Madeline Kahn in Chameleon (1986)

Obscurity factor: 10+

One of my favorite performers is Madeline Kahn. She was the subject of the first post on this blog in The Dove. Her comic timing and delivery was second to none, and she was also a classically trained singer. Her film roles, beginning with my favorite film, What's Up Doc, were many, varied and always left an impression. She also left her mark in television, but never found success with her own situation comedy, though she tried twice, that I know of. Her first attempt was in 1983 with Oh, Madeline and her second was this series called Chameleon. In it she plays Violet, a girl who is chronically board with working. She takes and leaves jobs at the drop of a pay check. In this pilot, she's concerned about her mother, who she's afraid is being taken at a weight clinic. So, after abandoning her latest job at a vet, she attempts to get an egomaniacal consumer advocate (George Wyner) to investigate by hilariously bluffing her way into his office. The bluff doesn't work, but it's witnessed by the owner of the station (Henry Jones) who says that if she investigates the clinic herself and finds they're bilking the public he'll personally guarantee that they'll air it on the show. Will she land the job of her dreams?

Chameleon was a summer replacement series, and came and went very quickly. So few people remember it that it isn't even listed on IMDB. It's not available on DVD and to my knowledge, can only be seen on YouTube thanks to an upload by lobbiesforme. Above is part one of the pilot.

Obscurity factor: 10+ (not on DVD, largely forgotten, not listed on IMDB)

Richard Benjamin in Quark (1977)

Obscurity factor: 8

In the year 2222, Adam Quark (Benjamin) is an officer of the United Galaxies. He commands a ship with a crew of 6 and travels the Universe protecting the Federation from Gorgons, bedding princesses, fighting evil and... collecting garbage. Though he and his crew are often charged with important duties, his charter is part of the Sanitation Patrol. His crew consists of Ficus (Richard Kelton), a Vegeton - sort of an ambulatory, plant in human form, Gene/Jean (Timothy Thomerson) - a transmute with a full set of male and female chromosomes (leading him to exhibit either hyper masculine or stereotypically feminine behavior), Betty and Betty (The Barnstable twins, better known as the Doublemint Twins), a beautiful blonde and her exact clone (both of them have the hots for Adam and neither will admit to being the clone) and Andy, the android, made from spare parts and chronically chicken. They are based out of Perma One, a space station run by Otto Palindrome (Conrad Janus) and overseen by The Head (Alan Caillou), a disembodied head with an enormous skull and very long eyebrows who only appears on communication screens.

Adam Quark with The Bettys (image courtesy of Wikipeadia)

Each week (for the 8 weeks the series was on) found the crew on another strange mission, most of which were vaguely familiar. The plots were parodies of iconic sci-fi films and television episodes including 2001, Star Wars, Star Trek and Flash Gordon. The cast does a nice job of making the characters likable, though many of the situations and much of the dialog is silly. The Barnstable twins are extremely good at looking gorgeous and speaking in unison, but not much else, Tim Thomerson is very sexy in a skin tight denim jump suit and Richard Benjamin holds it all together and manages to make the silly situations fun and enjoyable. Guest stars include Joan Van Ark and Barbara Rhodes.

The series was released on DVD a few years ago. Above is part one of May the Source Be With You uploaded to YouTube by quarkscow.

Obscurity factor: 8 (available on DVD, largely forgotten mid-season replacement series)

Spotlight on Mel Blanc

Mel Blanc, the man of 1000 voices was truly a force of nature. He worked steadily for over 60 years in radio, film and television, and at one point it was estimated that over 2 million people heard his voice every single day. His early career was spent in radio, working with such luminaries as Jack Benny and eventually transitioned into voice work for animation. He is, of course, best known as the voice of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck and Yosemite Sam, but few people would know his face. His long career at the top of the voice acting field gave him few opportunities to show it. Below are a few clips of him in the flesh.

This is part two of an episode of The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis from 1959. Mel plays Mr. Zigler, the tailor. Also look for Warren Beatty. It was uploaded to YouTube by Matthias1949.

Here's Mel, capitalizing on his little known face in a 1970's American Express television commercial, uploaded by blegume.

Of course, I couldn't leave you without an example of his voice work. Here's Mel doing what he was known best for. In Duck Amuck, uploaded by Sephraith21000, he plays both Daffy and Bugs.

There is so much about Mel Blanc on the internet. He continues to be an inspiration to young vocal talent today. If you're interested you can find out all about him on IMDB and Wikipedia, and if you haven't had enough of his work, here's the link to a little seen film he did for the Dallas Freeway System back in 1970. Jack Benny once said "There are only five real people in Hollywood. Everybody else is Mel Blanc." That just might have been true.

Joan Crawford in No More Ladies (1935)

Obscurity factor: 7

Joan Crawford went through various phases in her remarkably long career - the free spirited flapper, the, the no nonsense woman who got what she was after... This film is from her later MGM period - the young society woman phase. Joan plays Marcia, a glamorous, rich young woman who is in love with Sherry (Robert Montgomery), who's a bit of a heel. She's not happy with the situation and knows the odds are against her when she sets her mind to marry him. Her grandmother (Edna May Oliver) sees what's happening, but short of giving advice, must look on, helpless. Everyone tries to convince her to break it off, including Jim, the ex husband of a woman he had an affair with (Franchot Tone).  After they're married things seem to go well, until a fateful weekend when Sherry stands her up on the weekend they were supposed to spend together. Marcia is crestfallen, but rallies to make her point by inviting Jim and his ex wife and her new husband as well as the girl who he stepped out on her with to the country for a weekend party. As you can imagine, fur flies.

