Showing posts with label the 40s. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the 40s. Show all posts

Thursday, April 4, 2019

THE CONFUSSING HISTORY OF CAPTAIN MARVEL


Since 1940, the name Captain Marvel has been apart of American pop culture. Everyone knew Captain Marvel was a superhero and most people had a vague idea about what the character looked like. They were pretty sure he was a guy in a red or red-ish suit. This year saw two movies released that have people scratching their heads.

"Hey, that's not Captain Marvel! That is a woman! Captain Marvel was a guy!"

And then another person might say, "Hey, I thought that character was Captain Marvel and Shazam was just the magic word he used to change into a superhero!"

The truth is there have been three different Captain Marvel's since 1940 and the two main Captain Marvel's have been revamped in recent years. Let's take a quick history of the various captains.


The first Captain Marvel appeared in Whiz Comics #2 in 1940.  He was first seen on the cover throwing a car, filled with criminals, into a brick wall (this will be important later). Inside it told the story of an orphan newsboy named Billy Batson, who is lead into a dark railroad tunnel by a creepy stranger, who puts him on a psychedelic painted train. It takes him to see an old wizard named Shazam. The wizard says if Billy repeats his name he will be given great powers. Billy says Shazam and a lightning bolt strikes him, changing him into Captain Marvel, a superhero in a red suit with gold trim and a lightning bolt on his chest. Captain Marvel battled a bald, mad scientist named Dr. Sivana, while fighting off the advances of his sexy, blonde daughter Beautia.


Besides the emphasis on magic in Captain Marvel's world, as opposed to the science fiction of Superman's world, one difference, in the early days, was the artwork. It the early days, the face of characters seemed very sketchy and undefined. The faces in Captain Marvel were not just detailed, but recognizable. Dr. Sivana was based on Count Orlock from the silent film Nosferatu. Beautia was based on actress and singer Alice Faye. Captain Marvel was based on actor and future My Three Sons star Fred MacMurray (above). Even later, a villain named Black Adam was based on Bela Lugosi and the comic sidekick Uncle Dudley Marvel was based on W. C. Fields.


At one point in the early 40s, Captain Marvel was more popular than Superman, even beating him to the movie screen in 1941. Republic Pictures produced a movie serial, The Adventures of Captain Marvel. This established the practice of having different actors play Billy and Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel was played by Tom Tyler (above) and Frank Coghlan Jr. played Billy. The flying special effect was created using a dummy on a thin wire. Surprisingly, it still looks realistic after all these years. Of the negative aspects of the movie serial, Captain Marvel doesn't talk and he frequently kills the villains.


So DC Comics sued Fawcett, the company that published Captain Marvel. D. C. lost the first case on a technicality, but appealed. They pointed out that Captain Marvel had a cape and tights, like Superman, and was throwing a car on the cover of his first comic book, like Superman did on Action Comics #1. Fawcett settled out of court and stopped publishing comic books of any kind. Eventually, D. C. acquired the rights to the Fawcett characters.


In 1966 (there's that year again), a small company called M. F. Enterprises launched a Captain Marvel comic book. Their Captain Marvel was an android from outer space, who could split his body into separate parts by yelling "SPLIT!".  Had a sidekick name Billy Baxton. His arch-enemies were named Plastic Man, Dr. Fate and the Bat. Anyone see a problem with all this? This Captain Marvel not only received a cease & desist by Marvel, who was getting ready to launch their Captain Marvel and now had a copyright on the name, but they also got a threat of a lawsuit from D. C., because the villain, the Bat, looked like Batman. Many historians have claimed the M. F. Enterprises Captain Marvel is the Plan 9 From Outer Space/My Mother the Car of comic books.


In 1967, Marvel launched a Captain Marvel character in an anthology entitled Marvel Super-Heroes, which reprinted earlier stories to promote the popular animated TV series by the same name.  Marvel wanted to copyright and trademark the name Captain Marvel. The character changed over time, including wearing a green and white uniform with a helmet in early stories.

