The Comedy to End All Comedies

Posted on Nov 19, 2011

The Comedy to End All Comedies:
A Beginner’s Guide to It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World

Written By: Matt Belfiore
Mondo Film & Video Guide Feature Contributor

In the hundred plus years of motion picture history, there have been many firsts: The first blockbuster (Birth of a Nation, 1915). The first all-talking feature (The Jazz Singer, 1927). The first three-color Technicolor film (Disney’s Flowers and Trees, 1932). These films, like others that can lay claim to being originals, have spread out their blueprints for countless followers. They helped to change and further the art of cinema, and have had far reaching impacts on the culture of the world. In a field with many milestones, they are the most important.

 To this selective and distinguished list, this writer would like to add another: The first movie to have a ton of stars racing each other across the countryside while destroying a crap-load of stuff along the way. That title goes indisputably to 1963’s It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. It might not be the first movie most folks would think of as being a trailblazer, but it was the Daniel Boone of its own sub-genre, clearing a path for everything from 60’s contemporaries like The Great Race and Those Magnificent Men In Their Flying Machines, to the Gumball Rally and Cannonball Run movies of the 1970’s and 80’s, to 2001’s inferior homage, Rat Race. It has been referenced heavily in pop culture, showing up in places as diverse as The Simpsons, Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Lost. And perhaps most importantly, it has established true cult status, picking up an ever-growing legion of fans that would give any Star Trek or Star Wars fanboy a run for their money when it comes to film minutia and trivia.

 The plot is ingenious in its simplicity: A desperate criminal drives over a cliff, and tells a bunch of passersby where he’s buried $350,000.00 in stolen loot. He then promptly dies, leaving a star-studded assortment of comic miscreants unable to agree on how to split up the money. Unaware that they’re all under heavy police surveillance, they race off in a winner-take-all run through Southern California. It was ultimately a plot that when put in the right hands, became the impetus for an experiment in filmmaking that has been tried by many since, but has never come close to being as successful: A comedy to end all comedies.

 The idea man behind this perfect, comic contraption was William Rose, who would share screenwriting credit on Mad World with his wife Tania. At the time, Rose was an accomplished screenwriter, penning movies for both the American and British markets. Until Mad World, his most famous efforts were 1955’s The Ladykillers, with Alec Guinness and Peter Sellers, and 1953’s Genevieve, a similarly themed story about an antique car race across England. In the years to follow Mad World, he would go on to write many other notable motion pictures, and would win the Oscar for Best Screenplay in 1967 for Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner.

 According to Carl Reiner, one of the many comic stars of the day to play a role in Mad World, the original concept came to Rose during a bout of writer’s block. Rose had an idea that Reiner said he brought to Hollywood agent, Michael Zimring.

 “(Rose said) I can’t write it, I can’t write it, and (Zimring) said, don’t write it, just write me a letter. Just say, Dear Mike, I have this idea, and tell me the idea. (Rose) wrote a 10 page letter to Mike Zimring. Mike Zimring… brought it to Stanley Kramer, and Stanley Kramer paid him $300,000.00 for that letter.”

 So the idea that would eventually become It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World ended up on the unlikely doorstep of Stanley Kramer Productions. In the early 60’s Stanley Kramer was at the height of his profession as a Hollywood director and producer. Comedy however was far from what anyone would consider his forte. Although his first production (1948’s So This is New York) had been a comedy, Kramer had established himself as a producer and director of weighty, socially conscious drama. His producing credits included such truly iconic movies as High Noon, The Caine Mutiny and The Wild One, while his directing credits included The Defiant Ones, On the Beach and Inherit the Wind. The film he produced and directed immediately preceding Mad World was 1961’s Judgment at Nuremburg, which dealt with the post World War II Nazi War Crimes trials. As far from a laugh-fest as one could imagine.

 “I was known as the man with the message, the serious filmmaker.” Kramer said, “And I thought, I’ll make a comedy and show ‘em.”

 Thus, armed with a solid gold, Rube Goldberg concoction of an idea, and nothing more than the desire to prove himself as a director of comedy, Kramer set into motion the gargantuan production that was to become It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.

 Rose immediately went to work putting screenplay flesh on his outline. For several months he worked on what was at different times called Something a Little Less Serious, and then One Damned Thing After Another. Meeting with Kramer months later, he presented the director with a 375 page first draft of the script. After ten weeks, it was paired down to a meager 340 pages, and had taken on its now famous title, picking up extra “Mad’s” with each pass between writer and director. As for the final number of “Mad’s”, in the years following its release, Kramer was fond of stating that he regretted not adding a final and fifth “Mad”.

 With the scope of the script growing exponentially with each rewrite, it became an obvious decision to fashion the film not only into Rose and Kramer’s original vision of a “comedy to end all comedies”, but also into a mammoth and unapologetic celebration of late 50’s, motion picture excess, in all of its Cinerama glory. The production would follow in the footsteps of predecessors like the Michael Todd produced, Around the World in 80 Days (1956), by employing famous faces for as many parts as possible, regardless of the size of the role. There are arguably 14 principles. Arguably is stated because one can make the case that Peter Falk and Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, playing cabbies may or may not be considered principles. They really don’t show up until the last 5^th of the film, but in a movie that in its truncated version runs just over two and a half hours, one fifth is a considerable amount of screen time.

 Accompanying them in the meatier roles were some of the biggest comedians of the day. Milton Berle played J. Russell Finch, a neurotic and astoundingly unsuccessful businessman on vacation from his floundering, edible seaweed company. Accompanying him are his prim and proper wife, Emeline, and his overbearing mother-in-law, Mrs. Marcus, played by Dorothy Provine and Ethyl Merman respectively. Sid Ceasar was Melville Crump, a befuddled and prideful dentist, and Edie Adams was his wife Monica. Buddy Hackett and Mickey Rooney played Benjy Benjamin and Dingy Bell, two nightclub comics on their way to Las Vegas. And Jonathan Winters played the good-natured, but none-too-bright trucker, Lenny Pike. As they descend into the madness this group would pick up Terry-Thomas as Lieutenant Colonel Algernon Hawthorne, a transplanted British Military Officer, and cactus aficionado, Phil Silvers as Otto Meyer, (apparently an out of work piano player, although this is never mentioned in the remaining versions of the movie) and Dick Shawn as Sylvester, Ethyl Merman’s muscle-bound lummox of a son.

 To this already impressive group, Kramer would eventually add an astounding number of comedic actors in smaller, cameo roles. As a result of this casting strategy, Mad World is populated with comic stars from every era of Hollywood. Everyone from silent film legends, Buster Keaton and Zazu Pitts, to then modern contemporaries at the top of their game like Jerry Lewis, Carl Reiner, Jimmy Durante and Don Knotts pop up throughout.

 In a 1991 interview, Kramer stated: “I tried to use people who were well known, who were immediately recognizable, who were famous for a piece of business… and tried to integrate it into (the production) without (it) stopping the film.”

