Bill & Jim

Fall is officially here, the day’s are getting shorter and because of Captain Midnight I’m looking forward to enjoying a hot mug of Ovaltine (with a dollop of whipped cream!) on cold and damp mornings. Not only does the familiar chocolate malt beverage warm me up but the aroma and taste bring back a flood of childhood memories. 

I listened to Superman, The Shadow, Bobby Benson and the B Bar B, Red Rider and other exciting radio shows growing up in the 1940’s and one of my favorites was Captain Midnight and his plane, the Silver Dart. Along with his secret squadron agents Chuck Ramsey, Joyce Ryan and Ichabod “Ikky” Mudd, Captain Midnight fought against crime, sabotage and all the bad guys that threatened the American way of life. 

My favorite point in the show was when Captain Midnight sent out secret messages that could only be deciphered by us attentive squadron members who were equipped with Captain Midnight Code-O-Graph decoder rings. The Code-O-Graphs were only available to loyal listeners by sending in the inner wax seal from a jar of Ovaltine. The highly anticipated secret messages were usually tantalizing previews of the following weeks exciting episode. As a lad in the 1950’s I looked forward to Saturday morning TV shows and watching Captain Midnight, and years later, in 1979, a long and lonely business trip to the far east was made more comfortable in the lobby of Singapore’s Raffels Hotel with a warm croissant and a morning cup of Ovaltine. The powdered malted chocolate drink from Switzerland dates back to 1909 where it was known by it’s original name Ovomaltine, but thanks to an error in the trademark registration process the name was shortened to the more familiar Ovaltine. 

Captain Midnight, Chuck, Joyce and Ikky all helped the iconic beverage gain popularity with generations of children in the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s that still can be found in the coffee aisle of your neighborhood grocery store. Company ownership, product formula and marketing strategies have evolved through the decades but a sip of the warm chocolate and malt blend still, if only for a brief moment, can calm an increasingly complex and overwhelming world. Captain Midnight, where are you when we need you?