When Captain America Fires His Blazing Gun? The Republic Serial at 75 and the Decline of War-Time Heroics

1944 newspaper ad for Captain America serial. 

In 1943 at the peak of World War II there were nine Saturday morning cliffhanger serials, all but two of which featured wartime storylines. The most famous chapter play of the year, Columbia Pictures' The Batman (1943), pitted the DC comics character against a Japanese spy. Also popular was Republic Pictures' The Masked Marvel (1943, which also recently turned 75), that like "Batman" featured a two-fisted masked hero against an Axis saboteur. They remain key efforts by Hollywood to include wartime themes in the serial genre that was largely geared toward younger audiences.

As early as January 1944 (but officially the week of February 5th) Republic's newest serial Captain America hit theaters. The 15 chapter serial is a small landmark for being the first film adaptation of any Marvel Comics superhero. It is widely known that the storyline and character portrayed bear no resemblance to the Timely (Marvel) comics figure of super-soldier Steve Rogers. Instead this Captain America is the costumed identity of district attorney Grant Gardener (Dick Purcell, in his final role; he died only a few months after the film's release) in his battle against the Scarab (Lionel Atwill), in reality a museum curator plotting revenge and the theft of advanced scientific weapons. There is no "mighty shield", kid sidekick Bucky Barnes, no Axis Powers, or any sign of any superpowers.

What makes the storyline changes extra interesting, in context of the time period, is that compared to 1943 only ONE serial out of the nine released from 1944 employed a wartime theme or villain, Universal's "The Great Alaskan Mystery". Throughout the year there was a steady return to the normal range of storylines associated with the genre like the fantasy adventure Haunted Harbor and the jungle favorite "The Tiger Woman". In 1945, the last year of the war, there was a spike of three war themed serials, Jungle Queen, The Master Key, and Secret Agent X-9, all form Universal Studios.

Newspaper ad for "Captain America" from the January 7th, 1944 edition of the Elmira (New York) Star Gazette. Notice there is no indication of the changes to the character. It is clear that "boys and girls" are the target audience with the free passes given out in local schools. 

Decades ago, serial historians suggested that this Captain America was made into a gun-toting, two-fisted district attorney because the script was originally written for another character "Mr. Scarlett". While this is a probable reason, another theory I propose is due to the overall decline in wartime themes in serial storylines in 1944 as the Allied Forces were approaching victory, there may have also been a push to eliminate elements from the Captain America character that would affect how seriously young audiences would take the war, and this may have led to a complete rewrite of the character for his screen debut.

1955 ad for the "Return of Captain America". The serial was popular enough for a re-release even after the end of the original "Captain America Comics" run. 

Captain America was popular enough for a theatrical re-release in 1953 as "Return of Captain America".

Clip of the cliffhanger ending of Chapter 1 "The Purple Death", and beginning of Chapter 2 "Mechanical Executioner". 

"Magic Shadows" was a Canadian series that would show American movie serials on TVOntario.
Captain America (1944) appears sporadically on many American and Canadian TV schedules

*(added April 26, 2019) The Captain America serial was reintroduced to new audiences in the 1970s via American and Canadian TV shows that played vintage movie serials to kids. Like most older millennials I rented "Captain America" from my local public library on VHS tapes in the 1990s. To date the serial has never had a re-release on DVD and Blu-Ray from a remastered 35mm print.

"The Batman" Serial at 75, and other Matinee Classics of World War II

Newspaper ad for "The Batman" serial, clearly trying to pull in a young audience. From the Ogden Standard Examiner, (Ogden, Utah) Friday, July 30, 1943. Note that this ad announces the first chapter of the new serial and the final chapter of Columbia's "The Secret Code", another wartime serial that featured the original superhero, "The Black Commando". 

It was July 18, 1943, 75 years ago, that the famous (and controversial) serial "The Batman" was made widely available in theaters. The 15 episode chapter-play, which starred Lewis Wilson (1920 - 2000) and Douglas Croft (1926 - 1963) as the comic book characters Batman and Robin, was well received with its wartime audience, mocked as "camp" in the 1960s, and today is met with mixed views with audiences that have seen it restored for cable and DVD viewing. While well acted with a mood that reflected the earlier comics, most of the criticism of this serial comes from the wartime portrayal of the Japanese, especially with an Axis villain, Dr. Tito Daka, portrayed by Irish-American character actor J. Carroll Naish.

