The Adventures of Letterman
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The Adventures of Letterman is a series of animated skits that was a regular feature on the 1970s PBS educational television series The Electric Company.
Created by Mike Thaler, this superhero spoof debuted during The Electric Company's second season, and quickly became one of the show's most popular segments. There were 60 Letterman segments produced from 1972 to 1976.
Introduction
Faster than a rolling 'O' (running past a big red "O")
Stronger than silent 'E' (removing the "e" at the end of "tube")
Able to leap capital 'T' in a single bound! (A sign for Tessie's Diner resembling the "T")
It's a word, it’s a plan...it's Letterman! (majestic three-note fanfare)
Typical story
In each segment the narrator, Joan Rivers, describes a simple, everyday situation. The Spell Binder, the evil villain, would express disgust at what was occurring. He would then use his magic wand to change a key letter in a word describing the everyday situation (such as "custard" to "mustard"). Havoc would ensue as the result of Spell Binder's actions; for instance, in the above example, the people who were enjoying flavorful custard suddenly and unknowingly began eating red-hot mustard, causing them to turn red and feel burning in their mouths. Spell Binder would then revel in his fun.
After the narrator expresses despair at the situation, the heroic Letterman—having observed the situation from afar—jumps into action. He replaces the incorrect letter with a more appropriate one that was conveniently placed on his varsity sweater (the narrator would say, for example, "Ripping a 'c' from his varsity sweater..."), after which time the situation was resolved and things went back to normal. Spell Binder expressed disgust and frustration that Letterman once again foiled his fun ("Curses" or some similar line), while Letterman was sometimes invited to join with the people he helped in whatever they were doing.
Sometimes three different words ("watch," "witch," and "itch") would be involved, with Letterman solving the problem created by Spell Binder's mischief by changing the operative word to a third alternative, rather than reinstating the original word.
Characters
- Narrator — She tells every episode of the Adventures of Letterman.
- Voiced by: Joan Rivers
- Letterman — He is a super-powered man with a varsity sweater and a football helmet and football socks and shoes. He can run very fast, jump very high and he can fly.
- Voiced by: Gene Wilder (most of the time—some early episodes use a different voice actor)
- Spell Binder — He is Letterman's arch-enemy, dressed in a white coat and turban. He has a magic wand stored beneath his turban.
- Voiced by: Zero Mostel
Episodes
Regular Episodes
- In the Beginning – (ball, wall, ball)
- The Corniest Concert – (corn, horn, corn)
- Hands Full – (school bus, octopus, platypus)
Special Episodes
Though nearly all episodes of the segment were stand-alone stories that followed the same general story line, there were some exceptions. One episode functioned as an origin story, portraying Letterman's childhood and growing up. The most notable episodes were the ones where Letterman himself, rather than some innocent victim(s), was the target of Spellbinder's torment. Examples were:
- "Betterman" – Spellbinder changes the "L" in "Letterman" to a "w" ("wetterman"), causing Letterman to struggle in a pool to keep from drowning. Letterman is somehow able to find a "b" and replace the "w" to make "Betterman" ("better man than he was before").
- In one episode, Letterman declares he feels "good". Spellbinder changes the "g" to a "w" for "wood", turning Letterman into a talking tree. Spellbinder then proceeds to get a drill to try to drill holes in Letterman. Before Spellbinder returns, Letterman is able to convince a small bird to take a "g" from his front and replace the "w", thereby turning him back into the "feeling-good" Letterman, just in time as Spellbinder attempts to drill into him. The drill breaks and engulfs Spellbinder in the twisted metal.
- In "Silver Threads Among The Bold", the narrator declares Letterman to be our "bold" hero. Spellbinder removes the "b", leaving "old" and turning Letterman into an aged version of himself. The Spellbinder taunts the aged Letterman, but drops the "b" in the process; Letterman picks it up and re-adds it to the word to change it back to "bold", restoring him to his youthful condition.
- "Small Talk (2 parts)" – Spell Binder sneaks into Letterman's home in order to exact revenge for being foiled, time and time again. He spies upon Letterman, who happens to be packing away all of his letters into a trunk as he prepares to go on vacation. Spell Binder changes the "trunk" into "junk," then proceeds to shrink Letterman down to six inches tall by changing "junk" into "shrunk." However, Letterman then removes the "s" and "r," changing "shrunk" into "hunk," which restores his college-football-player physique. Letterman then gets his revenge on Spell Binder by bending his wand, rendering it useless and setting Spell Binder to breaking down and sobbing hysterically. In the second part ("A Friend In Need"), a re-composed Spell Binder has been placed behind bars. The narrator of the episode declares, "This looks like the end of a fiend," which inspires Spell Binder to use his bent wand as a letter "r" to change "fiend" into "friend." A strange-looking monster appears and the narrator exclaims, "I didn't know he had any friends!" to which Spell Binder answers back: "We went to school together." The monster bends the bars of Spell Binder's prison cell, allowing him to slip out and escape.
Parodies
Letterman was parodied as the live-action Litterman during the sixth season of The Electric Company. In the lone segment, the Spoil Binder changes a woman sitting on a park bench ("sitter") into a pile of garbage ("litter"). After the litter begins reeking, Litterman arrives to correct the situation.
In that one-time parody skit, Jim Boyd played the Spoil Binder and Skip Hinnant played Litterman.
Criticism
Jack Shaheen, Professor Emeritus of Mass Communication at Southern Illinois University, criticized the Spell Binder as a negative racial stereotype "who resembles those turbaned Arabs in the escapist Arabian Nights films of the fifties and sixties."[1] Shaheen finds these segments discontinuous with Sesame Workshop's realistic portrayals of other minorities.[1]
References
- ^ a b Shaheen, Jack G. (1984). The TV Arab. Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press. pp. 35–36. ISBN 0-87972-310-6.