Showing posts with label Movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movies. 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. 


   

Friday, August 3, 2018

A NEW PODCAST ABOUT REBOOTS & REMAKES


A new podcast with guest host Jeff & Jamie (and Jamie's sons). They talk pros and cons of reboots, as well as ideas for new reboots of Kidd Video, Ark 2, Scarecrow of the Romney Marsh, Laredo, DC Comics Inferior 5 and even, The Adventures of Hiram Holiday. If you have a suggestion for a topic for Jeff & Jamie, send and e-mail to d4windsbar@yahoo.com or leave a suggestion in the comments section here or on Facebook.

Saturday, January 28, 2017

R. I. P JOHN HURT

John Hurt in 1984

Of all of the many movies John Hurt was in, I love his cameo in the Mel Brooks film Spaceballs, because not only does it reference Hurt's famous death scene in Alien, but also the Warner Brothers cartoon One Froggy Evening.


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 14, 2016

DESDINOVA'S UNDERRATED & OVERRATED AWARDS


I'm not sure which historical magazine, a few years ago, had an underrated/overrated article. Recently, I began thinking about doing my own version. I realize my opinions usually get me in trouble, but I'm compelled to do this. I really didn't do extensive research, I'm just going on my opinions verses that of co-workers, former classmates, colleagues in the radio industry, film and music critics and other bloggers. You can be mad at some of what I have here, but the only person that will be allowed to dispute my awards is Kanye West.

TV VEHICLE:




UNDERRATED: The Untouchables Truck. How underrated is this vehicle? The only photos I could find of it were screen caps from an episode of Happy Days (above). It deserves recognition because it was a real vehicle. In his book, from which the TV show was based, Eliot Ness explains that his men confiscated a beer truck, used by Al Capone, and fitted it with two steel sheets that were sharpened on the sides. These worked as both a battering ram on the chained doors of illegal breweries and kept bullets from striking the engine.


OVERRATED: The General Lee from The Dukes of Hazard. The doors don't open and you have to crawl through the window. Enough said.


70s MOVIES:


UNDERRATED: Paper Moon. Great dialogue, great casting, black and white cinematography, and fairly accurate historical details.


OVERRATED: Kramer vs Kramer. When is somebody going to admit this is just like a thousand made for TV movies about divorce. Meryl Streep was better in Death Becomes Her and She Devil and Dustin Hoffman better in Tootsie and Meet The Flockers


BEATLES SONG:


UNDERRATED: "I Feel Fine." This is the quintessential early Beatles song. Everything that made The Beatles one of the greatest rock band in history is all right here in this song.



OVERRATED: "In My Life." It is slow and depressing. Not what I want from the Beatles.


50s ROCK & ROLL PIONEER:


UNDERRATED: Screaming Jay Hawkins. His stage act paved the way for Alice Copper, Ozzy Osbourne, Kiss and Marilyn Manson. Some of his 60s recordings could be the forerunner of 2 Live Crew and other rappers hits. Plus, his most famous song, "I Put a Spell On You" was one of the first early rock and roll songs to become an pop standard recorded by singers of other genres (Buddy Holly's "True Love Ways" would be the next one).


OVERRATED: Jerry Lee Lewis."The Killer" had about four good songs early in his career, then in the 60s he went country. All of his country songs sound alike and they all suck. The bad part is he just kept recording more of them.

60s AMERICAN POP GROUP:


UNDERRATED: The Monkees. The rock critics and press of the 60s hated them. Over the years that has changed. Their most recent CD has gotten good reviews. They may still get into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame yet.


OVERRATED: The Four Seasons. Let me first say I like the 70s hits by The Four Seasons, but I find most of the 60s output irritating and much of it was overplayed by radio. If that wasn't enough, they recorded an LP, using something called the "Chee Chee Girl" voice, under the name The Wonder Who. That LP will make your ears bleed. One reason they are here is the talk radio contingent are trying to rewrite history (and intelligent thought) and say that the Four Season were a better group than the Beatles. It a good country people would be executed for saying that.

