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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THE YOUNG HUSTLER
MAD #87, June 1964
w: Stan Hart
a: Mort Drucker
From Kids' Versions of Adult Movies.
Movie about Fast Eddie Felson (Paul Newman), the younger pool shark challenging older pool hustler Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason). His acquaintances are George C. Scott and Piper Laurie. Here it's stickball instead of pool.
HUSH, HUSH...SWEET CHARLOTTE (1964)
dir: Robert Aldrich
WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE? (1962)
dir Robert Aldrich
HACK, HACK, SWEET HAS-BEEN
MAD #100, January 1966
w: Larry Siegel
a: Mort Drucker
Both are examples of thrillers which had older actresses supposedly past their prime and chewing scenery. Bette Davis was the only woman to star in both. The follow-up was meant to team up Bette Davis (b. 1908) and Joan Crawford (b. 1904-08?) again but they couldn't get along the first time, and Crawford was replaced by Olivia DeHavilland (b. 1916). This mostly borrowed the plot of Hush, Hush... but had elements of both. Neither had Tallulah Bankhead (b. 1902) or Barbara Stanwyck (b. 1907)
The alternate title in this parody is either a play on What Ever Happened to Cousin Charlotte?, the story it was based on, or What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?. This begins similarly to Hush, Hush..., with the DeHavilland character coming in from the city to return to the Southern mansion she was raised in. The credits also pun Mary Astor and Agnes Moorehead. The theme from the movie was a hit song.
Joseph Cotton played a doctor in Hush, Hush... Sweet Charlotte.
Victor Buono, who was also in both films, is also named in the credits of the parody.
Joan Crawford was married to the president of Pepsi and was spokesperson for them.
Annette Funicello (b. 1942) was star of beach movies, another prominent genre at the time.
Charles Addams did magazine ads for What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
There was a TV series a few years ago called Feud about the making of Baby Jane, and how their animosity in real life was perfect for the screen.
Other examples in the "hagsploitation" or "psycho-biddy" genres (hey, I didn't make those words up) were What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?, What's the Matter with Helen?, and Who Slew Auntie Roo?.
HUNTLEY-BRINKLEY REHEARSAL
Sick #28, May 1964
w: Dee Caruso & Bill Levine
a: Angelo Torres
Basically the NBC Nightly News from before there were all-news networks, when the three networks were the only source of national news. The program was anchored by Chet Huntley and David Brinkley. This first parody is based on the premise of what goes on behind the scenes and implies the two of them are not as friendly with each other as it would seem.
Michele Morgan was a French actress at the time. There are other Michele Morgans but they weren't born yet. The picture parodies a still from Cleopatra.
GRUNTLY & BLINKY IN HISTORY
Sick #43, March 1966
w: Francis DiMenno
a: Angelo Torres
This second parody is about what the program would be like if it covered events of the Roman Empire.
In the background of the last panel is Steve Reeves of the Hercules movies.
Panel 5: In the foreground is another Cleopatra reference.
Sponsors were Wilkinson razor blades and Timex watches, the latter had John Cameron Swayze as their spokesperson.
Ringo Stella is a parody of Ringo Starr. They went with the angle of how all rock stars were men who looked like women and did drugs.
Publius Ruth in the Yankee uniform I thought was a caricature of Jonathan Winters since he was a big celebrity then, but now I get that it's Babe Ruth. Duh. The fourth panel is supposed to be Charlton Heston as Michaelangelo in The Agony and the Ecstasy. Hertz Rent-a-Car's campaign had someone coming out of the sky and landing in a car with the slogan "Let Hertz put you in the Driver's seat".
From Channel Femi-Nine in Cracked #38, August 1964. Art by John Severin.
From Teens All Over the TV Dial in Cracked #52, June 1966. Art also by Severin.
There was a comedy record parodying the program from a group called the Hardly Worthit Players.
HUNT FOR LAST OCTOBER
MAD #297, September 1990
w: Stan Hart
a: Angelo Torres
The movie had a disclaimer about how "none of this really happened", it was a time when we weren't sure what our relationship was with the Russians.
Typical of many of the late 80s and early 90s MAD movie parodies, it opens with the audience. In the crowd are the Spy vs. Spy spies, Russian premier Mikhail Gorbachev, MAD publisher William M. Gaines, and Tom Clancy, who wrote the Jack Ryan novels on which this movie is based.
Jack Ryan (Alec Baldwin) at his CIA job is meeting with his boss Admiral Greer (James Earl Jones) and they have signs of a submarine they've discovered. It is a Russian sub commanded by Capt. Ramius (Sean Connery) who has ordered the ship change directions.
Panel 3: James Earl Jones also did the voice of Darth Vader. Panel 5: Yakov Smirnoff, Russian comedian whose schtick was Russia vs. America and known for his catchphrase "What a country!"
At a meeting with higher-ups in intelligence the CIA plans to blow up the Red October (the Russian submarine) which they believe is invading the US, but Ryan has a hunch, from having net Ramius, that Ramius is not traveling to the US to invade but to defect. He is given a chance to act on his theory. Naval officers are trying to track the Red October, whose sonar is undetected.
Panel 2: General Halftrack from Beetle Bailey. Panel 5: In the later years of the Reagan years, it was revealed policy was driven by predictions from their astrologer. Panel 6:Kathie Lee Gifford was the spokesperson for Carnival Cruises and married to football player Frank Gifford.
Borodin (Sam Neill) is in on Ramius' plan to defect.