This hero was a spy for the Kree empire. He assumed the identity of a dying scientist name Walter Lawson. He soon finds that he likes Earthlings, but things are complicated, because Lawson was being investigated for criminal activity by a military security officer named Carol Danvers (she will be important later). The Krees try to use a bomb to destroy the military base, but Mar-vell manages to save Danvers. His Kree superiors try to have him executed for treason, but he escapes, only to be trapped in the Negative Zone.


At this point, Marvel decided to try to revamp the character, buy giving him a red, yellow and blue suit and, in another nod to the original Captain Marvel, Mar-vell would be summoned to Earth from Negative Zone, by Captain America & the Hulk's teen sidekick, Rick Jones, when he strikes a pair of wrist bands together. He would trade place with Rick, who would go to the Negative Zone, while Captain Mar-vell did his thing. Confused? I am, which is probably why I was not a fan of Captain Mar-vell. The Marvel Bullpen kept changing the character and tinkering with him. He was never very popular, but they kept publishing the comics to keep a copyright lock on the name Captain Marvel.

Thank ya, Thank ya very much!

Then in 1973, D. C decided to re-launch the Fawcett Captain Marvel, who was riding a crest of nostalgia in the early 70s. While he disappeared from publication, elements of the Fawcett Captain Marvel were kept in the public conscious by two entertainment personalities from the South: Elvis Presley and Jim Nabors. Both were fans of Captain Marvel as children. Elvis, used a lightning bolt as a monogram on stationary and other business supplies. He had jumpsuits made that were similar to the Captain Marvel & Captain Marvel Junior costumes. Beginning in his teenage years, Elvis began trying to wear his hair based on Captain Marvel Junior's famous waterfall pompadour (above).


Nabors brought back, what D. C. would later call "The one magic word," while working on The Andy Griffith Show. He said, in an interview on KTXR's Nostalgia Time, felt that his character, Gomer Pyle, said the interjection "GGOOOLLLYY!" too much, so he ad libed, during the filming of one episode and chose "SSSHHAAA-ZAM!!", as a substitute. It got a big laugh from his co-stars, so the writer's decided to us "Shazam" as an alternate expression of amazement for Gomer. While we are on the subject of Mayberry, I should mention that the first actor to play Dr. Sivana on-screen was Howard Morris (above), who played crazy hillbilly Ernest T. Bass. This was in the Legends of the Superheroes TV special of the late 70s.


Because Marvel had a copyright on comic book called Captain Marvel, D. C. had to use Shazam! for the title of the comic book staring the Fawcett superhero. Since Marvel was borrowing from the original Captain Marvel story for their new Captain Mar-vell, D. C swiped an idea from Marvel's revival of another Golden Age Superhero (and Republic serial star) Captain America. In the early Shazam comics, Captain Marvel and the other Fawcett heroes lived on a planet called Earth-S and had been in suspended animation for over twenty years, thanks to Dr. Sivana. Like Captain America &  his alter ego, Steve Rogers, Captain Marvel & his alter ego, Billy Batson, had to try to adapt to modern times. Unlike Captain America's stories, Captain Marvel's stories didn't deal with political or social change, but continued the magical, fairy tale, fantasy world from the original comics which featured talking animals and dinosaurs that looked more like they belonged on The Flintstones than Jurassic Park.

D.C. promoted the character with a Mego action figure, several of the giant sized Collector's Edition comics, which reprinted class Fawcett era stories (including Whiz Comics #2 and that infamous cover), and a live action Saturday morning TV series, than ran from 1974 - 1977, produced by Filmation.

Billy (Michael Gray) & Captain Marvel (Jackson Bostwick)

The TV series didn't feature the villains or other character, just Billy and Captain Marvel. The stories tended to be across between Afterschool Specials and Lassie, with a kid doing something they shouldn't (play with matches in a drought ridden forest, walking on a rock cliff) and needing to be rescued by Captain Marvel. In the 80s, Filmation produced an animated Shazam cartoon, using the same theme music, but faithful to the comic books and including many of the characters.


