Short: (1941) A Chevrolet sales manager wonders why his team is having trouble selling their product door-to-door.
Movie: (1956) A mad scientist’s efforts to create a race of supermen attract the attention of a reporter and the police.
First shown: 1/23/93
Opening: Joel gets to see what Crow is dreaming … and soon regrets it
Invention exchange: The tough love seat, microwave Faith Popcorn
Host segment 1: “Hired!” the musical
Host segment 2: Joel, Tom and Crow’s discussion rambles from the lame octopus to food monsters
Host segment 3: Willy the Waffle returns to defend advertising
End: Cambot re-edits the ending of the movie, letter, the Mads are playing Bela and Tor
Stinger: Bela has looked better
(231 votes, average: 4.61 out of 5)
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• I try not to overuse the already-overused word “classic” but this is one. It’s got a wacky short, an Ed Wood movie (probably his most competent, which isn’t saying much) and we’ve all seen all that backstory in the “Ed Wood” film. The host segments are good to fair, but they’re certainly not awful, and the riffing is top-notch.
• This episode was included in Shout’s “Mystery Science Theater 3000 Collection: Vol. XIX.”
• This show first aired three days after the beginning of the Clinton administration. It was certainly made before then, but probably after Bubba’s election, which allows Crow to talk about “The Bush Administration” in the past tense early in the short.
• Joel’s horrified, slightly nauseated take to the camera at the end of the opening is great.
• Then-topical: Faith Popcorn (though she would probably disagree that she isn’t still topical; she’s still around).
• At what point were door-to-door car salesmen discontinued? I never knew they existed before this short.
• If you look carefully you’ll notice that one of the houses the salesman visits is the house where Gilbert the spring lover lived in “A Case of Spring Fever.”
• “Hired, the Musical” is a lot of fun. I especially like Joel’s pained takes to the camera when Gypsy sings.
• My old copy of this episode (before it was released on DVD) is from January, 1995, and it features some fairly hilarious commercials for The Sporting News, in which they attempt to sell you a subscription on the quaint notion of not being able to get out-of-town scores in your local paper. If only somebody would invent the internet!
• Segment 2 is what the kids today call “random.” I have a feeling it’s a slightly stylized version of a actual conversation among the Brains.
• In this movie, Bela does his classic “sleep” bit, complete with the hand gesture. And yet the cast have been referencing it for at least two seasons. Were they just making a reference to a movie they assumed we’d seen?
• Crow references two elements of the classic driver’s ed Smith System: “Hands at 10 and 2” and “watch your space cushion.” Can anybody name the other three?
• Tom Servo does a lovely Flash Bazbo impression.
• The scene where the captain goes to see the file lady who has a pencil behind her ear when shot from behind, and doesn’t have one when she’s shot from the front, brought back a great memory: I remember pointing it out to my daughter, who was about six at the time, and I remember she found it hilarious and asked me to rerun it over and over.
• The random segment 2 is followed by the complete non-sequitur of segment 3. What does advertising have to do with anything?
• As is often the case, you can often spot where BBI has made cuts for times: usually at the spots where the commercials have been inserted.
• Callbacks: Tom says: “Weird! That’s what it is. Weird.” (Ring of Terror); “Hi, Bavaro.” (Crash of Moons); Willy says “Knew your father I did!” (Mr B Natural); I’m a Grimault warrior!” (Viking Women)
• It’s pronounced REK-yah-veek! As in: “One day in Iceland can Reykjavik!”
• I wonder how many other military bases were showing eps on their TV stations?
• Cast and crew roundup: Of course, Eddie also directed “The Sinister Urge” and wrote the script for “The Violent Years.” Conrad Brooks was also in “The Sinister Urge,” and “The Beast of Yucca Flats.” Eddie Parker was one of the stuntmen who played the mutant monster in “This Island Earth” and had a bit part in “Undersea Kingdom.” Screenwriter Alex Gordon was the producer for “The She-Creature.” Cinematographer William C. Thompson also worked on “The Violent Years,” “The Sinister Urge,” “Project Moon Base” and “Racket Girls.” Make up guy Louis J. Haszillo also worked on “The Girl in Lovers Lane.” Make up guy Harry Thomas also worked on “Project Moonbase,” “Racket Girls,” “The Mad Monster,” “The Unearthly,” “Invasion USA,” “High School Big Shot” and “Night of the Blood Beast.” Sound guy Lyle Willey also worked on “Robot Monster.” Technical advisor Igo Kantor also worked on “Women of the Prehistoric Planet” and did music editing for “The Human Duplicators.” Score composer Frank Worth acted in “The Beatniks.”
