Created by Betty Comden and Adolph Green It's not the same old song-and-dance, my friend... ROD RILEY's something of a parody figure like Guy Noir, and he exists in only one extended dance sequence, but take it from me--he's wonderful. The number, which appears in the 1953 film musical The Band Wagon (probably best known … Continue reading Rod Riley (The Girl Hunt Ballet)
Tag: Lampoon
Mike Noonan
Created by S.J. Perelman (1904-79) "She... had eyes like dusty lapis lazuli, taffy hair, and a figure that did things to me. I kicked open the bottom drawer of her desk, let two inches of rye trickle down my craw, kissed Birdie square on her lush, red mouth, and set fire to a cigarette." One of the all-time great spoofs of … Continue reading Mike Noonan
Helena Handbasket
Created by Donna Moore Tired of mysteries that seem to spin out the same old tired clichés, one after another? Bored with the same old-same old private eye schtick? Had enough of books with all the fizz of that half-empty bottle of club soda left over from last Christmas? Then might I humbly suggest going … Continue reading Helena Handbasket
Nancy Clue, Cherry Aimless & The Hardly Boys
Created by Mabel Maney I'm not even sure how to fit this series in. The heroes of it are not private eyes. They're not even parodies of private eyes. What they are are shrewd, dead-on lampoons of some of the most popular mystery series ever to be marketed to kids. Except these parodies are … Continue reading Nancy Clue, Cherry Aimless & The Hardly Boys
Mike Dime
Created by Barry Fantoni (1940--) ''He was no taller than the Empire State and no wider than the Grand Canyon.'' -- from Mike Dime. The author evidently graduated from Chandler U. Private eye MIKE DIME makes Philadelphia of the late 1940's his turf in the eponymous Mike Dime (1980), a cleverly written, spot-on homage to … Continue reading Mike Dime
Mathew Slade
Created by Robert Frederick & Brian Adams How can we miss you if you don't go away? It's hard to believe, but Mathew Slade, Private Investigator, which initially aired in 1964, was billed as a sort of revival of the glory days of Old Time Radio detectives right from the get-go. Despite the fact that … Continue reading Mathew Slade
Sergeant Beef
Created by Leo Bruce Pseudonym of Rupert Croft-Cooke (1903-79) It's difficult to figure out exactly how seriously we were supposed to take Golden Age detective SERGEANT WILLIAM BEEF. They both follow the formula of the era's crime fiction, and spoof it. Initially a village copper, a "big red-faced man of forty-eight or fifty, with a straggling … Continue reading Sergeant Beef
Eddy Deco
Created by Gahan Wilson (1930-2019) "It's a little joke of mine to call the place where I have my office the Rundown Building, but that's not to say it didn't have sreams once; you can easily tell it did from the winged stone lady on its front." Playboy cartoonist Gahan Wilson's Eddy Deco's Last Caper (1987) … Continue reading Eddy Deco
Ronnie Jackson (My Favorite Brunette)
Created by Edmund Beloin and Jack Rose "You see, I wanted to be a detective, too. It only took brains, courage, and a gun...and I had the gun." -- Ronnie Jackson For any baby boomers or gen Xers out there who grew up in the sixties and seventies, Bob Hope is mostly remembered as a smarmy … Continue reading Ronnie Jackson (My Favorite Brunette)
MAD About You Department: What, me shamus?
Parodies and Satires of Private Eyes in MAD Magazine "After MAD, drugs were nothing." -- Patti Smith When you think about it, MAD Magazine's Alfred E. Neuman has been dogging the TV dick -- and occasionally his big screen counterpart -- almost since its birth, kicking plenty of dirt on assorted gumshoes in the process. … Continue reading MAD About You Department: What, me shamus?