Help! Name this 70's kids' show
Craig Groeschel
about a kid who rode around in an RV with some old guy, his "Mentor."
He would commuicate with (animated) "Elders" via ESP.
Whenever he needed his super-powers, he said "Shazam!"
He then wore a red suit with a lightning bolt on the chest.
What was the name of the show? The superhero?
My cousin and I are stumped; every time we hear Gomer say "Sha-zam!"
it drives us crazy....
Thanks to anyone who can shed some light on this.
(This is my first post to the group. Of the 150 articles on the nntp
server, I found no faq and several good nostalgia-type questions.
I hope I haven't committed a breach of netiquette.)
--
"Do not play this piece fast. It is never right to play Ragtime fast." Joplin
Thomas Munroe Walsh
>There was a show on Saturday mornings, in the late 70's,
>about a kid who rode around in an RV with some old guy, his "Mentor."
> He would commuicate with (animated) "Elders" via ESP.
> Whenever he needed his super-powers, he said "Shazam!"
>He then wore a red suit with a lightning bolt on the chest.
>
>What was the name of the show? The superhero?
>
>My cousin and I are stumped; every time we hear Gomer say "Sha-zam!"
>it drives us crazy....
>
>Thanks to anyone who can shed some light on this.
>
Publications in the 1940's and currently DC Comics holds rights to
the character. The show was probably called "Shazam" or some
variation thereof because Marvel Comics holds the actual trademark
on the name "Captain Marvel."
The show was paired off with "Isis" and there was at least one story
that crossed over between the two shows.
,------------------------,----------------------------------------------,
| T. J. Walsh | "In case of doubt, make it sound |
| University Of Virginia | convincing." |
| tm...@virginia.edu | |
`------------------------^----------------------------------------------'
Mark P. Fey
>There was a show on Saturday mornings, in the late 70's,
>about a kid who rode around in an RV with some old guy, his "Mentor."
> He would commuicate with (animated) "Elders" via ESP.
> Whenever he needed his super-powers, he said "Shazam!"
>He then wore a red suit with a lightning bolt on the chest.
>What was the name of the show? The superhero?
>My cousin and I are stumped; every time we hear Gomer say "Sha-zam!"
>it drives us crazy....
>Thanks to anyone who can shed some light on this.
Please post this, as now I'm really annoyed that I can't
remember the name either!
Kate
Timothy C Webb
>bigb...@nuchat.sccsi.com (Craig Groeschel) writes:
>
>>There was a show on Saturday mornings, in the late 70's,
>>about a kid who rode around in an RV with some old guy, his "Mentor."
>> He would commuicate with (animated) "Elders" via ESP.
>> Whenever he needed his super-powers, he said "Shazam!"
>>He then wore a red suit with a lightning bolt on the chest.
>>What was the name of the show? The superhero?
>
>remember the name either!
You know the name already-- it's Shazam! (the name of the show and the hero)
--
===============================================================================
| Tim Webb \ "Master of soul/set to touch all impenetrable |
| t...@kepler.unh.edu \ youth/Ask away/that thought be contact/With |
| ---------------- \ all that's clear/be honest with yourself" |
===============================================================================
Phred T. Platypus
>>>There was a show on Saturday mornings, in the late 70's,
>>>about a kid who rode around in an RV with some old guy, his "Mentor."
>>> He would commuicate with (animated) "Elders" via ESP.
>>> Whenever he needed his super-powers, he said "Shazam!"
>>>He then wore a red suit with a lightning bolt on the chest.
>>>What was the name of the show? The superhero?
>
Captain Marvel. The show in was also part of the Shazam/Isis hour in a
later season. Two actors played the "Big Red Cheese" (Cap's nickname),
but I can't remember their names.
--
"You ask me if sex is one of the most _ \_ \ _ /_ / Phred Platypus
important things in life? Absolutely. _ \_ \ _ /_ / Grammarian of Vengeance
But the lack of it is even likelier _ \_ \_ /_ / [ vjmu...@carina.unm.edu ]
to drive you nuts." -- Harlan Ellison _ \_ / Vincent J. Murphy
Michael Burstein
>>bigb...@nuchat.sccsi.com (Craig Groeschel) writes:
>>
>>>There was a show on Saturday mornings, in the late 70's,
>>>He then wore a red suit with a lightning bolt on the chest.