In front of the camera, of course, Bela was in “The Corpse Vanishes” and “The Phantom Creeps.” Tor was also in “The Unearthly” and “The Beast of Yucca Flats. Harvey B. Dunn was in “The Sinister Urge” and “Teenagers From Outer Space.” George Becwar was also in “War of the Colossal Beast.”
• CreditsWatch: Host segments directed by Kevin Murphy. Camera: John Finley. “Hired! Song” written and arranged by Micheal J. Nelson and Kevin Murphy. “This episode dedicated to the spirit of William A. Murphy. Thanks, Dad.”
• Fave line from short: “You’ve killed again, haven’t you, son?” Honorable mention: “…And I don’t have a car … HEY!”
• Fave riff from feature: “Nobody’s kissin’ the bird today…” Honorable mention: “Tor go to DeVry.”
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Hired the Musical is probably my all time favorite host segment. 5 stars all around for this one.
Regarding the whole Wood vs. Francis issue, Larry Blamire states it best in No Dialogue Necessary by noting that Francis is at the bottom of the barrel below the barrel Wood is in.
Hired I and II are some of the all time best shorts ever!
One of my favorite riffs Joel as Bela: “Well this is here, and I’m me.”
Poor Mr. Lugosi. Even though he hit rock bottom in his career at this point, he still tries. The scene where he does his speech on why he can’t go home is really not too bad. I think it’s his best acting in the whole film, he works so hard at being dramatic despite what a lame movie this is.
You know, I realize these mental hygiene or industrial-information films have to cover what seem like pretty basic issues, but, man, what was Chevrolet doing in 1940 that its managers needed to be explicitly told in detail that “your salesmen have to know something about the competitor’s products” or “you should talk with your employees so you know what they think they’re doing”? The fact that Hired! was made implies that a substantial number of dealership managers were not aware that their employees needed to know what they were expected to do.
I realize also that, yeah, managers still need this explained to them. I suppose what I’m really saying is I don’t understand how groups of humans can actually organize for any purpose other than fandom and have it work out, since it doesn’t look like we’re any good at it.
Also selling cars door-to-door is really weird. I know, 1940 was like seventeen lifetimes ago and everybody was weird then, but still, selling cars door-to-door is really weird.
Every time I go out on my front porch after dinner I have to resist the urge to put a handkerchief on my head.
“If you look carefully you’ll notice that one of the houses the salesman visits is the house where Gilbert the spring lover lived in “A Case of Spring Fever.”
I can imagine that guy refusing to buy a Chevrolet and then Chevroletey the Chevy Sprite showing him a world without Chevrolet cars.
Noooo Chevys!
Bride of the Monster is considered Ed Wood’s best work—and was his only successful film upon original release. Now, I will grant you that this like trying to pick the best looking horse in a glue factory—you may find one that is ok, but it won’t win any races. It was a troubled production from the start. Ed began shooting this film – then called “Bride of the Atom” – in October 1954 on a tiny sound stage in Los Angeles called Ted Allan Studios. He ran out of money after just three days and had to shut down production. To handle financing, he turned to a local meat packer by the name of Donald McCoy. As a result, his son Tony McCoy was cast in the male lead role. We get to see George Becwar (1917-1970) playing Professor Vladimir Strowski in this little gem. We last saw him as Mr. Swanson in War of the Colossal Beast, and Servo’s observation “pick an accent and stick with it” sums up his acting ability, and the general quality of the cast. He complained about sub-standard working conditions on the set of Bride of the Monster, and for this he earned Wood’s undying enmity.
According to Joel, Bride of the Monster was the perfect movie for MST3K. I agree.
Favorite lines (Bride of the Monster):
[of Ed Wood] I wonder who did his gowns for this one.
