The Emperor's New Clothes

Another reviewer asked what the pop group Spanky & Our Gang could have added to the film. I was in the film and can answer that. Their presence was much like Nat King Cole and Stubby Kaye's in "Cat Ballou". They bridged the action with song, and served as sort of a chorus for the fairy tale. The year after we filmed this, they made their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show and their career took off. Someplace this film is sitting in a can on a shelf. Both the producer, Jeff Gillen, and the director, Bob Clark, have passed on, and it was my understanding that it had been sold years before to Hal Roach Studios -- and I hadn't even known they were still in existence.

John Carradine shot this low budget independent circa 1966 in Florida, the first feature film for director Bob Clark (later of "A Christmas Story," "Porky's," "Black Christmas," Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things," Deathdream" and "Murder by Decree," among others). The one written piece on the movie can be found in Tom Weaver's book "John Carradine: The Films," which recounts the tale of how the star convinced the director to change the jester's name from Cuddle-Poo to Quat. (what, Quat? come, Quat!) An amusing anecdote for a film that may never see the light of day now that Clark himself has passed on. Among the cast members is the pop group Spanky and Our Gang though I'm not sure what they could have added. Here's hoping that Carradine fans will someday get a chance for viewing.

Many of us who were in this film were chosen from the theatre department at the U. of Miami where Bob Clark (director) and Jeff Gillen (producer) had both been students. Although not credited, I played "Finagle" the sinister tailor. I fondly recall late evenings spent with John Carradine, being regaled with tales of his early days touring the coast of California doing Shakespearean plays. We were all saddened to learn that the film was languishing in some bank vault. I remember Carradine's wry sense of humor in changing his jester's name to Quat, and none of us knowing why until it came to the deliverance of his long, eloquent speech to the entire court. Carradine completed a two page diatribe, rose from his throne, raised his scepter with a grand flourish and said, "Come Quat!" whereupon the entire assembled court fell apart with laughter and the take was ruined. ~ H. Richard Greene