Shazam!

"Shazam" was a very good show considering it had a budget of $70,000 per episode and only consisted of 28 episodes. The show brought life back to the D.C. Comics character, who was revived after a 20 year absence. Had the show had a prime time slot and been based more on the comic, it's potential would have been even greater.

What can I say. In South America the spanish version for this TV show was on the air till 1977 and it was great for me. I'll never forget the ending morals what show me about the good and bad things of life. I am not a fan of Captain Marvel but I think that Billy Batson and Mentor show me little pieces of the person that I am today. I must thank for that. Of course if I could see it again I'd be laughing about how Captain Marvel use to fly... but I couldn't ask for more on that time.

THAT the Golden Age of Comic Books started with the publication of ACTION COMICS No. 1, featuring that sensational action-adventure character, "SUPERMAN", is fact. Created by a pair of former High School buddies from Cleveland, "The Man of Steel" would prove to be a veritable overnight success; providing impetus for not only its publisher, National Comics Publications (aka Detective Comics, Inc. and ultimately, D.C. Comics), but also energizing the whole comics field with the desire to bring the public more and more Super-hero "Long Underwear" Characters.

HENCE, it came to pass that from all corners of the New York's Publishing section, the World saw the rise of every imaginable variation on the "Superhero" theme. That meant a bumper crop of literally a thousand superman' all arising from every and all corners of "publishers' row."

NATIONAL Comics was responsible for a great portion of the bu$ine$$ driven proliferation of those altruistically driven, abnormally endowed with unusual powers and abilities "far beyond those of Mortal Men!" Within a year, DETECTIVE COMICS No. 27 premiered the non-super powered, but highly trained and prowess laden"BATMAN" Feature.

FROM that point on and in rapid fashion, the D.C. dual headed editorial offices* gave us "THE FLASH", "GREEN LANTERN", "THE SPECTRE", "HAWKMAN" , "THE SANDMAN", "DR. FATE", "HOURMAN", "STARMAN" and the inevitable female variation in "WONDER WOMAN".

BUT the other publishing companies weren't standing by idle. From Timely (later Atlas, then Marvel Comics*) we received such luminaries as "THE HUMAN TORCH", "Prince Namor, THE SUB-MARINER" and that pure symbol of patriotism, "CAPTAIN America" THE editorial staff at MLJ Publications brought out a crew of super characters all of their own with the likes of "THE SHIELD", "WIZARD"and "THE BLACK HOOD." MLJ would later change its corporate moniker in honor of a "Henry Aldrich-Andy Hardy" type of Teen-aged comedy strip. To this day it's known as Archie Comics Publications!

THERE were literally hundreds of characters that fit into this category; but we feel that there are a few more which merit at least a mention. Quality Comics Publications gave us the visually stunning and literary whimsiness of "PLASTIC MAN"; as well as publishing Will Eisner's copyright feature of "THE SPIRIT" , both in their POLICE COMICS monthly.

AND from Fox Features, we had an interesting assortment, most interesting of which was "THE BLUE BEETLE", which merited a short lived adaptation to a Radio Series, which starred Frank Lovejoy in the title role.

IRONICALLY the biggest rivalry for Superman and Company came from a character who is in many ways the one with the closest resemblance to the Progenitor of all Super Heroes. Fawcett Publications "CAPTAIN MARVEL" bowed in their WHIZ COMICS No. 2 (there was no # 1 published), dated February, 1940. From the start, it was clearly evident that perhaps Superman-D.C. had met its match, from another super-strong, flying, totally noble hero. As further evidence of this, Fawcett's 2nd comics title to feature Cap & his gang, CAPTAIN MARVEL ADVENTURES, went to publishing every 2 weeks, the first comic book to do so.

BUT all would not remain peaceful in the escapist 4 color mag world as D.C. filed several suits, claiming copyright infringement against Captain Marvel and Fawcett. The legal tug-of-war dragged on for several years; until Fawcett threw in the towel with a figurative "No Mas"! They agreed to never publish the adventures of Captain Marvel in exchange for an armistice. The year was 1953 and comic book publisher faced a lot of changes in the business; including a sharp drop-off in popularity for the "Cape and Mask" set. It was a done deal; no Fawcett Comics, no Legal Troubles.

