Jump to Content

Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
Captain Midnight radio and tv Code-O-Graph collection
PA SC 25  
View entire collection guide What's This?
Search this collection
Collection Details
 
Table of contents What's This?
  • Access Restrictions
  • Use Restrictions
  • Preferred Citation
  • Acquisition Information
  • Historical Note
  • Scope and Content

  • Title: Captain Midnight radio and tv Code-O-Graph collection
    Identifier/Call Number: PA SC 25
    Contributing Institution: UC Santa Barbara Library, Department of Special Research Collections
    Language of Material: English
    Physical Description: 0.21 linear feet (1 half-size document box)
    Date (inclusive): 1941-1948
    Abstract: The Captain Midnight radio and TV Code-O-Graph collection consists of a small collection of promotional toy decoding devices, photographs, and memorabilia packaging, offering insight into wartime entertainment and its continued influence into the Cold War era.
    Physical Location: Special Research Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library

    Access Restrictions

    The collection is open for research.

    Use Restrictions

    Copyright has not been assigned to the Department of Special Collections, UCSB. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Department of Special Collections as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained.

    Preferred Citation

    [Identification of Item], Captain Midnight radio and tv Code-O-Graph collection, PA SC 25. Department of Special Collections, UC Santa Barbara Library, University of California, Santa Barbara.

    Acquisition Information

    This small collection was separated from the Milt Larsen Variety theater collection (PA Mss 108) in 2016.

    Historical Note

    The Captain Midnight Radio program was one of the most popular children's shows of the 1940's. It centered around the character of flying ace Captain Midnight (formerly Captain Albright) who had received his nickname years before when he, as an army flyer, returned from a dangerous mission at the stroke of twelve, just in time to save the Allied cause.
    The program was first aired in 1938, and during the early years (under the sponsorship of the Skelly Oil Company) Captain Midnight and his friends belonged to an organization known as the Captain Midnight Flight Patrol. Late in 1940, a new sponsor (Ovaltine) took over the show, and at this point, the Flight Patrol was superseded by an organization known as the Secret Squadron. Each show would begin with the clock striking midnight, and the engines of airplanes revving up. The show was extremely popular, with audiences totaling in the millions. Just under half the listeners were adult, and it was a favorite of WWII U.S Army Air Corps (U.S. Air Force) crews when they were stationed in the U.S. Radio premiums offered by the series (usually marked with Midnight's personal symbol of a winged clock with the hands pointing to midnight) included decoders. These Code-O-Graphs were used by listeners to decipher encrypted messages previewing the next day's episode, usually broadcast once a week. Other premiums included rings, telescopes, and WWII items. (The broadcast messages were encrypted with relatively trivial mono-alphabetic substitution ciphers with word division.) During the years of World War II, the villains usually took on an Axis makeup, and in the 1950's the radio broadcast spawned a television program of the same name starring Richard Webb.

    Scope and Content

    Included in this collection are three Captain Midnight Code-O-Graphs dating from the years 1941 and 1948 with two cardboard instructions, one biographical promotional insert for Captain Midnight, one unfolded Captain Midnight paper airplane with instructions, one Captain Midnight television poster featuring actor Richard Webb, and two covers for the 1942 and 1946 editions of the Book of Official Charts, Codes, and Secrets to be used in conjunction with the Captain Midnight Code-O-Graphs.

    Subjects and Indexing Terms

    Midnight, Captain (Fictitious character)
    World War, 1939-1945 -- Aerial operations -- Fiction
    Promotional materials
    Captain Midnight (Radio program)
    Captain Midnight (Television program)