 In a normal world, the cost of such a cast would exceed any rational budget, but apparently in a Mad World, it wasn’t a hindrance. According to Kramer’s 1997 autobiography, the actors were all paid somewhere between $50,000.00 and $150,000.00 for their participation. It helped that once casting began, the production became something of a media event in and of itself, and before long, many comics wanted in just so they wouldn’t be left out.

 According to Edie Adams, “After the picture started, it became the in thing. If you weren’t in this picture, you just weren’t in comedy. Different people would plead with (Kramer), and they’d say… ‘I’ll take any part.’… Jack Benny was one… who just pleaded to be in the picture.” Benny would eventually land a memorable cameo, encountering a bickering group on the side of a desert road.

 There are conspicuous absences however. Bob Hope and Lucille Ball, two of the biggest stars of the era were not involved. Nor were others such as Groucho Marx, and Jackie Gleason. Since the movie’s release, rumors have swirled as to these omissions.

 One such rumor, totally unfounded, was that television pioneer Ernie Kovaks was the original choice to play opposite his wife in the role filled by Sid Caesar. While it is true that Kovaks’ untimely death in an automobile accident in January of 1962 coincides well with the April 1962 start date for shooting, there is no evidence to back this claim up.

 Another unfounded but often repeated rumor is that Groucho Marx was the first choice for Ethyl Merman’s role, and would instead play father-in-law to Milton Berle. This rumor was probably started when Marx was asked in a period interview about his omission in the production, and quipped that they had wanted him to play Ethyl Merman’s part.

 According to Kramer, the personalities in the script were meticulously created by he and Rose. Comedians were then asked to participate based on how well their persona would fit that of the characters. He went on to state that many stars were not approached for the same reason. Another factor was star availability. Kramer planned to shoot Mad World during the summer months, when most comedians would be on break from their television or nightclub engagements. Those who were unavailable due to other obligations (Kramer often pointed out Don Rickles omission as being due to this reason) were left out.

 The one actor in the ensemble who was known more for his dramatic performances than his comedy outings, (although he was obviously no stranger to the world of funny business) was the legendary Spencer Tracy. Tracy was a favorite of Kramer’s. In total he would appear in four Kramer productions, beginning with 1960’s Inherit the Wind. After Mad World he would make only one more film, Kramer and Rose’s race relations comedy, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? (1967).

 Once a cast was in place, the decision was made to lens in a new film format, Ultra Panavision. At the time it was touted as a new flavor of Cinerama, the well-known 3-screen projection process of the 1950’s and 1960’s. Unlike true Cinerama, which used three cameras shooting simultaneously, Ultra Panavision was a single camera setup with a huge aspect ratio. The result was one ridiculously wide movie that would have continuous problems adapting to the constantly changing sizes of each preceding era’s media devices. Kramer had even stated that he had varying degrees of success fitting the picture to the screens in movie houses that were available in 1963.

 Whatever drawbacks the format of Ultra Panavision may have brought to future viewings, they were made up for in the process’s ability to beautifully capture the scope and expanse of the California desert and other early 60’s locales. It has also imbued Mad World with an amazing clarity and a surprisingly minimal amount of film grain.

 Principle photography got underway in the spring of 1962. Choosing to shoot large portions of the action sequences first, Kramer assembled an army of stunt people, special effects experts, and behind-the-scenes professionals that were just as famous in their respective fields as their comedian counterparts. Due to the extent of stunt work, and the amount of employment this one film generated, it began to be referred to by those in the Hollywood stunt business as “It’s a Wonderful, Wonderful, Wonderful, Wonderful Bonanza.”

 Heading up the stunt department was Carey Loftin, a stuntman whose career in motion pictures stretched from the late 30’s to the early 90’s. Extremely prolific, Loftin was involved in some of the most memorable action movies of the 60’s and 70’s, including 1968’s Bullitt, where he played a major role in the staging what many still consider the greatest car chase in movie history. In fact, when one watches Steve McQueen’s Mustang bottoming out as it bounces across San Francisco intersections in Bullitt, it’s easy to see a resemblance to Dick Shawn’s Dodge doing the same as he races in the wrong direction up the Southern California highways in Mad World.

 Alongside Loftin were a who’s who of stunt personnel, perhaps most notably Aerial Supervisor Paul Mantz. Mantz, one of the most prominent Stunt Fliers of his time had a career dating back to Howard Hugh’s infamous Hell’s Angels (1930). He would eventually give his life to his profession just two years after Mad World was completed, dying in a crash while filming Flight of the Phoenix (1966). He wasn’t the pilot who flew through the Coca Cola billboard in Mad World, however. That honor would go to Mantz’s partner in Tallmantz Aviation, Frank Tallman, equally famous in his own right.

 After four weeks of work on the action, Kramer would bring in the comedians. The first scene with actors to be filmed was the Hardware Basement Scene. As husband and wife team, Melville and Monica Crump, Sid Caesar and Edie Adams are the first to arrive at the finish line; the fictional city of Santa Rosita. Unfortunately for them, they manage to get themselves locked in the basement of a hardware store, where they spend a good portion of the movie trying to break out. In order to get this sequence on film, the two were put through a series of physical shenanigans. At one point, Caesar was called upon to do battle with the locked, steel door. It was Caesar and a sledgehammer, against the set designers and grips. According to Caesar, he attacked the door numerous times, and every time, the door lost the battle. Every time except for the last, when a steel girder was welded into place behind it.

 Other scenes would follow. Buddy Hackett and Mickey Rooney would spend a considerable amount of time being rotated in the framework of the cabin of a Twin Beech aircraft for the scenes in which their characters were at the mercy of the out-of-control aircraft. Milton Berle would spar with Terry-Thomas in the dust and alkaline of the California desert. Dick Shawn would dance a lecherously bizarre twist with a zonked-out and bikini-clad Barrie Chase. And most of the cast, and their stunt doubles would spend time hanging from a fire escape and a hook and ladder.

Arguably, the most famous scene in Mad World is the gas station demolition. At a tiny desert-oasis-like filling station, Phil Silvers cons the two attendants (Arnold Stang and Marvin Kaplan, each rivaling the other for the title of Best Movie Nerd Ever) into believing that a recently subdued (read, knocked unconscious) Jonathan Winters is in actuality a homicidal lunatic, freshly escaped from an insane asylum. Upon awakening and finding himself cocooned in duct tape, Winters becomes rage personified, breaking free and wreaking wonderfully overindulgent havoc.

 The scene was apparently wrought with difficulties. Stang reported for work with a sprained wrist, and in order to hide the affliction, wore a heavy mechanic’s glove throughout the shoot. Luckily, the sight of Stang with his obviously limp wrist, dangling awkwardly throughout the sequence actually enhances his character’s inept appearance.

 At one point while Winters was duct taped to one of the station’s support columns, lunch was called. Unfortunately for Winters, no one remembered to free him from his prison. He had to sit and wait for the rest of the Mad World to finish eating before he was let out.

 Finally, during the last shot of the sequence, Winters character steals the filling station’s tow truck. Before speeding off into the surrounding desert, however, he backs up, collides with the only portion of the gas station still standing, and knocks it to the ground. Things didn’t go as planned however, and the desired end result had to be achieved with a split screen and some editing magic.

