Chickenman was a radio series spoofing comic book heroes. It was created by Dick Orkin when he was a production director at WCFL in Chicago, Illinois. The series was loosely based on the original Batman television series. The show started in the spring of 1966 as a segment on the Jim Runyon Show on WCFL. DJ Jim Runyon served as narrator. In the show's 195 episodes, Orkin voiced Chickenman, who worked as shoe salesman Benton Harbor (the name of a Michigan city on Lake Michigan) Monday through Friday at a large Midland City department store and thus he could only fight crime on weekends...his only two days off. His main contacts were Commissioner Norton and his secretary Miss Helfinger (actress Jane Roberts). Chickenman's mother also helped as the "Maternal Marauder." Among Chickenman's greatest foes were the Chicken-Plucker, the Dog Lady, Big Clyde Crushman, the Bear Lady, the Very Diabolical, Rodney Farber (former childhood playmate who never forgave Benton Harbor for breaking his red wagon Christmas Day) and the Couple from SHTICK (Secret Henchmen To Injure Crime Killers). The series was revived in 1973 as Chickenman vs. the Earth-Polluters, an ecology series wherein the Feathered Fighter combats pollution in Midland City. There were 52 episodes. The series was revived again in 1977 as Chickenman Returns for the Last Time Again. In these new episodes, the Winged Warrior expresses feeling that time has passed him by and decides to open a crime-fighting school...that only has one student, Leon Cabblemouth (Orkin's then partner, Burt Berdis). Orkin and Rich Koz co-wrote some of these episodes, as Koz is a long-time fan of Orkin's. This series had 65 episodes. The 273 episodes can still be heard today on American Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS), particularly on stations that broadcast to American Forces stationed outside the continental United States (OCONUS). It can also be heard daily on XM Radio's Channel 151, Laugh USA and more recently on XM Radio Channel 6, The 60's. Several episodes have been used by This American Life. Dick Orkin has made all 273 episodes -- along with station "promos" and two CDs of exclusive behind-the-scenes interviews -- available to collectors on a 14-CD package from http://www.danoday.com/chickenman.
References
- Bill Virgin. "Radio Beat: Remember 'Chicken Man'? It's now on CD", Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 2001-03-08.