Mr. Wood’s wardrobe by Mrs. Wood
Hey, it’s Boo Radley’s house [50th Anniversary of “To Kill a Mockingbird” this year. Boo was played by Robert Duvall.]
“What do you want?” Your opium shipment is in Mr. Lugosi, sir.
Just a sec, I broke a heel.
Tonight on Dr. Kevorkian, M.D.
Well, Mr. Belushi, I think you’ll like the Chateau Marmont.
[of Prof. Strowski sniffing his boutonniere] He’s smelling his thumb.
Hey, Siegfried, pick an accent and stick with it, will ya?
[of Janet’s hat] What a minute, she skinned a Hostess Snowball and now she’s wearing it.
Guys, the antenna’s stuck in the door again.
Buck Henry meets Elmer Fudd.
“Don’t be afraid of Lobo, he’s as gentle as a kitten.” Yeah, a big, bald, derranged kitten that can snap your neck like celery.
[Bela whips Lobo] I love these theme restaurants. This is Madonna’s favorite bistro.
[zoom in for a closeup of Bela’s eyes] Whoa, that’ll put you off your eggs, huh?
You take a chance with any bed and breakfast.
Lobo take classes at DeVry.
[Bela on the Exam Table] Guess he shouldn’t have had that Mexican [food] for lunch. Oh, yeah, he’s paying for it. Oh, no, now he’s got the strength of 20 heroin addicts.
You know, this is Bela’s best scene and he’s not even in it.
Final Thought: This one has a goofy charm I find delightful. I give this one 5 out of 5 stars.
I’ve never seen this episode. I think this is the one where Ed Wood has Bela fighting a rubber octopus at the end. Does anyone know if this episode is available on a boxed set?
#58-Yes, on Volume XIX
I love Bela, Tor, and Ed. Having them all involved with this episode raises it several notches for me.
I’ve purchased three Chevys to this point. Not one was from a door-to-door salesman.
Some great facial reactions from Joel in this, in the opening dream segment and then in the final segment as Bela Lugosi.
The Hired Musical is certainly one of my favorite moments in MST history. “I suck at my job!” “no you don’t” “yes I do!” etc. made me laugh so hard the first time I saw this. Great stuff.
58: Its available on Set XIX.
I really liked this episode, the riffing is good and funny and the short is great.
Favorite lines:
Servo [as Warren]: Hmm. I didn’t know he had a prison record. Says here he’s wanted in Idaho.
Joel [as Warren]: Hmm? What in the world?! “Assault with a deadly weapon”?!
Crow [as Warren]: A.K.A., the “Pantsless Salesman”? Or the “Piddling Peddler”?!
Pretty cheesey movie, but I enjoy it on its own. And this marks a very great episode with all the great Bella and Tor jokes. :P
The hits just keep coming, another 5 star episode in the greatest era of the show. There is something uniquely watchable about Ed Wood’s movies and I wish they would have done more in MST’s run.
I had never heard of Faith Popcorn but I loved the unpopped prediction at the end. Almost 20 years after this show aired, my wife is still waiting for the “Feminist Catholicism” kernel to pop.
Also loved the Hired musical (I have seen this episode so many times I think I have it memorized) and Crow’s dream bit at the beginning with Servo’s always well done “Turn it off!” And this featured one of my favorite lines of all time “He tampered in God’s domain.” It’s still a catchphrase to this day with me.
For those who love hearing about the old commercials, I transferred the original airing of this show onto DVD many years ago and get to see lots of promos with luminaries like Mo Gaffney and Sandra Bernhardt. Apparently Loaded Weapon I had just come out too, and of course Sally Struthers “Sure we all do!” is there as well. I have never seen Loaded Weapon I but it seems to have low review scores, how can a movie with Jon Lovitz, Samuel L. Jackson and William Shatner be bad?
And @6, I remember back in the day the rights to this movie were lost for a while so this episode was absent from rerun rotations for quite a while.
I don’t often agree with the conventional fan wisdom of what the great shows are but I do on this one, it’s awesome. I sang the Hired musical for years after seeing it. I was surprised when the DVD came out that I pretty much still had all the words down.
Love, love, love this episode. Top 3, if not #1.