 An often-repeated anecdote relating to this sequence involved the owner of the property on which the set had been built. According to Milton Berle, it was composer, Jimmy Van Heusen, famous for writing the music for such classics as Swingin’ On a Star, All the Way, and High Hopes, all Academy Award Winners. The story goes that after the set was built, Van Heusen happened to drive past. Knowing the land was his, he was stunned to see a gas station sitting prominently atop it. Figuring that his agent had worked a deal with the station’s owners, Van Heusen drove off feeling as though he had just struck the jackpot. A few days later he would drive by again. This time, however, the entire gas station had disappeared, destroyed in the wink of a cinematic eye, leaving Van Heusen as the brunt of one of the most famous, unintentional practical jokes in the history of film.

 As for accidents, disasters, and personal injury, there was surprisingly little during the production. Of all the comedians, it seems Phil Silvers may have suffered the most. Besides taking a beating from Winters in the gas station scene that according to Marvin Kaplan earned him a trip to the hospital, he also apparently risked drowning during the sequence where his character is supposed to float away down a raging river in his convertible. Silvers agreed to do the stunt even though he had never learned how to swim. In the end, he had to be fished from the river by a safety crew. When asked why he had risked his life he replied that the gag was too good. Silvers was injured yet again near the completion of the film, and had to be doubled by his stand-in during the chase through the abandoned building that led to the fire-escape finale. Once the viewer is aware of this behind-the-scenes trivia, it’s almost impossible to watch the horde of comics climbing staircase after staircase without noticing the obvious Silvers doppelganger working hard to cover his face.

 While Kramer, the comedians and the stunt department worked on the live action, others were hard at work preparing the visual effects that would be of major importance to the movie’s finale. Special Effects master, Linwood Dunn was called on to fling comedians off of the top of a fully extended and out of control hook-and-ladder. By the time of Mad World , Dunn was already an established Hollywood legend. It was he who filmed the iconic rotating radio tower that appeared at the beginning of all of the R.K.O. motion pictures. He had also been part of the crew that worked on no less than the special effects of the original King Kong. Other pre-Mad World credits included work on perhaps the most celebrated movie of all time, Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane. The finale of Mad World was put in his capable hands, and the result was an entire city plaza, built seamlessly and completely out of composite shots and miniature models, in a time long before computer animation. After Mad World, Dunn would go on to many other optical milestones. One of his notable post-Mad World credits would be as one of the people responsible for getting shots of the 12 foot Star Ship Enterprise model for the original Star Trek series.

 As production wound down and Kramer moved into post-production, he would call on another of his favorites, conductor Ernest Gold to come up with the movie’s score. Already an Academy Award winner for his work on Exodus (1960), Gold would create perhaps the greatest and most appropriate musical accompaniment for any comedy ever filmed. (Okay, maybe I’m a little biased, but I challenge anyone to find a more perfect and beautiful body of music in a motion picture, comedy or otherwise.) So wonderful and immediately recognizable is this score that it is still used today, popping up in commercials from time to time. With its merry-go-round inspired theme, the score has recently taken on its own subgroup of enthusiasts, who have led the way in preserving it in as pristine a condition as possible.

 In keeping with the super-sized aura of the production, Mad World’s premiere was held on November 7^th, 1963 at the so-new-they-were-still-laying-the-carpet Cinerama Dome, in Hollywood, CA. The theater was specially designed as a venue for the super-widescreen productions of the era, and Mad World would be the first of many to light up its screen. The construction of the Cinerama Dome was actually tied in with the preceding press of Mad World, and therefore the builders had barely 18 weeks from start to completion to get the theater together.

True to its director’s boast of it being a comedy to end all comedies, Mad World was a huge box office success when it premiered. Audiences flocked to see it, and as of this writing, it is listed at number 80 on Box Office Mojo’s Top 100 Box Office Grosses Adjusted for Ticket Price Inflation. It has also remained a perennial favorite of the movie viewing public for almost 50 years, and currently holds a 78% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

 The story of It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World does not end with its triumphant and lucrative release, however. Here’s where it gets a little personal.

 In the mid 1970’s, CBS began to broadcast Mad World, traditionally on New Year’s Eve. It was during these runs that myself, and many others first encountered this extended sojourn into motion picture insanity. Personally, it happened while my mother was calling in an order for our family’s annual New Year’s Eve Chinese food feast. Flicking through the few television channels available in those days, my father came across the famous Saul Bass cartoon opening credits. “This is the funniest movie I ever saw.” He exclaimed. Dad’s seal of approval and the goofy cartoon flashing on the screen were enough to put all thoughts of watching the King Kong remake showing on a competing network out of my mind entirely. Instead what I was treated to that evening was a comedy that far exceeded my expectations, filled with familiar faces, car crashes, plane crashes, explosions, wild stunts, and a plot that even my 9-year-old, MSG induced brain could follow. It was everything a pre-teen boy could hope for!

 From that point on I waited every year for any and every re-telecast that I could find in the TV Guide. In the era before the VHS recorder, a broadcast of Mad World was like my own mini, geek-fest Christmas. The year I got my first cassette tape recorder, I put the device up close to the solitary speaker of my parent’s RCA console television and captured all of the audio. When I got my first VHS recorder, I dutifully scored my first total reproduction. When the mom-and-pop, video rental house opened down the road, I rented it. When the 1991 Special Collector’s Edition came out, I bought it. And in the last 10 years, I’ve purchased the DVD and Blu-ray versions. When it’s available to have it surgically implanted into my brain, I’ll probably be first in line for that.

 Why do I share all of this banal personal back-story? I didn’t know it at the time, but I was not alone in my obsession. It was a shared experience, and there was an entire community of sad, sick individuals just like myself, who wanted to know anything and everything about It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. While other kids my age had Star Wars, we had Mad World. We were living mostly unconnected lives, just waiting for someone or something to come along and fill in the gaps.

 One thing that we all probably learned early on was that there was apparently much more to Mad World than the pan-and-scan, edited-for-television version we had been seeing on our square, NTSC monitors. As a kid in the late 70’s and early 80’s, the first clue that told me that I wasn’t getting the full Mad World picture was in the different listings for the film’s running time that varied from library reference book to library reference book. Depending on where I looked, it had been reported as being lengths varying 191 minutes to 210 minutes long. I had even picked up pre-world wide web rumors that at one point it had been as long as 5 hours! In its most common incarnation however, it was a mere 154 minutes long.

 There was little explanation for the disparagement. I searched in vain for answers, even at one point almost writing a fan letter to Stanley Kramer himself, in the hopes that he might take pity and invite me to a special showing of the original. Was there actually a dance number featuring The Shirelles, as some had insinuated? Was the movie ever really 5 hours long? The mysteries of my favorite film seemed only to grow as I found out more.

