INSIDE CAPTAIN VIDEO

LR:I got into watching Captain Video by channel-surfing one night about 1952, and when the announcer said "tune in again", well, I did, until it all ended in 1955, to my surprise and dismay. But before I became a fan, the series was written up in Radio-Television Mirror in September 1951, listing the current episode, "Captain Video on Planet 1-X-7". Hal Conklin was Dr. Pauli (the sinister doctor disappeared as a regular about 1953), and Natalie Core was Queen Karola, who reigned over Planet 1-X-7, where Dr. Pauli had relocated. While still on Earth, Pauli had been hiding within the home of a famed Egyptologist, Professor Nyari. While studying ancient hieroglyphic tablets, the two deciphered a formula for a hugely-powerful force. Pauli, driven with the desire to control Earth, decided to relocate his operations to 1-X-7, where conditions were more amenable to the construction of the equipment needed to create this energy. It was while Pauli was enroute in his ship to 1-X-7 that Captain Video learned of the move through reports from agents. He, of course, summons the Video Ranger and the two blast off in the Galaxy. Pauli reaches 1-X-7 and takes steps to set up an underground laboratory. But later, while Pauli is out on the surface of 1-X-7 scanning the skies for potential dangers, the Galaxy approaches and releases an emergency rations supply, preparing to touch down. Pauli is knocked unconscious from the impact, and his aide, Corin, seeing this, reports to the collaborating Queen Karola, who orders Corin back to rescue Pauli from discovery by Captain Video and the Ranger, who have landed, wearing atmosphere suits and armed with Atomic Rifle and Cosmic Ray Vibrator. Video and the Ranger spot the tracks of Pauli and Corin, and locate their base. They radio agents to close in, and enter Pauli's underground fortress. Threading through caves, they locate the throne room, and they run into Captain Geral (former TV "Buck Rogers" Kem Dibbs), from Mars, who is also on Pauli's trail. But Pauli has meanwhile gotten into the Galaxy and manages to blast off. The Ranger radios that Pauli has escaped in their ship and sends out a systemwide alarm to all agents. Geral and Video agree to join forces, and start back to Earth in Geral's ship. On Venus, other allies meanwhile plan to assist in the intensifying pursuit; Asbek of Jupiter (John Martin) and Kaan of Mars (Walter Black) ask Maha of Eos (Nat Polen) to also go to Earth, since Maha's powers of invisibility could be an advantage. Pauli lands the Galaxy on Earth, with Captain Video in pursuit. Video plays his hunch that Pauli has returned to Professor Nyari's home. Video and the Ranger search every room, but Pauli, using his Cloak of Invisibility, corners them and prepares to immobilize them. Suddenly, sounds of struggle are heard, and Pauli's gun clatters to the floor. Pauli slowly emerges from invisibility, held in the steel grip of Maha, who alone is able to penetrate the Cloak!

RR:And that's a wonderful example of a circa 1951 story-line of CV. The writers owed a huge debt to the movie serials of the 1930s and 40s. It was all action and chases, a thrill a minute, and nothing made much sense! Lou, you had some favorite actors who were CV regulars. What can you tell me about them?

LR:I met Don Hastings in '77 during a concert he did in Joliet, IL with Katherine Hays, and we talked at length about the DuMont days and some of the CV actors I liked, including Captain Al Hodge, Ruth White, Jim Boles, Chester Stratton, and of course Georgann (correct spelling) Johnson, who's still acting, still doing sci-fi, and still beautiful. She is probably the only actor or actress who was in the Golden Age live TV space adventure programs and who is STILL active in current space adventure TV... she played Admiral Gromek on Star Trek: The Next Generation, for instance.

RUTH WHITE played the wife of "Lisbon Charlie" aboard the Regulus in a really exciting race among several spaceships about 1952, another tribute to the great scriptwriters CV always enjoyed, since the sets were mostly static. "Charlie" was a Britisher, as was the Ruth White character. Excellent, witty performances! They stole every scene! Ruth died of cancer about 1970. She was Jon Voight's mother in "Midnight Cowboy", and in many live 1950s TV plays, including Playhouse 90.

