MAZEPPA – No relation to Tchaikovsky’s opera Mazeppa, this blog post refers to comedian, artist and actor Gailard Sartain, who got his start playing the wizard Mazeppa (center left) while hosting Tulsa, Oklahoma’s late Saturday night Bad Movie show called The Uncanny Film Festival and Camp Meeting.
Triple features and anarchic comedy sketches were the name of the game as Mazeppa and his figurative sorcerer’s apprentices Jim Millaway and THE Gary Busey presented So-Bad-They’re-Good movies, old Universal classics, and musicals from Busby Berkeley to 1950s rock and roll flicks. (Though Tulsa viewers rebelled against Busby Berkeley musicals.)
In between films came old educational shorts, Republic Serials, black & white sci-fi shows, weird cartoons, you name it. It was like a countrified forerunner of Night Flight from later decades.
Long time readers of Balladeer’s Blog may remember that when I reviewed the bad horror film Hex in 2011 I mentioned how co-star Gary Busey had moved on to movies after his stint as the wizard Mazeppa/ Gailard Sartain’s sidekick. I also resolved to review Mazeppa’s show. Good thing nobody held their breath.
And let’s quickly address the nice coincidence of Mazeppa and Busey’s character Teddy Jack Eddy hosting campy rock and roll movies like Don’t Knock the Rock, High School Confidential or Shake, Rattle and Rock only for Busey to play Buddy Holly and Sartain to play the Big Bopper in The Buddy Holly Story. Continue reading
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