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61-785: Other characters published by Fawcett include Captain Video , Hopalong Cassidy , Ibis the Invincible , Bulletman and Bulletgirl , Spy Smasher , Captain Midnight , Phantom Eagle , Mister Scarlet and Pinky , Minute-Man , Commando Yank and Golden Arrow . Aside from the better known superhero books, Fawcett also published a short-lived line of horror comics during the early 1950s, a string of titles which included This Magazine Is Haunted , Beware! Terror Tales , Worlds of Fear , Strange Suspense Stories , and Unknown World . Other genres included teenage humor (Ozzie and Babs), cartoon animal (Hoppy

122-516: A movie serial , starring Judd Holdren , under the name Captain Video: Master of the Stratosphere (1951). However, it displayed only marginally better sets and props than its TV inspiration. Some special effects were accomplished with cel animation , inspired by earlier use in another, successful serial from the same studio, Superman (1948). Columbia's movie serial was the only time a serial

183-495: A declining comics market, in 1953 Fawcett Comics ceased publication of its superhero titles and settled the ongoing case (the non-comic book divisions of Fawcett continued to publish). Several of Fawcett's completed stories and artwork, as well as a few characters, were sold to Charlton Comics . Fawcett returned to publishing comics in the 1960s, mainly publishing Dennis the Menace and other such titles. In 1967 Marvel Comics gained

244-431: A few minutes before airtime. Originally, only three Rangers were seen on camera – The Video Ranger, Ranger Rogers the communications officer, and Ranger Gallagher. (They also were the only Rangers seen in the 1951 film serial version of the series.) As the budget increased, a larger roster of Rangers briefly was seen on TV. According to Variety , the female lead was played by Norma Lee Clark . Captain Video eventually had

305-452: A result of there being so few surviving episodes, it is not clear what time period the series is set in, if it can be set in any concrete time frame at all. The Fawcett comic adventures are supposed to take place during the time of publication, in 1951. However, the stories in the surviving kinescopes could take place in 1950, as when Dr. Pauli plots to rob a bank in Shanghai , or centuries into

366-1204: A single issue of which was published only as an ashcan copy . The content was then reworked (for example, the lead character of Captain Thunder was renamed to Captain Marvel) and published as Whiz Comics #2 (February 1940). In addition to Beck, the line-up of artists who contributed to Fawcett Comics include Al Allard, Harry Anderson, Ken Bald , Phil Bard, Al Bare , Dan Barry , John Belfi , Dave Berg , Jack Binder , Alex Blum , Bob Boyajian, Bob Butts, Al Carreno , Joe Certa , Nat Champlin , Pete Costanza , Greg Duncan, Leonard Frank, Bob Fujitani , Till Goodson, Ray Harford, Bob Hebberd, John Jordan, H. C. Kiefer, Jack Kirby , Andre Le Blanc, Charles Nicholas , Carl Pfeufer , Mac Raboy , Pete Riss, Ed Robbins, John Rosenberger , Kurt Schaffenberger , Joe Simon , Jon Small, Ed Smalle, Jack Sparling , John Spranger, Chic Stone , Charles Sultan , Marc Swayze , Ben Thompson, George Tuska , Bill Ward , Clem Weisbecker, Burt Whitman, Reuben Zubofsky and Nick Zuraw. The whimsical adventures of Captain Marvel and

427-672: A still title card reading "VIDEO RANGER Message" with the announcer reading the message in a voice-over, allowing sets to be reconfigured for the next scene while the message was read. Many premiums were offered by sponsors of the show, including space helmets – which received a boost when, as aforementioned, actor Art Carney 's Ed Norton character wore one on an episode of The Honeymooners , secret code guns, flying saucer rings, decoder badges, photo-printing rings, and Viking rockets complete with launchers. A clip of in-show advertising can be seen on YouTube . Even for its time, when early television productions often were thrown-together affairs,

488-413: A total of 20 episodes. Researcher Alan Morton estimates there were a total of 1,537 episodes (not counting the 20 Saturday morning episodes), although few of them exist after the destruction of the original broadcasts , which was commonplace at that time. Sponsors included Post Cereals , Skippy Peanut Butter , DuMont-brand television sets, and PowerHouse candy bars from Peter Paul . Premiums sold via