Great movie — I love Ed Wood movies — one of my favorite openings (looks like a pretty healthy, normal dream for a bot his age to be having), classic short, great host segments, great invention (tough love seat), and top notch riffing. Add a dash of Harvey B Dunn, and you have classic MST3K. :laugh:
The short is one of my faves. I like both parts equally, I think. The notion of a door to door car salesman is just bizarre.
The movie is just great. A great cast — Bela, Tor, Harvey, Dolores, that guy who’s dad produced the movie. I think Ed should have just stuck with his octopus stock footage and the strips of rubber in that pit and skipped the stuffed chair-looking octopus. That was just embarrassing.
One thing I wonder, why was this movie so much more…um, polished, professional-looking maybe, than Plan 9, which AFAIK, was made later?
Favorite lines…
Short
Why does he have to read the Joy Luck Club?
…and I don’t have a car. Hey!
No! You’re telling it wrong.
I knew you’d try to make me pay money.
Movie
Cut! No Tor you’re not in yet
Just a sec, I broke a heel
No one will be seated during the gripping water cooler scene
Johnny Carson in a role that will surprise you
Space reserved for creepy woman
Uh, that was right before my face went over to the darkside
Lalalala…auugggh
That’s right chump, keep dialing
Marty, you’re dolleying again. When you gonna settle down Marty? Need a vacation Marty? etc
That’s one unstable octopi
Blahblahblah olive loaf
And my husband and I frequently sing Hired the Muscial… Zerooooooo
I love this episode! The riffing is great, the short is classic, Hired: The Musical is a standout segment and best of all, it’s an Ed Wood movie!
This is one of the episodes that I saw for the first time within the last 5 years. It was one that I liked immediately.
I love Ed Wood movies. People like to say that he was a horrible director. I think he was short-sighted. He saw a vision of a movie, but couldn’t necessarily be bothered with all the details that go into making a great one. You could actually follow the stories in his movies, even if some of the details were off. And the dialog, though unnecessarily chatty, was meant to be funny. Many of the movies that CT and the Rifftrax crews do now don’t have the luxury of a followable storyline, good cinematography, sound, etc. . .
Speaking of CT and Rifftrax, I wish one of these groups would take on Night of the Ghouls, another “good” Ed Wood movie. Even Glen or Glenda would be interesting, although I’m not too crazy about the dream/rape sequence in there.
Someone talk to Wade Williams . . .
I just watched this episode last night! It’s a great example of the exact kind of film I normally associate with MST3K. And Hired! is a great warm up act.
#59 and #62, thanks. I’ve got it on hold at my local library. Should be a good one.
Everything touched by Ed Wood is rifffing gold. Bela and Tor together – riffing magic. This one never gets old.
:star: :star: :star: :star: :star:
This episode is awesome! Especially “Hired Pt. 1” and the musical number afterward…the movie is slow, but it features the world’s lamest (and unstable) octopus, Bela, Tor, and the bird-loving detective. This might seem mean, but why does it seem Ed always picked giant, strange-looking women to be in his films? Did he keep their wardrobe after the filming was done?
“Now he has to read his bosses’ prose!”
“Honey! I got a job now! Can I come in please?”
“The wipers work!!”
“Uh, maybe I shouldn’t be trying to sell cars in Amish country.”
“That’s what I need! A car to show!”
“None of these prospects seem very good.” CROW: “So! Time for booze!”
“It’s a vonderful day in the laboratory…”
“Embrace death, Roy! Ease into it”
“Tventy years ago today…” CROW: “Sargent Pepper taught the band to…”
“Oh No! Now he has the strength of ten heroin addicts!”
“Just take the shirt off, Dick!”
“No! Keep the ripped shirt on! You’re ruining it for me!!”
“Ahhh! I’ve got a bird to get home to!”
#67 – that is very cogent analysis of Ed’s major flaw as a director, I think.
As per the chattiness – I think lots of movies are chatty, because most conventional plotlines call for someone or someones to be captain(s) exposition in order to provide the audience with background, details, etc. But Ed’s flaws in writing dialogue were twofold: (1) a very tin ear, such that he tried, and miserably failed, to have his characters engage in talky, vernacular back and forth, and (2) a failure to rein in an impulse to tell too much with dialogue (e.g., reveal plot elements, character background, etc.) that is much more effectively shown through action, props, setting, etc.