Panel 1: A pun on Groucho and Karl Marx is a common old joke. Panel 2: It was revealed then that government contractors were charging outrageous prices for ordinary objects. Panel 6: Three-Mile Island was a nuclear plant that was one of the first places to have a nuclear meltdown.
Ryan and his men make completed their mission of destroying the Red October, but not before bringing its crew to safety and helping them defect.
"A thousand points of light" was George H.W. Bush's campaign slogan.
From Reel vs. Real by Russ Cooper and Sam Viviano, in #307, December 1991
The German edition used the movie for their cover
THE HUNT FOR RAD CRACKEDOBER
Cracked #256, September 1990
w: Tony Frank (Lou Silverstone)
a: Walter Brogan
Connery's character was also known as "The Schoolmarm" in his country. The kilt is because Sean Connery is Scottish. The name is a pun on Joseph Hazelwood, captain of the Exxon Valdez.
Seamen Jones (Courtney Vance) was US Naval operator.
Panel 3: 'License to kill' was James Bond's thing. Panel 4: George H. W. Bush hated broccoli. The submarine is the Yellow Submarine sub.
Donald Trump had the same traits 32 years ago. Some things never change.
HULLABADIG AU GO GO
MAD #105, September 1966
w: Dick DeBartolo
a: Jack Davis
Parody combining all three shows on different networks, which all had the same themes, pop acts of the time performing in front of an audience, rotating celebrity hosts, and house dancers.
MAD's rock and roll acts were always called "[...] and the [...]"
Maria Callas was an opera singer.
I guess The Flatones is supposed to be a parody of Phil Spector-produced girl groups like The Ronettes or The Supremes.
This supposed to be a mashup of protest singers such as Bob Dylan, who I don't think did shows like this.
Most people know of Hullabaloo from the brief clip in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood not realizing it was a real show.
HOOPADEEDOO
Playboy, ca. 1966
w: Harvey Kurtzman
a: Will Elder & Jack Davis
For a while they where doing Little Annie Fanny on a monthly schedule and having other artists collaborate. Here they also had Jack Davis. Her agent, a recurring character, was modeled after Phil Silvers.
The protest singer looks like Bob Dylan but the song's more like Barry McGuire's Eve of Destruction. Sonny and Wanda are very loosely based on Sonny and Cher and their song is a parody of I Got You, Babe.
Loving Anthony is sort of a combination of Little Anthony and James Brown. The program director is a caricature of William F. Buckley.
Annie is always in the background with the focus of the stories being a satire of current events like Candide. But this being a feature for Playboy, they have to find a way for her clothes to come off in each episode.
Making fun of rock and roll has been around since the beginning.
HOOD
MAD # 83, December 1963
w: Larry Siegel
a: Mort Drucker
This is called a "western" but it's not really a Roy Rogers or John Wayne kind of western, taking place in modern times. It has more in common with The Last Picture Show which makes sense, since it's also based on a book by Larry McMurtry.
Hud Bannon is a womanizing alcoholic good ol'boy who killed his brother in a car crash and lives with his father Homer (Melvyn Douglas) and nephew Lonnie (Brandon deWilde). He...um...tries to have his way with their housekeeper Alma (Patricia Neal)
The second panel has Granny Addams.
Homer owns a ranch where Hud and Lon work, and the cattle all get foot and mouth disease, so they must be corralled into a ditch and shot. Alma and Lon both leave. Homer eventually dies and Hud inherits the ranch.
One of the cows is drawn as advertising mascot Elsie Borden.
THE YOWLING
Crazy #80, November 1981
w: Paul Kupperberg
a: Bob Camp
Karen White (Dee Wallace) is a news reporter who has arranged to meet her stalker Eddie "The Mangler" (Robert Picardo) at a sting operation in an adult movie theater.
She almost gets attacked and the police are able to get the killer in time, but she is traumatized by the incident. (Not shown: her unable to speak on the air)
Karen's psychuatrist Dr. Waggner (Patrick Macnee) suggests a retreat for her and her husband. Reporters Terry (Brenda Belaski) and Chris (Dennis Dugan) investigate "The Mangler", finding further clues at his home. Karen is having marital problems with her husband Bill (Christopher Stone)
The scenes here are not in the same order as the actual movie.
The residents of the retreat, known as the Colony, are given more detail in the movie. The bookstore owner is played by Dick Miller, reprising his character from Bucket of Blood.
Everyone at the Canyon is a werewolf, and everyone they touch turns into one. It is not shown, bit one of the residence is a notorious nymphomaniac, seduces Bill, and turns him into a werewolf. In the city, Chris one of the investigative reporters, is also one.
Chris comes up to the Canyon, and being the only one not bitten, can thus save her. At fist they thought the sheriff (Slim Pickens) was an ally, but turns out to be lycanthropic as well.
The final scene is not shown, where Karen is back at the studio, and uses her on-air platform to warn the others of the curse that has plagued everyone, including herself. See if you can spot Dick Miller, who was in practically every low-budget movie of the 60s and 70s.
HOWDY DOOIT
MAD #18, December 1954
w: Harvey Kurtzman
a: Bill Elder
One of the first kids' shows, it always began with Buffalo Bob Smith introducing the show with the audience referred to as The Peanut Gallery.
Howdy Doody was a wooden marionette. Chief Thunderthud (Bill LeCornec) was the Native American character (actually just a white guy in makeup) and Clarabell (Lew Anderson) was the clown. (Bob Keeshan played him earlier before leaving to do his own show but the latter actor played him in this time frame).
The children in the middle panel were the logo for Birds Eye frozen dinners.
If they thought Howdy Doody was just a vessel to make money and sell products, they should have stuck around and continued to watch childrens' television.