549-437: Is only one Captain Marvel. Tall Marvel suggests that they are really Lieutenant Marvels, hence the trio's name. The Captain and his three Lieutenants easily defeat Sivana and his henchmen, knocking their plane down and apparently killing all the villains except Sivana. After shouting "Shazam!" and transforming back into their civilian identities, the three Billys head back home. The Lieutenants returned from time to time during

610-552: Is persecuted by the House Un-American Activities Committee , his stenographer and friend Violet Brown observes, "After the hearing he'd stopped writing, for good he said. Instead he bought a television set and let its nonsense rule his days. Mook the Moon Man comes on at four, and so on." She adds, "He was so changed by then, even his looks. Whatever used to show up for its workaday there inside him, it had shut off

671-675: The Crisis on Infinite Earths in 1985. Some people, such as Jonathan Woodward in his Annotated Crisis on Infinite Earths website, suggest that the Lieutenant Marvels died in the last battle of the Crisis on Infinite Earths , although Who's Who in the DC Universe claims they survived but lost their powers. The characters were reintroduced in Trials of Shazam! #2 (2006), only to lose their powers in

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732-486: The Buck Rogers show would be cancelled within a few months. In early episodes, Captain Video's opponent was Doctor Pauli (played by Hal Conklin, a writer-actor best known for making dozens of short films in the 1920s and 1930s). The Doctor Pauli character was an inventor who wore gangster-style pinstriped suits, and spoke with the snarl of a film version of a Nazi or Soviet . Like the last few theatrical serial films,

793-779: The Green Hornet , on radio, is the Captain Video actor that most original viewers of the series remember (1950–1955), even though the original Captain Video was played by Richard Coogan , who starred in the role for 17 months. Conversely, The Video Ranger was played during the entire run of the show by teenaged Don Hastings , who later became a longtime soap opera star on As the World Turns . During commercial breaks, DuMont aired special "Video Ranger messages". They ranged from public service spots on morality and civics to advertisements for Video Ranger merchandise. These messages consisted of

854-680: The Marvel Family (which included Captain Marvel, Jr. , Mary Marvel , the Lieutenants Marvel , etc.) eventually outsold those of Superman . National Comics (as DC Comics was then known) sued Fawcett, claiming that the Captain infringed on the copyright of their original costumed superhero. National Comics' 1941 copyright hearing against Fawcett was dismissed on a technicality; the McClure Newspaper Syndicate had failed to include

915-459: The trademark "Captain Marvel" with the publication of an unrelated character's series. In 1972 DC licensed — and in 1994, purchased — Captain Marvel and his related characters. Because of Marvel's trademark, DC has instead used the trademark Shazam! as the title of their Captain Marvel-related comic books and thus the name under which they market and promote the character. In 1973, Shazam and

976-574: The "Captain Video" version. In the 1956 Merrie Melodies animated short Rocket-Bye Baby , the titular Martian baby is seen watching Captain Schmideo, a parody of the series. Lieutenants Marvel The Lieutenant Marvels are fictional characters, a team of superheroes in the Fawcett Comics and DC Comics universes. They first appeared in Whiz Comics #21 in 1941. The physical appearance of

1037-475: The 1955 debut The Honeymooners episode, "TV or Not TV". In the introduction to his humorous travelogue Dave Barry Does Japan , Dave Barry fondly reminisces about the series. Part of his learning about the nature of good and evil, was from watching Captain Video defeat some brilliantly inept villains. The show was mentioned in Stephen King 's 1986 novel It , during Eddie Kaspbrak 's memory interlude of

1098-883: The African desert, The Brigand was a Napoleonic-era swashbuckler and Destination Moon and The Man from Planet X were science fiction space stories. Captain Video and His Video Rangers#Other media Captain Video and His Video Rangers is an American science fiction television series that aired on the DuMont Television Network and was the first series of its genre on American television. The series aired between June 27, 1949, and April 1, 1955, originally on Monday through Saturday at 7 p.m. ET, and then Monday through Friday at 7 p.m. ET. A separate 30-minute spinoff series called The Secret Files of Captain Video aired Saturday mornings, alternating with Tom Corbett, Space Cadet , from September 5, 1953, to May 29, 1954,