Still, all that said, I think I love Ed’s dialogue as much if not more than the performances in his movies. It’s why I’m so fond of The Violent Years – even without Ed behind the camera, his script is so purely his that you can’t mistake that work for anyone else’s.
Have to say, about Bride of the Monster, any time the Brains can refer to Hans Conreid, it’s a good time.
They did refer to Hans Conreid in this one, right? He was riffed as being the guy who looked like Central Casting sent up “guy who sells paintings in the street”?
I love that scene in the beginning where Tor is supposedly sneaking up on the two random guys at Lugosi’s front door… but it looks like he just wandered in front of the camera.
This is not a criticism, since I think this is another five-star episode in an astonishing string of five-star episodes, but here we go:
I find this a very bizarre episode. On the one hand, it’s got all the elements that make MST3K the unique, wonderful show it is. If you wanted to assemble a movie and set of host segments that are truly representative of everything you find in an MST episode, you’d probably find it here: an oddball short, an Ed Wood film (with Bela Lugosi and Tor Johnson, no less), stock footage of animals for whom voices are supplied, a great song, a number of callbacks, and some wacky host segments that seem to have nothing to do with the movie. Oh, and a sadistic invention from the Mads, and a clever one from Joel. The weird thing is, the sum of the parts shouldn’t equal the whole, but somehow it does. The second and third host segments are really left-field affairs. I don’t quite understand the closing segment, either Cambot’s “re-edit” of the ending or the little scene with Forrester-as-Lugosi/Frank-as-Tor that closes the whole thing. The riffs during the film are not surprising, since they had done a lot of the same types of riffs before (the Lugosi imitation, the “Tor” voice, the animal voice-overs), and they even resort to some obvious shots–Harvey Dunn’s missing finger is noted about three times, Ed Wood’s transvestism gets two riffs in the credits alone, mentioning the obvious stock footage of the octopus and alligator, that kind of thing. Even the Ed Wood film of choice doesn’t have the surreal quality of “Glen or Glenda” or “Plan 9,” but actually has a coherent narrative (even if it’s filled with typical Wood touches, like the disappearing pencil). In the right frame of mind, one could see “Bride of the Monster” as a series of missed opportunities, especially given that (before we got “Manos” and Coleman Francis, Ed Wood was the undisputed king of bad movies.
So why is this a classic? I don’t have an answer, except perhaps that everyone is having so much fun with this material that it’s infectious. Maybe even, given that it is an Ed Wood film, the Brains allowed themselves a little bit of the slapdash quality that is somewhat missing from the film itself. Maybe it’s just that, after “Monster a Go-Go,” this movie feels pretty comfortable, especially as a breather before the sheer hell next week. I would definitely recommend this episode to a relative newbie, and it certainly represents MST at its best. But it doesn’t really stand up to over analysis, which is why, of course, I’ve written such a lengthy piece here.
I don’t know quite what it was about this one but I had a hard time getting into it. The movie is goofy it’s true, there’s some bad acting, trite dialogue terribly delivered — all the hallmarks but…. something just didn’t click.
It’s enjoyable enough just not quite enough to put it over the top into the “Great” category for me.
I will say, though, that everyone seemed to be having a good time. Particularly in the host segments it feels like there’s just some joy or energy — like everyone was just on the edge of laughter all the time.
Also, Joel’s referencing a “Rocky Horror Picture Show” riff got a smile from me… “Janet… ” Joel: “Damnit!” Heh. a riff based on the ultimate audience participation riffing movie. Nice.
By the way, Sampo, I think the correct reading of the “honourable mention” riff is “Lobo take classes at DeVry.” They seem to move indiscriminately between having Lobo refer to himself as “Lobo” and as “Tor.” Not that it really matters. Besides, is that really a better riff than “Tor between two lovers?”
I love this film. Not just the MST3K version, but the actual, original film. It’s bad, but oh, so watchably bad.
