May I Have That Seat?

Austin Powers!

Austin Powers!

HugoBro in Jail

Happy Birthday, Mickey!

Groucho!

Superman!

Murder U

 

Twilight Zone Day

Today is the day to step into- The Twilight Zone...

 

Crime College?

 

Pop Culture Basement: The Phynx

When many people think about clueless films that sought to appeal to the 1960's counter culture, Myra Breckinridge and Skidoo typically come to mind. One film that is often overlooked is The Phynx. Quite possibly the strangest of all these types of films, it's likely that those who watched it thought they were on a hallucinagion.

 

The film featured a Monkees type band who were also super spies. They get called into action when an evil cabal of communists kidnaps a who's who of hasbeens in order to hold them for ransom. The shocking part of this plan was that any of they believed that any of these people would be missed. Most of them were celebrities who hadn't worked in years and were most likely presumed dead. Only a clueless film executive would believe that these were the sort of celebrities who would attract the young people of the day. 

 

Take a peek at this celebrity list; this cast was better suited for a retirement home than a film:

Patty Andrews

Rona Barrett

Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy

Busby Berkeley

Xavier Cugat

Cass Daley

Andy Devine

Fritz Feld

Leo Gorcey

Huntz Hall

John Hart

Louis Hayward

George Jessel

Ruby Keeler

Patsy Kelly

Dorothy Lamour

Guy Lombardo

Trini Lopez

Joe Louis

Marilyn Maxwell

Butterfly McQueen

Pat O'Brien

Maureen O'Sullivan

Colonel Sanders

Jay Silverheels

Ed Sullivan

Rudy Vallee

Clint Walker

Johnny Weissmuller

This cast hadn't been revelant in years; it was almost like the studio drove a bus to the show business retirement home and took the first batch of actors who wanted an easy payday.

 

Any still picture from the film is more bizarre than the last. What was Colonel Sanders doing in this film? Why were the kidnapped celebs so compliant? Who thought this film was a good idea? And why did Richard Pryor agree to be in this film?

 

Was this all a fever dream? Thanks to the Warner Archive, we can revisit this film again and again.

Cereal Murder: Donkey Kong Cereal

 

The history of licensed cereals goes back to 1969 when Post decided to rebrand its failed Post Rice Krinkles as "Fruity Pebbles" based on the Flintstones. Some at Post thought that the popularity of the cereal would eventually flame out, but it never did. The cereal still features the Flintstones and still sells extremely well- despite the fact that most of its current customers probably only know the Flintstones from the cereal itself.

 

The overwhelming success of the cereal inspired others to try their luck at the licensed cereal biz. One company that decided to try its luck at licensed cereal production was Ralston, best known as the Ralston in dog food conglomerate Ralston Purina. The company produced similar tasting cereals that it would sell under different brand names and with different licensed characters. Today's such cereal is Donkey Kong.

 

Based on the Nintendo arcade game of the same name, Donkey Kong's box graphic features a knock-off Mario using a mallet to crush the barrel shaped cereal. The maple flavored barrels were much like any of Ralston's other cereals of the time; just shaped differently. The cereal would be killed off rather quickly.

Camp Latchkey: Midnight Madness

 

While kids on TV and movies (and possibly rich kids) spent their summers at summer camp, middle class kids often went to "Camp Latchkey" which took place in their very own living rooms! Don't open the door for anyone and NEVER use the stove or oven!

One of the activities at "Camp Latchkey" was movie time, which was often reliant on whatever the television programmers chose to air. Through much of the 1980's, it was HBO's programmers who would influence an entire generation's viewing habits. One film that would fail at the box office but gain a cult following through repeated viewings was Midnight Madness.

 

Midnight Madness was a Disney film, but due to its more risqué nature, the Disney name had been stripped from the film by jittery executives. Rather than the Animal House style film that Disney Studios thought it had, however, the film's risqué elements were so mild that the movie feels like the cinematic version of a youth pastor who thinks he's 'hip' and 'with it' because he uses curse words like 'dang' and 'heck'. 

The film is about an all night trivia game that takes its participants on a madcap journey around Southern California. Led by a skeevy 'game master' who inexplicably attracts the buxom duo of Candy and Sunshine to do his bidding, the various teams must compete against each other solely for the honor of being declared the winner. The film had all the elements that Camp Latchkey's campers would find appealing- young people who freely went on an overnight adventure, challenging the rules that dictated they stay safely at home and asleep, attractive ladies who would provide many a pre-teen boy his first crush and the feature film debut of a 1980's superstar who would find mega fame by the time the film went into heavy rotation on HBO- Michael J. Fox.

 

Years later the rise of the internet would make Camp Latchkey alumni realize that they weren't alone in their love of the film and Disney would eventually embrace the film, placing its name back on the print in its DVD release.

Pop Culture Basement: Dora Hall

 

What lives in the Pop Culture Basement? Forgotten stars of yesteryear, one & none hit wonders and other things that time seemingly forgot!

Most of the time, the worst result of using a classic red Solo Cup is the massive hangover that can come from getting blitzed on beer or some other alcoholic beverage enjoyed from one of the disposable plastic cups. In the 1960's and 70's, however, every Solo Cup package often touted a free record of 'top chart hits' that could be yours for the asking. Larger packages often came with the records attached. Who was the mystery singer whose albums could be had for a song? Why the elderly Dora Hall!

 

Ms. Hall was actually Mrs. Hulseman, wife of the owner of Solo Cup. A vaudeville songstress, Ms. Hall gave it all up to settle down and get married to Leo Hulseman, raising a family and helping him build up the Solo Cup Company. In the 1960's, Leo retired and handed the reins of the company over to his son while he began to give his wife the chance to have the career she deferred for him. The result was a series of vanity albums that Ms. Hall recorded in which she covered various songs like These Boots Are Made For Walking, Satisfaction and Hang on Sloopy. 

Despite the countless free albums produced and distributed, Ms. Hall's late in life career is mostly forgotten these days. Was it because she was a bad singer? Not really; she was a serviceable performer who could have brought the roof down at a senior center talent show. For a professional singer she was quite possibly out of her league, but she was obviously enjoying herself. It would be easy to mock her and her husband for their vanity, but this story is actually kind of sweet. Leo loved Dora so much that he let her follow the dreams she deferred because she chose to raise their family and help build their business. Who can find fault with that?

Welcome to POPalooza!

 

POPalooza- your new source for Pop Culture scrutiny!

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