It was the great Lisbon Charlie, played by CHARLES MENDICK, piloting the Regulus. That particular adventure was, I think, the best of all CV stories. He was terrific as a Cockney renegade space captain, perfectly matched with Ruth White. I learned that Mendick was also on "You'll Never Get Rich", aka "The Phil Silvers Show". Those films do survive, of course. One of Mendick's claims to fame was his ability to ad lib at length, in character, which could be a lifesaver on live TV.

CHESTER STRATTON was a handsome actor of the Zachary Scott type, pencil mustache and all. Played "Jet Johnson" on CV, and did other CV episodes later in other role(s). JJ was a slickster, an opportunist, though not a cardboard villain; you wanted to like the guy.... another example of quality character development on the CV series, which meant you had to FOLLOW the series, not just sort of watch it as in so many others. Stratton (also billed as Chet Stratton) also did other live TV and was quite a dancer. He was in the cast of "Oklahoma" (1942) and his singing voice is in the 78 rpm cast album (the first-ever cast album). Chet died rather young. He was also radio's Hop Harrigan. He would have been perfectly cast as the TV version of Hop (had there been one) with his appearance and demeanor. In his day, Chet was well known for his stage and radio work.

JIM BOLES was a gaunt, intense actor with a commanding stage presence, who played several authority figures. He would have been ideal as the lead in Macbeth. I rarely saw him outside CV. For such a fine actor, I'm surprised that he isn't better remembered. When I met Don Hastings in 1977, he told me Jim had recently died.

In fact, GEORGANN JOHNSON, who of course played the lovely Princess Aurora, and Ruth White both appeared in the film "Midnight Cowboy", but in separate scenes. Ruth died shortly afterward.

RR:Georgann Johnson has had an incredible career in movies and TV. As a regular character, she was in TWO famous live Golden-Age TV shows, Captain Video and Mr. Peepers (where she played the wife of Mr. Peepers' friend Harvey Weskit (Tony Randall)). She has worked in films continually from the late 1950s to the present, and is still active in TV, for instance lately in "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman." She--- not by name, but as her character Princess Aurora--- is one of only four characters I can still remember after all these years from Captain Video, the others being Video himself, the Ranger, and Prince Spartak (Grant Sullivan). Now try to find a kinescope of either Captain Video or Mr. Peepers!

LR:Yes! One of the great tragedies of broadcasting was the DuMont practise of salvaging silver from the kinescopes of their programs, thus destroying that heritage. No one today can ever catch the magic that was Captain Video, despite the cheesy sets, which the great scripts and seasoned performers always transcended.

RR:A lot of that magic, for me, centered on the charismatic performance of Al Hodge as Captain Video. I can't think of any other actor before or since who could have brought to the part what he did.

LR:On "The Secret Files of Captain Video," the Captain would address the TV audience directly from the stage of an empty theatre, a courageous and creative move for the period when TV strove to preserve illusions. Looking back, I think that might have been influenced by the avant-garde CV scriptwriting team, with their backgrounds in legitimate theatre. I can say that the Captain grabbed my attention when he broke stride like that by making eye contact with the camera, and diminished the illusion not one bit. Today, of course, Bill Shatner could even joke on Saturday Night Live about his Admiral Kirk role, yet go back and film another episode with no apparent damage. But that CV one-on-one was very advanced for its day.

RR:By 1953, many CV scripts were being written by established young science fiction writers, and they, of course, tried everything. TV was such a young medium, then, with regular broadcasting only 5 years old or less! Everything was experimental, in some sense.

I have some video tapes that show the Galaxy I control room fairly clearly, and some of the "back" rooms in the ship as well. I also remember it because as a kid I sketched it often in the space-adventure comic strips I drew for myself in pencil and crayon.

