Watch Out For Snakes!

I've been having an MST3k marathon while stuck at home, hiding from the hoards of toilet paper zombies here in Rhode Island as we wait out the Corona Panic of 2020. Anyway, being the film geek I am, I thought I'd share some not so fascinating factoids that nobody cares about and which will never come in handy. For anything. Ever.

Episode #819: Invasion of the Neptune Men - Space Chief, aka the muffiny-haired, chicken headed bachelor who saves Japan from the Bullethead family reunion, is actually Sonny Chiba.

Episode #518: The Atomic Brain (aka Monstrosity) - Mrs. March, the gabillionaire bitch who is not-so-subtly plotting to have her brain transplanted into the body of a jiggly young sexpot in order to live forever and boink as many studs as her money can buy, was played by Marjorie Eaton, a hook-nosed dead ringer for the Wicked Witch of the West. One of Marjorie's final roles before her death in 1986 was as Emperor Palpatine in The Emperor Strikes Back. Buried under heavy makeup and dubbed by Clive Revill, she was all but unidentifiable.

Episode #1112: Carnival Magic - Director Al Adamson ended up being murdered by his live-in contractor, who then stuffed his body under an indoor jacuzzi.

Episode #413: Manhunt In Space & Episode #417: Crash Of Moons - Scott Beckett, the dweeby, monkeyboy sidekick Winky to stolid Space Ranger Rocky Jones, was a full blown psycho hellraiser in real life. Arrested numerous times for assault, robbery, drunk driving, drug dealing and attempted murder, Scotty - who started life as a member of Our Gang of Little Rascals fame - was an abusive asshole who terrorized his wives, engaged in a shootout with Mexican police and attempted suicide twice before finally succeeding at age 38.

Episode #706: Laserblast & Episode #704: The Incredible Melting Man - Cheryl Smith played the roles of Kathy and The Model, respectively, in these two cheeseball sci-fi flicks. Cheryl, also known as Rainbeaux, was also a member of The Runaways and started her acting career as Lila Lee in the cult vampire film Lemora: A Child's Tale of the Supernatural.

Episode #704: The Incredible Melting Man - Late in the movie, an expendable young couple stumble into the film for no other reason than to provide fodder for the Melting Man of the title to kill/terrorize. The guy - who ends up getting murdered to death - is Jonathan Demme, who would go on to win an Academy Award for The Silence of the Lambs, one of the many films he directed before passing away in 2017. The woman - who gets terrorized in her dingy kitchen for a while - was played by Janus Blythe, who starred in the original The Hills Have Eyes as reluctant cannibal girl Ruby, and made out with a pre-Freddy Krueger Robert Englund in Eaten Alive.

Episode #1011: Horrors of Spider Island - Barbara Valentin (aka A Bra Bra Navel Nite) who played the smoldering role of Babs, exotic dancer, pro-wrestler and fullback for the Lions, was a very close friend of Freddie Mercury, and lived with him for a time in an apartment in Munich. She was also a huge champion of both gay rights and HIV research following his death.

Episode #811: Parts, The Clonus Horror - Early in the film during big dumb George's going away party before he is sent to "America" he slips away for a few moments with his lobotomized girlfriend to say goodbye. The girlfriend is played by Eileen Dietz, who had a tiny role in a little film called The Exorcist. Specifically, Eileen played the role of Pazuzu; it is her face we see painted in the quick flashes and nightmare sequences, and it is her we see backhanding the doctor and puking on Father Karras.