>>>What was the name of the show? The superhero?
>
> You know the name already-- it's Shazam! (the name of the show and the hero)
No. Shazam was what he said to summon his powers. Shazam is an acronym,
actually, for six gods from whom he summoned his strength. The
superhero's name was Captain Marvel, and his secret identity was Billy
Batson.
At least as far as the comic book went. I barely remember the existence
of the TV show, but that's all. The comic book was created in the 1930's
--
Michael A. Burstein
Physics Department, Boston University m...@buphy.bu.edu
590 Commonwealth Ave. (617) 353-9437 (o)
Boston, MA 02215 (617) 735-9433 (h)
Mathew S Reno
>In article <1992Apr27.0...@nic.unh.edu> t...@kepler.unh.edu (Timothy C Webb) writes:
>>In article <1992Apr27....@cco.caltech.edu> mf...@cco.caltech.edu (Mark P. Fey) writes:
>>>bigb...@nuchat.sccsi.com (Craig Groeschel) writes:
>>>
>>>>There was a show on Saturday mornings, in the late 70's,
>>>> Whenever he needed his super-powers, he said "Shazam!"
>>>>He then wore a red suit with a lightning bolt on the chest.
>>>>What was the name of the show? The superhero?
>>>remember the name either!
>>
>> You know the name already-- it's Shazam! (the name of the show and the hero)
>
>
>No. Shazam was what he said to summon his powers. Shazam is an acronym,
>actually, for six gods from whom he summoned his strength. The
>superhero's name was Captain Marvel, and his secret identity was Billy
>Batson.
>
Actually, there was a cartoon called Shazam, where the main character was,
Shazam. It was the Cartoon version of Captain Marvel, but they just called him
Shazam,go figure.
--Matt
--
********************************************************************************
**Matt Reno ** Miss Blackstone is a 24 year old college student **
**m...@kepler.unh.edu ** and she just *LOVES* to make apple pie. **
**M_R...@unhh.unh.edu ** --Miss Macross announcer **
********************************************************************************
Jeffrey Hitchin
> You know the name already-- it's Shazam! (the name of the show and the hero)
Actually, the hero's name is Captain Marvel. Only the show was
called Shazam. (The character is from DC comics.)
Sean McAfee
>>In article <1992Apr27....@cco.caltech.edu> mf...@cco.caltech.edu (Mark P. Fey) writes:
>>>bigb...@nuchat.sccsi.com (Craig Groeschel) writes:
>>>>There was a show on Saturday mornings, in the late 70's,
>>>> Whenever he needed his super-powers, he said "Shazam!"
>>>>He then wore a red suit with a lightning bolt on the chest.
>>>>What was the name of the show? The superhero?
>>>remember the name either!
>> You know the name already-- it's Shazam! (the name of the show and the hero)
>No. Shazam was what he said to summon his powers. Shazam is an acronym,
>actually, for six gods from whom he summoned his strength. The
>superhero's name was Captain Marvel, and his secret identity was Billy
>Batson.
The letters stand for:
S - Solomon (wisdom)
H - Hercules (strength)
A - Atlas (stamina)
Z - Zeus (power)
A - Achilles (courage)
M - Mercury (speed)
>At least as far as the comic book went. I barely remember the existence
>of the TV show, but that's all. The comic book was created in the 1930's
Yup, it was created in the 30's, but DC Comics revived it for a few years in
the 70's.
And now, since Pnews just doesn't seem to like my response to the original
article (leastaways, I haven't seen it show up), I'll include it here.
Apologies to all if you've seen this before...
In article <1992Apr25.2...@nuchat.sccsi.com> ceg...@zeus.tamu.edu writes:
>There was a show on Saturday mornings, in the late 70's,
>about a kid who rode around in an RV with some old guy, his "Mentor."
