Shazam! Captain Marvel fired our imaginations in 1940s Kildare

You went to “the pictures”. That was before we children heard the term “cinema” or “movie”. “What’s on?” was always the question until the poster appeared in the window of Conner’s pub giving the titles and details for the following week. The Picture House in Ballytore, Co Kildare, was up the Cockpit lane between the two pubs. During summer holidays it was for us children a very special treat to be allowed go to the pictures. Magic.

When permission was granted – after much pleading – we would set out. Our first stop would always be the corner shop, Lawler’s, and no doubt Doreen and her sisters would be encouraged to join us. Tayto crisps and Macaroon bars were favourite treats, and a sixpence would get you both. Then, away with us up the lane and, like a flock of noisy starlings, we would gather outside the corrugated-iron gates. We always managed to be early, and it was a penance to save the treats until we were inside and seated.

When the proprietor, Pat Connor, was spotted coming up the lane with a couple of big reels under his arm, a silence would descend on the gathering and a path would open to let him through to open the gate, and there might be a bit of jostling, but it was always very civilised. We paid our sixpence admission and sat in the very front row.

Chewing our sweets, we watched the newsreels and then cheered when the great eagle appeared on the screen; The Adventures of Captain Marvel. Oh, that magic word: “Shazam.” We so loved Billy Batson, the handsome hero who turned into Captain Marvel and saved Fawcett City from all the baddies. Frank Coghlan played Billy. He had a long career as an actor and died in 2009. Captain Marvel, the mighty man who could fly, was played by a man called Tom Tyler. The flying scenes were amazing and wholly convincing. Each episode was about 30 minutes long and always ended at a crucial point where Billy was in danger of coming to a sticky end. You just had to see what happened the following week, and right away the pleading would start to be allowed to go. It certainly fired imaginations and “Shazam” was the word that fired us up to dream long after the main feature film had receded to the back of our minds.

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