 Things started to make a bit more sense in 1991, when MGM/UA released a 2 VHS Special Collector’s Edition. In a time predating DVD’s with all of their extra materials, stumbling across this then newly minted gold mine in the corner of my local K Mart was like finding the Holy Grail. Not only did it restore footage that had been excised decades earlier, it also contained a phenomenal documentary, featuring just about every member of the cast and crew that was still breathing. It was then that I first started to get the story behind the film’s neglect.

 Apparently in the era of Mad World, movies of its stature were often shown in various versions. A “road show” version would be constructed for premieres and select engagements, while abbreviated versions would be put together for general distribution. Kramer would cut the 210 minute original version to 195 minutes for its road show premiere release. Then United Artists, in an effort to get the maximum plays in any given day on any given screen out of their newest blockbuster, cut it to the familiar 154 minute version most commonly seen today.

 Unfortunately just as in the case of the vast amount of lost silent films, there was little value put on the road show cuts by the studios once their runs were up. In the circumstances of Mad World, the trimmed footage was stored away in less-than-ideal conditions. The 1991 restoration had been a valiant effort by MGM/UA and many enthusiasts, to put together something resembling the original Road Show version after a wealth of cut material was found.

 It wasn’t the road show version so much as it was more an attempt to at least put the cut footage into a form palatable to a VHS buying public. Given the technology and the trends in home media at the time, it was an amazing feat. Not only was it available in the 2 VHS packaging, it had also been made into a Laser Disc Special Edition. The folks who put it together knew that film is a fragile and time unfriendly medium, and they did all they could in 1991 to preserve what had been found.

 What had been found? About 18 minutes of stuff that hadn’t been seen in almost 30 years. Extended takes on scenes, new scenes entirely, and perhaps most surprisingly, lengthy overture and intermission music that had been part of the Ernest Gold score. Among some of the new gems added was stuff with Phil Silvers and Mike Mazurki (He played the guy who strong armed Silvers into driving into the desert wilderness in order to deliver medicine to his sick wife.), an extended version of the travelers trying to figure out how to divide the money, Ethyl Merman being knocked down by Spencer Tracy for a second time, Buddy Hackett getting water thrown in his face, and perhaps most satisfyingly, the payoff to Tracy’s bet with William Demarest.

It was a package truly designed for the Mad World fanatic. The new footage was slightly different in color tones, but this helped to pinpoint the differences between the cut and uncut. In some cases it was easy to see why certain footage had been ultimately left out, but like Jonathan Winters destroying the gas station, overindulgence is a big part of what Mad World was about, after all.

 There was still more unintentional butchering afoot. More missing pieces in the Mad World puzzle would be found around the edges. In it’s original form, the movie has a 2.75:1 aspect ratio. This means it’s almost 3 times as long as it is tall. While the humongous, size of Ultra Panavision was created for viewing on equally gargantuan, curved screens, it has been forever a horror trying to fit it onto a typical television set. In some instances, more of the movie was missing than what was actually being seen. Even on today’s 16:9, letterbox friendly, flat screens, there’s still portions that get lopped off, as the widest release for the home market has had an aspect ratio of only 2.55:1.

 All of these issues, combined with the somewhat selective but nevertheless rabid fan base, have produced a cry for a much needed restoration.

 A complete restoration of the road show version had been suggested as early as 1997 by none other than Robert A. Harris, the film historian and preservationist behind the restorations of such classics as Lawrence of Arabia (Restored 1989), Spartacus (Restored 1991), Vertigo (Restored 1996) and Rear Window (Restored 1998). In 2002 it was reported that of the original 195 minutes that made up the road show version, Mr. Harris had gathered 188 minutes. Still missing were 3 to 4 minutes of audio and 6 to 7 minutes of video. The most infamous portion still missing would have to be the video of a scene featuring Spencer Tracy and silent film great, Buster Keaton. Other lost scenes Harris said, could be re-shot to match the existing audio (such as a scene where Dick Shawn steals Barrie Chase’s car) or re-dubbed to match the video. At the time some of the movie’s stars had evidently expressed interest in lending their voices to audio re-dubs.

 The solution suggested by Harris to experience the film in as true a sense as it was originally intended would be to release it in a format called “smile-box”. It’s sort of the same effect as a letter-boxed movie, but in the case of smile-boxing, the left and right side stretch up and down toward the corners of the screen. The resulting image, shaped like a bow-tie restores the illusion of depth created by the Cinerama process.

 But it is now almost a decade since that report, and a full restoration seems less likely with each passing day. The film elements collected by Harris are that much older, and thus that much more fragile. Actors who were willing to lend their voices may now have passed on. In the last few years we’ve seen the deaths of Buddy Hackett, Edie Adams, Dorothy Provine, Arnold Stang and Peter Falk. As for the principles, only Sid Caesar, Mickey Rooney and Jonathan Winters are still alive. Unfortunately without the proper funding, a serious restoration can’t truly get underway.

 The good news is that all of us kids who fell in love with Mad World back in the 70’s and 80’s are now grown up, and connected in the mad mad mad mad world wide web. Over the last decade and a half, the internet has seen numerous fan sites pop, making it far easier for the average fan to partake in all things Mad World.

 There is perhaps most famously, The Rosita Beach Pages, home of The Rosita Beach Podcast, which can be found on scrabo.com, a site run by Paul Scrabo. Scrabo played an important role in the 1991 restoration, and actually shot the interviews for its accompanying documentary, Something a Little Less Serious. Everything from period advertisements to in-depth studies of the Ernest Gold score, to jaw-dropping audio clips of a television special form the 1970’s devoted to Stanley Kramer and some of the main stars reminiscing about the making of the picture can be found within these pages.

 There are sites devoted solely to the automobiles used in the production, sites that offer comparisons of shooting locations then and now, and the entire shooting script readily available on Ebay. One of the newer and very refreshing additions is that of 13 year old Price Morgan, who has a Youtube channel DubyaCast, devoted entirely to the movie.

 So in the end, Mad World may be as battered and bruised as are its protagonists in the final frames, but it’s still going strong.

 Missing footage, alternate versions and fanatical fans aside, how does this film hold up 48 years after its initial release? Allow me to make my admittedly slanted case for its cinematic greatness.

 Premiering only two weeks before President John F. Kennedy’s assassination on November 22, 1963, one can look at Mad World as a hybrid in sensibilities at the end of one pop culture era and the beginning of another. Stylistically it’s filled with a distinctly 1950’s vibe. Over-the-top excess permeates everything, from its running time, to its aspect ratio, right down to the gigantic Imperial driven by Milton Berle. But where the sometimes positively schticky acting, and conventional characterizations end, (Merman’s Mrs. Marcus is a page taken straight from The How To Guide For Sitcom Stereotypes: Mother-in-law Edition.) there’s something more that picks up. At its heart, there’s a chunk of the subversive. Something that gives Mad World a tenuous toe-hold in the more irreverent and experimental films of the 60’s and 70’s.

