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Cancer Man See -
TOBACCO PRODUCTS:
"The Cigarette Smoking Man"
Caped Crusader See -
BATS
- "Batman"
Captain Cool - The college nickname of Adrian Monk (Tony shalhoub), a former police detective turned freelance investigator on the crime drama MONK/USA/2002-2009. Adrian earned his nickname when he attended the University of Berkeley (graduated in 1981) because he was obsessed with defrosting the refrigerator in his dorm building. Years later, when he went to his 25th reunion, he discovered the dorn freeezer covered with ice and so Adian quickly grabbed a spatula and pan to clean it up once again. Note: He lodged in Room 303. A tie on the door was the signal (babe alert) not to interfer with the roomate inside.
Captain Crunch - See "Gus-isms"
Captain Freedom - Wannabe urban superhero who roamed the inner city cop drama HILL STREET BLUES/NBC/1981-87. Wearing goggles, gloves, cape, tights and a shirt adorned with a lightning bolt,
Captain Freedom (Dennis Dugan) first appeared on episode "The World According to Freedom" (1981). At the beginnng of the episode, the officers were alerted at roll call to watch out for Captain Freedom and "Throw a net over him" to keep him from interfering with police operations on the streets. When arrested, The Captain (who believed his mother lived on the Moon in a tiny bottle) told booking Det. Sgt. Mike Belker (Bruce Weitz) "I vow to give crime two black eyes and Brotherhood...I want to establish universal Brotherhood." He also said "Police are my allies. We fight crime hand in hand. Ten tons of Nitro in one fist and a neutron bomb in the other. When I walk, buildings shake and bad guys wet their pants."

The Captain Freedom story arc ended with episode "The Captain's Last Stand" (1982) when the wacky superhero tried to convince armed robbers to cease and desist their neferious act. For his trouble, he got a shotgun blast in the gut. As the Captain lay bleeding to death on the sidewalk, Detective Belker assisted the downed hero. Before he died, the Captain pulled off one of his green gloves and passed it to Belker saying, "I'm not afraid to die. I'm eternal. I live in the alley cats and the buses. I'm the city. The Power is in the glove. It's yours now.
You've got to take it." The Captain Freedom character was created by writer, Michael Wagner.
Captain Funkie Fresh - Nickname of Eddie Winslow (Darius McCrary) on the
sitcom FAMILY MATTERS/ABC/CBS/1989-98 when he volunteered to work with the
neighborhood watch to help fight crime.
Captain Justice - Comic book hero on the fantasy adventure ONCE A
HERO/ABC/1987. This short-lived series starred Captain Justice (Jeff Lester), a
fictional comic book character (Pizazz Comics) who discovers that fewer and
fewer people were reading his Captain Justice comic books. Realizing that
without readers his character would disappear (shades of Tinker Bell!), Captain
Justice, (aka "The Crimson Crusader") left the two-dimensional world of the
Forbidden Zone and entered the real world. Unfortunately, reality had its
drawbacks. The Captain was now mortal, and as such, could no longer deflect
bullet, fly through the air etc. Assisting our costumed stranger in a strange
new world was Gumshoe (Robert Forster), a Humphrey Bogart look-alike dressed in
a raincoat and hat who helped the Captain battle such baddies as Max Mayhem,
Lobsterman, and Dr. Destructo. Captain Justice and friends faded quickly from
sight soon after their debut. Like the comic book, this series needed viewers to
survive.
