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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YOU ARE THERE THEN
Humbug #3, October 1957
w: Harvey Kurtzman
a: Bill Elder
One of the first documentary series, would recreate a famous historical event as if it were a news event they were covering live, with Walter Cronkite at an anchor desk in the studio and a field reporter covering the event live and maybe talking to a participant or two.
Julius Caesar is drawn as Sid Caesar with Caesar's Hour co-star Howard Morris as one of his associates, and Imogene Coca as a citizen. Wally Ballou was the name of a reporter in many Bob and Ray sketches.
TO TELL THE TRUTH
CBS 1956-1968
SYND (1968-1976, 1980-1981)
NBC (1990-1991)
This game show had several hosts over the years. Its first was Bud Collyer. The show's concept was that three challengers would come on, each claiming to be the main character, and a group of panelists would ask questions to the challengers and through those questions find out which of the challengers was the real character.
From The Minute After That TV Show Is Over from MAD #85, March 1964, by Stan Hart and Mort Drucker.
From Adult TV Cartoons in MAD #63, June 1961, by Al Jaffee and Wally Wood.
From Combined TV Shows in #47, June 1959, by Paul Laikin and Mort Drucker, which combined it with The Line-Up.
From Russian TV Shows by Paul Laikin and John Severin in Cracked #19, April 1961
WHY TELL THE TRUTH
Humbug #6, January 1958
w: Harvey Kurtzman
a: Bill Elder
The first contestant is mobster Frank Costello and the third contestant is Charles Atlas.
The panelists are Polly Bergen, Ralph Bellamy, Dorothy Killgallen, and Hy Gardner. Dorothy Killgallen was also a panelist on What's My Line?, which often used the question “Is it bigger than a breadbox?”, which is why she is holding one. She was also on a show called Breakfast with Dick and Dorothy which took place at her home and occasionally featured her children. Hy Gardner looked similar to Sen. John McClellan, which is why John Kennedy is also in one panel.
Panelists on What's My Line had blindfolds.
MAD writer Dick DeBartolo was also a writer for To Tell the Truth which is also probably why MAD publisher William Gaines was once a panelist.
RANDAN
Humbug #11, October 1958
w: Harvey Kurtzman
a: Bill Elder
One of many movies Toho released in Japan in the fifties predicting the worst case scenarios of the effects of radiation. Shigeru (Kenji Sahara), a safety engineer, is sent down to investigate a death in a coalmine and is attacked by a giant dragonfly and trapped in the mine.
Later, Shigeru is found in a daze and a giant bird-creature is attacking the city. As Shigeru is recovering in the hospital and his girlfriend visits him, she shows the eggs her pet bird has lain, which are the same as the giant eggs he saw in the collapsed mine, and scientists figure out these are the same dormant eggs Rodan hatched from.
QUEASE SHOW
MAD #334, March 1995
w: Stan Hart
a: Mort Drucker
In 1958, people are rushing home to watch the quiz show Twenty-One, specifically to see the reigning champion Herbert Stempel (John Turturro) being asked questions by host Jack Barry (Christopher McDonald).
Herb's a hero in his neighborhood of Queens, promising his wife Toby (Johann Carlo) this is their way to riches. Charles Van Doren (Ralph Fiennes), a Columbia scholar and professor, is trying out for another quiz show when he is discovered by Twenty-One's producers (David Paymer, Hank Azaria) and asked to replace Herb Stempel, who will be taking a dive. Charles is hesitant about getting the answers in advance and asks the advice of his father (Paul Scofield), but is assured what he does is standard. Meanwhile, Richard Goodwin (Rob Morrow) is a congressional aide just out of Harvard concerned his career is going nowhere.
Mrs. Stempel mentions J. Fred Muggs, primate co-star of The Today Show, who actually has a role in this. Rob Morrow's wife is played by Mira Sorvino in the movie, but here she's Janine Turner, his co-star in Northern Exposure, and his home is also the set of that show.
Herb is asked to throw the game by producer David Enright in exchange for being promised a part on a panel show. Now that Charles is the new star, he has become a new sensation and thus a hearthrob at his college. Richard Goodwin goes to New York to try and get information on whether the quiz shows are fixed, first by cozying up to the Van Doren family. Herb Stempel, upset about being thrown off the air, tells the courts and anyone who will listen about the rigging of game shows.
Richard does some investigating, while Charles finds his fame is getting too much to handle. Richard finally has proof the shows are fixed when one of the previous contestants complies by showing proof in the form of a certified letter he sent himself in advance. Charles has a guilty consience about being fed the answers while Herbert uses his testimony as an opportunity to perform in front of Congress, which only makes everyone think he's more insane.
In the next to last panel is Alan Dershowitz. In the last panel on the left is the original What's My Line? panel Dorothy Kilgallen, Arlene Francis, Bennett Cerf, and host John Daly. On the right is Alex Trebek, Pat Sajak, and Vanna White.
This is the show that was depicted in the movie.
TWENTY-ONE
NBC 1956-1958
TWENTY-WIN
Humbug #1, August 1957
w: Harvey Kurtzman
a: Bill Elder
The premise was that the returning champion and the challenger would be in isolation booths with headphones unable to hear any outside sounds. Each took turns getting questions ranging from 1-11 points depending on the level of difficulty, gaining points for each correct answer and losing points for each wrong answer. Whoever made it to 21 would be the reigning champion.