> He would commuicate with (animated) "Elders" via ESP.
(The whole show was animated.)
> Whenever he needed his super-powers, he said "Shazam!"
>He then wore a red suit with a lightning bolt on the chest.
>What was the name of the show? The superhero?
The hero's name is Captain Marvel. The show's name was probably "Shazam!"
Captain Marvel's mortal identity was Billy Batson. He also had a sister,
Mary, and a buddy, Freddy Freeman, who both possessed Shazam powers--Mary's
magic word was "Shazam!" like Billy's, while Freddy's was "Captain Marvel!".
Mary became Mary Marvel, with a costume like the Captain's but with short
sleeves and a skirt, and Freddy became Captain Marvel Jr., with a costume
exactly like Cap's, except that it was blue instead of red. I believe the
main villain in the show was Billy's evil uncle, Dr. Sivana. Incidentally,
I don't remember all this from the show, but from the comic book (which was
out at about the same time). As "War of the Worlds" is to television for
me, "Captain Marvel" is to comics--I feel guilty about liking it. I know
it's hokey as all hell, but still, I like it! (Oh, and by the way, Billy's
mentor was his kindly old Uncle Dudley.)
The only episode I remember even a part of involved Billy and Freddy being
thrown into a negative universe, where their magic words didn't summon the
lightning bolts. Eventually they figured out that they had to say their
magic words backwards ("Mazahs!" and "Levram Niatpac!" respectively) to effect
the transformations. For some reason I remember being very impressed when I
first saw this episode, since the writers were smart enough to have Freddy
say his whole phrase backwards, not the first word backwards followed by the
second word backwards. Why I remember this little tidbit I have no idea... :)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Every jumbled pile of person's got a thinking part Sean McAfee
that wonders what the part that isn't thinking smmc...@mtu.edu
isn't thinking of..." -- They Might Be Giants
Jeff Neau
>about a kid who rode around in an RV with some old guy, his "Mentor."
> He would commuicate with (animated) "Elders" via ESP.
> Whenever he needed his super-powers, he said "Shazam!"
>He then wore a red suit with a lightning bolt on the chest.
>
>What was the name of the show? The superhero?
How about 'Shazam' and 'Shazam'?
Jeff
Timothy C Webb
First of all, my name is TIM. Secondly, yes I know his name is *supposed* to
be Captain Marvel, as in the comics, but on this show, I'm sure he was called
Shazam. Otherwise, why would they call the show that?
I'm almost ready to buy the videotapes of this show to settle this (they cost
about $3 where I am).
Thomas Munroe Walsh
>In article <1992Apr27....@crash.cts.com> jhi...@crash.cts.com (Jeffrey Hitchin) writes:
>
>>Tom Webb says:
>>> You know the name already-- it's Shazam! (the name of the show and the hero)
>>
>> Actually, the hero's name is Captain Marvel. Only the show was
>>called Shazam. (The character is from DC comics.)
>
> First of all, my name is TIM. Secondly, yes I know his name is *supposed* to
>be Captain Marvel, as in the comics, but on this show, I'm sure he was called
>Shazam. Otherwise, why would they call the show that?
I can't remember what he was actually called in the stories, but I vividly
remember "Captain Marvel" being used in the show opening. The reason they
would have called the show "Shazam" instead of "Captain Marvel" is that
Marvel Comics holds the trademark (or copyright, I'm never quite certain
which is appropriate) on the name Captain Marvel. When DC did their
revival a couple of years ago, they had to call the series "Shazam: A
New Beginning" because they couldn't use the character's actual name as
title of the series.
,------------------------,----------------------------------------------,
| T. J. Walsh | "If money is the root of all evil, |
| University Of Virginia | I'd like to be a bad, bad man"--Huey Lewis |
| tm...@virginia.edu | |
`------------------------^----------------------------------------------'
Taed Nelson
I believe that it was actually called _The Shazam and Isis Hour_.
He also had a "mentor" who's name I forget...