1159-620: The Fawcett Comics era to aid their hero. In Captain Marvel Adventures #4 they are again kidnapped by Sivana's henchmen. Captain Marvel follows the kidnappers to Sivana's base. The three Billys are tied up under three sharp pendulums. However Billy transforms with them and they defeat the henchmen. They hear a noise in a shed, and find Sivana's daughter Beautia bound and gagged inside. They release her and she reveals Sivana did this. They fly away before Sivana detonates tons of dynamite under

1220-516: The Lieutenant Marvels. In this form, they each have the powers of Captain Marvel: the wisdom of Solomon , the strength of Hercules , the stamina of Atlas , the power of Zeus , the courage of Achilles , and the speed of Mercury . Since they have to share the power, they are each only one-third as powerful as Captain Marvel. In the direct-to-video animated film Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths , three superpowered henchmen with powers similar to

1281-541: The Marvel Bunny), romance (Sweethearts), war (Soldier Comics) and Western (Six Gun Heroes). Fawcett also produced comics based on contemporary movie stars ( Tom Mix , Lash LaRue , Monte Hale ) and matinee serials ( Nyoka the Jungle Girl ). The entire line was dropped in 1953, when Fawcett closed down their comics publishing wing (though many titles were picked up by Charlton Comics ). Fawcett Publications

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1342-479: The Marvel family became an additional Earth (to the Pre-Crisis DC continuity), known for a period of time as Earth-S . Fawcett also published several comic book adaptations of Hollywood films under the banner Fawcett Movie Comic . The publications ranged from 1949 to 1952 and were released bi-monthly. Early issues were simply labeled with A Fawcett Publication on the covers with no numbering nor date (other than

1403-604: The Marvels are employed by Superwoman , a criminal, parallel universe incarnation of Wonder Woman, and referred to as her Lieutenants. However, instead of the "classic" Lieutenant Marvels, the trio appear as criminal counterparts of Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel Jr. , and Uncle Marvel (listed in the film's credits as, respectively, "Captain Super", "Captain Super Jr.", and "Uncle Super"). In

1464-704: The Rock of Eternity" in World's Finest Comics #267, Captain Marvel has to gather the three Billies together so they could simultaneously say the magic word in order to transform. The Lieutenant Marvels exist, without powers though still helping the Marvel Family to fight crime, on Earth-5, as seen in The Multiversity miniseries by writer Grant Morrison . By shouting "Shazam!", the Four Billy Batsons are transformed into

1525-658: The Shoe Store in Chapter 3. It is referenced in the song "Captain Video" by the band Field Report on their 2012 self-titled album. The series is mentioned in the first of the 39 standalone episodes of The Honeymooners , "TV or Not TV". As noted, "Honeymooners" character Ed Norton was a fan of the show. The 1952 Democratic presidential candidate Adlai Stevenson once delayed a scheduled TV announcement until after Captain Video had aired, because he feared everyone would be watching that show. Arthur C. Clarke 's experience on

1586-556: The actual TV show." In the early days of the series, the show featured often incoherent scripts, along with jarring plot shifts to old Western films. This led to derision of the show by the critics of the day, although it always was wildly popular with kids and many adults. This improved after 1952 when scripts began being written by such major science fiction writers active at the time as Damon Knight , James Blish , Jack Vance , and Arthur C. Clarke . These late scripts displayed more intelligence, discipline and imagination than most of

1647-412: The basis for a British TV Annual, a hardcover collection produced in time for Christmas, which also made the claim that man would venture into space in 1970 and would have a Moon landing by 2000. The series is briefly referenced in the 1955 film The Seven Year Itch , when the protagonist Richard Sherman ( Tom Ewell ) sees his young son in a spaceman costume. The show was the favorite of Ed Norton in

1708-500: The copyright year inside). It was not until issue No. 7 (actually the eighth adaptation) that the series started numbering each comic book and using the Fawcett Movie Comic series title. Starting with issue No. 9, the series also printed the month of publication on the covers. The majority of the comic books were adapted from westerns , with few known exceptions; Ten Tall Men was a French Foreign Legion story taking place in