Captain Marvel - Created by Ed Herren, the red costumed superhero,
Captain Marvel debuted in Whiz Comics No.2, February, 1940. The visual concept
of Captain Marvel was inspired by illustrator Charles Clarence Beck who used
film star Fred MacMurray as the model for Captain Thunder (the original working
title of Captain Marvel) giving him the same wavy hair, cleft chin and bone
structure. The Captain's costume design was the outgrowth of an illustration
Beck had previously drawn for The Student Prince operetta. Keeping the military
style buttons, boots and cape and creatively adding a lightning bolt on the
costume's chest area, Captain Marvel was born. Years later, the 30-minute
live-action series SHAZAM!/CBS/1974-77 featured Michael Gray as the teenager
character Billy Batson who transformed into superhero Captain Marvel by saying
the word "Shazam!" Billy derived his powers from the individual first letters
that made up the acronym SHAZAM: S (Wisdom of Solomon); H (Strength of
Hercules); A (Stamina of Atlas); Z (Power of Zeus); A (Courage of Achilles); and
M (Speed of Mercury). Actors John Davey (1974-76) and Jackson Bostwick (1976-77)
played the role of Captain Marvel. In the Captain Marvel comics the evil villain IBAC (a.k.a. "Stinky Printwhistle") derived his powers from the initials for I
(Ivan the Terrible); B (Borgia the Poisoner); A (Attila the Hun); and C
(Caligula, the Emperor). Captain Marvel's other nemesis, the evil Dr. Sivana,
the World's Wickedest Scientist, (from the planet Venus) called Captain Marvel
"The Big Red Cheese." Sivana's full name was Thaddeus Budog Sivana whose name
was derived from the Eastern Indian words "Siva" and "Nirvana." The balding
gnome-like Doctor wore horned-rimmed glasses, and a white pharmacist jacket.
Captain Midnight (1) - The alias of Captain Jim Albright (a.k.a.
"Guardian of the Safety of the World"), a private citizen and leader of "The
Secret Squadron" on the aviation adventure CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT/CBS/1954-56. He
received his nickname during WWII while as a young American pilot he returned to
base after completing a dangerous mission just as the church steeple clock
struck twelve midnight. Richard Webb starred as "Captain Midnight," an aviator
who battled mobsters and other enemies of freedom. When the series went into
syndication Captain Midnight's name was changed to JET JACKSON. The Captain
Midnight character (created by Robert Murit and Wilfred Moore) originated on
radio on September 30, 1940 on station WGN in Chicago. It was sponsored by
Skelly Oil and later Ovaltine. Ed Prentiss, Bill Bouchey and Paul Barnes all
played Captain Jim "Red" Albright, (Captain Midnight) on radio. Richard Webb
died at the age of 77 from a self-inflicted wound on June 10, 1993 at his home
in Van Nuys, California. He left a note saying he was despondent over a chronic
respiratory problem (People Weekly 6/28/93).
Captain Midnight (2)- Code name of mysterious citizen who took over an
HBO cable broadcast for four minutes in the spring of 1986 to transmit a message
protesting Cable TV signal scrambling. His first broadcast message on April 20,
1986 was a simple colorbar pattern. Seven days later he again broke into the HBO
transmissions during the showing of the movie The Falcon and the Snowman to
reveal the written message "Good evening HBO/From Captain Midnight/$12.95 month/NOWAY!/Showtime
Movie Channel Beware" Upon investigation it was discovered that this maverick
media maniac was 25-year-old John R. Mac Dougall, a seller of satelite dishes.
He claimed that the scrambling of cable signals by HBO (Jan 15) Showtime and
Movie Channel (May 27) was killing his 2 and 1/2 year old business. He was
arrested on July 25 and later was fined $5,000 and placed on one year's
probation by the federal magistrates court in Jacksonville, Florida. The
"Captain Midnight" scenario was the first known instance of a private citizen
illegally taking control of a commercial satellite. The Federal Communications
Commission closed the first illegal television "station" on October, 19, 1950.
The station operated by the Tube Division of Sylvania Electric Products of
Emporium, Pennsylvania had televised illegal signals/programs from WJAC-TV in
Johnstown, Pennsylvania from a tower atop Whitmore Mountain.
Captain Neptune See - SUBMARINES
Captain Nice - William Daniels (later to play heart surgeon Dr. Mark Craig on
the medical series ST. ELSEWHERE/NBC/1982-88) started his early acting career as
a costumed crimefighter on the superhero spoof CAPTAIN NICE/NBC/1967. Carter
Nash (a.k.a. "Captain Nice") was a police chemist who accidentally discovered a
liquid formula (Super Juice) which gave him extraordinary powers (flight and
super strength) he used to fight evil in the guise of Captain Nice. His name was
a perfect reflection of this simpleton superhero for he was a shy, naive,
momma's boy. His mother (Alice Ghostley), who knew of his abilities, urged him
to fight evil in a red, white and blue costume that she so lovingly made for
him. The series was created/written by Buck Henry, the co-creator of the spy
spoof series GET SMART/NBC/CBS/1965-70. Debuting during the same television
season was similar superhero parody series called MR. TERRIFIC/NBC/1967 starring
Stephen Strimpell.
