HAH! NOON!

HIGH NOON (1952)
dir: Fred Zinneman

HAH! NOON!
MAD #9, March 1954
w: Harvey Kurtzman
a: Jack Davis

The first movie parody in MAD that was a parody of a particular movie and not just a type. Until then they had just done comic strips and books and radio shows.

A group of bad men comes to town waiting for Frank Miller (Ian Mac Donald). Marshal Will Kane (Gary Cooper) had Miller sentenced to death years ago, but he got off on a technicality and he's coming back for revenge on the train to town at noon.

The theme song by Tex Ritter and the clock showing the countdown until noon are used throughout the film.

It's Will Kane's last day and he's just been married (Grace Kelly, the wife) when he gets the news. He's about to go off on his honeymoon, and the townspeople would not object if he left, but he feels the need to stay and do something about it.

Everybody else in town is too scared to be his deputy.

Helen Ramirez, an ex-lover, says she would not have abandoned him.

Harvey Pell (Lloyd Bridges), will assist Kane, but only if he is appointed the next sheriff, but refuses when Kane refuses.

The parody of Frank Miller is kind of like the "idiot" character created by Bill Elder they used a few times, most notably in Frankenstein parodies.

This is only a loose parody, there is more conflict in the film of Will Kane having to choose between his showdown and marriage, the conflict between he and Pell, and him finally winning, turning in his badge, and leaving town with his wife.

HIGH NOONISH
Cracked #152, August 1978
w: Joe Catalano
a: John Severin

This was also very loosely based on the film, incorporating Asian stereotypes for some reason and Cracked's recurring character of the Talking Blob.

HIGH MOON
Crazy #2, January 1954
w: Stan Lee
a: Ed Winiarski

This one actually follows the plot slightly more. The character Grace Kelly is based on is the one singing the theme song.

Dr. Alfred Kinsey was author of Sexual Behavior in the Human Male and [...]Female, which caused a big sensation as one of the first scientific studies to show the sex lives of people and revealing the cultural values of society. Sally Rand was a stripper known as "The Bubble Dancer" for an act that involved dancing nude with a balloon placed in front of her.

"Come back, Shane" is the cry from the son of the title character in the movie Shane when he has to leave.

LOW NOON
Black Cat Mystery #47, December 1953
a: Howard Nostrand

Jack Benny did a spoof of the movie on his show for producer Stanley Kramer.

Woody Woodpecker did one too.