FAGABEFE! and Other Reasons To Love Midnight Madness
Leon the Game Master set the standard for color-coded late night scavenger hunt films.
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By Jordan Hoffman June 1, 2011 |
Candy and Sunshine |
The opening credits of Midnight Madness confirm what we already knew from the opening credits of Three's Company-- that Southern California in 1980 was a haven for women in tight shorts on wheels.
In the case of MM, these lovely lasses are skating 'round campus to deliver secret envelopes to a group of carefully selected social stereotypes.
Furst Meal of the Day |
Meet Harold, Midnight Madness' Gaius Baltar. When he's not being selfish, cheating or stuffing food in his mouth, he's being insulted by his so-called friends or shaming his successful father.
How disgusting is Harold? Note that next to his plate of fries is a bottle of sodium-rich ketchup as well as two containers of salt!
Enemies, United in Boredom |
While "The Naughton-Furst Slideshow Reaction" sounds like the best chillwave act in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, it is actually a moment captured in time from the film Midnight Madness. Why are the Kal-El and Lex Luthor of UCLA College of Liberal Arts Class of '81 being subjected to a flim strip about the history of games? All will be revealed.
LEON??!??!!?!?!! |
Of all the wonderful moments in Midnight Madness, perhaps my favorite is the reveal of Game Master Leon.
Erupting from roll-up movie screen to a chorus shouting his name in a mix of disdain and revelation, it gives an audience member the queasy feeling that they are watching a sequel.
Why does everyone know Leon except for me?
Leon, oddly enough, was played by a Mr. Alan Solomon, whose acting career never quite made it past the first check-in. He did, however, pursue his love of games working behind the scenes on such shows as Card Sharks, Love Connection and Illinois Instant Riches. No, I'm not kidding.
Peggy and Lulu Giggle and Eat |
Betsy Lynn and Carol Gwynn Thompson, twin sisters who would later appear in The Gong Show Movie and Hamburger: The Motion Picture, are Peggy and Lulu, the weight behind the Red Team, led by an ardent lesbian named Berle and a doe-eyed sweetheart named Donna.
Of note: Donna, Maggie Roswell, would later voice dozens of characters like Helen Lovejoy, Maude Flanders and Agnes Skinner on The Simpsons. Berle, played by Robyn Petty, played "Blue Haired Girl" on an episode of Hello, Larry. And you wondered why the Red Team just couldn't compete.