Now, are you still wondering about the female Captain Marvel from the recent film? Well, in 1977, Marvel launched Ms. Marvel, in which it is revealed that bomb caused Carol Danvers to have the same powers as Captain Mar-vell. Marvel decided that instead of calling her Marvel Girl, they chose to give a nod to the women's lib movement and call her Ms. Marvel. However, many feminist complained that, in later issues, Ms. Marvel wore the skimpiest costume of any female superhero. The character was more popular than the Captain Mar-vell character, so Marvel gave him cancer and killed him off in the early 80s. In 2012, Marvel decided that Carol Danvers should assume the name Captain Marvel and she was given a full body jumpsuit, that she wears in the movie. The original story about Mar-vell posing as a scientist is combined with the Ms. Marvel character for the movie, only the scientist is a woman named Wendy Lawson.


Meanwhile, at D.C, they decided to destroy all of their Multiverses with Crisis On Infinite Earths. This killed off many of D.C's superheroes and merged all the various planets (Earths 1 & 2, Earth- S) into one world. So the Fawcett characters now existed in the same world as the Justice League. They also decided that Captain Marvel would hence forth be known as Shazam and he would have Billy Batson's boyish personality and mentality, but still look like a grown man. In some Justice League stories, Shazam has a puppy love crush on Wonder Woman, who is conflicted because he is a grown man, but still a child. This last incarnation of the original Captain Marvel is the subject of the upcoming Shazam! movie. One reviewer has already called the film "Superman meet Big."

I hope I made this clear, although I doubt it will ever be clear. Let's try to go back over this very quickly.
  1. Shazam was originally Captain Marvel, but now just goes by Shazam. 
  2. Shazam has been in live action in movies & TV before. Captain Mar-vell has never been in a live action production until this year.
  3. Captain Marvel is based on both the Captain Mar-vell & Ms. Marvel.
  4. Because Marvel had the name Captain Marvel copyrighted for a comic book in the 60s, D. C couldn't use the name Captain Marvel in the title of a comic book when they revived the original Captain Marvel in the 70s. They called the book Shazam!, and later threw in the towel and called the character Shazam (see #1).
  5. The Fawcett/D.C character Captain Marvel/Shazam is easy to understand and is closer to a fairy tale than a science fiction adventure. Marvel's Captain Marvel was hard science fiction/space opera. It can be confusing.
I can't wait to see the Shazam! movie, because I was a huge fan of the D.C character as a child. I might watch Captain Marvel sometime, but I did like the Marvel character, so I'm not in a hurry to see it. Then again, I didn't know much about Black Panther and I loved his movie.

On another personal note, I mentioned liking the Shazam/Captain Marvel character, when I was a child. My mother thought Shazam was the characters name. Unfortunately, she passed away in February. I think she would be happy to know that she had his name right all along. 


   

Saturday, October 27, 2018

HORROR MOVIE MUSIC IPOD PLAYLIST


I'm going to start off this post by telling you something that the snobby "timeless love song/Great American Songbook" crowd doesn't want you to know. One of their favorite "standard" songs, that was a favorite of our grandparents and parents, was introduced in a HORROR FILM.

The song, "Stella By Starlight," first appeared in the 1944 film The Uninvited, about a woman named Stella, who is possessed by a ghost. In the movie, Ray Milland plays a composer, who tries to woo Stella by composing the song for her on a piano, while she stands by an open window.  The song has been recorded by many artist since it was first introduced, but most of those familiar with the song would probably never guess it was from a horror film. The Uninvited was also groundbreaking in that it portray ghost and the paranormal as serious, instead of a criminal gimmick or for comedy purposes.

I brought up ghost and comedy, because one of the biggest songs of the 80s, was from a comedy about ghost and demons. Of course, that was Ghostbusters. That song dominated radio in the summer of 1984, but some would say Ghostbusters is a comedy not a horror film.

That is why this is a Ipod playlist, because 1)) doing a really educational "countdown-of-the-greatest-ever" post would lead to hairsplitting and Internet bickering about what I should consider a "real" horror film or horror comedy or a mystery thriller or science fiction movie or an original composition for a horror film or using a previously recorded song. So, I'll just give a playlist with the movie the song was featured in and you can decide for yourself what category it belongs in, 2) I haven't done one in a while, and 3) it's quick and easy.

I have left out orchestral scores, in favor of pop & rock songs, featured in the film. Some were hits before the film came out or "oldies" used to memorable effect in the film. I tried to give the name of the original version or version in the film, if I use a substitute, I'll mention why.

