The Keltonization of Paul Marco

Paul Marco (Angelo Inzalaco, 1927-2006) dined out better than most on being part of the Ed Wood stock company. Die-hards know him as the guy who played goofy Officer Kelton, the Gilligan-esque comic relief in Bride of the Monster (1955), Night of the Ghouls (1958), and Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959)…and that’s almost, but not quite it.

A local L.A. kid, Marco attended Hollywood High, and received acting, singing, and dancing lessons since childhood. After completing his World War Two service, he managed to land walk-on roles in major films like Sweet and Low Down (1944) and Hiawatha (1952), but beyond that, no soap, until Wood came along. It was apparently Criswell who got Marco in with the Wood crowd. Marco’s roomie for a time was Bunny Breckinridge of Plan 9.

After Plan 9, Marco managed to work a little more, with small roles on The Donna Reed Showand 77 Sunset Strip, and more supernumerary parts in the movies Young Savages (1961) and Rat Fink (1965). Then…a dry spell lasting thirty years.

After Tim Burton’sEd Wood film came out in 1994 (Max Casella played him), Marco wasted no time trying to leverage a little action. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view) all anyone wanted was Kelton. He recorded a 1995 single as Kelton called “Home on the Strange”, and played Kelton in the films The Naked Monster (2005) and Kelton’s Dark Corner (2009). KeltonMania was sweeping the nation! Unfortunately, the actor was in his 70s at this point, about like Bela Lugosi had been while Plan 9 was filmed. And like Lugosi in that movie Kelton died while shooting was in process for his new Kelton trilogy. Kelton’s Dark Corner, you’ll note, was released posthumously. What I wanted to know is why didn’t they “Shemp” it with some dentist and finish the picture? It’s tried and true!