1769-409: The format was flip-flopped to become a show about Captain Video occasionally interrupted by clips from the old Westerns. A spinoff series, The Secret Files of Captain Video , aired on Saturdays from September 5, 1953, to May 29, 1954, alternating with Tom Corbett, Space Cadet . Each of the 20 half-hour episodes told a complete story. Jim Caddigan, DuMont program director, reportedly came up with

1830-426: The future, as when Captain Video seeks to establish a reliable mail service for far-flung interstellar (or at least interplanetary) space colonies (depicted in a surviving episode generally called "Chauncey Everett") or struggles to prevent the many space stations circling Pluto from being destroyed by an approaching comet. Later episodes' television listings seem to indicate that Captain Video and other characters on

1891-511: The house, then defeat him. They were probably put in suspended animation until 1973, along with many Marvel characters, by the Sivanas. They make their first DC appearance in Shazam! #30, when the whole Marvel Family is called upon to destroy Sivana's steel menagerie, which is threatening to wreck Pittsburgh . Incongruously, the three are able to transform on their own, while in a later story, "Assault on

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1952-446: The lights and gone on home. He was fagged out in the chair as usual, in his old gray flannels, smoking, never taking his eyes off the set. Captain Video was on, some underwater band of thieves fighting. They had Al Hodge by the neck, fixing to drown him." The scene Violet describes portends later developments in the novel. The show is mentioned in an extended version of Joe Piscopo and Eddie Murphy 's 1985 "Honeymooners Rap", called

2013-538: The other Billy Batsons instead and capture them. The mysterious Captain Death captures Tall Billy, Nazi Agent Herr Geyer captures Fat Billy, and bandit "Biggy" Brix captures Hill Billy. Sivana uses them as bait to trap the real Billy after hearing he is their friend, having Brix deliver a note, and demanding he comes to the Mill as Billy. When this happens he is knocked out and captured. Sivana and his henchmen gag Billy and tie him and

2074-547: The other Billys to a log heading towards a buzzsaw, then leave. Billy is able to remove his gag on the buzzsaw, but his shout of "Shazam" can not be heard over the roar of the buzzsaw. With seconds to spare, Billy enlists the aid of his club members and they all shout "Shazam!" together. When the smoke clears, Captain Marvel sees that the other Billys have transformed as well, into Tall Marvel, Hill Marvel, and Fat Marvel. Hill Marvel remarks that they have each changed into Captain Marvel but Fat Marvel counters that by saying that there

2135-456: The other children's sci-fi series scripts of the era. Other well-known authors who occasionally wrote for the program included Isaac Asimov , Cyril M. Kornbluth , Milt Lesser, Walter M. Miller, Jr. , Robert Sheckley , J. T. McIntosh , and Robert S. Richardson. One of the more prolific writers for the show was Maurice C. Brachhausen—who wrote under the name M.C. Brock, and later had his own production company, Brock Video Productions. Throughout

2196-412: The period were Tom Corbett, Space Cadet (initially CBS, then ABC, then DuMont), also broadcast live from New York City, and Space Patrol (ABC), broadcast live from Los Angeles. There were some plot similarities among the three. At times, for example, Space Patrol seemed to be doing a West Coast recreation of Captain Video's latest adventure. Al Hodge , who had portrayed the role of Britt Reid ,

2257-587: The proper copyright notice on many of the Superman daily newspaper strips . On appeal, however, Judge Learned Hand ruled that this was not an indication of intent to abandon the Superman property, and since it had been revealed that certain Captain Marvel stories were copies of certain Superman stories, National Comics would be able to seek damages for the violation of the copyrights of those specific stories. Facing

2318-463: The quality of the show might be considered crude or low-budget, owing much to the fact that the show was done live and DuMont had a meager budget to work with. A laudatory review by comic author Dave Barry referenced the "Captain Video Rocket Ring", a promotional tie-in piece of merchandise distributed via Power House candy bars, saying that the ring "seemed to have a higher production value than

2379-475: The rest and save money, about 10 minutes into each episode a "Video Ranger communications officer" popped in to show about seven minutes of old Western films described by the otherwise-extraneous officer "Ranger Rogers" as the adventures of Captain Video's "undercover agents" on Earth. The Westerns originally had been purchased by the DuMont channel/network to be shown in their entirety, and hosted by Captain Video, but