The history of Shazam/Captain Marvel is interesting. Captain Marvel started
as a comic book in the early 40's, published by Fawcett Publications. About
five years later, it was successfully forced off the market by DC comics for
Trademark infringement due to Superman.
A number of years later, DC bought the rights to Captain Marvel.
In the late 60's, DC started publishing the comic again, but tended to refer
to him more as "Shazam" rather than "Captain Marvel".
In both runs, the "secret identity" was a boy named Billy Batson. There was
also Mary, who became Mary Marvel. And another kid (who's name I forget)
who became Captain Marvel, Jr.
Shazam is actually an acronym for where his powers come from:
Solomon (Wisdom)
Hercules (Strength)
Apollo (Speed)
Zeus (Leadership)
Atlas (Endurance)
M ? (?)
Mary Marvel's powers came from somewhere slightly different:
Solomon (Wisdom)
Hera (Strength)
Aphrodite (Beauty)
Zeus (Leadership)
Athena (?)
Minerva (?)
The mixing of the mythos should be ignored. After all, it's only a comic book
:-).
Of course, none of this should be confused with the Hanna-Barberra cartoon
with the fraternal twins (with interlocking magic rings) and the Djinn who
was named Shazam...
George Fergus
There were two shows about Captain Marvel called SHAZAM, one animated, one
live-action. The live-action one was only run as part of the SHAZAM/ISIS
HOUR. The animated one is the only one with episodes commercially available
on video tape. The shows couldn't be named after the hero because the
name was copyrighted.
If there's anything else you want to know, you can email me.
-George
Sean McAfee
>There were two shows about Captain Marvel called SHAZAM, one animated, one
>live-action. The live-action one was only run as part of the SHAZAM/ISIS
>HOUR. The animated one is the only one with episodes commercially available
>on video tape. The shows couldn't be named after the hero because the
>name was copyrighted.
At first, I couldn't remember a live-action SHAZAM series at all. But then
I remembered a scene that I think *might* have come from that series:
Some guy is skydiving, and his parachute fails to open. Captain Marvel (?)
flies up, fiddles with the parachute (fixing it), and flies off again.
Does this jolt anyone's memory? I know I've seen this scene somewhere,
but I suppose it could have been in "The Greatest American Hero"...
George Fergus
nel...@desktop.nsc.com (Taed Nelson) writes:
[stuff about Captain Marvel and SHAZAM deleted]
> Of course, none of this should be confused with the Hanna-Barbera cartoon
> with the fraternal twins (with interlocking magic rings) and the Djinn who
> was named Shazam...
That was SHAZZAN, not Shazam.
-George
GEOFFREY E DIAS
>
> Actually, the everyday persona was Billy Batson and the secret identity
>was Captain Marvel. The acronym SHAZAM stood for
>
> Solomon
> Hercules
> Atlas
> Zeus
> Achilles
> Mercury
>
> These were the "elders" or gods/demi-gods who counselled Billy.
>
Just goes to show how tv programs can change original storylines.
Shazam was originally the name of a wizard that gave Billy his powers.
I wonder whose idea it was to represent the gods as cartoon characters in a
show with live ones.
tbroml...@cybernet.cse.fau.edu
> First of all, my name is TIM. Secondly, yes I know his name is *supposed* t
> Shazam. Otherwise, why would they call the show that?
The show, and the '70s DC Comics series, are called SHAZAM! because
Marvel Comics owns the trademark to the name Captain Marvel. (This
despite the fact that Billy Batson was around for many years before
Marvel appropriated the name. Such are the vagaries of trademark law!)
The hero is referred to as Captain Marvel, and if memory serves, that
name was used in both the liveaction series and the later cartoons which
aired on something called The Kid Power Hour, with Hero High.
The cartoons were closed in style to the original comics than the live
action show, which took the character and created a new situation for
him.
Tom Bromley
Sean McAfee
I never saw that show, but I did see an ad for it once in one of those comic
book full-center spreads the networks used to like to use to promote their
Saturday morning lineups. The ad mentioned that one of the characters on the
show was "Kaboobie the Flying Camel".