LR:I remember the Galaxy I interior and I remember a window design, kind of art deco, that wasn't apparent in the external views. It would be about ten feet behind the Captain and Ranger on either side, a porthole about four feet round but with three stylized horizontal bars streaming back about four feet, all ending together in a vertical row. But the edges adjoining the round porthole were shaped to fit that circular window, making a comet-like look. Very nice... but that window wasn't seen in exterior views. The standard camera angle seemed to be facing a bit to our left of the cockpit door and bulkhead, so we got a view of the starboard (the G I's "right" side as seen from the controls) hull as well as the aforementioned door/bulkhead. In other words, the camera was centered on where that bulkhead and outer hull met. And on that outer hull was that deco/moderne port, about midway between the control and bulkhead. In fact, that port (a canvas flat, but distant enough to not be distractive) was a dominant part of the set. Another thing: The Captain and the Ranger both wore football-like helmets fitted with early 50s telephone-operator curving microphone supports mounted to one earhole and fitted with standard operator microphones about 1 1/2" in diameter. But these were never plugged in. A short (6"?) length of cord visibly dangled from the mounting! Now THAT I would have removed, had I been set director. I remember the Captain seated in the nearest chair to the camera. There was not a lot of complex instrumentation visible in this view because the control panel was raised a bit, and not in direct view. Background instrumentation was minimal. I don't remember the cockpit hatch ever being used, and it was rather simple, unlike the substantial hatch seen on Rocky Jones' Orbit Jet, with its "padding" and automatic operation. No, I haven't seen cockpit photos, either. I'd really welcome even one, or at least a rendition.

RR:I'll see what I can dig up. The rear hatch was shaped like an upside down U, with a circular porthole in it. I don't think the hatches were "practical;" that is, I think they were painted on and didn't actually open. Most of the sets were open on at least two sides, and generally three, so the actors got off set without practical doors. Right between the two seats some unidentifiable things stuck up, somewhat like levers, and these were the only visible controls.

LR:Oh, one correction: I only remember the Galaxy's starboard hull having that port. There was another large round port (a painted flat which was seen by sharpeyed viewers to billow slightly when a cast member passed too quickly before it) that was used for other ships such as the Orion--- a lightly-armed vessel that exchanged fire with another ship, after which the Orion was told "you've done about as much damage as if you'd hit us with a paper bag". I recall that line.

RR:There was just one cramped "other ship" set, which was used for any other ship that the plot called for, with minimal redressing. The same was true on "Space Patrol." If the plot called for showing the cockpits of TWO other ships, the same set was used for both, with no redressing at all; the actors just had to switch places damned fast!

LR:I have to add this, in reading articles written about CV in later years, which tend to go on and on about the modest sets: these articles aren't fair. Yes, there were things you'd notice, maybe once, and then you'd forget about them, because the scripts and quality of performers really did transcend the sets, at least when I began watching, about '52 or '53. Al Hodge had a John Wayne look and stance, and presence. And his CV wasn't a cardboard hero, but was human, and relatable. I wish now he would have done more after CV. One more word about those much-criticized CV sets I always read about. Believe me, they were no worse than any stage scenery we see today, and better than some. Television then was stagy anyway, and the sets were never considered inferior by the audience of the day, raised as we were on radio--- theatre of the mind. As Shakespeare said (and it applied to TV then, including CV) "the play's the thing". If there's one thing I always emphasize about CV, it's that those sets were never a distraction. It's another case of you-had-to-have-been-there.

RR:When CV started in 1949 the usual TV set for any show on any network was a single fairly small flat, a single stretch of painted canvas. Only rarely were there two flats, joined at an angle, to give a two-sided backdrop. By 1953, I recall some fairly elaborate CV sets, for example the interior of a giant Space Ark, but still done simply, mainly with a line of girders and braces for the actors to walk behind, and complex patterns of light on the "corridor" walls, to give a feel of space and depth. But the visual effects were fine; the model work of Russell and Haberstroh still holds up fairly well even by current standards, and I wish some of it survived on kinescope to be enjoyed today.

LR:One other recent CV recollection re the Video Ranger: sidekick exclamations! All sidekicks had to say some stereotypical thing when they were excited. Cadet Happy in SP had his exclamation "Smokin' Rockets!". The Video Ranger said "Jumpin' Jets!"

