Gomer Pyle, USMC, the famous 1960s
hero-buffoon of American TV, used to exclaim “Shazaam!” whenever anything inexplicable happened. Because of his good nature and dim wits, much was inexplicable to Gomer, and many inexplicably good things resulted from screwball situations in this fictional TV portrayal of the
U.
S. Marine Corps. For example, rational care and kindness often prevailed over irrational regulations and cruelty, and profoundly different
people -- a kind and
gullible hillbilly recruit and a cynical, ostensibly cruel career military man -- managed to create comic and bizarrely symbiotic alliances.
Total first-half 2005 shipments and revenue are up
30 percent (41.2 million units) and
24.5 percent ($2.7 billion), respectively, compared to the first half of
2004 (Shazaam!)