Ad for "The Batman" from the Showmen's Trade Review, July 31, 1943. From the Media History Digital Library. www.mediahistoryproject.org 

Wartime Serials

After the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December of 1941, the new World War impacted all forms of juvenile adventure mass media, including radio, comic books and on the big screen. The Batman was just one of the seven serials, out of nine, that were released in 1943 with a wartime theme. The others were:

From Republic Pictures
G-Men Vs. The Black Dragon
Secret Service in Darkest Africa
The Masked Marvel 

From Universal Pictures
Adventures of Smilin' Jack
Don Winslow of the Coast Guard
Adventures of the Flying Cadets

Ad for "Adventures of the Flying Cadets", from the Showmen's Trade Review, September 18, 1943. From the Media History Digital Library. www.mediahistoryproject.org

In each of these adventures, the heroes would face a villain of Japanese or Nazi German origin. Only two chapter plays released that year did not have a war time theme; Columbia's The Phantom (jungle adventure) and Republic Pictures' Daredevils of the West (a western).

Last year the best of all the wartime serials "Spy Smasher" turned 75, and it was one of six (out of 11) serials from 1942 with a wartime plot. As we are in the midst of the centennial of World War I and the Semi-sesquicentennial (75th anniversary) of World War II, it is a great time to revisit matinee serials, radio programs, games, toys, cartoons, textbooks, and other media that was consumed by young Americans. This would give a new perspective of life on the American home-front and the role of mass media.

There will be more posts about "The Batman" serial and other films in what will hopefully be a reflective series on children's media in wartime.

This Month In Children's Media: November 2016 (Part II)

Here are more highlights from the month of November

100 Years Ago Today

José Cuauhtémoc "Bill" Meléndez (November 15, 1916 – September 2, 2008)

Image from Cartoon Research. http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/animation-anecdotes-182/

Thanksgiving, Christmas, and even Valentines Day wouldn't be the same without the wonderful Peanuts Productions by Lee Mendelson and the late Bill Melendez that have aired since 1965.

November 14, 1936

Robinson Crusoe on Clipper Island the fourth serial from the newly formed Republic Pictures is released to theaters.This Saturday matinee serial premiered (or was made available) 80 years ago today. Not necessarily the greatest serial, but fun at times, with spies, old fashioned dirigibles, an athletic hero, an island princess, loyal animals and lots of outdoor adventure. The first Republic Serial was "Darkest Africa" premiered February 15, 1936.  

November 23, 1968  

Birmingham Press, Saturday, November 23, 1968

From Rankin/Bass came the "Mouse on The Mayflower" which premiered on NBC, by Tennessee Ernie Ford. There many not have been that many Thanksgiving specials to speak of but it would be nice to see this one and others back on television again. There will be more from this blog about Thanksgiving media in the coming week.

This Month in Children's Media : October 2016

25 Years Ago 

October 11, 1991 - Jim Varney returns as Ernest P. Worrell, in the horror comedy Ernest Scared Stupid.

50 Years Ago

October 27, 1966 - It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown airs for the first time. He will probably still be getting rocks this year. With this second holiday special, the Peanuts gang would continuously appear in numerous award nominated/winning specials for decades.

Saturday Morning premieres

Last month I wasn't sure about the following two series below, but now know they premiered in October

October 15, 1966 - Animal Secrets (NBC, 1966 - 1967.) Educational series hosted by Dr. Loren Eisely, professor of anthropology and history at the University of Pennsylvania.

October 15, 1966 - The Smithsonian (NBC, 1966 - ?). This educational series took young viewers on archaeological finds as well interesting sight within the museum. For more information about this series read the front page article of this archived issue of The Smithsonian Torch. If the Smithsonian can tweet and publish articles about the 50th anniversary of Star Trek, then hopefully they will remember this series as well.

75 Years Ago

October 4, 1941, - The Republic serial King of The Texas Rangers premieres (this is actually the date the 6th chapter was made available). The serial starred Washington Redskins player "Slinging Sammy" Baugh.

October 14, 1941 - Sea Raiders, 2nd of the trilogy of serials featuring the Dead Kids and Little Tough Guys. Apparently they were fighting the Nazis before the United States government.

Showmen's Trade Review, November 1, 1941

October 23, 1941 - Dumbo, Walt Disney's fourth animated film debuts.

100 Years Ago

Motion Picture News, December 1916

October 2, 1916 - The lost silent serial The Scarlet Runner premieres. Not really sure if this serial had mass appeal to young audiences, but the character played by Earle Williams may have been the first hero with a distinct car for adventure (the Scarlet Runner.....The Black Beauty....The Batmobile..)

Ad for "The Scarlet Runner". Motion Picture News, November 1916.