70s HARD ROCK BAND:


UNDERRATED: Blue Oyster Cult. For a heavy metal band they produced some very smooth recordings that border on yatch rock, while having a strange sense of humor ("Joan Crawford Has Risen From the Grave"). I took my blogging moniker from one of their songs. The only thing complaint is (wait for it) they needed more cowbell.


OVERRATED: Lynard Skynyrd. Overplayed on radio, but part of that has to do with music testing and request lines. Once, I was getting my tires changed in Lebanon, Missouri, and there was a radio in the garage on. "Free Bird" came on the radio and every guy working in that garage went "Yeeehaw," like the Dukes of Hazzard. Scary.

80s VOCALIST:


UNDERRATED: Boy George of Culture Club. If you close your eyes, forget what about the way he looked in the 80s and just listen to his voice, you will find Boy George has one of the most pleasant and smoothest voice in rock and roll. Sadly, people saw him as a gimmick singer.


OVERRATED: Whitney Houston. Besides being the favorite singer of goody two-shoes people in the 80s, she always seems to be saying "Listen to how good I can sing. I'll hold this note real long and prove it." That is irritating.

ROCK GUITARIST:


UNDERRATED: John Cipollina of Quicksilver Messenger Service. All you have to do is listen to some of Quicksilver's instrumentals and you will see why I say he is underrated.


OVERRATED: Stevie Ray Vaughan. I shocked a friend of mine, who lives in California, when I told him that some people here in the Ozarks believe Stevie Ray Vaughan was a better guitarist than Jimi Hendrix. "NO WAY!" He said. "That is messed up thinking." Indeed.


ALBUM BY THE EAGLES:


UNDERRATED: One of These Nights.


OVERRATED: Hell Freezes Over. You have one LP that contains the hits, "One of These Nights," "Take It To The Limit" and "Lying Eyes," but also "Journey To the Sorcerer," which was the theme for the radio and TV versions of Hitchhikers Guide To the Galaxy. The other CD is several live versions of previous hits and the official national anthem of douche-bags everywhere, "Get Over It."  

MOVIE DESIGNED AS A VEHICLE FOR A SINGER:


UNDERRATED: UHF starring Weird Al Yankovic.


OVERRATED: Pure Country starring George Strait. One is a hilarious cult film and the other is the forerunner of the movies on the Hallmark Channel.

NUMBER ONE HIT OF THE 90s:


UNDERRATED: "MmmBop" by Hanson. This is just a great, fun bubble gum song. I don't think any of the radio stations in Springfield, Missouri, played it when it came out. I know KTXY in Columbia played it heavy because it was a NUMBER ONE HIT.


OVERRATED: "Candle In the Wind - 97" by Elton John. I'll just say it. This is not as good as the original version that was on the Goodbye Yellow Brick Road LP. It should have made it to Number One, not this one.

MOVIE OF THE 90s:


UNDERRATED: Matinee. A movie about being a monster kid at the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis with John Goodman as a William Castle-like producer promoting a meta-film called MANT!, that is filmed in black and white, with several stars from various sci-fi films of the 50s.


OVERRATED: Jerry McGuire. A jock boy picture. I tried to watch it twice and each time it put me to sleep at the word "Hello."

LINE IN A HORROR COMEDY:


UNDERRATED: "It is true. This man has no dick." from Ghostbusters. Peck deserved that comment.


OVERRATED: "You mean like Democrats?" from Ghost Breakers. After this has been on Facebook 50 million times it is no longer funny.

Who knows, I may give out more of these awards sometime.

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

TOP FIVE CHRISTMAS VILLAINS

Since I am the Super-Villain of the Ozarks, I thought I should give you a look at some of the villains from Christmas movies.

Movies:

1. Ebenizer Scrooge of A Christmas Carol


2. Henry "Old Man" Potter of It's a Wonderful Life


3. Granville Sawyer of Miracle of 34th Street


4. Voldar of Santa Claus Conquers the Martians


5. Harry & Marv, the Wet Bandits of Home Alone

TV specials


1. Burgermeister Meisterburger of Santa Claus is Coming To Town


2. Tie: Virginia's "Little Friends" from Yes, Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus


    & "All of the other reindeer" from Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer


3. The Grinch Who Stole Christmas


4. Alice of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever


5. Professor Hinkle the magician of Frosty the Snowman.

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