"I'm excited! I'm enthusiastic!"
With those words, a new and improved Maytel stepped upon the set
of Late Show with David Letterman. David Letterman's audience had
barely heard of Maytel before the night's broadcast, but it's likely few
will have forgotten Maytel after seeing her last Friday night on the show.
Maytel slid into a steamy torch song with Paul Shaffer's band before suddenly bursting into a stunning rendition of "Twist and Shout." The song ended with Maytel tossing her trademark furry black hat into the audience and smashing bassist Will Lee's guitar into several pieces.
"What a classic performance!" gushed Letterman. Dave finished the night with "The Top Ten Outfits Maytel Wears Under Her Black Cloak," a stunt which earned the host a kiss from the long-haired anime mistress.
Maytel was on the Letterman program to promote her latest movie Galaxy Express 999 - The Musical.
Longtime Galaxy Express 999 fans were happy to see Maytel get the exposure so few anime stars receive but were frankly puzzled at Maytel's behavior.
"I've always admired Maytel from afar," admitted an otaku known only as Iggy. "But she was never exactly the life of the party. She was more Alanis Morrisette than Pamela Lee if you get my meaning."
"Oh yes, I've had my downbeat moments," Maytel confided to Anime News. "More than one person has told me they've been around funerals more entertaining than me. And I suppose that telling reporters that I found Pink Floyd and Pearl Jam too cheerful for my tastes gave me a reputation as a Gloomy Gus. But I really am quite the cheerful gal. I try to laugh as often as I can, considering that the world is a very sad place and most people end up dying without fulfilling a tenth of their potential on this earth."
"I mean, how can anyone be bubbly when it's obvious that there will be a terrible nuclear holocaust within the next 40 years, followed by long periods of famine and political unrest?"
Letterman will likely have Maytel return to the show for an all-anime
evening. Also contacted to appear on Letterman are Son Goku (from Dragon
Ball Z), A-ko, and Astro Boy.
Maytel is a phenomenon, a living legend, an enigmatic and magnetic
personality. She is the star of the Prozac-approved series Galaxy
Express 999, a mysterious woman in black who always knows more than
she tells.
Then why haven't you heard of her before?
Part of the problem is that no one can agree on how to spell her name. Some people spell it "Maetel." Some people spell it "Mater." Some people claim she is "Metal" and others claim she is "Maytag", "Mayday", "MaBelle" or even "Maybelline."
Actually, it's MAYTEL. We know this because she told us.
If she's never achieved the popularity of Madonna or Mariah Carey,
she's also been able to avoid the overexposure that's burned out blondes
like Deborah Harry and Christina Applegate.
Maytel looks incredibly young in person. The only hint of her
age is in her long hair, definitely a throwback to her heyday in the 1970s.
Then again, anime characters seldom age.
As far as her fans are concerned, she won their hearts by putting the "Gal" in Galaxy Express 999 but since then has dropped from center stage to pursue other interests.
So what has the mysterious Maytel been up to? Anime News caught up with Maytel backstage at the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York.
"I auditioned for Beauty and the Beast but when word got out that I was trying for the lead, some cruel Hollywood columnist tagged the film Beauty and the Bipolar Disorder. Disney dropped me in favor of Belle. I wish her all the best, as she is entitled to as much happiness as she can get before her terrible tragedy occurs."
What terrible tragedy?
"I can't tell you that," Maytel whispered as she turned away.
"I was also supposed to play the nightclub singer in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the role that went to Jessica Rabbit. Big surprise there, eh? It's very difficult for an anime character to win a role in a Western cartoon. I'm not the only character who's come away disappointed from a Disney audition. Sailor Mars was in tears that she didn't get to play in Hunchback. Lum was turned down for a role in Aladdin, King of Thieves. It's sad when a thespian as talented as Lum is rejected from working in some cheapo made-for-video production."
Maytel prefers to wax philosophical about such things. "In the anime world, I'm allowed a bit of dignity except when Hello Kitty comes over and does something idiotic that's supposed to make me laugh. But if I were to go Hollywood, it would mean entering the world of Bullwinkle and Bugs Bunny. And frankly, I can't imagine sharing sushi with Daffy Duck."
Daffy Duck was unavailable for comment.
Maytel's other anime appearances include a cameo in The Last Unicorn, a substitute teacher on Astro Boy, a guest shot on Captain Harlock and a few episodes of Voltron, Defender of the Universe.