 Possibly due to Kramer’s inexperience with comedy and his independent background, the movie ends with a plateful of tragedy. Greed eventually destroys all it touches, leaving every male actor broken and literally in traction, and facing lengthy prison sentences. Definitely not what you’d expect from the comedy to end all comedies, but it is the ending that fits best, bringing the film’s ultimate theme of greed to the forefront. It’s a finish that in other hands would have most likely been rewritten. In Kramer’s Mad World, not even the most sympathetic are spared. Nor are the audience’s expectations. When Dorothy Provine as the neglected and put-upon Emiline Marcus is the first to discover the hiding place of the stolen money the script presents itself with a perfect out. Her and Tracy’s Culpepper, arguably the two most deserving, hatch a scheme to dig it up and run away to their own respective happy endings, Tracy to the movie cliché’ of a Mexican Beach paradise (see the endings of True Romance, Trading Places, The Town, and dozens of others) and Provine to a convent (?!). But just when the audience is looking for its expected reward, the rug is ripped out, as the rest of the mob discovers the Big W hiding place, obliterating the duo’s dreams. It’s as if Kramer and Rose are saying “Oh no. We’re not getting off that easily.” In choosing this motion-picture-road-less-traveled, Kramer brings his wacky, pie-in-the-face comedy down a path similar to that of the following year’s satiric masterpiece, Dr. Strangelove: Or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. It’s almost like Kubrick saw Kramer’s bid, and raised him by not only destroying his cast, but also the entire world for good measure.

 In the end it’s a serious note that banana peels, pratfalls and laughing comedians just can’t cover up.

 It may also be the reason for some of the few unkind reviews that Mad World received after its premiere. Time Magazine’s 1963 review stated: “People following greed are funny,’ says Kramer. “It’s the best basis for a big chase.” Maybe. But the great screen comedians—Chaplin, Keaton, Langdon Fields—lightened their essays on human folly with the inspired lunacy that makes art. Kramer offers the harshly realistic image of greed itself, and simply tops it off with wisecracks.”

 Others got it immediately. The majority agreed with Legendary New York Times film Critic Bosley Crowther’s take on the movie’s theme: “This seems to me to be the essence of this subtly thematic film — this ultimate evidence of the trickery that can happen in the chase after wealth. The feverish pursuit of tainted money in the fast-speeding automobile, the device by which man most often manifests his recklessness and insanity, leads only to a betrayal by what appears to be the sane authority. This is the sober message that Mr. Kramer and Mr. Rose are getting across. And the fact that they end their picture with an ironic comedy twist like one in “The Treasure of Sierra Madre” or René Clair’s “A Nous la Liberté,” is only a sop to convention and traditional morality.”

 But with a movie that chooses failure as its end result, calling itself a comedy means that it needs to be funny, and it needs to control its tone perfectly. A film with so much consequence at its center could not have worked had the decision been made to set it wholly in the wacky. It’s for this reason that the casting of Spencer Tracy could be pointed to as its most treasured asset and inspired choice. According to Kramer, he developed the role of Police Captain T.G. Culpepper specifically for Tracy, because he wanted an actor with dramatic clout at the heart of the story, in order to give balance to the comedy. Tracy is the lynchpin of the movie, the honest cop, whose personal circumstances push his own greed to the surface.

 He was an actor who was just as at home in comedy as drama, although it is the latter that will forever be linked with his name. He had a perfect sense of comic timing, as evidenced in classics like Libeled Lady (1936), Adam’s Rib (1949) and Pat and Mike (1954) . If any actor could deliver what was needed for a role, it was Tracy. What he brings to Mad World is far more realism than most of what surrounds him. It’s a performance that is crucial to keeping the audience’s suspension of disbelief just enough in check, as to allow the rest of the proceedings to get as ridiculous as necessary.

 A typical example of this is found at a critical moment when Caesar and Adams are first reported by police surveillance to be locked in the basement of the hardware store. Amazement registers on Tracy’s face as he and the rest of the growing crowd in front of the police dispatch speaker listen in on the report from the street. “How the hell did they get locked in a basement?” He exclaims, “We better let ‘em out.” It’s here that disbelief is stretched to the fullest. A fellow Policeman (character actor supreme, Alan Carney) turns to Tracy and replies that it’s not fair to let them out. “It’s a race ain’t it?” he says “What do you want to help that dentist for? Me, I’ve been pullin’ all the time for that guy Pike, with the furniture van. The rules oughta be the same for everybody or it’s just not fair.” At this moment in any rational universe, the commanding officer, for fear of possible damage or in consideration for the safety of all involved would dismiss such a trivial matter, and proceed with the arrest of the dentist and his wife. This cannot take place however in the Mad World without obliterating its plot. So Tracy’s Culpepper is forced to comply with his subordinate’s daft suggestion. After a series of pauses, grimaces and subtle eye-rolls, Tracy takes the microphone and orders the officers to do nothing, and let Caesar and Adams fend for themselves. He then turns to Carney with the look of a put-upon father whose child has been badgering him for a second helping of desert and says “Are ya happy?” Tracy sells all of this nonsense by causing the audience to empathize with his character. We forget about the ludicrousness of the situation long enough for the plot to continue. In the hands of a straight comic, or a lesser actor for that matter, this moment could have easily derailed much of what was to come.

 Tracy’s performance is not the only glint of realism in this movie, however. Amidst the mugging you can find flashes of pathos that foreshadow the impending disastrous outcome. When Buddy Hackett and Mickey Rooney spiral uncontrollably through the southern California sky in a pilotless plane, there are genuine looks of terror that occasionally show through their rubber faces. Similarly, when Sid Caesar is confronted by his wife as to the damage he’s bestowing on their basement prison, his response of “They’re the one’s who locked us in!” is not given with one of his trademark, eye-popping expressions. Rather it’s a look of pure frustration and anger that is in an instant as disturbing as it is hysterical.

 Throughout its amazing length, Mad World rides a rail between two disparaging tones, the ridiculous and the realistic. For every Lenny-Pike-plowing-through-a-wall-and-leaving-a-perfect-outline-of-his-body, there are just enough police-on-the-radio-procedural moments to keep the audience on board. It’s a tribute to Kramer’s dramatic background and comedic sensibilities, that he was able to achieve such a balance.

 But let’s not forget that this is It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World that we’re talking about, and not King Lear. The comedy and the comedians are ultimately the main attraction, and they all deliver. Although certain performances may be somewhat dated by modern standards, they excel when viewed for what they are: Some of the best comedians of their time doing all they can to upstage or not be upstaged by their contemporaries.

 Jonathan Winters, a comedian known for groundbreaking improvisation turns in an amazingly nuanced performance as lunk-headed Lenny Pike. If he does go into the world of ad-lib, it is seamless with the rest of his performance. In every frame, you can see his poor, overtaxed mind hard at work trying to keep up with the others.

 Sid Caesar as Melville Crump comes across as at once logical, and a slave to his emotions. There’s anger that simmers just below the collar of a man who tries to reason with the unreasonable, and instead chooses to succumb to it. Edie Adams as his wife Monica keeps up with him throughout every indignity she’s forced to face.

