ick [Was: to bogart]

[Alison Murie]

On Jul 16, 2009, at 9:07 AM, James A. Landau wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "James A. Landau <JJJRLandau at netscape.com>"
>              <JJJRLandau at NETSCAPE.COM>
> Subject:      Re: ick [Was: to bogart]
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Wed, 15 Jul 2009 21:52:28 Zulu minus 0400 Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM
> > queried:
>
>> Didn't Captain Midnight or some other radio-&-funnybook hero of my
>> youth have a comic-relief sidekick named "Icky"?
>
> Captain Midnight had two sidekicks, Ichabod "Icky" Mudd and
> Aristotle "Tut" Jones.  Icky was the comic sidekick who followed the
> Captain around on his adventures, and was also the copilot when the
> Captain flew his private jet.  Tut ran the laboratory at the
> Captain's secret headquarters---like Abigail on NCIS, but nowhere
> near as good a character.
>
> As far as I know, Captain Midnight existed only as a TV show.  For
> some reason it appeared in some markets not as "Captain Midnight"
> but as "Jet Jackson".  This is the show that introduced the secret
> decoder ring, which I saw a few days ago appear on an NCIS rerun.
> (Re NCIS---any show that has David McCallum in it is worth watching.)
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Captain Midnight was a radio program (15 minutes every week night, as
part of an hour of children's programs)back in the '40s.  The decoder
badge was introduced  then as well as a ring with a compartment with a
sliding top into which one could stuff a folded up bit of paper with a
(secret) message.  The tops were embossed with the insignia of the
various military services.  I think the badges had insignia on them
also. I had an Air Force badge and a Marine ring.  Dutifully consumed
t he Ovaltine, whhich I bought out of my allowance, though I never
cared much for it.
AM

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org