Check out how the bizarre 70s Spider-Man kid’s show predicted the future we live in today.
Starting in 1974, the PBS children’s TV show The Electric
Company had a live-action skit called “Spidey Super Stories.” Amazingly, a few of the skits came to life!
The show The Electric Company was already strange, bizarre and hilarious to my little kid mind. This was a show that had cooking tips for making “Grilled Dill Pickles with Chilled Vanilla Filling” and a talking plant that teaches phonics. Insane stuff, but we never thought they would ever come true!
Peter Parker’s Spider-Sense warns him of danger but, in this show,
it apparently allowed him to see what life would be like 30 years
later. From Black Presidents, to hot dogs with flies, see how the
“Spidey Super Stories” came to life.
#7. Vampire Bites Someone at the Movie Theater
In “A Night at the Movies” a
couple go to a Spider-Man film and Count Dracula (Morgan Freeman) comes up behind her and tries to bite her. Who would have
thought someone would try to bite someone on the neck in a movie
theater? Spider-Man.
How did it come true?
The idea of someone biting a stranger in movie theater seems far-fetched, except it actually happened!
A teenager attending a showing of The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) said she’d like to be bitten by Edward. A guy sitting nearby heard her and started harassing her. After the film he came up behind her and bit her on the neck.
He didn’t break the skin, but was obviously acting out a Dracula
fantasy.
The really creepy part is he was a 45-year-old dude biting a
teenage girl. Creepy.
#6. School Principal Pranks
Students
In “Spidey Meets the Prankster,”
a school gets a bunch of pretty funny pranks played on the students. The
jokes included snakes springing from books and cakes made out of mud.
Spider-Man discovers that the Principal (Jim Boyd) is getting back at the students
for tricks they played on him.
A Principal playing pranks on students?
Ridiculous. Except…
How did it come true?
Principals
are tasked with keeping law and order in schools. They punish those
that break rules and play cruel jokes. Except for one Principal in a
Minnesota high school named John Wollersheim! He tricked the captains
of the school’s sports teams into kissing their own parents.
At a High School prep rally, the students were blindfolded and told
they were going to kiss someone special. It turns out it was their
unblindfolded Moms.
One student unknowingly rolled around on the floor kissing his Mom,
while another said his Mom had “luscious lips.” Wollersheim, apologized
for the prank. “This activity was intended to be fun, but some found it
offensive,” he wrote in a statement. “We apologize to anyone who was
offended by this activity.”
Yeah Wollersheim. Who could possibly be offended by being tricked into
kissing their mother? Every son ever in the history of the universe.
Who would have thought a principal would
resort to pranking students? Spider-Man did.
#5. Someone Hitting People with Hammers
In the skit, “Spidey Jumps the
Thumper” a girl (Hattie Winston) doesn’t get the gift she wants and, dressing like
Napoleon Bonaparte, starts hitting people in the head with a hammer.
Silly right?
Why would anyone outside of the circus hit people with a hammer?
How did it come true?
Earlier this year, Timothy Lamont Parker allegedly hit a guy in the back of the head with a hammer after
an argument. In fact, the guy had been arrested before
for hitting someone with a hammer for playing the harmonica. He’s a
serial hammer-head-hitter. What a weirdo right? The craziest part is
yet to come.
It turns out people get hit in the
head with hammers all the time. In fact, more people are killed
with hammers than guns. According to FBI annual crime statistics, the
number of murders committed annually with hammers and clubs far outnumbers
the number of murders committed with a rifle. In 2011, there was 496
murders committed with hammers and clubs and only 323 murders committed
with a rifle.
There are no numbers on people dressing like Napoleon Bonaparte, but I’m sure it’s in the millions
#4. Black President
In “Spidey Meets the Funny Bunny” Spider-Man has to stop a costumed criminal from ruining the White House egg hunt. The part of the President was played by a black woman: Melanie Henderson.
How did it come true?
This episode was one of the first African-Americans to play the role of a U.S. president on television. While the Civil rights movement was in full swing, it was literally only a dream that a black man would become president.
The first movie portrayal of a black American president was a dream by Sammy Davis Jr. in the 1933 film Rufus Jones for President. In 1972, the movie The Man starred James Earl Jones as President. But it wasn’t until 2008 that President Barack Obama was elected the first Black President of the United States.
Even stranger? Costar Morgan Freeman would play a Black President in the 1998 science fiction film Deep Impact.
#3. Morgan Freeman Plays a Policeman
In the skit “Spidey Meets the Yeti” Morgan Freeman plays a policeman trying to catch a Yeti that’s sitting on sodas and cakes.