IF TV SHOWS WEREN'T RIGGED
Cracked #17, December 1960
w: Paul Laikin
a: John Severin
Beat the Clock, To Tell the Truth, Truth or Consequences
What's My Line? again, Walt Disney being interviwed by Edward Murrow on Person to Person, and Groucho Marx on You Bet Your Life.
THE PRIDE AND THE PASSION (1957)
dir: Stanley Kramer
THE CANNON WITH THE PASSION
Humbug #4, November 1957
w: Harvey Kurtzman
a: Bill Elder
This is a war film taking place during the Napoleonic era, and is about British Royal Navy Officer Trumbull (Cary Grant) ordered to carry a cannon from Spain and deliver it to Britain before it can be captured by the French. It is currently in the possession of Miguel (Frank Sinatra) who will hand it over if they help conquer the city of Avilla. During the transport, the two men are at odds over Miguel's girlfriend Juana (Sophia Loren), who has an interest in Trumbull.
In the crowd in the first panel are bobbysoxers from Sinatra's earlier days as a teen idol. The next to last panel has an ad for bodybuilder Joe Weider.
One of the Spanish rebels is modelled after Marlon Brando in The Wild One
There was a rivalry between Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra in their days as crooners.
They also parodied the movie in the previous issue of Humbug, portraying how the cannon would have been pulled by doubles.
From Scenes We Never Got to See by Albert Meglin and Wally Wood in MAD #42, November 1958.
Humbug #4, November 1957
w: Harvey Kurtzman
a: Jack Davis
Perry Como was a singer since the forties that hosted many variety shows on television and radio, and for a while had his own show. He was most famous for his laid-back personality.
SCTV did a fake ad written by Eugene Levy spoofing his known laconic persona. The sketch was a favorite of Como himself.
If there's anything anyone remembers about Old Yeller, it's the ending, where a beloved dog has to be killed by the family because it was rabid. The ending has been parodied a few times.
THE CHICKEN KILLER
Cracked #30, July 1963
w: Jay Lynch
a: Bill Ward
Lynch will be remembered for his legacy as one of the undergrond pioneers, a contemporary of Crumb and Spiegelman, but as a teenager he started with Cracked and Sick. He theorized that they had nothing but the camera-ready page which they had worn out by taking the glued page on and off boards so many times from reprinting it again and again, they had no choice but to redraw it. Here it is again as the back cover for Cracked #168, May 1980, redrawn by Howard Nostrand.
Humbug did their version as well.
OLD YALLER
Humbug #10, June 1958
w: Larry Siegel
a: Will Elder
Kids in the Hall did more than one version of just the ending.
My Fair Lady has been parodied several times, particularly by MAD. First a Broadway musical, but most famously a movie, it's based on the play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, which itself is based on several British plays, which were based on the Greek figure of the same name. The formula has inspired modern versions such as Trading Places. My Fair Lady uses the same names and setting as Pygmalion, though.
The plot, in a nutshell, has Henry Higgins (Rex Harrison) and Col. Pickering (Wilfrid Hyde-White) as phonetics professors, teaching common Cockney girl Eliza Doolitle (Audrey Hepburn) proper diction. They make a bet that Henry can do it. He hates women but she wins him over.
MY FAIR AD-MAN
MAD #54, April 1960
w: Nick Megliola
a: Mort Drucker
His Wikipedia page and Times obituary don't reveal Nick Meglin's real name which is weird. Unless there are two different people but that's way too much of a coincidence. That's neither here nor there, though.
Freddy Einsford, a nobleman with a crush on Ms. Doolittle, is drawn here as Dean Martin. The BBD&O mascots are Harry and Bert Piel (Piel's Beer, voiced by Bob & Ray), Mr. Clean, Old Gold, Johnny Philip Morris, Tony the Tiger, Speedy Alka-Seltzer, Swanson Birds-Eye (triplets), Greyhound (dog), Mobil Oil (pegasus), Bufferin (body diagram), Peter Pain (Ben-Gay), Johnnie Walker Red, Elsie Borden, and one of the Campbell's kids. Henry Higgins and Col. Pickering are Cary Grant and Charles Laughton. Eliza Doolittle is Frank Sinatra.
None of these have the songs in the proper order or have the same characters singing them but they're just a way to parody the songs.
HELLO, LYNDON or MY FAIR LADY BIRD
MAD #107, December 1966
w: Larry Siegel
a: Mort Drucker
The title parodies the name Hello, Dolly but only the title. Lady Bird was LBJ's nickname for his wife. His daughters were Lynda and Luci
LBJ was known for lobbying congressmen while on the toilet but MAD probably couldn't show that.
They thought he'd seek another term. Dean Rusk was his Secretary of State and Robert MacNamara his Secretary of Defense.
Barry Goldwater was Johnson's opponent in 1964.
Part of LBJ & Lady Bird's campaign was to rid the country landscape of billboards.
MAD #167, April 1974
w: Frank Jacobs
a: Mort Drucker
Here Henry Higgins snd Col. Pickering are drawn as Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan, and the Eliza Doolittle role is Burt Reynolds.
Bella Abzug and Shirley Chisholm are the other faces on Mount Rushmore.
The last panel has Burt Reynolds posing as his Cosmopolitan parody centerfold.
From Future Singing TV Commercials by Frank Jacobs and Jack Rickard in MAD #84, January 1964.
MORE COMBINED MOVIES
Cracked #133, July 1976
a: John Severin
MOVIE SPOOF:MY FAIR LADY
Sick #49, December 1966
w: Bill Majeski
MY FAIR SADIE
Humbug #2, September 1957
w: Harvey Kurtzman
a: Jack Davis