No More Ladies is a good example the myriad films about the ins and outs of society relationships in the 1930's. It's beautifully art directed with magnificent, if slightly understated art deco sets and beautiful costumes. I'm always somewhat bemused by Joan when she plays this sort of role. It's so different from the Joan we all think of today. Edna May Oliver is delightful as usual and beautifully turned out and Franchot Tone is just gorgeous. It's no wonder Joan married him. Though this isn't a masterpiece, it's still a delightful throwback to the era, and a nice evening's diversion.

This film was recently released on DVD, thanks to TCM. The trailer is above, uploaded to YouTube by skipjacktuner. The poster above is available from MoviePosterShop.com.

Obscurity factor: 7 (Lost in the shuffle of similar films from the era, available on DVD)

Shirley MacLaine in What a Way to Go! 1964

Obscurity factor: 2

Yesterday, when I wrote about Penelope (1966), it reminded me of this film. It's a strange film for this blog because it is both obscure and notorious at the same time. It is, in my opinion, such a bad film it's almost unwatchable, however it's also got so many stellar actors in it, and the production values are so high that the colossal failure of it is truly fascinating. Shirley MacLaine plays Louisa May Foster - a woman who has a curious effect on men. She falls in love with them, marries them and they become instantly successful beyond their wildest dreams, then drop dead.

The men in Louisa's life are played by Dick Van Dyke, Paul Newman, Robert Mitchum, Gene Kelly, Bob Cummings and Dean Martin. Her wardrobe was designed by Edith Head (as was Natalie Wood's in Penelope) and according to the trailer below cost around $500,000 - in 1964! It really is one of the most outrageous films to look at, though much better without the sound, in my opinion. Look for Margaret Dumont in the role of Louisa's mother and scan the dancers in the shipboard number for Teri Garr.

This film is available on DVD. It was released in 2005 and it has quite a cult following with lots of reviews on Amazon. The trailer above is uploaded to YouTube by nerdletta. The fabulous poster above is from the Polish release and is available at MoviePosterShop.com.

Obscurity factor: 2 (available on DVD, has a big cult following, unknown generally to anyone who didn't live through the marketing campaign)

Natalie Wood in Penelope (1966)

Obscurity factor: 8

Penelope is bored, and feels neglected by her banker husband (Ian Bannen), so she decides to rob his bank. Wouldn't you? Okay, maybe you wouldn't, but then you're not Natalie Wood. Penelope is a kooky girl - a kleptomaniac who has been pilfering things since college. She sees a therapist about it (Dick Shawn) and eventually decides to make a clean breast of it and confess. The problem is nobody believes her!

While not brilliant, this light comedy is lots of fun for a number of reasons. The cast features some great character actors - Peter Falk, Lou Jacobi, Jonathan Winters, Arlene Golonka - and the delivery is bright and quick. Penelope wears some gorgeous clothes and looks glamorous throughout - even when she forgets her shoes, which she does often. Edith Head did the wardrobe for the film and they even produced a short about the fashions narrated by Ms. Head. Look for it occasionally on TCM.

Penelope isn't available on DVD yet, but you can watch it in full on YouTube. It was uploaded by stephsayss. The poster above, with the suggestive money bags is available at MoviePosterShop.com.

Obscurity factor 8 (not on DVD, available on YouTube, largely forgotten, occasionally aired on TCM)

John Cryer in Hiding Out (1987)

Obscurity factor: 3

For those of you who grew up in the 80's, this film will probably be familiar. Though it was never a huge blockbuster, it did good business and got a lot of air play on TV in the 90's. It has a definite "B" quality to it, not because of any lack of production values or sub-standard acting. On the contrary, it's a very nicely done film with good performances and direction. It could be the fact that the stars are more known for playing second leads in other films. Andrew Morenski (Cryer) is a successful young stock broker, who has, through no fault of his own, become mixed up with the Mob. He's set to testify against them, but things get out of control while he's waiting and after a shootout at a diner, he finds himself on the run. While attempting to make contact with his aunt - a school nurse - he is mistaken for a high school student and he decides it's the perfect place to hide out. Of course nothing is ever as easy as it first seems and he gets himself in all sorts of sticky situations - including falling in love with a fellow student (Annabeth Gish).

The suspense is well managed, and the interpersonal scenes between the main characters are nicely nuanced, though, as is par-for-the-course for high school comedies of the time, many of the characters are pretty one dimensional. Look for saucy Joy Behar, with an extremely strange hair style in a small part as a counter waitress.

This film is available on DVD, and can be rented to be watched online at YouTube. The trailer is above, uploaded to YouTube by Lionsgate. The very cool, 80's meets 50's jazz club poster above is available from MoviePosterShop.com.

Obscurity factor: 3 (available on DVD and to rent at YouTube, known to 80's-ophiles)