Couple of stories about the film aren’t true, though. Edward D. Wood, Jr. didn’t steal (or “borrow without permission”) the octopus, as depicted in the Ed Wood film. He actually rented it. But, it is true that the arms didn’t work.
Also, the scene with Bela fighting the octopus at the end? That’s not Bela. A still from the footage shows it’s a stuntman, possibly the one who fought Lobo (“It’s his best scene and he’s not even in it!”). I have a still on my write-up of this episode.
Still, it’s a wonderfully bad film, and an awesome episode of MST3K.
Classic episode!
I love this movie too, unriffed. This and Plan 9. I know Ed Wood wasn’t going for comedy but he made some great comedy movies.
And is that Conrad Brooks behind the cop at the desk?
#56 – I watched the ep with Springy the spring spryte two days ago, man, that’s a freaky coincidence.
Noooo correlation!
Becwar. What’s the ep where they go through the doorway sequence back to the bridge and Joel’s leafing through a Tekwars novel, highlighting key lines and shaking his head in awe at Shatner’s brilliance? The deprecation heaped on Mike in later years could be funny but just this one little shot is so hilarious…
I’m a huge fan of Segment #2 just because they list off all the weird “food” products my dad likes (and always fed me when it was his turn to…uh… “cook”). Olive loaf, that dried beef stuff in the glass jar, White Castle, kipper snacks, Filet O’ Fish… this sketch is absolutely full of little psychic lawn darts.
Lugosi doesn’t actually SAY “Sleeeeeeeeeeeeep!” in this movie, though, does he? That riff was used fairly often during the Sci-Fi Channel era, but I don’t know where it came from.
Whatever one says about Ed Wood, always remember: Making movies was IMPORTANT to him and he did the best he could (that’s the tragedy of it all, really…). Unlike Larry Buchanan, he just really REALLY cared.
So, “twenty years ago, [Vornoff] was banned from [his] home land…Because [he] suggested to use the atom elements for producing super-beings, beings of unthinkable strength and size.” Yeah, I can totally see how 1930s GERMANY would have had no interest in CREATING SUPERMEN. Geez, Ed, that was a gimme! (at least, Joel and the Bots interpreted Strowsky’s accent as German; maybe he was supposed to be Russian)
Then again, if it took Vornoff twenty years reach the point he had, it seems unlikely that he started out with anything very impressive.
Until checking the dialogue to provide the above quote, I’d forgotten Vornoff’s mention of his wife and son. One might wonder if Vornoff Jr. showed up in Scenic Lake Marsh sooner or later.
Toward the end, the captive reporter’s frantic “Let me go! Let me go!” Yeah, “let me go,” that’s SO gonna work, lady. You’ll never earn your authentic Lois Lane pillbox hat if you can’t do better than THAT in the crunch.
Since MST3K riffed “Bride of the Monster” and Rifftrax riffed “Plan 9 from Outer Space,” we just need to get Cinematic Titanic to riff “Night of the Ghouls,” and the Kelton Trilogy shall be completely riffed.
Kelton also appeared with other 1950s “monster encounter-ers” in 2005’s “The Naked Monster.” Look into it, won’t you? I think you’ll be glad you did. :-)
Its funny, the first time I saw this I didnt realize it was between the Day the Earth Froze and Manos, i think it fell out of sequence but i hadnt seen this until much later when I was watching. It was a crazy fun episode. I love the Hired musical. The chevy short alone makes it a great one. Hard to beleive it took 4+ years before MST even did an Ed Wood film.
Hard to believe the Season started with Marooned and here we are, the show seemed to change course toward the end , it had a different vibe to me at the end. Anyway without further adieu
Joels Hair- grew out, parted slightly more toward the center this time
Joels Knees
Crows voice, way different than earlier this Season
Youre Hired
Youre Fired
Get some therapy ! :P
# 82:
Vornoff and Strowski are supposed to be Eastern Europeans–probably Russians–but Becwar’s ability to handle a Slavic accent is so bad that he ends up sounding vaguely German. Lugosi, of course, doesn’t sound remotely Russian (mainly because Hungarian isn’t a Slavic language), but he’d be more likely to be working for the Soviets than the Germans. I’m sure audiences in 1956, asked to pick a government who would be interested in military supermen, probably would have chosen the Soviets. Of course, I’m also sure no one choosing to see “Bride of the Monster” in 1956 was expecting a serious commentary on military research behind the Iron Curtain–hence the rubber octopus.
