Frank Coghlan Jr. leaves us at age 93
by Fred T. Beeman

Frank Coghlan Jr., the befreckled kid actor of the silent-movie era who, when sound arrived, fascinated Saturday afternoon movie-going children by shouting "Shazam!" before turning into superhero Captain Marvel, died Sept. 7, 2009 at his home in Saugus, California of natural causes, reported his son, Patrick.

“Junior Coghlan,” as he was sometimes credited, didn’t actually become Captain Marvel in the 1941 12-chapter serial "Adventures of Captain Marvel;" his role was that of young Billy Batson, the boy who encounters a shaman in Siam and teaches him to transform himself into the adult character, which was played by adult actor Tom Tyler (1903-54).

Many were surprised to learn that Mr. Coghlan was 25 when playing the youngster Billy Batson, but his young looks and squeaky voice convinced everyone that he was younger than his true age.

Each Republic Pictures chapter was only about 15-20 minutes long, but many critics have claimed that the series was “the best cliffhanger serial of all time,” because it fulfilled a fantasy for many kids, of a boy magically becoming an adult superhero.

Coghlan’s first role was at age 3, in a western serial called "Daredevil Jack" (1920), and he continued being an extra, playing bit parts (or significant roles) in more than 24 silent movies.

Legendary director Cecil B. DeMille signed him to a five-year contract in 1925, where he played James Cagney’s character as a boy in, "The Public Enemy" (1931).

He served as a US Navy pilot in World War II, then later headed the Navy's “Motion Picture Co-operation Program,” where he served as a liaison officer for various Hollywood studios. After serving 23 years in the US Navy, he made a return to acting in movies, television programs and in a few TV commercials.

Our thoughts and best wishes go out to his surviving family and friends.

Character actor Lou Jacobi dies at 95

Lou Jacobi, a Toronto-born actor who was originally Louis Harold Jacobovitch when he began acting as a child, died in Manhattan on Friday, October 23, 2009 at age 95, according to Leonie Nowitz, a social worker who had been caring for him.

Mr. Jacobi made his Broadway debut in 1955 in "The Diary of Anne Frank," playing one of the people hiding in an Amsterdam attic with the Frank family. He reprised the role of Hans Van Daan in the film version of that play in 1959. He was equally at home with comedy as he was with drama, and in the early 1970s, he was a regular on "The Dean Martin Show" on NBC-TV for two seasons. His last movie was "I.Q." in 1994, where he portrayed a man named Kurt Godel, a professor friend of Albert Einstein, when the renowned physicist was at Princeton.

He was married to the former Ruth Ludwin in 1957, who preceded him in death in 2004. Survivors include a brother, Rabbi Avrom Jacobovitch, and a sister, Rae Gold, both of Toronto, to whom we offer our deepest sympathies and condolences.