Stella By Starlight - Andre Previn (This is a piano instrumental, as in the movie) - The Uninvited - 1944
The Blob - The Five Blobs - The Blob 1958
The Web - Abie Baker - The Brain That Wouldn't Die 1959
Bird Is the Word - The Rivingtons - The Crawling Hand 1963
Look For a Star - Gary Miles - Circus of Horror 1960
Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte - Al Martino - Hush Hush Sweet Charlotte 1964
My Son, The Vampire - Alan Sherman - Vampire Over London 1952/My Son The Vampire 1964
That's The Way It's Got To Be - The Poets - Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster 1966
That's All That I Need You For - The Birds - The Deadly Bees 1966
Shadows - The Electric Prunes - The Name of the Game Is Kill 1968
Green Slime - The Green Slime - The Green Slime 1968 (The title of the song, movie and the band are all Green Slime)
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Roberta Flack - Play Misty For Me 1971
Season of the Witch - Donovan - Season of the Witch 1972/Dark Shadows 2012
Ben - Michael Jackson - Ben 1972
Tubular Bells  - Mike Oldfield - The Exorcist 1973
Popcorn - Hot Butter - Shriek of the Mutilated 1974
Daybreak - Harry Nilsson - Son of Dracula 1974
Science Fiction/Double Feature - Richard O'Brien - Rocky Horror Picture Show - 1975
Time Warp - Richard O'Brien, Patricia Quinn & Cast - Rocky Horror Picture Show - 1975
Sweet Transvestite - Tim Curry - Rocky Horror Picture Show - 1975
Don't Fear The Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult - Halloween 1978
I Love The Nightlife - Alicia Bridges - Love At First Bite - 1979
Bad Moon Rising - Creedence Clearwater Revival - American Werewolf in London -1981
Moondance - Van Morrison - American Werewolf in London - 1981
Blue Moon - The Marcels - American Werewolf in London - 1981
Cat People (Putting Out the Fire) - David Bowie - Cat People - 1982
Bela Lugosi's Dead - Bauhaus - The Hunger - 1983
Ghostbusters - Ray Parker Junior - Ghostbusters - 1984
Weird Science - Oingo Boingo - Weird Science - 1985
Wanted Man - Ratt - Weird Science - 1985
Tesla Girls - Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark - Weird Science - 1985
Pretty Woman - Van Halen - Weird Science - 1985
Blue Kiss - Jane Wiedlin - Night of the Creeps - 1986
The Stroll - The Diamonds - Night of the Creeps - 1986
Teen Beat - Sandy Nelson - Night of the Creeps - 1986
Good Times - Inxs with Jimmy Barnes - Lost Boys - 1987
People Are Strange - Echo & The Bunnymen - Lost Boys - 1987
Who Made Who - AC/DC - Maximum Overdrive -1986
For Those About To Rock - AC/DC - Maximum Overdrive - 1986
Dream Warriors - Dokken - Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors - 1987
Into the Fire - Dokken - Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors - 1987
Youth of America - Birdbrain - Scream - 1996
Red Right Hand - Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Scream - 1996
Who's Gonna Mow Your Grass? - Buck Owens - House of 1000 Corpses - 2003
Turn Around, Look At Me - The Lettermen - Final Destination 3 - 2006
Nights In White Satin - Moody Blues - Dark Shadows - 2012
I'm Sick of You - Iggy & the Stooges - Dark Shadows - 2012
Ballad of Dwight Frye - Alice Cooper - Dark Shadows - 2012



Thursday, May 3, 2018

ARE MR. A-G & CHEEKY CHARLIE THE FOUR SQUARE MAN RELATED?




Hi, this is Jeff, Dedinova's nice "twin brother"! I mentioned on the podcast that I was doing research on a novel that will take place in the Spring of 1966. While looking through the old Springfield Daily News issues on microfilm at the Springfield-Greene County Library Center, I discovered an advertising character called Mr. AG (pictured above). I've been told A-G stands for Associate Grocery, which I believe is now known as Associate Wholesale Grocery.


After seeing this character, I tried to find pictures of him on the Internet, but couldn't remember the company name. I really thought it was Mr. A-P (A & P was in Springfield in 1966). I decided to Google a description of the character. Something like "grocery store - cartoon - advertising - big ears - pencil behind ear."