Somehow, I have no desire to watch this show, ever.
Sean McAfee
>The show, and the '70s DC Comics series, are called SHAZAM! because
>Marvel Comics owns the trademark to the name Captain Marvel. (This
>despite the fact that Billy Batson was around for many years before
>Marvel appropriated the name. Such are the vagaries of trademark law!)
>The hero is referred to as Captain Marvel, and if memory serves, that
>name was used in both the liveaction series and the later cartoons which
>aired on something called The Kid Power Hour, with Hero High.
>The cartoons were closed in style to the original comics than the live
>action show, which took the character and created a new situation for
>him.
Could someone describe the basic plot to the live-action series? I'm almost
positive I've seen it before, but I can't remember a gosh-darn thing...
George Fergus
fs...@dcatla.uucp (Darrell) writes:
>
>Sorry, I don't remember either of the actors, but the guy who played
>Billy also played Marcia Brady's boyfriend Jeff on the episode in which she
>and Jan worked in the ice cream store, if that helps anyone else remember his
>name.
>
>It was the SHAZAM/ISIS hour on Saturday mornings. I actually preferred
>watching Joanna Cameron as Isis alias Andrea Thomas(?), science teacher.
>Someone correct me if I have her everyday persona wrong.
Since there seems continuing interest in this, here's the info:
SHAZAM ran for 3 seasons on CBS from 1974-1977, at roughly 8 episodes per
season. For the last two seasons it was joined by ISIS, becoming the SHAZAM/
ISIS HOUR. Then Isis continued alone as SECRETS OF ISIS for another year.
The 24 SHAZAM episodes were later rerun by themselves in 1980.
Cast members were: Captain Marvel: John Davey (first 2 seasons)
" " Jackson Bostwick (3rd season)
Billy Batson: Michael Gray
Mentor: Les Treymayne
Isis/Andrea Thomas: Joanna Cameron
Rick Mason: Brian Cutler (first 2 seasons)
Renee Carroll: Ronalda Douglas (first 2 seasons)
Cindy Lee: Joanna Pang (3rd season)
Dr. Barnes: Albert Reed (3rd season)
-George
Andrew Chin
|> In article <1992Apr27....@cco.caltech.edu> mf...@cco.caltech.edu (Mark P. Fey) writes:
|> >bigb...@nuchat.sccsi.com (Craig Groeschel) writes:
|> >
|> >>There was a show on Saturday mornings, in the late 70's,
|> >>about a kid who rode around in an RV with some old guy, his "Mentor."
|> >> He would commuicate with (animated) "Elders" via ESP.
|> >> Whenever he needed his super-powers, he said "Shazam!"
|> >>He then wore a red suit with a lightning bolt on the chest.
|> >>What was the name of the show? The superhero?
|> >
|> >Please post this, as now I'm really annoyed that I can't
|> >remember the name either!
|>
|> You know the name already-- it's Shazam! (the name of the show and the hero)
Bzzt! Wrong! It was Captain Marvel.
--
Andrew Chin Dept. of Math. Texas A&M U. College Station, TX 77843
ac...@math.tamu.edu Probably not TAMU's exact opinions. (409) 845-1924
* Fighting racism is not a special interest *
Dwight Joe
>In article <1992Apr27.0...@nic.unh.edu>, t...@kepler.unh.edu (Timothy C Webb) writes:
>|> In article <1992Apr27....@cco.caltech.edu> mf...@cco.caltech.edu (Mark P. Fey) writes:
>|> >bigb...@nuchat.sccsi.com (Craig Groeschel) writes:
>|> >
>|> >>There was a show on Saturday mornings, in the late 70's,
>|> >>about a kid who rode around in an RV with some old guy, his "Mentor."
>|> >> He would commuicate with (animated) "Elders" via ESP.
>|> >> Whenever he needed his super-powers, he said "Shazam!"
>|> >>He then wore a red suit with a lightning bolt on the chest.
>|> >>What was the name of the show? The superhero?
>|> >
>|> >Please post this, as now I'm really annoyed that I can't
>|> >remember the name either!