 Milton Berle manages to maintain believability in his character’s henpecked circumstances. While his scenes with Ethyl Merman serve merely to take the cliché of husband vs. mother-in-law to the highest level, his arguments with the stiff-upper-lipped Terry-Thomas about the virtues of America vs. England, highlight a lesser-seen Berle. It’s all dialogue. There’s none of the physical humor that he was known for. He leaves the clown shoes and the women’s dresses behind, and has arguably some of the best moments of his career during these scenes.

 Buddy Hackett and Mickey come across as brash, uncaring loudmouths, as evidenced by their total unwillingness to agree on how to split up the money. They both have many great moments with these boorish personas. Hackett merely has to let loose with a quip to be funny. His apparent ad-lib “If I have to climb much more of this I’ll be layin’ down there with him.” While climbing the hill back to the highway after bearing witness to Jimmy Durante’s last moments is such an example. Rooney is a great counterbalance, playing mostly straight against Hackett’s loony expressions.

 Dick Shawn does his best with a performance that may have come along five years too early. As a do-nothing, lifeguard bum, his practically silent scenes (save for his salacious grunts and groans) with the comely Barrie Chase are a study in inferring sexual creepiness without incurring any censorship. Alone in the darkness of Shawn’s bungalow, the two do a dance that is equal parts off-putting and demented. Once he’s out and about, he’s a violent, antagonistic mamma’s boy; the pit bull of his darling mother.

 Phil Silvers brings to Mad World what Phil Silvers did best. Otto Meyer is another incarnation of the fast talking, schemer that Silvers became synonymous with. He’s Sgt. Bilko minus the army. And as the only protagonist that doesn’t travel with others, he has the burden of holding his plot thread together by himself.

 Perhaps Ethyl Merman’s performance is the one that dates the most. The nagging mother-in-law is joke as old as Fred Flintstone and his stone-aged, familial pyrotechnics, but Merman (not known as a straight out comedianne per say) does as good a job as anyone could have done. She takes the cliche and propels it to new heights, becoming the in-law to end all in-laws. A little of this performance does go a long way, and in a movie that is as long as this, it’s easy to see how it could become repetitive to anyone other than Mad World aficionados.

 In the end however, all of the parts fit together like a precision machine. True craftsmanship is noticeable in every moment. There’s something organic and timeless about Mad World, like the lines of J. Russell Finch’s Chrysler Imperial. Something that could not exist in the computer generated era in which we live today. Regardless of what shape it’s in or how long it is, it will forever be a window into an era when going to the movies was a major event, and $350,000.00 bought you much more than the left side of a duplex in the suburbs.

 One criticism of It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World that is usually brought up is that even in its 154 minute form, it’s far too long for a comedy. Stanley Kramer stated that he had made the calculated assumption that in a comedy, too much is far better than too little. For fans of this unique cinematic milestone, there will never be enough.

 The Paul Scrabo Interview…………. Scrabo has been involved with film and video all of his life, and has been a champion of It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. He played an important role in locating lost footage, and worked extensively on the Special Edition that was compiled incorporating this footage in 1991. He also shot the 1991 Mad World documentary, “Something a Little Less Serious”. Recently, he produced “The Rosita Beach Podcast”, where he has released much period media relating to all things “It’s a Mad Mad Mad mad World”. Mondo contributor Matt Belfiore sat down with him to get the true story on the Special Edition and some of the controversy that has surrounded it since its release.

 MF: When was the first time that you saw Mad World?

 PS: The first memories I had of Mad World were in the 60’s. This was right before everything changed in our era with The Beatles and whatever. And I was looking in the Sunday papers, and I see this ad for (Mad World) with the Jack Davis artwork. And the first thing I think of as a kid in the early 60’s was, is this a movie made by the Mad Magazine people? That made sense with the Jack Davis artwork. And Mad Magazine was the magazine of the day for kids. And then that whole image went away. It went away because it was in roadshow. Now all of a sudden, a year or so later, early 1965, it’s not in roadshow anymore. It’s now in mono, 35 millimeter, and I went to see it. And I just remember literally the place was bouncing off the walls. And even back then, I was maybe ten, but I knew how special it was. People were talking about it. Everybody was talking about it. Not only did they have the old time comedians, they had these new strange people like Dick Shawn and Jonathan Winters, so that was my first impression. I just thought it was one of the most incredible things that I had ever seen.

 MF: What is it about this movie that personally appeals to you?

 PS: What’s interesting I think I that there’s a certain hipness to the story, and the way they’re acting. It’s certainly unlike any other comedy in that period. A big thing with this film is that it had the ability to end on a sad note and still be funny. That’s how great a comedy it is. And when I mentioned that to Stanley Kramer, he said “Of course. That’s the whole point.” He really messed peoples heads up and got (his audience) angry, by allowing Spencer Tracy, the pillar of morality in movies like “Judgment at Nueremburg” to steal the money. When a woman approached Stanley after the movie, she said “I thought it was horrible that you let Spencer Tracy take the money, and I also thought it was horrible that you didn’t let him get away with it.” Also he manages to work with that entire cast for 3 hours, and only at the end does he let the audience know who they’re rooting for.

 Also, if nothing else, like Marvin Kaplan (Irwin the gas station attendant) said, this is a time capsule of performers from the 50’s and 60’s, most of whom aren’t around anymore. In a way, everything is gold. There’s so much affection in every frame.

 MF: You were part of the Special Edition that was assembled in the early 1990’s. Can you talk a little about how that came about?

 PS: The complete story about (the special edition) was that there was this group of wonderful people that was looking to bring attention to Mad World in the 1980’s. A bunch of us did locate a gentlemen who did have about 20 minutes of 70 millimeter footage from the movie. All of this footage was from prints of the movie from around the country. It was mixed footage. It wasn’t from outtakes. (The footage) definitely played in some form as the film was previewed at different venues before its general release. Now the weird thing about this movie is that it was very unique in how it was put together. I feel in retrospect that this movie was a work-in-progress. They were trying to see how much they could inflict on people with this 3 hour, epic comedy. It’s so unique that in 1962 they would try something like this.

 So anyway, at the same time that we discovered this footage, we had realized that there could be more. Because originally when they had previews for people they claim it was like 3 and a half to 4 hours long.

 MF: So it there truth to the rumor that the first cut was around 5 hours long?

 PS: I think the actual first presentation was maybe almost 3 hours 20 minutes. I don’t know, I’m not an expert on this because you can’t really determine what is true and what isn’t so long after the fact. But they had had a preview on Long Island which was later cut to 3 hours, so it was definitely longer than that at one point. But sooner than people thought, it was cut down to the version that we grew up with, which is the 2 and a half hour version.

 MF: So what was your specific role in the 1991 Special Edition?

 PS: Well, (The footage we found) was scratchy, beat-up, discolored, 70 mm footage. I captured it on screens with a camera when we were able to show it in a 70 mm room. The folks who were part of this wonderful campaign to tell people about the movie said “Why don’t we find out where this footage goes?” Now remember this was before the internet. All we had to go by back then in the late 80’s was the second draft screenplay and the fact that the physical trims, the beginnings and endings of these clips had half frames of the previous scene and the next scene, so it was obvious how it would fit into this film.