"The Voltron gig was fun," Maytel recalls. "I was subbing for Princess Allura, who was in the middle of a contract dispute. So I played the princess in my own way. I added a bit of sex appeal to the part, wearing gowns with plunging necklines and showing a bit more leg than is typical in those kiddie shows."
Maytel was also part of an ad hoc singing group along with Hikaru, Umi and Fuu of Magic Knight Rayearth fame. Their two albums of En Vogue-inspired harmonies sold quite well in certain anime quarters, although there was controversy there as well.
"People claim that if you played our version of "Macarena" backwards, Hikaru sings "I buried Pikachu" which is ridiculous."
"Why is it that no one ever found secret messages on recordings by
the Archies or Alvin and the Chipmunks? I mean - not that I'm a gossip
- but Josie and her Pussycats were found guilty of cannibas possession.
Of course, no one seems to notice when American animation characters run
wild. But let an anime character have a little fun on an album and she's
branded as a Pokemon-hating lunatic!!!"
Younger fans may not remember this, but Maytel was quite the
coquette in her early years, posing for a few ecchi and hentai pinups that
still periodically grace a BBS or two. The pictures prove that Maytel is
hardly the one-note personality her critics claim she is.
“I suppose I did my share to make some young men very happy,” was Maytel’s response when queried about her risque pictures. Maytel is adamant that she will not pose for Playboy as was rumoured in Animerica a few months back.
“If it didn’t work for Nancy Sinatra, why should it work for me?” asked Maytel. “Besides, I think you have me confused with Trish Ledoux. That girl will do anything for publicity!”
Maytel also worked as a model for Head and Shoulders shampoo and as one of the original vixens in ZZ Top's videos. She can also be glimpsed as one of the girls watching the Beatles' rooftop concert in Let it Be. She's easy to spot in both the ZZ Top video and the Beatles film as she is dressed totally in black.
Rock and Roll was always more receptive to anime than was the world of American cartoons, especially in the hippie era. "John Lennon was a huge anime fan. As was Paul McCartney although John and Paul didn't like the same series. John was a Kimba the White Lion kind of guy whereas Paul was a Robotech fan. All the rockers were into it. They weren't prejudiced against us the way Porky Pig and Mister Magoo were."
According to rock critic Dave Marsh, Maytel was the inspiration for the Rolling Stones' "Paint it Black," the Beatles' "Baby's in Black, " the Hollies' "Tall Cool Woman in a Black Dress" as well as several of Jim Morrison's unpublished poems. Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia was inspired to write "Casey Jones" after seeing just one episode of Galaxy Express, and later recalled that Maytel was one of his prime influences in world outlook.
It was in the early 1970s, just prior to her breakthrough in Galaxy Express, that Maytel met a person who would change her life.
"I was really disenchanted with the whole anime scene. It seemed to be going nowhere and I seriously considered getting into a different line of work. I'd written a letter to Roger Dean, who was looking for models for his Yes album covers. I was ready to give up anime altogether and just be a progressive rock pinup babe.
"But on my way to mail the letter, I ran into Condor Joe from Gatchaman. Joe was pretty strung out on Jack Daniels, but he told me to stick with it, that the guy who created Star Blazers was looking for a depressing thin blonde to star on his show. We all looked up to Condor Joe; he was a real John Wayne type . . .
"So I decided not to mail the letter, and instead sought out the Star Blazers office. And I was hired pretty much on the spot. Mr. Matsumoto, the show's producer, said that he'd never been depressed as much by any woman."
And so Maytel gave her tiny leather bikini to Taarna, who immortalized the outfit in Heavy Metal. Maytel and Galaxy Express turned out to be an ideal match.
Taarna was unavailable for comment.
For those of you who'd like to catch up with the Galaxy
Express 999 saga, here's a partial list of the Galaxy
Express movies. The list doesn't count the Galaxy
Express TV show, or the long running comic book adaptation.
Galaxy Express 999 (1978)
Galaxy Express 999 Rides Again (1978)
Return of Galaxy Express 999 (1979)
Son of Galaxy Express 999 (1980)
Galaxy Express 999 Strikes Back (1981)
Galaxy Express 999 Forever (1982)
The Girl, the Gold Watch, and Galaxy Express (1983)
My Baby Takes the Morning Train (Galaxy Express Down Under) (1984)
Abbott and Costello meet Galaxy Express 999 (1985)
Godzilla vs. Galaxy Express 999 (1986)
Galaxy Express 999:The Final Chapter (1988)
Galaxy Express 999:The Next Generation (1989)
Fans will likely enjoy the 6 hour videotape Galaxy Express Anthology, which features outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage of Maytel cutting it up with various cast members.