WOW- I love Hired!- being from Michigan, enjoying “Roger and Me” and all the related GM culture, I fell in love with the short, parts one and two, instantly. I’m also in sales, so the laughter doubles down.
As far as the film- it is gold. Riffing off the charts. DOUBLE FEATURE TONIGHT- BRIDE FOLLOWED BY MANOS.
Has there been a lot of talk on this site about how Tim Burton’s Ed Wood was the perfect MST3K movie (besides the MST3K movie)? It came out in the thick of the show’s original airing, dramatized the making of Bride of the Monster and had a Basil Rathbone joke. Watching that movie I had to look over my shoulder to see if someone made it for me.
re: Hired
I don’t think they were door-to-door salesmen. The people they kept talking to were leads and they were just making a lot of effort to make the sale – going to their houses, places of business and talking to them at the dealership.
I agree with #85 – I’m in Michigan too and the car culture is great to watch.
#84:
Am I to infer that you’re suggesting that there were no obsessive fanboy/geek types in the 1950s? ;-)
Best line, IMO:
Old man: “Harry worked that hard with every man he ever hired.”
Crow: “He got sent to jail for it.”
So funny. :)
A favorite moment: When William Benedict walks in to deliver the newspaper and everyone shouts “Whitey”!!! Brought back childhood memories of the Bowery Boys on TV, when they all looked to be in their 50’s.
is the house from hired and in a case spring fever still around and if so where is it.
touches, #89:
I never thought of fanboys/geeks in the 1950s, although I’m sure they existed. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that somewhere a group of nerdy teenagers discussed whether the Soviets really might have been at work on atomically-enhanced super-soldiers. I just assumed that “Bride of the Monster” would be more of a perfect date movie–y’know, so your girl could ask you to hold her when the scary parts come. That might explain why I was so lousy at dating.
I’d never watched this episode until it was released in the boxed set. Now it’s one of my “go to” episodes!!
A few notes about “Hired,” this week’s short:
@54: Although the short seems simplistic by today’s standards (“You need to talk to your employees and make sure they know how to do their job.”), you have to remember what the U.S. was like in 1940. Only 1/4 of adults had a HS diploma and fewer than 5% had a bachelor’s degree. People were not nearly as well educated as they are today. It’s possible that many of the managers and/or salesmen would have not been as competent as the average joe would be today. Plus, a car was for most people a far more complex machine than anything they dealt with on a daily basis. It isn’t surprising that it would be necessary for Chevrolet to remind its managers that their salesmen would need to study up to be able to answer any question they got.
The Brains split up “Hired” into two parts. You can watch the entire original at the Prelinger Archive: http://archive.org/details/Hired1940 The two pieces smoothly move into each other without a reel change, synopsis, second title card, or anything to indicate a change. The entire short runs 18:33. Not only would it be hard to fit in one episode without massacring the movie, but it would be nearly impossible to fit between commercials without editing the short. And “Hired” is just too wacky to cut down.
As for the film, it is Wood’s best from MST3K (I’ve never seen his non MST films). It’s not my favorite episode, but it is quite strong. I don’t have anything to add that others haven’t already said.
That Hired short is almost unbelievable. Was that the way to sell cars back in the 1950s?
Well, I hate to be a party pooper (in my pink bunny-shaped poopie suit, no less) but this is not a particularly strong ep for me. Oh, the riffing is pretty solid and Hired is fun (but NOT as much fun as Hired II) but it’s always about the laughs for me and this one is spotty.
I was really hoping for a lot of laughs with this one initially (I’ve watched it at least three times now and no improvement)because I love the movie. I watched this on the late late show with a friend when I was about seven years old and was truly disconcerted when that friend fell asleep before it was over (“wake up, wake up,” I told him, “they’re showing the giant octopus”).
