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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Monday, August 28, 2023
THE $OUND OF MONEY
THE SOUND OF MUSIC (1965)
dir: Robert Wise
THE $OUND OF MONEY
MAD #108, January 1967
w: Stan Hart
a: Mort Drucker
Musical based on Broadway show based on memoir, top-grossing film of all time for a few years. It's the story of Maria von Trapp, birthname unknown (Julie Andrews), a free-spirited nun in Austria who leaves the abbey where she's staying to become governess to several children, makes them into singers, marries their father, and they all escape Nazis. And presumably they live happily ever after. They must have if she wrote a book about it.
Ingrid Bergman in The Belles of St. Mary's, Audrey Hepburn in The Nun's Story, Debbie Reynolds in The Singing Nun, Rosalind Russell in The Trouble with Angels, and Donna Reed in Green Dolphin Street played similar roles.
Maria works for Captain von Trapp (Christopher Plummer), who introduces her to his children. He is a strict, humorless disciplinarian since losing his wife. The family has gone through several governesses who either can't follow rules or just can't tolerate the family. The children are initially mean to Maria and play practical jokes on her.
Julie Andrews was previously a flying nanny in Mary Poppins.
Maria gains the childrens' trust by not ratting on them for their tricks. She finally bonds with them when they're all scared during a thunderstorm and sings to them. Captain von Trapp comes in and is annoyed she is having fun with them.
When the Captain leaves for the day, Maria takes the children out for a day in the country and teaches them all to sing. Captain von Trapp is again annoyed she betrayed him and fires her until finding out they sing so well. The Captain's friend Max (Richard Haydn) is impressed with their singing and wants to enter them in a concert, which he forbids. Maria is having feelings of love for the Captain and he for her. Baroness von Schraeder (Eleanor Parker), who the Captain is engaged to, sees this, tells Maria, who flees and returns to the abbey. Maria tells Mother Abbess (Peggy Wood) how confused she is.
Captain von Trapp breaks up with the Baroness because Maria is his real love and they get married. He has been drafted into the navy for the Third Reich. It's against his principles, so he plots for the family to escape. They enter the festival and sneak out after their act and the spotlight turns off of them.
The Nazis chase after the von Trapp family, who are able to hide in the abbey. The Nazis are unable to find them but can't leave because nuns secretly took their engines.
'Climb Every Mountain' was also used earlier as a metaphor, when nuns urged Maria to follow her heart and go back to Captain von Trapp.
Rex Harrison as Henry Higgins. My Fair Lady was previously the top champion of roadshow musicals.
From Clean Ads for Dirty Pictures in MAD #166, April 1974, by Larry Siegel and Jack Rickard.
THE SWINE OF MUSIC
Muppet Magazine, Winter 1985
w: Jay Itzkowitz
a: Manhar Chauhan
On the last page of the Mad parody, David Janssen shows up at the top of the page. It's a reference to a particular episode of The Fugitive; the nun who's guiding him was played by Eileen Heckart.
Mad did another piece about the film a few years later. It imagines the Von Trapp family living in America in the 1960s, making one last-ditch effort to break into show business. It was the lead feature in the first Mad Special, from fall 1970.
Oh, and at the end of Mad parody, there's another reason for the reference to My Fair Lady. Julie Andrews originated the role of Eliza Doolittle on Broadway, but when the movie version was made, she was passed over in favor of Audrey Hepburn. That's why she's seeking "vengeance" here.
On the last page of the Mad parody, David Janssen shows up at the top of the page. It's a reference to a particular episode of The Fugitive; the nun who's guiding him was played by Eileen Heckart.
ReplyDeleteMad did another piece about the film a few years later. It imagines the Von Trapp family living in America in the 1960s, making one last-ditch effort to break into show business. It was the lead feature in the first Mad Special, from fall 1970.
I forgot to mention the name of the other Mad piece. It was called The Sound of More Music.
DeleteOh, and at the end of Mad parody, there's another reason for the reference to My Fair Lady. Julie Andrews originated the role of Eliza Doolittle on Broadway, but when the movie version was made, she was passed over in favor of Audrey Hepburn. That's why she's seeking "vengeance" here.
ReplyDelete