Shazam!

I often find myself making poorly-constructed jokes about fighting crime cross country in a Winnebago. More often than not, no one knows what I’m talking about and everyone just goes about their business as if I had said nothing. There are some comic book friends of mine that think I’m referencing the famous Green Lantern/Green Arrow road trip of the late sixties. (If you don’t get the reference, well... you’re just not happening.) However, if you read my meta-text closely, you’ll find I’m referencing something else entirely.


The reference is to the Saturday morning TV show Shazam, which ran from 1974 to 1977. It starred Michael Gray and his terrific hair as a young Billy Batson. In case you don’t know, Billy has a magic word. Billy can shout “Shazam” and instantly change into the super-hero Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel was played originally by Jackson Bostwick, and replaced unceremoniously by John Davey in 1975 because of Hollywood-crappyness. But most creepy of all, Billy traveled the country in his Winnebago with an older character named “Mentor”, played by Les Tremayne. Mentor? Mentor? I guess it was too difficult for the writers to come up with a better name.








It’s hard for me to explain just how important this TV show was to kid culture of the mid-seventies. I can tell you that as a six year old in the seventies, I noticed NONE of the show's flaws or shortcomings. We ran around on the playground playing Captain Marvel just as much as we played Six Million Dollar Man. (More on that to come)


It seems sort of odd for an American animation company to lock down the rights to a show and then make a live-action version geared towards Saturday morning kiddies. But it really wasn’t all that odd. Hollywood had been producing these sorts of things since the 1950’s and Space Patrol, among others. Just because cartoons were the bulk of Saturday morning in the seventies doesn’t mean there weren’t some live-action gems. Shazam and sister-show Isis were two of the biggest hits to come from Saturday morning live action programming.


I had the Underoos. I wore them to school. My shirt became out-of-place during wrestling lessons in gym and everyone saw I was wearing Shazam Underoos and started singing “Underoos are fun to wear”. It’s for this reason that I make sure my shirt never becomes untucked at work, lest my co-workers see what I have on underneath.


I used to think my love of the character Captain Marvel and everything that goes with him came from the giant treasury editions I had that reprinted a few of his adventures from the 1940’s. Santa put them in my stocking a couple years in a row and I clearly remember spending hours examining every glorious panel.


But as much as I love those old comics, it’s not where my love of the character Captain Marvel comes from. It’s this show. This cheaply made, perfectly executed, cheesy old seventies Saturday morning TV show. It’s the lightning thrill of watching Billy and his incredible hair tear out of the Winnebago, run into a field, and call out the magic word. Yes, it was just that simple. The essential elements of the Captain Marvel character captured more perfectly than they have been since the character's heyday in the 1940’s.

Boy sees trouble. Boy uses magic word (oftentimes with drama-inducing last minute timing). Boy changes to super-powered man.


The show recently became available on DVD in its entirety directly through Warner Bros. I bought it, of course. And I’ve been watching it with my six-year-old in the evenings when he comes home from school with no tallies for the day. Lorie sits nearby, playing games on her iPad mini and pretending not to watch and occasionally making derogatory comments about the show’s unpolished nature. But I don’t mind.


After the episode ends, I tackle Alex. We wrestle around on the couch and I restrain his arms. He struggles, and uses his best dramatic voice. “Just… .got… to… use… magic… word! (gasp)… (pause)…. SHAZAM!”

He explodes out of my grip and starts beating me on the chest.

I love it so.

Thanks,
DCD