Low and behold, Google gave me pictures of a doppelganger known as Cheeky Charlie the Four Square Man (above). He has been used by the Four Square Supermarket chain of New Zealand since the 40s. As you notice, they look quite a bit alike. I wonder if they are cousins, clones or was Mr. A-G a rip off that disappeared after a lawsuit from the New Zealanders. Who knows.    

Wednesday, November 23, 2016

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM DESDINOVA!



This found photo from the early 70s wins the Internet for Thanksgiving 2016. IS THAT A HAND SAW?

As always click to enlarge. Sorry this was kind of a lazy post.

Friday, October 7, 2016

The Walls Keep Talking (1941) – Vintage Halloween Music




I've been hoping to find this on YouTube. I put The Gene Krupa Orchestra with Anita O'Day's vocal on the final Halloween music podcast from last year. This old movie short, which looks kind of like a music video was my introduction to that song. It is not the original Gene Krupa/Anita O'Day recording. I wish I knew who it was. Also wish I knew who the actors were portraying the young couple. The guy looks familiar.

WARNING: THIS COULD BE CONSIDERED POLITICALLY INCORRECT.

Sunday, August 21, 2016

PEOPLE THAT MADE RADIO GREAT




I'll admit that I'm a day late on this, but August 20 is National Radio Day. Since I'm in the radio industry, I felt I should acknowledge that day. I've been planing this post for awhile. I like to talk about what makes radio great. Sadly, it has gotten me into trouble in the radio industry and at my job.

I used to get into discussions on statewide radio industry message board. Once there was a discussion on some of the greatest radio personalities and radio stations ever. I posted my thoughts on the subject. A person, who hosted a show on the radio station I worked for (he paid to be on the air), got upset because I didn't mention him or the radio station. He complained to my boss about my opinions and how he was slighted. The good news is this person is no longer in radio. The bad news is you don't want to know what this person is doing now.

This is a list of some of my favorite things about radio. This will be chronological to keep down arguments. I'm also keeping this national rather than local. I would love to do a post about local radio's influences on my career, but it wouldn't be of interest to very many people outside of Missouri. I'm sure the person mentioned above will be upset that his favorites are not going to be mentioned.



JACK BENNY - Benny was probably radio's first major personality and his show was a pop culture phenomenon. The catchphrases were everywhere, especially in the Warner Brothers cartoons. Benny created a persona for his radio show that was different from his real life self. Benny was a humble, very generous man, who was also a very competent violinist, but on radio, Benny played a conceded, tightwad, who was a horrible violin player. His show also created a strange fictional world that could have only exist on radio. He kept his money in an underground vault with multiple chains, steal doors, loud alarms, lions, gorillas, dragons and, most famously, a guard who had been on duty forever. He didn't know what a car, radio or movie was. Also Jack had his sarcastic African-American valet Rochester drive him around in worn out Maxwell car. The sound of the car was provided by Mel Blanc (he recycled the same voice for the 70s cartoon character Speed Buggy).


FRAN STRIKER - He was writer working at WXYZ in Detroit. He created The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet.


In a 1970s poll, more people could recite the opening to The Lone Ranger than they could the Pledge of Allegiance.


ARCH OBOLER - Producer and creative mind behind the horror show Lights Out. Oboler used some graphic sound effects for people being electrocuted, monsters crushing their victims to death and chicken heart that grew to engulf a whole city.


ORSON WELLES - He made his first mark on radio as the voice of The Shadow and his playboy alter-ego, Lamont Cranston. He later created The Mercury Radio Theater of the Air, which produced a great version of Dracula. He produced and performed in a version of Heart of Darkness that Francis Ford Coppala says influenced Apocalypse Now. That would be enough, but his crowning achievement was his version of War of the Worlds, that mimicked radio news reports, blurred the line between drama and reality so well that it caused panic along the East Coast.


TODD STORZ - He watched a waitress use her tips to play the most popular hits on a juke box and thought "What if radio played only the top hits over and over?" He then created the Top 40 format at the exact birth of rock and roll in the mid 50s.



