Showing posts with label The 70s. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The 70s. 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. 


   

Sunday, December 23, 2018

BETTER HOMES & GARDENS CHRISTMAS 1975


These photos are from a Better Homes & Gardens issue from December of 1975. The theme was to show how Christmas was being celebrated 200 years after America was founded. One thing you will notice is the trend is for folksy, homemade stuff in an effort to "go back to the good ole days." This was the era of The Waltons & Little House on the Prairie. I hated that, but I survived.  As always, click on the photo to enlarge it.

At a large church in a major city

A crap craft bazaar attended by the kind of women that would have deep discussions, in TV commercials of that era, about "occasional irregularity."

This is nice but let me add that the captions didn't give locations.


Some generic football players visit kids in a hospital somewhere.




Nice tree

A 1975 MILF decorates her Christmas tree.


The lost art of Tiffany glass decorations


Patchwork wreaths


Remember, if you live out in the country, you have to decorate your tree in barnyard animals.


More of the farm motive for decorations. Nothing says Christmas like a pig, duck, goat, hen, cow, & cranky old couple.


Country folk also decorate with big quilts on their wall.

Now this is what I like. I remember the white tree trend. That was cool.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

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



Sunday, October 21, 2018

MONSTERS - 70s VINYL RECORD MYSTERY



A well-meaning co-worker gave this to me. I can’t find any information on who these guys really are. All I know is Hugo & Luigi we’re executive producers. It is not very good. Some of the original songs are mediocre at best. The covers are horrible. Especially the version of “Monster Mash”. Below is one of the original numbers entitled "Transylvania Disco Hustle." The whole LP is on You Tube.


Sunday, July 8, 2018

DESDINOVA'S 20 FAVORITE ELTON JOHN SONGS


I've posted several Ipod playlist dedicated to such artist as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Monkees, The Doors, Chuck Berry and Prince. A few days ago, I thought "I've never made a Ipod playlist for Elton John." Well, now I think is the right time. These are my favorites in order.

  1.  Mama Can't Buy You Love 
  2.  Madman Across the Water (original version)
  3. All The Young Girls Love Alice
  4. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
  5. Lady Samantha
  6. Crocodile Rock
  7. Tiny Dancer
  8. Saturday Nights All Right For Fighting
  9. Philadelphia Freedom
  10. Burn Down The Mission
  11. Take Me To the Pilot
  12.  Kiss The Bride
  13. I'm Still Standing
  14. Your Song
  15. Bennie & The Jets
  16. Rocket Man
  17. Warp Her Up
  18. Funeral For a Friend
  19. Candle In the Wind (original version)
  20. Mona Lisa and Mad Hatters


Saturday, July 7, 2018

R. I. P STEVE DITKO


Steve Ditko was one of the first comic book artist whose style I recognized without looking at the credits. Ditko's characters had skinny heads that were flat on the top. I first became aware of his name in a paperback collection of early Spider-Man stories.

Ditko helped create many famous characters for Marvel (Spider-Man & Dr. Strange), Charlton (Captain Atom & The Question) and D.C (The Creeper, Hawk & Dove, Shade the Changing Man). He also helped revived the Blue Beetle in the Silver Age (at Charlton) and even worked on two issues of Dell's Get Smart comic book.



Charlton reprinted this 50s sci-fi anthology after the success of Star Wars

from a Dell Get Smart comic book

As I've gotten older, I have issues with Ditko's Ayn Rand-fueled beliefs and his reclusive nature. Yet his work and contribution to the industry should not be overlooked on this account. He used the same storytelling ability on Max & 99's task of chewing licorice gumballs as he did Spider-Man trying to extricated himself from under a fallen piece of machinery. That is why he will be missed.
 

Saturday, December 2, 2017

AM I THE ONLY PERSON WHO REMEMBERS THE LOST SAUCER WITH JIM NABORS?


With the passing of actor-singer Jim Nabors this week, I found out that most of the media has forgotten one of Jim Nabors' TV series, The Lost Saucer.  The obituaries mention that Gomer debuted on The Andy Griffith Show, then went to the spin off Gomer Pyle USMC, and then, he hosted a variety show for two years after then end of Gomer Pyle. However, The Lost Saucer isn't mentioned in any of the articles or obits I read on line.

The Lost Saucer was a 1975 Sid & Marty Kroft Production made for the Saturday morning audience. Jim Nabors played an android name Fum. Ruth Buzzi played an android named Fie. Both come from the future to see what Earth was like in the past. The saucer malfunctions after they give a ride to a boy and his babysitter and they become lost in time. 

I remember watching this show as a child and enjoying it. Watching on YouTube, I still enjoyed it and I'm in my late 40s with two college degrees. Of course, there are people on YouTube and IMDB trashing the show. I guess that makes them feel more secure in their manhood or something.

On thing I forgot about was the way, Fum would start malfunctioning. Nabors would make goofy noises like a tape recorder messing up and Buzzi would whack him on the back to make him work properly again. And yes, ever so often Fum would say "GGOOOOLLLLLEEEE!!!," just like Gomer.

While everyone is remembering Jim Nabors as the folksy, country boy turned Marine Gomer Pyle, I choose to also remember Jim Nabors as the friendly, but slightly clumsy android from the future named Fum. Maybe some of the media writers, thought this was a generational hoax like Sinbad in a movie about a genie named Shazam, or as Gomer would say "SSSHHHHAAAAZZZAAAAMMMM!!!"

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Sunday, October 29, 2017

FOUND PHOTOS OF HALLOWEEN PARTIES

I found several photos from Halloween parties of the past on Tumblr. Enjoy!








Okay, I know the last one isn't real, but I couldn't resist.

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