RR:The Ranger's favorite exclamation varied from writer to writer. One source gives it as "Holy Hyperion!" I wouldn't be surprised to learn that each season had its own official Ranger exclamation, such as "Mighty Moons!" Another thing that sticks in mind after all these years is that the various space ships were always named from Greek and Roman literature. Typical ship names I can recall are Telemachus, Regulus and Argos. LR:People who didn't experience it can't imagine! Live TV was a thrill-a-minute, not just because of the plot, but because of the suspense of waiting for something to go wrong! I remember a scene with a lengthy hand-to-hand fight on CV. The scene was the moon-like surface of a planet. Large boulders were scattered about. As the Ranger and his adversary struggled, the two men landed against one of the boulders...which overturned! The hollow construction faced the camera as the fight continued. There must have been only one camera committed to the scene, because it never moved from the men and the hollow boulder. The struggle continued while they both less-than-furtively tried to right the boulder, which they finally did, only making matters worse, of course. Why didn't the director order a close-up zoom onto the fight scene while someone (anyone) could sneak out and fix things? A good question.

RR:One reason is that the zoom lens hadn't been invented yet! The lenses were all fixed-focal-length, which is why the cameras rarely moved during a shot. Of course these indescribably massive cameras couldn't be moved smoothly anyway, and the cables of the other cameras were in the way. TV pioneers Charles Polacheck, Frankie Thomas and Irving Robbin have been kind enough to give me a lot of first-hand information about these early days, particularly on DuMont. There were two types of cameras, pedestal cameras (difficult to move) and dolly cameras (not so difficult to move), but dolly cameras were in short supply. Small sets with one or two actors were covered with a single camera, but most sets, where significant action took place, were covered with three cameras, so that the director could call shots--- master shot (entire set), medium shot (two or three actors from the chest up), or closeup. If the director wanted to go to closeup continuously from a medium shot, the camera had to be actually, physically moved much closer to the actor, so the move had to be carefully rehearsed and planned. It couldn't be done impromptu, as in the mishap with the boulder.

In these early days, TV studios were about the size of a basketball court. (In fact, Frankie Thomas says the studio used for the ABC run of Tom Corbett, Space Cadet had actually been a basketball court, complete with balcony seating. You can see almost the entire gym in a sequence where he has a grudge boxing match with Roger.) Standing sets were erected against the outer walls, facing inward. All the cameras were near the center of the studio, facing outward at the sets. While there might be five or six standing sets, typically only two or three were used during a show. Even in a large studio, the rat's nest of cables made it hard for the actors (or cameras) to move from set to set. Frankie Thomas says that on TCSC there was a guy one of whose jobs was to watch closely and see if actors tripped on anything going from set to set during dress rehearsal. He would see that the obstruction was removed before broadcast.

LR:You must know CV was at first aired from an upper floor of the Wanamaker Department Store, home of the world's largest pipe organ. The CV props crew used to go down and shop in the store for certain items they needed., such as the stethoscope! You remember that story! And I was watching!

RR:For readers who don't remember the story, there was a scene in which an actor playing a doctor had to examine another actor. As broadcast time approached, the prop men realized they needed a doctor's bag and a stethoscope. Going down to the department store, all they could find was a huge suitcase and a tiny toy stethoscope from a Let's Play Doctor set. Came the red light, and the actor playing the doctor helplessly brought out the huge suitcase, and extracted the tiny toy. He then tried to put it on; but the ear pieces came nowhere near his adult ears. The cast dissolved into helpless laughter live onscreen.

LR:The 50th Anniversary of CV is coming up June 27, 1999. A Golden Anniversary! I think we should see about interviewing Don Hastings, Georgann Johnson and Ernie Borgnine, and whoever else is left, then see about getting as much as we can on the scripts, scriptwriters, crew, DuMont personnel and historians, anything and everything. Who got Al Hodge's collection, for example? I'll help if you like. I'd be honored. Even people who never saw CV have heard of it, vis a vis all the use of the name to this day, and a recent TV film with a CV-like hero, Captain Zoom, supposedly starring on DuMont in 1955.