2440-404: The rest of the program's episodes, they provided effective model and effects work, pre-filmed in 16 mm format and cut into the live broadcast as needed. In the book The Box , an oral history of early television, cast members told author Jeff Kisseloff of miscues during the live programs, some forcing actors to turn away from the camera lest they be seen laughing. The show's theme song

2501-472: The run of the series, it had a meager budget despite its success with the general public. In fact, according to most records, the show's "prop budget" was a miserly $ 25 per week, supplemented by items borrowed from nearby sporting goods shops, as cited by Al Hodge in a radio interview on National Public Radio. Few special effects were evident until the team of Russell and Haberstroh was hired in September 1952. For

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2562-433: The sale of Captain Video merchandise. Bram Nossen, who played Dr. Pauli, dropped out after suffering a nervous breakdown from having to appear on TV six days a week, and was replaced by Hal Conklin. In 1954 Stephen Elliott assumed the role. The jarring change in actors who looked nothing like each other was explained by saying that the villainous Dr. Pauli had undergone plastic surgery to outwit Captain Video. 24 episodes of

2623-625: The same issue. They also appeared as inhabitants of Earth-5 in Grant Morrison 's The Multiversity miniseries in 2015. Brooklyn , New York City , has its own Billy Batson, and he travels to the W.H.I.Z. radio station with two other Billy Batsons, one from the Western United States and one from the Southern United States , to visit the "real" Billy . To prevent confusion, the western Billy suggests he be called "Tall" Billy,

2684-534: The series after watching the Captain Marvel serial film , and told his writers to come up with a Captain Marvel -type character of their own. The stories originally were Earth-bound, mostly taking place in Captain Video's headquarters due to budgetary restrictions. However, when the Buck Rogers TV show was announced by ABC, DuMont moved Captain Video's adventures out into space to compete. Little did they know

2745-525: The series are held by the UCLA Film and Television Archive and are believed to be the only remaining episodes from the series. Of these surviving episodes, only five 30-minute episodes, three featuring Richard Coogan and two featuring Al Hodge , have been available to the public on home video. The other 19 are only available at the archive's facilities by appointment. DuMont's film archive, consisting of kinescope (16 mm) and Electronicam (35 mm),

2806-480: The show and his personal friendship with Al Hodge caused him to write "Security Check" a short story about the prop man on a thinly disguised "Captain Video" kiddie program who receives a visit from some of the first men in black to ever appear in science fiction. The series is also prominently mentioned in Barbara Kingsolver 's 2009 novel The Lacuna . After the protagonist, author Harrison William Shepherd,

2867-405: The show at one time or another. Captain Video was broadcast live five to six days a week, and was popular with children and adults. It earned a special mention in the first episode, "TV or Not TV", of the phenomenally popular Jackie Gleason sitcom series The Honeymooners , in which the character Ed Norton wore a space helmet while watching the show. Because of the large adult audience,

2928-448: The show included a flying saucer ring, a "secret seal" ring, cast photos, electronic goggles, a "secret ray gun ", a rocket ship key chain, decoders, membership cards, and a set of 12 plastic spacemen. The series, set in Earth's distant future, tracked the adventures of a group of fighters for truth and justice, known as The Video Rangers. They were led by Captain Video (no first name ever

2989-421: The show were indeed capable of routine interstellar travel . The actors were paid so little that they actually made more money from appearing in character at supermarket openings, county fairs and the like than they did from their salaries. The original star Richard Coogan left the show in 1950, partially because the show's producers refused to cut in the cast members for a percentage of the licensing dollars from

3050-511: The southern Billy is renamed "Hill" Billy and Brooklyn's Billy is given the title "Fat" Billy. At the "real" Billy's suggestion, all four Billys form the Billy Batson Club. Billy reveals he is Captain Marvel to them, and says they should only say "Shazam!" when he gives them a wink. The nefarious Dr. Sivana hatches a plan to kill the "real" Billy Batson and sends his three henchmen to find out where Billy lives. Sivana's goons mistakenly find