 So by looking at all the half frames of stuff, I realized I don’t know what stuff Kramer wanted in or Kramer took out, but I’m going to have a little fun and put it all together. But the problem was some of these scenes are snipped in the middle of the shot. It’s not like there’s an existing cut and you could just effortlessly insert it back in without creating a jump cut. And not only are there a few frames missing but the quality deterioration would be extremely obvious because it’s so scratchy and bad. So we got to the point where we had this reel. But there’s another concern now. Not only was the movie cut, there were also instances where it was rearranged. That was a big concern.

 MF: Stuff was rearranged? What was rearranged?

 They rearranged stuff in the first 40 minutes, when the chase began, where they’re out in the desert. When they get to the airport… Between Jonathan Winters and Phil Silvers. You’ll also notice that Benjy and Bell (Buddy Hackett and Mickey Rooney) are conspicuously missing for a good portion of that film.

 So all these factors were a concern. So now we figured we were making almost more of a mystery. My feeling was that (at the time), 1987, 88, 89, we had to go through the understanding that there was no other footage out there. This was it. So I said, why don’t we just contact Stanley Kramer and say look, we found this stuff, what do you think? Do you want to make a special edition out of it? Do you want to just put it at the end of a reel, whatever?

 So I assembled on 1 inch, a version of this movie. Then I said, okay now the next step is, I can’t wait to show it to Stanley Kramer.

 MF: So did you show it to Kramer?

 PS: Well Meanwhile, MGM had contacted the gentleman who actually had these trims, and he called me saying “What do you want to do? They want to do something with this.” I said, “Are they going to involve Stanley Kramer?” and he said “Oh yes, they want to do it with Stanley Kramer” So I said “yes, let’s go for it.”

 And (MGM) knew we would want to do it, so they gave it to us and they said point blank, “Look, most of the world doesn’t care about this.” This was the 1980’s. DVD’s weren’t here yet. Film restoration wasn’t really happening yet. High Definition wasn’t here yet.

 At the time, (MGM) also said “you know, we also have a 30 minute preview reel.” It was 70 mm reel that I guess they showed to some distributors or the cast and crew back then. It was 70 mm, mono sound. And it indeed had some of the scenes that we had just snippets of, but they had them in their entirety. But they also had some stuff that was part of this reel that had not been used in any form (for presentation to general audiences). But we didn’t know what was used or what wasn’t.

 So we called Stanley Kramer and he was happy to take a look at the footage. He looked at the assembly that we ultimately made, and he said “That’s fine, it’s good.”

 MF: Did you ever consider the Special Edition a definitive restoration?

 PS: No. As we were (assembling the Special Edition), we were saying “look, we’re not really restoring this film. We’re not going back to the original elements. All we’re doing is kind of marrying the stuff the best we can. We said, look, it’s not going to be perfect. So we just called this a special edition. This is not a restored version, this is an extra special version approved by Stanley Kramer. Now that was a key factor. We showed it to Stanley. So as far as that being an end-all be-all, that’s the way the movie (originally) played, absolutely not. But as far as it being a version that Stanley said, “Okay, this is a new laser-disc edition”, fine. At least he had seen the stuff and he was happy. He said “I like what you’ve done.”

 MF: Out of all of the rescued footage, is there one scene that stands out to you as something that should never have been cut?

 PS: Of all the stuff that we found, if there is one scene that I thought should have been left in it was the Jonathan Winters monologue with Dorothy Provine, where he explains that he wants his share of the money to buy an electric wheelchair for the woman who raised him and runs the boarding house where he lives. It shows his true motivation.

 MF: Were there any scenes in the Special Edition that definitely didn’t make any previously edited version of the film?

 PS: The only things that may not have made any cut of the film were perhaps a short scene where a pair of cops find the two gas station attendants after the fight with Jonathan Winters. That and the other thing possibly I don’t think made any cut in retrospect is in the opening scene when Norman Fell (As the cop who comes upon Jimmy Durante’s car wreck) says “let’s watch the body so the coyotes don’t drag him away. “ All the other things were found in little trims.

 MF: I have a friend who says he refuses to watch any version other than the Special Edition. What are your thoughts on the standard cut that we’ve grown up with on TV vs. the Special Edition?

 PS: Stanley was happy with what he did. And I still think that Stanley cut that final 2 and a half hour version himself, because it’s too good. And here’s another theory that I have. I think they realized that this movie was long, and I think they said, “You know we wanted to make the biggest comedy, and I think we did”, and I think they said “we wanted to make a big epic” and I think we did, “but we didn’t realize how close we got to making a really funny, great movie. And if we’re really ruthless, and we cut this down I think we can make one of the funniest movies ever made.” And I really think that was the decision that was made.

 (Of the Special Edition), we knew it wasn’t going to be perfect, and in some ways would raise more questions than it would answer, but we tried to treat it with the respect it deserved. Because at the time even (MGM) told me “We’re not putting away the cut version. That’s the official version, this is for the laser disc.”

 MF: Any plans to re-release the Special Edition on DVD or Blu-ray?

 PS: The reason that the special edition was never put to Blu-ray is because it was a standard definition version. It was edited on D2 or D1 machines, which were state-of-the-art at the time, but they weren’t 1080i High Definition. They weren’t even digital.

 MF: Speaking of decisions, much is made of the decisions to use certain comedians. Why some were left out. There’s a big rumor about Ernie Kovaks originally being picked to play the part that Sid Caesar plays, opposite his real life wife, Edie Adams. As the rumor goes, Kovaks’ death in 1962 necessitated Sid Caesar stepping in. What’s your take on the validity of this rumor?

 PS: A guy I know said he started the Ernie Kovaks rumor on the internet, just for fun. The weird thing about it is that it certainly makes logical sense that one could think that. I’m not saying he wasn’t considered for anything, but all I can say is of all the back-stories and stuff that we have, and in all the articles and interviews that we have, there has never ever been one mention of (Kovaks) name.

 MF: You think Edie Adams would’ve mentioned it at some point.

 Absolutely. In 1991, or maybe 1990, I personally asked Stanley Kramer, point blank to his face, “Do you think that Ernie Kovaks would’ve been in Mad World if he hadn’t died?” and he said “Of course, I’m sure he would’ve been in it, I’m sure he would’ve been involved at some point” But the point is, there was only room for a certain amount of people in the picture, and there are just as many great people who weren’t in the movie as there were in it. I have some scratchy notes in Kramer’s handwriting, when he was fooling around with who he wanted to be in the movie, and it was all over the place. No one was specifically avoided to be in it. I think a lot of it had to do with who was available, who wanted to be in it, and who wanted to dedicate themselves for six months of a year to be in Palm Springs. Something very telling is that this is a motion picture celebrating slapstick, but the majority of the stars are television stars, because it was the Golden age of television, and they were the new comedians of the time. And for several generations now, this movie is all (the younger public) knows these people from. And the real miracle I think is that they’re good in it! I would make an argument that it’s their best work.