RR:Al Hodge was one of the first examples of an actor who was so strongly identified with his TV character that his career as an actor virtually ended with his show. I looked up some post CV TV credits for him some years ago while doing research shortly after his death, and I found only two or three. When he testified before congressional committees about violence on TV, it was noted in the press that all the legislators addressed him respectfully as Captain, or Captain Video, rather than as Mr. Hodge! From that alone, he might have seen his ultimate fate.

LR:About 1985 I was on Chicago's WGN radio with Richard Lamparski, who knew Al Hodge and Mrs. Hodge personally, and we talked about the Captain Video days. Lamparski wrote a number of "Whatever Happened To..." followups of faded celebrities in book form. Regarding Mr. and Mrs. Hodge, Lamparski blamed, on the air, alcohol abuse for their troubles, and said he had seen many similar stories in the profession. Al's death was caused, according to the medical report, by "heart failure due to severe emphysema and bronchitis", which sounds like it was tobacco-related. He was then living in a tiny apartment in New York, surrounded, they said, by Captain Video memorabilia. He was born on June 6, 1918, and died on March 9, 1979, just short of the fairly young age of 61.

RR:On one post-CV TV show, set during the revolution, he played General George Washington. Now who could have been more perfect for that part? But I think it was a one-shot appearance.

LR:I remember seeing Al Hodge portraying a dentist in some magazine ad for toothpaste or something, about 1962. I recall also that Hodge was written up during the 1950s in several magazines. One said that he was a Sunday school teacher at his church. Al, of course, had quite a broadcast career before CV, mainly on radio, and that serious voice of his would be great for Sunday school work!

The story is told that the Captain Video series was so popular that NBC wanted it, but that DuMont refused. That's just another fragment of CV "history" that keeps going around. Why would poor little DuMont say no to that? DuMont did have a surprise blockbuster with Bishop Fulton Sheen, and Jackie Gleason's ratings were good. Somehow DuMont suffered from the FTC decision to separate theatres from studios. And though they destroyed nearly all the CV kinescopes, they did preserve "The Honeymooners" on film via the "Electronicam" process, which is credited in every Honeymooners episode. All the process was, was a film camera attached to the live TV camera. So, DuMont acted to preserve "The Honeymooners" for posterity... but to destroy any future that Captain Video might have enjoyed.

RR:Not all kinescopes were destroyed. Al Hodge had a few in his personal collection, and in the 1970s I heard of around 30 different kinescopes that were known to exist, most from the first couple of years of the program. As far as NBC is concerned, the usual story is that they tried to obtain rights to both CV and Space Patrol, in the spring of 1955. I disbelieve the story, largely because NBC already had Tom Corbett, and it was cancelled about that time. Why would they want two other space adventure shows, when they were having trouble selling the popular one they did have to sponsors?

Let's discuss some of the villains. The best-remembered is the mad scientist Dr. Pauli, but there were so many others. There was the Space Hawk, there was Nargola (Ernest Borgnine), Mook the Moon Man, Dr. Clysmok, Hing Foo Seng, Dr. Zodiac, Bendar the assassin, Dahoumie the Beggar, Hermes of Jupiter, Seta of Mars, and so on. Any names ring a bell?

LR: [No response.]

RR:I don't remember a single villain myself, except for Dr. Pauli, and I think that is because he appeared in the one or two Captain Video comic books I saw. However, with the help of a few tiny plastic spacemen from the ten-cent store, and sets made from cardboard boxes, 12-year-old me staged a lot of backyard space adventures owing quite a bit to CV and to Tom Corbett, Space Cadet, and I recall two of the regular bad-guys among my set of figures were named by me Bartak and Durkos. Bartak is an obvious reference to Prince Spartak from CV, but the derivation of Durkos is unknown to my current self.

LR:A few years ago, there was a Captain Video-like character in a serio-comic TV film set in 1955, "The Adventures of Captain Zoom in Outer Space," where a TV space hero (on the DuMont network, no less) is abducted by aliens who think he really does represent authority because they intercepted DuMont's TV transmissions of his program. The film was childish and there was hope of it becoming a weekly series. Mercifully to the memory of the barely-disguised original, it remains a one-shot, and poorly done at that. Far more interesting would be a biography of Al Hodge.

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