3111-482: The stencil with its name inadvertently was applied backward, thus creating the enigmatic name. The robot was played by actor David Ballard, who stood 7 ft 6 in (2.29 m) tall. Other villains included Doctor Pauli, the "wily Oriental" Hing Foo Sung, and Nargola, played by neophyte actor Ernest Borgnine before he went on to become a major stage and Oscar-winning ( Marty ) film actor. Researcher Don Glut estimated that, in all, about 300 villains appeared on

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3172-506: The television series' plots often involved inventions created by Captain Video or the evil genius, but obviously made from hardware store odds-and-ends, with much double-talk regarding their fantastic properties. The series originally was broadcast from a studio in a building occupied by the New York City branch of the famous Philadelphia department store Wanamaker's , and the production crew simply would go downstairs for props, often just

3233-453: The three characters was based on three real-life members of the Fawcett Comics staff: Paul Peck (Tall Billy), Ed Hamilton (Hill Billy), and Frank Taggart (Fat Billy). The Lieutenants appeared periodically in the adventures of Captain Marvel and the Marvel Family through the early 1950s, and also when the characters were revived by DC Comics in the 1970s under the title Shazam! , although rarely. They were retconned out of existence during

3294-562: The use of three spaceships. In the first ship, the X-9 (later replaced briefly by the X-10), the crew at takeoff lay upon tilted bunk beds on their elbows, a posture based upon space travel theories of the time. Later, the V-2 rocket -like ship named "Galaxy" had an aircraft-style cockpit with reclining seats. The Captain's final spacecraft, after early 1953, was the "Galaxy II". The other space adventure series of

3355-527: The usual network broadcast time of the daily Captain Video series was 7 to 7:30 p.m. EST, leading off the "prime evening" time block and giving parents a chance to get home from work before the show began. For its last two seasons, the show still aired at 7 p.m. ET, but was reduced to 15-minute segments. Despite its popularity, throughout its run the production was hampered by a very low budget. Until 1953, Captain Video's live adventures occupied only 20 minutes of each day's 30-minute program time. To fill out

3416-466: Was Richard Wagner 's "Overture to The Flying Dutchman ". Captain Video's "mountaintop headquarters" was a drawing on a 4 X 4' piece of cardboard on an easel. The "Opticon Scillometer" gadget was made out of a car muffler, a mirror, a spark plug, and an ashtray. The interior of Captain Video's spaceship, the Galaxy , was made entirely of cardboard with the instruments and dials painted onto the cardboard. As

3477-559: Was based on a television program. Tom Corbett and Space Patrol were also heard on the ABC Radio Network . However, since DuMont had no affiliated radio network, DuMont never provided a radio version of Captain Video's adventures. Six issues of a Captain Video comic book were published by Fawcett Comics in 1951. The rival space adventure programs Tom Corbett, Space Cadet and Space Patrol shortly thereafter had their own comic books as well. Some of these comics were used as

3538-578: Was discarded in the 1970s by Metromedia , the broadcast conglomerate that was the successor company to DuMont; according to Congressional testimony, these films were discarded somewhere between Upper New York Bay and the East River . To date, the person or persons responsible for ordering the destruction of the kinescopes and other recordings remains unknown. Four episodes of Captain Video and His Video Rangers were released on Region 0 DVD by Alpha Video on November 25, 2008. Columbia Pictures made

3599-533: Was founded by Wilford Fawcett in 1919 with the magazine Captain Billy's Whiz Bang and eventually expanded into a line of periodicals with a combined circulation of ten million a month. The company joined in the explosion of comic book publications in the United States in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Its initial entry, developed by writer Bill Parker and artist C. C. Beck , was Thrill Comics #1 (January 1940),

3660-472: Was mentioned). The Video Rangers operated from a secret base on a mountaintop whose location was unspecified. Their uniforms resembled U.S. Army surplus with lightning bolts sewn on. Captain Video had a teenage companion known only as The Video Ranger. The Captain received his orders from "The Commissioner of Public Safety" (surname Carey), whose responsibilities took in the entire Solar System , as well as human space colonies on exoplanets . Captain Video

3721-409: Was the first adventure hero explicitly designed by DuMont's "idea man" Larry Menkin for early live television. One of its most iconic episodes, widely written about in metropolitan New York newspapers, was titled "I TOBOR". The robot was an important recurring character, and represented the first appearance of a robot in live televised science fiction. Its original manufacturer's name was "ROBOT I", but

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