WOLFMAN JACK - Like Benny before him, Wolfman Jack created a persona. One of the longest lasting of the 50s era DJs with a werewolf howl, a raspy voice and hipster lingo. Really a quite guy named Bob Smith, who like to freak out radio station clients and young fans, by slipping into the Wolfman voice suddenly. George Lucas used this along with the real Wolfman Jack in American Graffiti. He then hosted the TV show The Midnight Special on NBC in the 70s.


GARY OWENS - A smooth talking, wise cracking DJ, who became famous outside radio and the announcer on TVs Laugh-In and the voice of cartoon superheroes Space Ghost and Blue Falcon.


BILL DRAKE - He took what Todd Storz created in the 50s and modernized it in the 60s. Consulting other radio stations on how to do it. He update the jingles from 40s sounding pop to a dynamic rock instrumental with vocals by the Johnny Mann Singers. He had radio stations remove the sales department from any decisions about programing, including getting rid of long form live ads. An tightened up the presentation to an art form. "AND THE HITS JUST KEEP A COMIN!"



THE REAL DON STEELE - Drake's big star at KHJ in Los Angeles. The epitome of loud, fast-talking radio DJs. Later appeared in the films Death Race 2000, Eating Raole, and Rock & Roll High School.


BIG DADDY TOM DONAHUE - The opposite of The Real Don Steele and Wolfman Jack, but belongs along side Storz and Drake. Began as a jazz DJ in San Fransisco, a general manager forced Drake to fire him because he couldn't talk fast enough. Donahue looked at the growing counter culture scene of San Fransisco Haight-Ashbury and created underground radio. Slower, quieter DJs playing long LP cuts. In the 70s, it morphed into AOR radio and influenced college/alternative radio of the 80s. His DJs included Sly Stone, Ben Fong -Torres and Howard Hessman from WKRP and Head of the Class.


BYRON MACGREGOR - Worked as a news director for the Drake consulted CKLW in Windsor, Ontario, a rimshot of Detroit, in the early 70s. Windsor had very little news, Detroit was coming unglued with so many murders that the morgue ran out of room. MacGregor's booming voice and envelope pushing "if-it-bleeds-it-leads" news writing became legendary. No truth to the rumor MacGregor lead a newscast with "A 5 year old boy was strained like spaghetti through the grill of a Buick today," but he did record a patriotic, spoken word record called "The Americans," that became popular again after 9-11-2001.


CASEY KASEM - Once referred to as "the man who taught America how to count backwards." The L.A DJ and cartoon voice over actor, created the syndicated radio show, The American Top 40 Countdown, where he played the hits, gave positive, uplifting stories about the artist, Billboard chart trivia, sappy, tearjerker dedications, and turned rock and roll into a kind of cross between sports coverage and a soap opera. He always closed with "Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars."


DR. DEMENTO - A musicologist and music historian, who introduced audiences to some of the strangest novelty and comedy records ever made on his syndicated radio show of the 70s and 80s. He also is credited with playing homemade tapes by a listener named Weird Al Yankovic.   

And those are the people who not only made radio great, but inspired my career in radio.  

Sunday, July 24, 2016

TARZAN AND THE IMPOSTERS


One of the big movie releases this summer has been The Legend of Tarzan. Reviews are mixed but it is another addition to the long history of one of the most famous adventure, literature characters of all time. The first Tarzan story, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, was published in a magazine in 1912. The first comic adaptation was in 1929 in a newspaper strip drawn by Hal Foster. Reprints began appearing in a new form of reading material called comic books. Later, original stories and adaptations of Burroughs stories began appearing in comic book form in 1947. From 1939 to 1972, Tarzan comics were published by Western Publishing, first under the Dell imprint, then Gold Key Comics imprint. Starting in 1972, Tarzan was published by DC Comics. Then in 1978 to 1979, the character went to Marvel.

There were also many Tarzan imposters, that sprang up with the popularity of comic books. In the mid 30s, Marvel launched a character in their pulp magazines known as Ka-Zar of the Hidden Jungle. They brought the character back in the 60s. Here are some Tarzan covers as well as some imitation jungle men and women. Incidentally, the Tarzan comic strip still appears in newspapers, thought Universal Features.



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