NOW we must fast forward nearly two decades. A great Super Hero revival had been in progress for several years and once again, the bu$ine$$ $en$e of the 'Suits' at D.C. reasoned that it would be foolishly wasteful to leave the old "Big Red Cheese" on the shelf during such an era of "super-powered" good will. A deal was struck and D.C. first paid royalties to publish Captain Marvel and later acquired the rights to him outright.

SOON, Television beckoned; as the Super-hero was a most desirable item ever since the Pop Art-Camp BATMAN TV Series had made such an impression on the Nation and indeed, the whole World in 1966. Filmation, known for its TV animation projects, which included the NEW ADVENTURES OF SUPERMAN, AQUAMAN, JUSTICE LEAGUE OF America and the first BATMAN Cartoon Series, came up with a format for a sort of juvenile coming of age/road trip scenario for the weekly episodes. In a typical we would have young Billy Batson pondering some great mystery of life and conferring with the old Wizard, Shazam (and oft with those gods and heroes whose name spelled the acronym of Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles and Mercury). All this was rendered by FIlmation's Animation Department.

PROVIDING proper adult or even a sort of "parental" guidance was the character "Mentor"; played by long time distinguished actor of stage, screen, Radio and Television, Les Tremayne. The character is somewhat mysterious and he seems to be some sort of Wizard, himself; possibly even being Old "Shazam", himself.

ONLY one problem remained as the name of Captain Marvel was tied up under Trademark Law in a more recent character, a member of Stan Lee's Marvel Comics Stable. The name was their's to use, but not as a title. So, the title of "SHAZAM!" was settled on and Captain Marvel was known to whole new generations. The mixed Live Action & Animated "SHAZAM" had a successful 3 year run on CBS, with two guys in the lead. There was Jackson Bostwick (1974-75) and John Davey (1976-77). There was little noticeable difference in the two's performances.

Poodleschnitz!

"SHAZAM!!" With this desperately bleated out word, young Billy Batson (Gray) turns from a 25 year-old teenager to a bland, 30-something guy in a red body suit who saves horses lives and puts out school fires. (...a far cry from the loftier efforts of the comic book superhero who inspired this Saturday morning kid's show!) Pretty, youngish Gray (who owns one shirt) travels the globe (actually the same neighborhood over and over) in a Winnebago with his 'Mentor' (chickenhawk Tremayne sporting the worst comb-over in the history of TV.) While Tremayne dispenses sage advice with his formerly-velvet announcer voice, Gray learns lessons each week from an animated (actually one picture in which only the lips move!) array of 'elders'. These elders spout platitudes on how things should be and then, miraculously, Gray and Tremayne stumble across an example in which they can put their newfound knowledge to work. On cue, a danger comes about which is beyond Gray's ability to solve. This invariably means that Gray will have to call out "Shazam!" (an acronym of the elders' names) and Captain Marvel will appear in his place. Marvel was played by two men, neither of whom were able to get anywhere after this show, though the second one did do a large amount of TV guest roles. While they are handsome, they are hopelessly average in build and strength. The costume just sort of clings here and there, rather than being stretched across rippled muscles. The producers may as well have gotten the guy who played "Dennis the Menace's" dad to do the part. The poor guys are further humiliated by eternally cruddy flying effects in which the men lie on a board while a fan blows on them and stock footage of sky is projected behind them. More hilarious is watching Tremayne ALMOST keep his hands off Gray. He paws on the kid at every opportunity, telling him what to do, and his "this just in" vocal style adds a campy, homoerotic flavor to their scenes. Still, the show is irresistible and watching it brings back a lot of memories. The overbearing music is like a brainwashing device. Once one hears it again, it sticks in the mind and can't be excised. A flood of childhood memories involving jumping off a rock and landing face down in the dirt reappears. A delightful companion piece is it's spin-off "Isis".

I just watched an old episode and it was light hearted entertainment with nice morals and a good message. Unlike that other reviewer who is either homophobic, has a complex, or was trying to be funny, I saw the relationship between Billy Batson and Mentor as an Obi Wan and Luke thing. He was being a mentor!!! Hence the name. I don't know why people like that have to bash anything that has 2 males in it, like Batman and Robin, etc. Two men can be friends. An older men can pass on his wisdom to the young without being gay. And if anything would endanger Billy in anyway, all he had to say was SHAZAM!!!! All you haters get a life and give this nice 1974 show a break.