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We start off the podcast by
sharing a Roundtable episode of The Chronic Rift. In it, Shazam
star Jackson Bostwick talks about his time on the classic Saturday
morning series. He gets into how he was hired, how he did many of
his own stunts, and how he ultimately left the series as the second
season was starting.
Saturday morning's Shazam! brought the world
Jackson Bostwick as Captain Marvel. Bostwick's era as the Big Red
Cheese began in the early 1970's and is only the second guy in
history to play Captain Marvel. Tom Tyler was the first in 1941 in
the old Republic Studios serial "The Adventures of Captain Marvel."
Bostwick became very good friends with C.C. Beck, the artist of
Captain Marvel from the Golden Age of comics. He was the original
Captain Marvel on the live-action TV show, and set the standard for
the highly-rated children's series, which ran for several
years.
The actor says his audition was a
very low-pressure situation. "I had just signed with a commercial
agent, and a week later he sent me out on an interview. I thought
it was for a Captain Marvel cereal, like Captain Crunch, because he
was a commercial agent. So, I went out there in a white T-shirt,
jeans and cowboy boots, thinking it was a general cattle call at
Filmation Studios. They had done the Lone Ranger cartoon, which was
their big claim to fame before Shazam! I walked in and met the
producer, Bob Chenault. Bob told me later that he knew when he
heard my voice and saw my smile that I would be their Captain
Marvel. I didn't realize that they had been looking for more than
four months! They had narrowed it down to four people, and had gone
from actors who were athletes to athletes who were actors. Now they
were back to actors who were athletes."
Bostwick approached the role of
Captain Marvel in much the same way that his friend, legendary
actor Clayton Moore, approached the Lone Ranger. "Being a fan of
the Lone Ranger, I wanted to give the kids something to lookup to
like Clay gave me to look up to. And I hope I did that. I know how
critical kids are, and I wanted to make sure I was presenting
myself right, and not putting my hands on my hips and preaching to
them.
Bostwick has always been inclined
toward the arts, ever since childhood in Alabama, where he was also
a comic book reader. His favorite? Captain Marvel, of course!
"Captain Marvel was always a hero of mine when I was growing up
with comics. My mother, God love her, threw out all my comics when
I went to college, thinking she was doing me a favor. The would be
worth a fortune today.
The actor still reports that he's
still recognized today for his role in Shazam! "Most of the time
it's, "I know I've seen him--no, you ask him!" And once they find
out, then everybody knows! It loosens them up. Then it's "I knew
you looked familiar!" My dad told me that he knew I was doing all
right when they went to the country club and it was no longer "Dr.
& Mrs. Bostwick," but "Captain Marvel's mom and
dad..."
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