>|>
>|> You know the name already-- it's Shazam! (the name of the show and the hero)
>
>Bzzt! Wrong! It was Captain Marvel.
Actually, Mr. Chin is wrong. The show is Shazam!
A companion show for the girls was called "Isis".
According to the "wisdom" of a kid's magazine called "Dynamite",
Shazam was only 1 piece of steel in strength, whereas Superman
was many pieces of steel.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seikatsu no imi ha nan desu ka. \| |` | Don't buy from Toyota;
Shitte itara oshiete kuremasen ka. | -+- | especially, don't buy
/| / \ | from Capitol Toyota in
Copyright 1992. | San Jose, California.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scott Amspoker
>In article <1992May8.0...@tamsun.tamu.edu> ac...@math.tamu.edu (Andrew Chin) writes:
>>|> >>There was a show on Saturday mornings, in the late 70's,
>>|> >>about a kid who rode around in an RV with some old guy, his "Mentor."
>>|> >> He would commuicate with (animated) "Elders" via ESP.
>>|> >> Whenever he needed his super-powers, he said "Shazam!"
>>|> You know the name already-- it's Shazam!
>>Bzzt! Wrong! It was Captain Marvel.
>
>Actually, Mr. Chin is wrong. The show is Shazam!
Allow me to butt in. I don't know about that particular cartoon but there
was a Saturday morning cartoon back in the late 60's called "Shazam"
that involved a boy, girl, a genie (called Shazam), and a flying camel.
The two children put their rings together to summon up the genie.
Naturally they were always getting into trouble in such a way that
they were separated.
The cartoon debuted along with "Whacky Races" and "The Herculoids".
(I guess my age is showing.)
--
Scott Amspoker |
Basis International, Albuquerque, NM | Too bad ignorance isn't really
| bliss. Then it could be outlawed.
sc...@bbx.basis.com |
Joel Stitzel (Med)
>In article <1992May8.0...@leland.Stanford.EDU> unde...@leland.Stanford.EDU (Dwight Joe) writes:
>>In article <1992May8.0...@tamsun.tamu.edu> ac...@math.tamu.edu (Andrew Chin) writes:
>>>|> >>There was a show on Saturday mornings, in the late 70's,
>>>|> >>about a kid who rode around in an RV with some old guy, his "Mentor."
>>>|> >>He would commuicate with (animated) "Elders" via ESP.
>>>|> >>Whenever he needed his super-powers, he said "Shazam!"
>
>>>|> You know the name already-- it's Shazam!
>
>>>Bzzt! Wrong! It was Captain Marvel.
>>
>>Actually, Mr. Chin is wrong. The show is Shazam!
>
>Allow me to butt in. I don't know about that particular cartoon but there
>was a Saturday morning cartoon back in the late 60's called "Shazam"
>that involved a boy, girl, a genie (called Shazam), and a flying camel.
>The two children put their rings together to summon up the genie.
>Naturally they were always getting into trouble in such a way that
>they were separated.
Umm...where to begin.
The answer to the original poster's query is that the show was indeed called
"Shazam!" (note the exclamation point). It was about Billy Batson (the little
kid in the RV), who turns into _Captain Marvel_ when he cries out "Shazam!"
(Solomon!...Hercules!...Atlas!...Zeus!...Achilles!...Mercury!) It was some-
what loosely based on the Captain Marvel comics (in the comics, Billy Batson
was a broadcaster, _didn't_ ride around in an RV, and _didn't_ have a mentor).
The cartoon show about the genie was called "Shazann!" (the exclamation point
may be optional).
"Shazann!" was, I think, a little before my time. "Shazam!" came out when I
was nearing my teens.
Does this help?
Joey
Sean McAfee
>was a Saturday morning cartoon back in the late 60's called "Shazam"
>that involved a boy, girl, a genie (called Shazam), and a flying camel.
That would be "Kaboobie". >-P~
I believe the show was actually called "Shazzan". I never saw the cartoon,
but I did see advertisements for it in various comics books, and it has been
mentioned in a previous article.