson), Vernon Pinkley (Donald Sutherland), Victor Franko (John Cassavates), Pedro Jimenez (Trini Lopez), Archer Maggott (Telly Savalas), Robert Jefferson (Jim Brown), and Samson Posey (Clint Walker).
-Savalas' character is deeply religious and his interpretation of the Bible believes that even the slightest hint of sex is a sin.
-Trini Lopez was previously known solely for being a singer. He is called 'Jose Jimenez' in this after a character that was one of the final remnants of the ethnic comedian.
-Jim Brown had been a player for the Cleveland Browns.
Reisman tells the prisoners of their terms if they agree to this mission and they go through weeks of training.
In their training they need to undergo a psychiatric evaluation from Capt. Stuart Kinder (Ralph Meeker) and refuse to act as one cohesive unit until Reisman sets them straight.
As a reward for what they've gone through so far, the troops are given a party and set up with prostitutes. [Not in this parody: This proves to be the final straw for Reisman's commanding officer (Robert Ryan), who never approved of the program in the first place and decide to pull the plug on it. Another officer (George Kennedy) suggests a series of war games. The troops win by cheating, but ultimately prove themselves worthy.] The next day, they begin their mission.
The mission involves trapping Nazis in the mansion where they're having a party and blowing it up. As promised those killed in the line of duty are honored as such, and Wladislaw, the one troop remaining, is absolved of his crimes.
DORKY DANCING
MAD # 278, April 1988
w: Stan Hart
a: Mort Drucker
The movie begins with Baby (Jennifer Grey) recalling her summer at a Catskill resort in 1963. Her voiceover narration only appears at the beginning of the movie. As Baby is walking around the grounds of the resort where she's staying, she comes across a bungalow where the entertainment staff dances after hours. Dirty dances, if you will. She meets Johnny (Patrick Swayze) who dances with her for one song. She later finds Johnny's public dance partner Penny (Cynthia Rhodes) is pregnant. The father is a waiter at the resort and won't do anything about it. Penny needs an abortion, but has to travel a long distance to get one (remember, this is 1963) and won't do it because she can't afford it and she'll miss the big mambo show at the resort. Ever the altruist, Baby offers to pay for it and stand in for her.
The image on the shirt Baby is wearing is of performer Joel Grey, Jennifer Grey's father.
Johnny teaches Baby to dance and takes her out to a field to teach her some moves. They do the dance performance hoping she isn't recognized. On the drive back, they realize they're falling in love.
At the staff bungalow, Penny is in pain from the botched abortion, and Baby gets her father (Jerry Orbach), a real doctor, to save her. After he does, he tells Baby not to hang out with trash like them anymore. She disobeys him and starts seeing Johnny, realizing he's not the tough guy everyone thinks he is.
Johnny is falsely accused of stealing from the resort by management and Baby says it wasn't him. She has to confess that she knows this because she was with him when it happened. Her father won't talk to her now and Johnny gets fired anyway for sleeping with the guests. On the final night of the talent show, Baby's father finds out Johnny didn't impregnate Penny either and has to admit he was wrong all along, and that Baby is now growing up. Johnny comes back and crashes the talent show, bringing Baby up on stage and showing what she can do. Everybody in the room starts dancing in sync to the anachronistic music now playing.
"Nobody puts Baby in a corner" has become the most famous line in the movie, which is weird because it goes by so quickly and is mumbled so you'd hardly notice it was there.
The premise of this sitcom was that wealthy banker Phil Drummond (Conrad Bain) adopted the two children of his late housekeeper an had them live in his Park Avenue home. It was basically a showcase for Gary Coleman, who played Arnold, the younger son.
The other adopted child was Willis (Todd Bridges). His natural daughter was Kimberly (Dana Plato). It was never explained who the mother was. The maid was Mrs. Garrett (Charlotte Rae).
-The other two child stars are Rodney Allan Rippy and Mason Reese.
-A short-lived show after Diff'rent Strokes was Hello Larry starring McLean Stevenson, often mentioned as the Ishtar of TV. The two often had crossover episodes.
Diff'rent Strokes was NBC's only hit show when it first aired. NBC executives, led by Fred Silverman, make sure Gary Coleman stays short.
Here the cast shows their appreciation for the article.
Leave it to Cracked to exploit something big over and over and over.
DIFF'RENT STROKES
Cracked #162, September 1979
a: John Severin
If you think this joke in the first panel is racist, wait until you see the other Cracked covers coming up. [frown emoji]
They name of the show isn't punned but the names of the characters are.
Arnold has the comedic pacing of an adult because he's really Herve Villechaise of Fantasy Island, TV's other little person of the time.
See? I told you these parodies weren't quite woke yet.
IF ARNOLD WERE TREATED AND BEHAVED LIKE A REAL-LIFE KID
Cracked #171, September 1980
a: John Severin
Diff'rent Strokes was known for introducing the "very special" episodes of sitcoms in the 80s.
Cracked had a few other articles with Arnold, mostly crossovers with Arnold on other shows, which we'll post under the parodies for those programs.
DIFF'RENT STROKES
Cracked #178, July 1981
a: John Severin
Second full-on parody of the show. Charlotte Rae had left to star on her own series Facts of Life.
DIFF'RENT STROKES
Cracked #185, January 1982
a: John Severin
This and the cover above are at a tie for the most racist kiddie satire mag covers ever. Don't worry, this is the last one.
Third of the Cracked Diff'rent Strokes parodies.
"What you talkin' about?" was Arnold's big catchphrase. When Gary Coleman signed autographs at comic conventions there his handlers would tell you he would not write that while you were waiting on line to meet him..
Adelaide (Nedra Volz) was the maid who replaced Mrs. Garrett. She didn't really look like this.
VERY DIFF'RENT FOLKS
Bananas #46, 1981
w:Megan Stine & H. William Stine
a: Sam Viviano
Gary Coleman is older than Ricky Schroeder. Maybe his character isn't supposed to be.
Diff'rent Strokes actually did move to ABC in its final season.
UPDATE:
from TV Moments We'll Never See in Bananas #60, c. 1983, using the same publicity still they used for the cover earlier.
from Isn't It Time That... in Bananas Looks at TV, c. 1981, probably reprinted from an earlier issue.