Freeman was just a simple actor at the time.
On The Electric Company he had
several recurring characters like “Easy Reader,” a hip Music Producer who
loves reading, and “Vincent the Vegetable Vampire.” Not exactly the kind
of roles that lend themselves to authority, but Spider-Man’s Spider
sense must have been tingling.
Who
would think he’d ever play someone important like a policeman in a
major motion picture?
How did it come true?
Today, Morgan Freeman has played a policeman many times. He’s played a
policeman eight times. This is more often than any other role. Some of
his most popular roles are as a policeman in the Alex Cross films, Eyewitness (1981) and Se7en (1995).
You may not have busted the Yeti, Morgan, but you busted Kevin Spacey.
#2. Hot Dog Vendors Selling Flies
In the skit “Dr. Fly” (Luis Avalos), a mutant sells hot dogs laced with a formula of
fleas and flies. It’s disgusting to think of a hot dog vendor selling food with
fly parts. Who would do such a thing?
How did it come true?
Back in 1974 that would be unthinkable, but
things change. Spider-Man busted Dr. Fly back in the 70s, but nowadays the guy didn’t break any laws. The FDA “Food Defect
Action Levels”, first published in 1995, allows hot dog
vendors to sell food with insects and fly parts in them.
The handbook defines the acceptable amount of “foreign material” like
dirt, hair, excreta, non-invasive insects and machinery mold in food. Amazingly, it’s cool if we eat insects now.
For example, the sauerkraut on your hot dog can include up to 50 thrips – tiny insects with fringed wings – per 100 grams. The
potato chips can have 6% or more pieces by weight containing “Plant
tissue that is visibly decomposed, usually discolored with disagreeable
odors and taste.” In other words, moldy chips.
The FDA’s Food Defect Action Level Handbook says there are plenty of “natural contamination” in food like hot dogs. Yum!
#1. Criminal Puts Victims to Sleep
The skit “Spidey Nabs the
Sandman” has a burglar named “The Sandman” (Luis Avalos) who knocks out
his victims with “sleeping sand” before robbing them.
There’s no such
thing as “sleeping sand” and it’s a crazy idea. But could it
come true?
How did it come true?
While the original skit plays it for laughs, in real life it was
terrifying. In 2010 a gang of thieves used sleeping gas to knock out
their victims before breaking into their hotel rooms. On the French
Riviera tourists often leave the windows open because of the heat. The
gangs – possibly Russian or Romanian mafia – began using nitrous oxide
inside the air-conditioning or under the door to put them to sleep.
Then, wearing gas masks, they took their time stealing cash, jewelery,
credit cards, cameras and laptops. When a child woke up during the
robbery, the gang injected him with an
anesthetic to put him back to sleep. The mother said it was the worst
experience in her life.
In another example, Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine, from the BBC makeover reality television show What Not to Wear, were sleeping in a villa in Cannes when they were knocked out with chloroform-soaked pads and robbed.
A French police officer said “Gassing victims seems to be a worrying trend that is sweeping Europe.”
So, if you ever go to Europe, don’t go to sleep. “The Sandman” might rob you blind.
What do you think? Did the “Spidey Super Stories” come to life?
Do you remember the show?
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<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="37329 ">12 Comments
Tricked into kissing your mother! That's right, funny stuff. Not.
I watched the show when I was a kid and I always forget Morgan Freeman was on it.
I like how you made Spider-Man prophetic. Spider-Man was my favorite part of the show. I remember an episode with a Bookworm eating books and Spider-Man had to stop him. I had no idea that Morgan Freeman was on that show.
Ew, I wish I hadn't read #2 right before lunch. Though in some countries they consider insects to be delicacies.
Freaky. My sister used to watch that show. PBS wasn't quite around when I was small.
I remember that show. The 45-year old biting the teenager is creepy. And what was he doing at the show? Real men don't go see Twilight movies.
That was Morgan Freeman? How…how did I never put that together until just now? That high school prank was so, SO wrong—can't believe the guy thought it would be a good idea. And it's kinda sick that the mom's went along with it. Almost more gross than flies in hot dogs…almost.
That was his first mistake L. Diane.
I can't imagine a more humiliating and disturbing experience Alex. Comedy!
Yeah Nicki. What is up with those Moms?!
Yeah David, and they were throwing books at a sock puppet! Classic. "The Wall" is the one I remember the most about a guy who dresses up like a wall and takes out a baseball player. Sadly, this has never really happened…yet.
Enjoy your thrips Pat! LOL
Good one…..thanks