Volume 2, No. 15. August 9, 2002
Evil
twinned
Here is a trivia
question for you Austin Powers fans who helped boost the film Goldmember
sequel to a record box office take the past two weeks: Who played Dr. Evil and
has a son named Scott? One answer would be Philip Morris, owner of Morris Costumes
in Charlotte, North Carolina. Morris, who got his start in the haunt industry
in 1959 when he created a character he called Dr. Evil, filed a trademark claim
last year against the producers of the Austin Powers franchise.
The movie producers argue that Mike Meyers' creation, the bald, pinkie-sucking,
gray suited Austin Powers arch-nemeses, could not be confused with Morris’
long-ago magic and horror-show act. Morris counters that his character is very
much in the cultural conscience. Among haunters, at least, who competitively
bid for his show posters at annual International Association of Haunted Attractions
auctions, Morris is a revered pioneer (not to mention one of the industry’s
leading suppliers of costumes and props).
Morris toured his stage show, “Dr. Evil and his Terrors of the Unknown,”
nationally for 22 years, performing by his estimates almost 5,000 shows throughout
the United States and Canada. A Charlotte television station hired him in 1962
to host Horror Theater as Dr. Evil, a show which outdrew NBC’s The
Tonight Show in its market and ran until 1969 when Morris decided to return
to full-time touring. The show played on the Turner Broadcasting Company for
one year in the mid-80s, too. His company subsequently currently sells Dr. Evil
merchandise, and his Charlotte haunted house uses the name. “The creation
and use of the title for over 43 years gives me common-law rights to the character,”
Morris said.
Granted, Powers’ Dr. Evil looks or acts nothing like Morris’
Dr. Evil, who wore a dark, single breasted suit with a long, black tie and a
red fez with a black tassel. However, one of the henchmen in the first two Austin
Powers was a character named Mustafa dressed similarly to the original Dr. Evil.
“It is interesting that Mustafa does not appear in this current film following
our complaint,” Morris said. Scenes featuring Mustafa were cut from Goldmember
to trim the movie down from three hours, Entertainment Weekly reported. Morris
has also pointed to another strange connection: the movie’s Dr. Evil has
a son named Scott. In real life, Scott Morris is now his father’s business
partner at Morris Costumes.
The elder Morris/Dr. Evil said the legal wrangling has been going on for more
than a year, and the lawyer’s fees have been mounting. But he said he sees
a mutual agreement in sight. “We’ll probably end up jointly taking
the trademark,” he said.
“I wish New Line Cinema all the success in the world with their new film,”
Morris said. “And I only hope that the audience will remember that the
original Dr. Evil is that hometown Charlotte boy, yours truly.”
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