 MF: Speaking of the stars that did make the cut, you got the opportunity to interview most of them for the documentary “Something a Little Less Serious.” What was that like?

 PS: We only had maybe about a week and a half to get something ready for the documentary, so it was hardly definitive. The best thing about that special edition laser disc documentary was at least we gathered interviews from (participants) in the film, and they’re not around anymore. I have ¾ inch copies of all the audio of all those interviews. There’s so much more that they were saying, and I think at some point that could be assembled into a hell of a commentary track.

 MF: Like what?

 PS: We have (Co-screenwriter) Tania Rose on HD Video. We wanted to get her on tape. It was all association because she doesn’t remember much, because it was a lifetime ago for her. She talked about how it was originally going to take place in England, but she said it made sense to change the venue to America because it was an American greed story.

 MF: That’s interesting, because nobody ever talks about her contribution even though she’s listed along with her husband as one of the screenwriters.

 PS: I believe she’s the one who came up with the ending where Ethyl Merman slips on the banana peel, and they all burst out laughing, which is a very significant part of the film.

 MF: Let’s talk a little about some of the infamous missing scenes. There’s a missing scene where Dick Shawn as Sylvester, steals Barry Chase’s car, and we find out that she’s been sort of cheating on her husband with him, is there any trace of this scene?

 PS: No trace of it has ever been found as far as I know. I’m not saying it doesn’t exist, because I don’t know what Robert Harris has. I don’t know what’s going to happen with the stuff that Harris has. But that scene in particular did make a cut because there are enough people who remember seeing it when the movie first played.

 MF: Obviously the most famous missing scene is one between Buster Keaton and Spencer Tracy, where Tracy as Police Captain Culpepper calls Keaton, who plays a small-time crook. In this scene Tracy makes arrangements with Keaton to use his boat to make off with the money to Mexico. I read in a Keaton biography that Keaton’s wife seemed to remember something about the scene involving Buster Keaton and a goat? Any truth to this?

 PS: The script that I have, and the script that everybody has, just has them on the phone. But William Rose did The Russians Are Coming The Russians Are Coming, and he had Ben Blue chasing a horse. And maybe sometimes there are things that might not make one movie and might end up in another movie.

 This is the type of film where you could cut a 2 hour version and never know anything was missing. That’s how episodic it is. The holy grail supposedly is this Buster Keaton/Spencer Tracy scene. I’ve always felt that no mater how much I would love to see it that it takes away from some of the suspense, because it gives away Culpepper’s intentions too early. I’ve also seen stills from the scene that were shot at the time of filming, and it’s not an attractive scene.

 You could also say that they could have cut out the remaining Buster Keaton scene and not compromise the film, but I think they kept it in because they just wanted Buster Keaton in the movie.

 MF: For the last few years you produced The Rosita Beach Podcast which was designed originally to bring attention to the re-mastering of the movie’s soundtrack. On that podcast, you’ve released some amazing stuff that you’ve collected over the years relating to Mad World. You recently stopped doing the podcast, saying that with the release of a newly re-mastered soundtrack, the podcast had done its job. Do you have any plans to start the podcast back up anytime in the future?

 PS: I’ve gotten enough email that I’m starting up the podcast again, only because people have said, okay the music is out, but this is beyond the music now. We’ve got a 50^th anniversary coming up. So I’m setting up to continue it, and this way we can all be communicating with any special stuff that might be coming up. Plus I have some more recordings that didn’t make it on the first (batch of podcasts)

 MF: Can you tell us a little about these recordings?

 PS: There were clips that we had that were too small. There were a few snippets that couldn’t work in any film because they were within the shot and they couldn’t be restored, and they had cut the original negative. There’s a couple of lines here and there that we had that you’ve never even seen. Like when Peter Falk and Rochester are becoming suspicious of the others, and Falk says “What about the picks and shovels?” The scene as it is, ends there. But there was more to it, where Rochester responds “Sort of piques your curiosity, don’t it?” And Falk does a double take. Eventually what I’m going to do on the podcast is show some of these little snippets that didn’t make the cut, and blow people’s minds.

 MF: You’ve been lucky enough to have experienced the movie at the Cinerama Dome in Hollywood, in all of its 70mm Ultra Panavision glory. What was that like?

 PS: Let me tell you, after how many hundreds of times I’ve seen the movie, and I’m even going to include the BLuRay that came out… When you see it in ultra Panavision 70, you are so spoiled, that any other viewing is secondary. In a way, it’s almost like when 2001 A Space Odyssey came out, which was also presented in Ultra Panavision 70. In that movie, with the curved screen, it’s like you’re falling into space. It’s like you’re going to fall into the movie. And as historic as that movie is, no other release format matches that. And I have tell you that Mad World belongs in that category because there is so much detail. It is so gorgeous to look at that it is like seeing it through different eyes even if you’ve seen it on television or video.

 MF: Do you know of any plans to do anything for the upcoming 50^th anniversary of the film’s release in 2013?

 PS: I could assume if we just sat back and did nothing, the Cinerama dome would have a 50^th anniversary showing. They had a 40^th. But we’ll have to do something.

 MF: Do you ultimately feel this is a film worth being put on the National Film Registry’s list of films to preserve?

 PS: For this film not to be in the national film registry as a film worth preserving is insane, because it’s so many people’s favorite film.

 And it’s such a gorgeous film to just look at. Kramer hired the absolute best people at the time, not just the people in front of the camera. He hired the best people in their technical trade. Even in the advertizing. In the advertizing of the film, who does he hire? He hired Stan Freberg for the television ads, one of the hippest guys back then. He has Freeberg do the television publicity, and he gets two of the most distinct artists, opposite in their styles to do the poster work. Saul Bass on one end, and Jack Davis on the other. Talk about covering bases.

 MF: Any last words about the film itself, or the restoration, or the Special Edition you did back in the 90’s?

 PS: When I assembled (the Special Edition) together, I realized that if you like the movie, you don’t mind this. If you don’t like the movie, this isn’t going to change your mind. And at the time there was this determination by some (to say) that this extra footage is what makes or breaks the film. And they thought I was crazy (because I said) no it doesn’t. (The 2 and a half hour version) is not a butchered cut. I went against the grain and said it was a masterful cut. Because you’d never know that this stuff is missing. They cut on the joke and they got rid of some of the redundancy. I said in a perfect world, there should be 2 versions. Version 1 would be what I call the kitchen sink version. That version has everything for if you’re a fan of the movie. Then you have the version we grew up with.

 And I made the analogy of a family album. If you take pictures of your family and you have the bad pictures or the blurry pictures, those are (part of) the specialty version. You’re not going to throw those out. You’re going to keep those for special people. If I come over to your house to see your family vacation, you’re going to show me the really short, snappy version. Not the version that means a lot to you. And that’s the way I always considered the Special Edition. They should both be side-by-side. In other words this version is for people who accept the movie already. You want little more of your friends? You want to see more of Melville and Monica? Lenny Pike? Bell and Benjy? When you seek out that version, you’ve gone beyond the comedy now, and joined the family.