B
#93:
Please see Stephen King’s “It” (based at least in part on King’s own childhood) for a look at a pack of, at least, proto-fanboys. They were pretty young (and, you know, fictional), but still. :-)
Other examples off the top of my head (at, you know, about one in the morning) are the film “Matinee” (with John Goodman as a William Castle figure and a young protagonist who is his films’ biggest fan) and “The Twilight Zone” episode (made not after the fact like the other two but in the ACTUAL 1950s (well, early 1960, close enough, had to look that part up)) “The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street” (where a kid can cite Martian invasion lore and apply it to a real-world (well, you know) crisis).
Autobiographical tidbits on Harlan Ellison declare that as a boy he was an avid devourer of virtually any form of fantastic literature and film. Plus, consider Isaac Asimov, Robert Bloch, Julius Schwartz, and several other (at the time) young writers of the 1930s (all of them, by definition, thoroughly imaginative people), who virtually invented SF/horror fandom as we know it. 1934 (okay, had to look that one up too) saw the formation of the Baker Street Irregulars, a proto-pack of continuity geeks if ever I’ve heard of one.
Heck, after Arthur Conan Doyle killed off Sherlock Holmes in “The Final Problem,” Holmes fans actually accosted him in the streets over it; it was fan reaction that “forced” him to “resurrect” Holmes in “The Adventure of the Empty House.” When serial chapters of Charles Dickens’ works arrived (by ship) in the USA from Great Britain, readers literally swarmed the docks, eager to find out What Happened Next. I read somewhere that people actually DIED in the mobs trying to get their copies.
And, okay, that’s enough for right now. Wherever there is popular fiction/entertainment, the fanboys will come. Verily, doubt not that we are but the latest of a proud and noble heritage. Remember, my friends, past events such as these will affect you in the future. Or something like that…
This is a really great episode, but it just misses the mark of a classic (for me). I love the Hired! Musical in Host Segment #1 (“Zerooooo.”), but the other two Host Segments are only okay. Also, the Invention Exchange is kinda weak and the closing bit doesn’t really do it for me. I do like the Hired! short, but part 2 is better. At this point in the season though, Joel&theBots are a lean, mean riffing machine, and what better film to riff on than this Ed Wood masterpiece(of crap). Bela and Tor are a lovely pair, and it’s good to see the dad from TEENAGERS FROM OUTER SPACE again, bringing us back around to the beginning of Season 4. Watching this movie is extra fun being a fan of Tim Burton’s ED WOOD (easily his best film, and when all things are considered, this might be Ed Wood’s best film too. Hmm. Food for thought). Another great episode, another great entry in Season 4.
-Story time-
Back in the day I had loaned out some MST tapes to a friend, and subsequently he loaned out a tape to his friend, and I never got that tape back. (Don’t you hate when that happens?) That lost tape had multiple episodes on it, BRIDE OF THE MONSTER being one of them. Fast forward 4 years, when I was dating the girl who would become my ex-wife, I was going through her family’s VHS collection, and amongst the tapes was my MST tape, with my handwriting all over it. Turns out, the friend that my friend loaned my tape to loaned the tape to my ex-wife’s older brother, who left the tape at his parents house. I was elated to find it, BRIDE went into my MST rotation immediately. One of the few good things that came out of that relationship. . . . .
–
RIFFS:
short:
Joel: “Hey nobody buy any cars, pass it down.”
dad’s puffing on pipe,
Joel: *snort* “Nice night for it.” *cough*
Crow: (about the old lady’s figure) “Gravity at work.”
Servo: “You’ve killed again, haven’t you, son?”
–
movie:-
Joel: “Hey it’s Boo Radley’s house.”
Servo: “Okay now, did you give your family history to Tor?”
Crow: “Trevor, the whisper thin cop.”
–
Only one more to go in Season 4,
they are ending things strong,
like Tor.
4/5
–
Now SLEEEEEEEEEPP!!!!!!!
Another fantastic episode. The movie is a little murky, but I find that completely forgivable.
I think Ed Wood made movies that were by no means good, but they are enjoyable. You get the sense that Ed knew he was being creative with scraps, like a kid playing with his toys to tell a story to his friends.
Coleman Francis’ movies, beyond the devastating cinematic incompetence, really feel like they are refracted through the lens a clinical depressive at the very least. As one myself I would know. I think Ed was a happier man.