Captain Scarlet See - POLICE & LAW ENFORCEMENT
GROUPS: "Spectrum"
Captain Video - Richard Coogan (and later Al Hodges) starred as
television's first sci-fi hero Captain Video (a.k.a. "an electronic wizard,
master of time of space and the Guardian of the Safety of the World") who
battled interplanetary villains in the 22nd century. The series CAPTAIN VIDEO
AND THE VIDEO RANGERS was telecast "live" five nights a week on the Dumont
network from 1949-55. Al Hodge died in 1979 in a small hotel room in New York
City, a victim of poverty and alcohol. See also - POLICE & LAW ENFORCEMENT
GROUPS: "The Video Rangers"
Captain Z-ro - Roy Steffins starred as Captain Z-Ro, a scientist who
traveled through the infinite corridors of time and space on the sci-fi series
CAPTAIN Z-RO/SYN/1954. In his rocketship ZX-99, Captain Z-ro with his assistant
Jet (Bobby Trumbull) visited points in time ranging from Biblical days to the
American Revolution. The series began as a 15-minute live program aired on local
San Francisco station KRON-TV. In 1951, the series expanded to 30-minutes and
was later syndicated nationally in 1954.
Cara Mia See - "Bubula"
Carl "Oldie" Olsen" - On the late night talk show LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN
O'BRIEN/NBC/1993+ host Conan O'Brien occasionally interacted with a very old,
bearded man called Carl "Oldie" Olson. Oldie's character was so frail looking
that almost anything he did was funny to watch. He appeared in over 100 comedy
spots playing such roles as a high school street tough, a rock singer, a
vampire, and the world's oldest baseball player. William Preston who played
Oldie was an established stage and film actor. He died in 1998. See also - "Larry 'Bud' Melman"
Carnac the Magnificent See - "Mr. Question Man"
Casanova of the Camera - What widow Margaret MacDonald (Rosemary DeCamp),
called her photographer brother, Bob Collins on the sitcom LOVE THAT
BOB/NBC/CBS/1955-59. Bob Collins was a swinging confirmed bachelor who owned a
photography studio in Hollywood. He vowed to find the right girl now matter "how
many girls I have to date to find her." One of Bob's requirements in a beautiful
model was that their waist size not exceed 23 inches. Among the many girls he
dated was Shirley Swanson (Joi Lansing), a beautiful blond model with marriage
on her mind who armed herself with a perfume called "Bachelor's Doom."
Cat - Slang term used to identify female police officers teamed with a
male officer, of course the males being the "Dogs." The police drama DOG &
CAT/ABC/1977 used this novel description to refer to female rookie officer J.Z.
Kane (Kim Basinger) who was teamed with Det. Sgt. Jack Ramsey (Lou Antonio), a
veteran plainclothes officer.
Catwoman - One of Gotham City's most sensuous criminals on the fantasy
adventure BATMAN/ABC/1966-68. Wearing a tight black skin of leather, Catwoman
attempted to pull off a variety of "Purrrfect" crimes. Occasionally, she teamed
with other nefarious no-goods as the Penguin or the Riddler to defeat their arch
enemy, the caped crime fighter Batman and his sidekick the Boy wonder. Julie
Newmar who formerly starred as the curvaceous female robot on the sci-fi comedy
MY LIVING DOLL/CBS/1964-65 was the original Catwoman. She was later replaced by
Lee Meriweather and Eartha Kitt. In the book Back To The Batcave (Berkley Books,
1994)Bob Kane the creator of the Batman comic character stated that Catwoman was
originally modeled after Jean Harlow. He also related that he and writer Bill
Finger chose cats as a motif not just because Catwoman was a cat burglar but
also because felines were "as mysterious and unpredictable as women." Catwoman's
real name was Selina Kyle. TRIVIA NOTE: In casting the part of Catwoman in the
sequel motion picture Batman Returns (1992), spunky actress Sean Young, tried to
audition for the role but her enthusiasm got her thrown off the Warner Brothers
lot. Not one to give up easily, she later donned a black mask and appeared on
THE JOAN RIVERS SHOW where she unashamedly bid for the part on national
television. The role of Catwoman, however, went to the beautiful Michele
Pfeiffer. Adam West once remarked that one of his favorite villains from the
program had to be Catwoman because "she gave me curious stirrings in my utility
belt."
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