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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TIN-RIN-RIN-TIN-RIN
Trump #1, January 1957
w: Harvey Kurtzman
a: Jack Davis
Childrens' show about Rusty (Lee Aker), an orphan boy, who's been adopted by Lieutenant Ripley Masters (James E. Brown) and their adventures at Fort Apache with his dog, Rin-Tin-Tin, who's been made a Private. Other cavalry soldiers included Sgt. Biff O' Hara (Joe Sawyer) and Randy Brooks (Rand Boone).
GIANTS
Trump #1, January 1957
w: Harvey Kurtzman
a: Jack Davis
Precursor to TV shows like Dallas and Dynasty, epic film rich oil and cattle families. The film is over three hours, takes place over several years, and involves many more characters, but I'll just stick to the parts being parodied here.
Starts with Bick Benedict (Rock Hudson) bring his new bride Leslie (Elizabeth Taylor) to his family's ranch.
Bick introduces his wife to the family and ranch hand Jett Rink (James Dean) who drives her around and becomes infatuated with her in the process.
Jett discovers oil on his own property and rushes to the Benedict ranch declaring he will be rich. He makes a pass at Leslie and a fight breaks out between he and Bick.
Years later, Jett Rink has become richer than the Benedict family and there's a huge rivalry between the Benedict and Rink families over extramarital and interracial affairs, and provoked by public drunkenness
MAD commented on how it covers so much time in their article Movies Are Longer Than Ever in #32 from April 1957, illustrated by Wally Wood, writer unknown.
THE FASTEST GUN THERE IS
Trump #1, January 1957
w: Harvey Kurtzman
a: Will Elder
Three outlaws (Broderick Crawford, John Dehner, Noah Beery Jr.) come through town, stopping over in Cross Creek for a while. George Kelby (Glenn Ford) had a reputation in another town for being the fastest gun alive, but he and his wife Dora (Jeanne Crain) fled and settled in Cross Creek under the name of Temple to start a new life. They run a shop there and people in the town do not know about his past. He wants to reveal who he is so they won't think he's a wimp and goes out with a gun despite the protests of his wife. He proves who he was to the townsfolk, who respect him and keep his secret safe. But when word gets to the outlaws about George's former life, he must now duel the toughest one (that would be Crawford) or they'll burn down the town.
The surprise ending is that George fakes his death and continues the mild-mannered life he was pursuing.
And I just found out that today would be Will Elder's 100th birthday.
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.
DEATH TO A SALESMAN
Trump #2, March 1957
w: Mel Brooks
a: Bill Elder
Okay, so sort of a cheat here, as the play has been adapted into film almost a dozen times, and this sketch has common ground in title only, but when else will we ever have the opportunity to use a Mel Brooks script with a Bill Elder illustration?
From before Mel Brooks was a director or worked in front of the camera, when he was just a comedy writer, most notably for Sid Caesar. For those who don't want to read all this text, here is where the sketch first appeared, with Paul Lynde, in a movie/play called New Faces of 1952.
DEATH OF A SALES MANAGER
Wild #5, August 1954
w: Stan Lee
a: Morris Weiss
The play is about Willy Loman returning home from a long business trip, complaining his children Biff, a potential star athlete, and Happy never amounted to anything. His own failure to live the American dream as he sees it and life with his family and co-workers is told in flashbacks. Here was another loose version.
SNEAKY CAMERA
MAD #64, July 1961
w: Larry Siegel
a: Jack Rickard
Went through several incarnations in its long run. This one was the network primetime show hosted by Arthur Godfrey and its creator Allen Funt, the premise being ordinary people in public finding themselves in awkward situations and unknowingly being filmed.
Usually the person pranking them was Mr. Funt himself.
The other people here—Julius LaRosa, Marian Marlowe, and The Chordettes, were players on Godfrey's other shows.
from Adult TV Cartoons in MAD #63 by Al Jaffee and Wallace Wood.
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from The Minute After That TV Show Is Over in MAD #85, March 1964 by Stan Hart and Mort Drucker.
From MAD's Plan to Make the Congressional TV Show More Entertaining in MAD #216, July 1980 by Lou Silverstone and Jack Davis.
MAD contributor Al Jaffee turns 100 today and is not only still alive and not only MAD's oldest living contributor, but to my knowledge the world's only centenarian cartoonist! Herewith is not a post of parodies today, but a compilation of his best work for MAD and other places throughout his career. Al Jaffee, this is your life...
Military Comics, August 1942
Patsy and Hedy #22, December 1953
Trump #2, March 1957
MAD #86, April 1964
MAD #88, August 1964
Playboy circa 1966
(Note:This is a longer story about Soviets hiding a stolen microfilm. It only looks like it's about a bunch of guys trying to molest her on the subway.)
NATIONAL PERSPIRER MAD #102, April 1966
w: Larry Siegel
Playboy, August 1966
MAD's SNAPPY ANSWERS TO STUPID QUESTIONS
1968
THE MAD BOOK OF MAGIC AND OTHER DIRTY TRICKS
1970
Ad for Passport Scotch, from the November 1971 issue of Playboy.
MAD #157, March 1973
MAD SOLUTIONS TO BIG CITY DOGGIE-DO PROBLEMS MAD #172, January 1975
MAD DEVICES DESIGNED TO SOLVE OUR SMOKER VS. NON-SMOKER PROBLEMSMAD # 177, September 1975
