Shazam's Historama

  I really like using my imagination even when I'm supposed to suspend my disbelief. After my blog post about the character of Mentor, from the old SHAZAM! TV show, possibly being the wizard Shazam there was some push back from one of the stars of the original TV show! His red-suited portrayal of The Big Red Cheese is one for the ages. I mean how could you not love that friendly grin?!?  Even with the heavy hand of Pennsylvania and Alabama's favorite son on the scale, I just can't believe that the Mentor character is simply an average guy. I mean, seriously, how do you interview for that job? I'm thinking that it would probably go something like this...  Interviewer I see here that your name is Mentor? Is that a first name or last name? Mentor It's kind of like "Socrates", or "Aristotle", or "Cher". Just call me Mentor or "Mister" Mentor. Interviewer Okay, then. Well, I have to sa...

Fall 1974 was an exciting time for fans of the original Captain Marvel as a live action Saturday morning TV show premiered on September 7. The show starred 31-year-old, relative newcomer Jackson Bostwick as The Big Red Cheese himself, Captain Marvel, 23-year-old Michael Gray as Cap’s alter ego, Billy Batson, and 61-year-old veteran actor, Les Tremayne as Mister Mentor or simply “Mentor” as he was often called. Taking a “vacation” from his job at radio station W.H.I.Z ( the call letters never explicitly stated in the series), Billy is joined by Mentor, who drives an Open Road motor home around various suburbs, ranches, horse farms, construction sites, grocery stores, mining facilities and national parks of Los Angeles in search of various children and young adults who need help. Early on in each episode, Billy is contacted by the six Elders (Solomon, Hercules, Atlas, Zeus, Achilles, and Mercury -- the grantors of Captain Marvel’s powers), who give the boy vague predictions about who and...

 Ahoy, fellow Lieutenant Marvels and welcome to Shazam's Historama! I'm a big fan of the original Fawcett Captain Marvel and his many iterations from his early Fawcett days to his modern day incarnation at DC Comics. I've been a big fan of The Big Red Cheese since the early days of 1971 when I "discovered" him in prose form in All in Color for a Dime . Dick Lupoff's essay, "The Big Red Cheese" captivated me and although I was only 11 years old, I was desperate to read his adventures. I bought some Captain Marvel comics from the newsstand but they bore no relation to the character I read about in Lupoff's wonderful essay. My father told me that he remembered reading Cap's adventures when he was a kid but he was no help as he no longer had any of the comics. When I visited cousins and friends who had comics, Cap's adventures were never there even though I did come across some mid-to-late 1950s Captain America comics. Flash forward to a li...