Scott’s Favorites: Captain Spaulding

I am going to start talking about other random crap on here, and one of the things I considered doing was a column about some of my favorite things movie related. Example, a favorite character from a movie(s), or a favorite cult classic. I will start the first one off with one of my favorite characters.

I have become obsessed with Captain Spaulding from Rob Zombies film’s ‘House of 1000 Corpses‘ and ‘The Devils Rejects‘. Played by Sid Haig, Captain Spaulding is both creepy, and fascinating at the same time. Rob Zombie took out time to write a backstory for Captain Spaulding before The Devils Rejects was released. This from Wikipedia:

“According to his biography, Captain Spaulding was born on April 13, 1918, in Ruggsville, Texas, with the name Johnny Lee Johns. He spent a small part of his childhood in the Ruggsville County home for orphaned boys until being adopted by a black family. Johnny Lee would soon grow very close to his adoptive brother Charlie. Johnny Lee developed an interest in sideshow deformities and violent crime photography, foreshadowing his Captain Spaulding persona. He began his murder spree as Mr. Ding Dong a Bo-Bo using his clown character’s name. Charlie would refer to him as Cutter after Johnny Lee stabbed a man to death, which he would take as his name.

Around the fall of 1947, Cutter met Mother Firefly, who at the time took the alias Eve Wilson. She already had two children of her own, Rufus and Tiny. Cutter lived with Eve Wilson, even raising their daughter Vera Ellen together. During the summer of 1965, Otis B. Driftwood wandered into Ruggsville County. He and Otis quickly became close companions and rivals. The two would often fight for control of the family. Otis was asked to live with the family. It was Otis who called the family The Fireflys and who nicknamed Cutter Captain Spaulding.

The inspiration for the name “Captain Spaulding” came from Groucho Marx’ part in the stage play and film Animal Crackers. We find this out in the second movie involving the character, The Devils Rejects, in which Sheriff Wydell is researching into the Firefly family.

At the beginning of 1968, Cutter and Charlie began using another alias, “Wolf J. Flywheel“, in the tradition of Cutter’s new family’s Groucho fascination. He began running an illegal moonshine business from Charlie’s ranch. Cutter saw this as a way of raising money in order to build a facility which Cutter could use to share his two loves — serial murder and fried chicken — with the world.

Sometime during this period Charlie and Otis encountered each other at Charlie’s ranch, now doubling as a cut price brothel. This encounter led to hostility towards Charlie from Otis. What caused this is unclear but it is thought that Charlie was supplying local law enforcement officials with hooch and women behind Cutter’s back and keeping all the proceeds.

In 1971, Captain Spaulding began his work building the now infamous road side attraction Captain Spaulding’s Museum of Monsters and Madmen. Only five years after the beginning of its construction, the museum was attracting tourists from all over the country to experience the new Dr. Satan attraction which was based on tales recounted to Cutter by Otis and Vera Ellen, now known as Angel Baby or Baby, about a local madman who ran a cult that the two were briefly members of. The Firefly family would incorporate the legend of Dr. Satan into their grisly murder spree.”

**SPOILER**

My Only regret is that Rob Zombie killed off the Captain in the devils rejects..hopefully he can find a way to bring him back.