Abbott and Costello meet Galaxy Express 999 features special effects that predate Forrest Gump by ten years, as old footage of the comic duo was superimposed upon new footage with Maytel. "Maytel's On First" is a classic comedy routine.
Galaxy Express 999's Revenge, a loose remake of Bride of Galaxy Express 999, features Maytel's infamous whipped cream scene.
Sharp-eyed viewers will spot several cameos throughout the Galaxy Express series, including otakus Woody Allen, Clint Eastwood, David Bowie, Charles Barkley, Sonny Bono, Cindy Crawford, Ace Frehley, Morgan Fairchild, Heather Locklear, Joan Collins, Tom Hanks, Trisha Yearwood, Leslie Nielsen, Regis and Cathy Lee, and Rosanne Barr. Contrary to popular rumour, Shania Twain never appeared in any Galaxy Express movie. These cameos typically consisted of one-or-two line scenes. Jerry Seinfeld, for example, played an uptight porter in Galaxy Express 999 Goes to Gilligan's Island.
The plots of the movies are generally easy to follow: A train flies through outer space, visits several worlds, and Maytel depresses everyone riding on the train until they contemplate suicide.
Maytel herself summarized several of her favorite Galaxy
Express 999 films in her 1990 auto-biography How
to Confuse and Depress Your Friends for Fun and Profit.
The film Galaxy Express 999 - The Musical
is shrouded in secrecy. However, Maytel can share a few details with her
fans.
The majority of the new songs in the film will be written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and The Artist Formerly Known as Prince. The sound-track will include a remake of "You Light Up My Life" performed by the Fugees and produced by Puff Daddy. Choreography will be done by Paula Abdul.
Elton John was slated to perform a song entitled "Maytel Rides a Train Tonight", which was basically his 1970s hit "Some-one Saved My Life Tonight" with a few changed lyrics. Elton and Maytel reputedly had a falling out over promotion of the song and thus the Pinball Wizard dropped out of the film.
Elton John was unavailable for comment.
"It’s a pity, really, "said longtime Maytel friend Captain Harlock. "Elton’s specialty is writing songs about depressing blondes, and Maytel is one of the most depressing blondes of our time."
Carlos Santana, winner of multiple Grammy awards, has offered to step in for Elton. Santana claims that he has written the definitive Latin instrumental for Maytel, and that said instrumental was cowritten by an Angel from the Astral Plane. Maytel, however, is slightly skeptical.
"Given all the acid that guy dropped in the 60s, I'm surprised he doesn't claim that he cowrote the song with the Green Lantern," Maytel quipped.
However, Maytel will definitely sing lead on at least one of the upbeat numbers. There's also the possibility that Hikaru and the other Rayearth Knights will resurface to harmonize with Maytel once more.
Galaxy Express 999 -The Musical is supposedly a very loose retelling of the original storyline. This time around, the Three Nine is a swinging space vessel carrying a stellar cast of celebrities and well known personalities. The role of the Conductor will be handled by ‘Mister Virtual Insanity’ Jamiroquai, and the remaining Spice Girls will play the roles of stewardesses. Should further pregnancies prevent the Spices from appearing, the Golden Girls have agreed to come out of retirement.
Tetsuro, unfortunately, will not be on board to play himself due to his recent conviction on tax evasion. Instead, Danny DeVito will play the troubled little boy who Maytel takes under her wing. Toupee in place, DeVito promises that the musical will have far more comedy than previous, more depressing, installments.
This time around, the story takes us from Earth to the galaxy Andromeda and back again. There are time warps and alternate realities galore. Included will be an extensive dream sequence where Maytel gets to act out a Xena Warrior Princess fantasy. Underage heartthrob Britney Spears will play the role of an alien princess desperately avoiding an arranged marriage to a Jabba the Hutt-like monster. Mike Myers will play Britney's randy older brother, who disapproves of the wedding while secretly hoping he can convince Maytel to share more than a dance with him at the reception.
Audiences will be sure to hoot with delight when Academy Award winner Helen Hunt takes center stage as Queen Prometheum. This is one of many casting surprises that Maytel has up her sleeve.
"If you think you've experienced Galaxy Express, think again. I'm ready for the 21st Century!"
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